The Peng Challenge Thread, it’s good to be back!

[OGSF]

Ah didnae knoo

Boot Ah've bain told,

[Speedy]

Originally posted by Lars:

</font><blockquote>quote:</font><hr />Originally posted by rune:

Mace ,

I see the Aussie government is tracking down your offspring. My condolences...

From CNN:

SYDNEY, Australia (Reuters) -- Australian scientists have called on the country's farmers to report any ugly sheep found in their flocks.

Rune

That's actually good news for Mace. Gets him out of paying child suppor…er, pasturage. </font>

[Michael Emrys]

Originally posted by stikkypixie:

</font><blockquote>quote:</font><hr />Originally posted by bauhaus:

Is it no coincidence that I return only to have Sir Toy Gun disappear?

Mixed feelings is what I'm having right now. </font>

[Boo Radley]

Originally posted by OGSF:

Ah didnae knoo

Boot Ah've bain told,

Yes, but have you been slapped upside the head with an authentically crafted 2x4 from an Amish dairy barn?

No?

Swing by the house, we'll fix you right up.

[Lars]

There will be a slight delay in turns out while I track down a nasty Trojan on my home machine.

Or a longer one if I just get pissed and format the hard drive.

[stikkypixie]

I never understood why the call them things trojans, wasn't it the Greeks who did the horse thingie?

[Michael Emrys]

But who ever heard of a Greek horse thingie? Aside from Greek horses, that is.

Michael

[Mace]

Originally posted by rune:

Mace ,

I see the Aussie government is tracking down your offspring. My condolences...

From CNN:

SYDNEY, Australia (Reuters) -- Australian scientists have called on the country's farmers to report any ugly sheep found in their flocks.

They weren't mine. Mine are the good looking ones.

[Boo Radley]

Originally posted by Mace:

</font><blockquote>quote:</font><hr />Originally posted by rune:

Mace ,

I see the Aussie government is tracking down your offspring. My condolences...

From CNN:

SYDNEY, Australia (Reuters) -- Australian scientists have called on the country's farmers to report any ugly sheep found in their flocks.

They weren't mine. Mine are the good looking ones. </font>

[Berlichtingen]

Originally posted by Lars:

There will be a slight delay in turns out while I track down a nasty Trojan on my home machine.

By nasty, I assume you mean used... why is it on your machine?

[Berlichtingen]

Originally posted by Michael Emrys:

But who ever heard of a Greek horse thingie?

Silly question. Bauhaus, of course

[Mace]

And he had to sit down due to the corresponding feeling of inadequacy?

[Lars]

Originally posted by Berlichtingen:

</font><blockquote>quote:</font><hr />Originally posted by Lars:

There will be a slight delay in turns out while I track down a nasty Trojan on my home machine.

By nasty, I assume you mean used... why is it on your machine? </font>

[Michael Emrys]

Originally posted by Berlichtingen:

</font><blockquote>quote:</font><hr />Originally posted by Lars:

There will be a slight delay in turns out while I track down a nasty Trojan on my home machine.

By nasty, I assume you mean used... why is it on your machine? </font>

[bauhaus]

Originally posted by Berlichtingen:

</font><blockquote>quote:</font><hr />Originally posted by Michael Emrys:

But who ever heard of a Greek horse thingie?

Silly question. Bauhaus, of course </font>

[bauhaus]

Originally posted by Mace:

And he had to sit down due to the corresponding feeling of inadequacy?

You've yet made another poor assumption my dear Mace. You've made the mistake in "thinking" I've actually stood up in recent history. I've been told to sit down so much, I just quit standing up.

[Boo Radley]

Originally posted by bauhaus:

I've actually stood up in recent history.

Lukewarm Viagra Testimonial, Take One...

[Michael Emrys]

Are we ready to call in Bob Dole yet?

Michael

[Boo Radley]

Originally posted by Michael Emrys:

Are we ready to call in Bob Dole yet?

Michael

Keep your skirt on... when we need his stunt double, we'll call you.

[Seanachai]

Sigh...

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Hi, this is Joe, and I'm going to be in your neighbourhood today! I can bring you a complete new satellite dish system, including DVR unit that allows you to fast forward, rewind, and stop action LIVE television programs — BEEEEP

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Hi, Hunter. This is Libby. Just calling you...I'm not so happy. My little sister Kate...they're telling her she's got a terminal disease. I can't even pronounce it. It runs it's course in less than five years, and it's pretty awful. She's going to call me on Monday, when they have more to tell her. So...that's all. Give me a call, sometime.

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Machine Voice: Press 'erase' again, to erase all mes — All messages...erased

Had things worked out differently, Kate would have been my sister-in-law for the last 25 years. When I met her, she was a cute, snub-nosed, busty 17 year old. I remember her sister saying 'Hey! Were you checking out my sister?! Because you looked like a guy who was working real hard to look like he was not checking out his fiancee's sister!"

And I told her: "Darling, I was just marveling at the fact that both beauty and voluptuousness seem to be a hallmark of the women in your family."

And then, a couple of years later, Libby and I (well, I was certainly there at least, when the decision was made) decided we weren't going to get married, after all, and went different ways. She went off to Latin America, at that time, to work with the families of the 'Disappeared' in El Salvador, often riding along with family members when they went out to follow up rumors and dig-up the bodies of their tortured and murdered relatives.

We were still fighting Communism, back then. And the torture and brutal deaths of all those trade union leaders, journalists, village coop managers, school teachers, day-care providers and nuns must have worked, by God, because a few years later the Soviet Union collapsed in a welter of economic chaos that proved that all that's necessary to fight and defeat Evil is the willingness to brutalize and kill any number of people who were simply trying to make a living for themselves and their neighbours, and leave something better for their children.

But that was El Salvador in the 1980s, of course. Back then, we simply trained and funded the torturers. Now we're in a position to reap the benefits, and establish 'torture franchises'. Ironically enough, some of them are in the former Soviet Bloc.

I haven't seen little Katy in 20 years. She moved from Philadelphia to...what the hell's that hippy town in Arizona? Sedonia? Sedona? Yeah, Sedona, I think. She had gotten her degree in jewelry making, and finished her apprenticeship as a silversmith. She got married, and they moved out there. Her husband started out as a 'Performance Artist', and then, after a few years, got his license and a job as a Realtor.

That kinda made me laugh. I never met him. I heard he was a nice guy. I think that was back when there was a hugely perceived need, amongst young people, for 'Performance Artists'. She was always very fit. Eventually worked as a Yoga and Fitness instructor.

And now, apparently, she's going to die. Fairly young, too. I'm a little out of patience with the death of younger sisters.

Tomorrow night, I need to make some phone calls. Tonight, I feel...lessened. Diminished. Not simply 'more mortal', but simply...less.

Older, obviously. The people I knew when I was young, and crazy, and often criminal, are starting to go away. But it's more than that, when you get right down to it.

How does that work?

The death of any person that I have known takes away from me a little part of what I have known, what I have been. Once there was a snub-nosed, busty 17 year old with long, dark hair who smiled at me, and who made me smile, and, perhaps, have impure thoughts. That made me make a joke with the woman I intended to marry. Once upon a time, I thought we would all be together until we died, in one way or another. Because Life had brought us together.

But I never married, and, until tonight, I never saw that snub-nosed, brown-haired 17 year old again, except in my memory, when I'd get the odd phone update on her life from the woman who was almost my wife.

I saw her again, tonight, in my memory. She was just the same as she was 25 years ago. But my memory is only what she once was, and not what she is, nor all that she became. And the knowledge that, within the next year or two, she will pass, in pain, unalterably from the Universe makes me feel...less.

And as I march (or rather skip, and caper, and sing odd songs) on toward my own removal from this planet, I reflect on the fact that I only ever knew her through her sister, who was to be my wife. And how that woman who was to be my wife left to help people whose loved ones were being tortured and killed in a political game between More Powerful Nations that had nothing to do with their jobs, their families, or their lives.

And today, when I hear that Katy, who I once thought was a very cute girl and very sexy, is going to die in the next year or two, I'm left to reflect upon the fact that her death will take away a part of what is me. And I think that, now, I am old enough to understand that the death of every good person, whether they live in Afghanistan, or Iraq, or Southern Lebanon, or Palestine, who simply wants to make a living for themselves and their neighbours, and leave something better for their children, lessens me.

Oh...yes...'challenges' and all. After all, this Thread isn't simply a place for me to work out my issues, is it? Not some place for me to rave on about whatever takes my fancy? Not just a place where the Combat Mission Community (such as they are), comes to get weird?

Of course not.

Mind you, I'm rather in favour of a place where that sort of thing goes on.

Let me see, let me see...

Oh, I know: I Challenge each and every one of you feckers to tell me one, true thing about yourself.

Joe, I'm too tired and too sad right now (and this after a good night) to fill out every form and observe every nuance. Please do me the very great favour of unleashing the vast, pointless, crushing power of the Justicariate on this issue.

Make the bastards cough up something Real.

I'm so tired of bad banter.

[Michael Emrys]

Originally posted by Seanachai:

Tonight, I feel...lessened. Diminished. Not simply 'more mortal', but simply...less.

You know, you might feel better if you replied to your e-mail sometime, you feckless bastard.

But in point of fact, I do know how you feel. I've had friends and people I know die suddenly since I left highschool. The first was a guy one year behind me who fell to his death that summer in a rock climbing expedition. He was an exceptionally nice kid too. I've been shocked at how many people I met during the '60s have died young of one thing or another. And of course, I've now reached that age where my friends, acquaintances, and neighbors are dropping like flies.

I don't know how that rates as condolence. Frankly, I don't believe there is any. Death is a part of life. You carry on as best you can until it is your turn. Then, like I once wrote almost 40 years ago, "There is a door through which you are always the first to go."

Michael

[Mace]

Originally posted by Seanachai:

I'm a little out of patience with the death of younger sisters.

Yeh. And older sisters, and good friends, etc etc.

But the funny thing about life is sometimes truly marvelous people come along so that the good balances out the bad.

[ August 18, 2006, 05:28 AM: Message edited by: Mace ]

[Noba]

Originally posted by Seanachai:

... the death of every good person

... lessens me.

Then you have nothing to fear..

..because your SELF must be made of very stern stuff. Even if you reduce all good people to only those good people you knew, then your inner reserves are unquenchable.

Think back to those closest to you and how saddened you felt at their passing. Think about how you felt then.

Life renews itself. Your life, everyones. When it stops renewing, we die. Those you knew have given you something to take forward towards your last breath. Use it, nurture it and make sure you don't waste it with maudlin thoughts.

You ain't dead yet, you old bugger. I know your time lies a long way in the future, you're too ornery to pass away easily.

Noba.

[Lars]

Originally posted by Seanachai:

Oh, I know: I Challenge each and every one of you feckers to tell me one, true thing about yourself.

One true thing. Hmm...lemme think...

I would have ogled her too.

[Hiram Sedai]

Seanachai

I won't tell you that "I know how you feel" because I barely know how I feel. My wife's grandmother just died of lung cancer. She was 84 years old and never smoked a day in her life. Of course, I was at the funeral and relived so many other funerals.

The words from my Army days echoed in my head

"Mourn the dead but minister to the living"

So, I cheered up the family members with funny stories about "Ma'am"

I share the sense that we become less somehow as our friends and family seem to get snuffed out one by one over the years. We are left with memories and a bit of guilt. I still won't give advice or pretend to know how you feel.