Just Another Day

You need to know: This is something I found lying around in an old folder. I'd written this about four years ago - it's incomplete but I would like to know what you think of it... Good or bad... I'm open to a review!

I wake up to the morning rain. I love the rain. The steady beating of the drops onto the windowsill calms my warm and sleepy head. It is time. I must rise and seize the day.

Coffee's brewing. The warm, brown aroma fills the room and my senses are awakened. The water breaks onto my face. The thin, transparent sheet shatters into a million stinging droplets. They tickle my skin, play with it, tease it. This amuses me.

Jazz on the radio. The soft, smudgy melody enters my brain. Note by dusky note. Somewhere in the midst of telephone numbers and forgotten errands they make their esoteric home.

Crumpled sheets must be folded and smoothed. I do this with apathy. My bed gains tidiness and loses character. The doorbell rings and is discordant with the radio. My brain is not happy with this asymmetry.

Yesterday's world infiltrates my home on sheets of paper. I learn that a child was being born on a bus as grime left fabric in my washing machine. Time is so eventful. I remember to buy fruit.

The sepia-coloured brew thaws my insides. I drain the cup and am left feeling hungry. The apple is squeaky between my teeth. The flavours mingle. Bittersweet.

I walk into my second skin and enter the world of the dressed. The face in the mirror needs attention. A little putty to smoothen the flaws and a dash of colour from a tube. My painting is finished. It is presentable now. I can show it off to the world.

I leave my home and a melody seeps into the voice in my head. It’s the voice that does my thinking. Familiar tune. Perhaps the morning's notes surreptitiously intruding a non-musical moment? I smile.

One foot follows the other with effective mindlessness. They keep time as the world bobs to their rhythm. Perhaps the whole world exists solely because I perceive it. Interesting thought. Egotistical.

My timekeepers slow down as I step onto that metal box with wheels. My eyes read the words. Get more from your car. My mind reads the signs. Get more from your car. Get more from your care. Get more from your cares. Get more from your caress. It is easy to occupy my mind. Caress more from your gut.

Purged air brings the taste of coffee back to my tongue. My transient neighbour is startled. I’m not sorry. My mind laughs. I smile. Another sign reminds me to alight. Spoil yourself. Toil poor elf.

GOOD MORNING DEADLINE!

Hello...

You have reached the office of Your Deadline, I'm sorry but you have just missed me...

An ode to the deadline - to be sung to the tune of Good Morning Heartache...

Good morning deadline
You old miserable sight
Good morning deadline
Thought we said goodbye last night
I turned and tossed until it seemed you had gone
But here you are with the dawn
Wish I forget you, but you're here to stay
It seems I met you
When my life went away (see previous post)
Now everyday I stop, I'm saying to you
Good morning deadline, what's new?

Before you think I wrote these ingenious lines maybe I should let you know that I’ve just changed very few words (including the word heartache to deadline) in the original version. It's amazing how these two go so well together. Heartache - or rather heartburn - and deadlines!

Until the next post…

The Chronicles of Elena

I know it's been a really long time since the last post (two months actually) but I blame it all on Elena...

Elena is a multi-talented, intelligent and gorgeous woman who can spot a flaw in a theory with equal ease as she can walk around looking pretty. She is the epitome of style, class and grace all rolled into one. She can command the attention of ten feeding T-Rexes with a single spoken word and when she presents case studies it is very easy to forget about your pending assignments, market surveys and even your backache. This is her story…

Elena was born in a lovely suburban home – surrounded by all things beautiful. She schooled in a time where all that mattered was simply getting there and back in time for a cartoon video. She wanted to grow up to be a writer and musician.

Elena was on track with her plans till a few months ago when a legendary monster – called Ememess – captured her when she was not looking and before she knew it, she was being held captive by this ruthless beast. For those who do not know about this creature, Ememess usually captures its prey when they least expect it and holds them till they pay all their dues for twenty harrowing months. While this may not seem like a very bad deal – considering the beast does not eat you in the end – it is an experience that will change your life forever.

The beast has various minions – or agents – and they do their best to drain Elena of whatever energy and resources she has. Her day is now an endless barrage of strange languages and mathematical entities, punctuated only by lunch that could easily be served to aliens and concluding with the incessant typing of a multitude of unintelligible hieroglyphics to be submitted to the minions the next day.

She is under constant scrutiny by everyone around her because all hostages are supposed to exhibit certain peculiar behaviours like lugging heavy tomes to and from a dungeon where everything is dusty and what you need you never find. She also has to read a bunch of pink sheets every morning without which she does not feel equipped to face the day. As a matter of fact, I can safely say that every waking minute Elena isn’t paying attention to Ememess – she is worrying about what her life will be like after the monster releases her.

If you knew her, you would love her, but it really is a pity that she exists only within the confines of a classroom somewhere on the ground floor of the monster’s lair in a galaxy far, far away...