Merry Crimbo to all and to all a Merry Crimbo!

...and a Happy New Year!

Odeur

This is a true story, something that really happenend to me. Now, women might want to lock their children, hide their pets and look away.
So, I was in the bus, right? Going towards the same place I go to every day, following the same route, my nose in between the pages of a book and other's noses in my business. The first thing you are going to notice in a bus is dirty noses from all the nosing in between other's ass cheeks. That's why I always keep a book or a sudoku magazine or even a notebook quite close to my nose. However, today, the two seats on each of my sides were empty. I was sitting there, isolated like a bomb waiting to be detonated. Nothing could go wrong with so many noses at such a distance, right? Wrong! Where have you read a story without conflict?
Bus stops. Open doors. Enter lady, mild aged. Unpleasent feeling. She asks me if the seat next to me is free, as if it wasn't obvious enough - I know now that the Universe was giving me the opportunity to change my fate, to shout: "NO!". I had a similar idea then but the confusion of not knowing which of the two seats she was referring to acted as a gag.
I returned to my undisturbed state of perfect calm and taoist inertia. People started gathering in a chicken-like fashion, with their eyes like those of pigeons - looking sideways, moving their heads in short bursts of agitated ample movements. The other seat was now occupied also. My claustophobia started pumping more blood in less time, filling the capillaries in the nose and increasing my respiration. And then the smell. The smell of cheap cologne combined with a few drops of perspiration that brought back memories that I was striving to unmemorize.
I was trapped in a death chamber. I knew then and there that, somehow, life was slowly but surely ending. I soon begged the Universe from all my heart for a quick death. It chose to ignore me. The agony lasted until I recovered my lucidity that had to make a detour because of the initial shock. I figured then that soon I would get used to that smell but, somehow, I didn't want to - I didn't want to embrace all those horrible memories that were trying to pierce my cranium. Instead, I challenged my mind to block the perfume but it was futile. I even tried to stop breathing but when I started feeling dizzy, I took a mouthful of air, perfume infested air, intoxicating me further and deepening my dizziness. That only intensified my suffering as I was now feeling every particle of it and I made a quick promise of not trying stupid ideas anymore.
I was now caged in the final stages of my detonation and I really felt like I was ready to blow. I challenged my mind again. I was now trying, with my remaining energy, to change that smell into a more pleasurable one. I provoked my imagination and I filled my mind with happy memories and happy thoughts. Pleasant ones. To no avail. The smell caused them to wither and burn like a flaming filmstrip or a polaroid on fire. Coincidently, that ignited the fuse and the bomb was seconds to explosion, despite my desperation.
My last attempt failed and the bomb went off. Last night's beans and beer were of great use now and, in no time, I was isolated again. The smell was replaced by a far better one and, relieved, I smiled.

This is Unfinished Because I Don't Know How it Ends...

When you wake up next to me
You find me up and running
And when you ask me how I slept
I tell you that you're funny.

But when you change your smile into a frown
I tell you not to worry,
It's normal not to sleep

When sleeping next to you
Turns every night to morning.

And now for something completely different (Bunnies of Values, new section Grand Opening!)

They say that a picture is like a thousand words. What about more than one? What about a polaroid?

Following the same philosophy, which you have been used with here, of saying a lot by short means, here is something completely different. And because comic strips should be just that, here are some filmstrips that describe human values in a quite original way - using bunnies, non-values and vices and trying to be comical in a very noir/noire way [typical]. For a period, this is how things will go around here and this is how everything will look like so don't be shy to share your thoughts and feel free to participate in any way you like (pun intended, click the like button - there's also one at the bottom for the facebook page).

Without further ado, click this link to go straight into the action or, for the dyslexic: click the polaroid! (you'll get used with these "on-purpose badly taken pictures") The next filmstrips will be posted here and in the Bunnies of Values section below where you can find them all. Also, there's going to be an ad somewhere around here which will remind you of your favourite bunnies!

Sketch

Yet another no-comment sketch for Comédie Noire/Noir in preparation for the upcoming new section. Does this count as a comment?

Prognoza pentru week-end III

E decembrie şi s-au schimbat multe şi câteva merită menţionate. Ceea ce nu s-a schimbat este vremea, deci şi week-end-ul ăsta vom avea lună şi, de fapt, şi după week-end. Şi frig. Frigul e îndeajuns pentru toată lumea, nu vă mai înghesuiţi.

Ce s-a schimbat: ce citeşti este scris cu un font diferit, atent ales. Am schimbat partea "Cititori" de jos de tot cu ceva mai modern şi mai interactiv. Are chiar şi un mare buton de like cu care vă puteţi "abona". Veţi primi actualizări şi titlurile celor mai noi vorbe direct pe facebook şi veţi putea participa la tot felul de discuţii. A apărut o listă cu blog-urile prietenilor, deasupra etichetelor şi, cel mai important, un nou concept original Prognoza meteo: Lună - Vorbe scurte. Le veţi putea găsi înşirate peste tot pe blog, de-obicei sub vorbe - sunt foarte drăguţe şi scurte. Nu vor sta mult ca să nu ocupe locul aşa că apucă-te să le colecţionezi pe toate.

De ce atâtea schimbări? Există un proiect în pregătire care, dacă totul merge bine, va fi o colaborare. Nu spun titlu, subiect, câţi se vor ocupa pentru că nimic nu e cert. E doar o imagine în capul meu. Probabil până anul viitor va apărea o nouă secţiune.

În rest, nu vă opriţi din a vă împărtăşi gândurile cu privire la oricare din vorbe sau chiar la Poetry of the Common Fellow şi nu uitaţi să folosiţi butonul de like cu folos şi cu sinceritate şi, dacă vă interesează, să vă alăturaţi paginii de facebook. (jos de tot-de tot)

Mai multe nu mai spun. Fugi de-aici! (nu fugi, poate mai e ceva de citit care ţi-ar plăcea)

Week-end plăcut!

Cuisine

Something that I said I'll never be, I'm slowly becoming. I was half way to a white empty plate when I realized it. Instinctively my eyes raised and stopped on where she sat, an empty seat now, next to a burning cigarette consuming itself in the ash tray on the table, the ignited tip far from the brown-yellowish end. I was reading but I stopped to concentrate in forming a dull and surprised-looking expression thinking of how I wanted her to see me when she would come, even though that moment would not arrive soon. I think she only mentioned it once, she didin't brag about it, she never felt superior or even different, for that matter, in any way, she wasn't trying to convince me or others of her belief. I don't really know how I came across the thought and feeling that something is missing, that something might be wrong or... not right, or different in any way but it hit me right there and then like the Sun temporarily blinds the caveman when he emerges from his cave. I looked again, just to be sure - you know - but reality was not to be altered, no matter how I was handling it. Somehow, it seemed pretty obvious, easy to explain. She was a vegetarian and, since she was cooking for me, she was not serving any meat. But the mere fact that she said nothing about it, that she would do it mellow - but not in a secretive fashion - made my discovery so much more interesting and surprising. The scary part was how I never noticed these simple facts until now, how she knew this and how she took pleasure abusing it. As unconscious as I was eating anything, I was unconsciously being turned to eat only some things.