As I walked into work today, I passed a limping man. My mind had been mulling over the list of horrific things I have to inflict today. Also the number 132.5 months rolls in my head a lot. But those thoughts stopped when I realized that I passed this limping man. Several other people passed him and he just plowed along…slowly.

I recall myself in that same situation, same stretch of sidewalk, 2-3 weeks ago. So I wondered to myself was he mad people were passing him, was he thinking all the ‘FAST’ walkers don’t appreciate the fact that they can just ‘walk’. It wasn’t Deja Vous. It was more a wake up call about the fact, I wasn’t appreciating the fact that I was walking fairly normally. There is some background aches, and a flair up now and then but I am so used to that I don’t gnerally notice.

But noticing that all the time I was limping along, my thoughts turned to the simple fact that we dont give a quick nod to the simple things we do…until we can’t do them. We dont stop to smell the flowers.

I practiced Martial arts for the first time this year last weekend. I did Jiki Shinkage Ryu Kenjutsu on Saturday, and then Shindo Muso Ryu Jo early Sunday morning. My ankle was hurting but I did what I could and if it hurt, I stopped. But doing that put everything into a sharp focus. Where were my feet? How was I going to move next? Will moving hurt? Will I show my opponent that I am hurt? It was one of the better, if not most painful, training I have done in a long while.

Several people asked if maybe I shouldnt train. Well even the hurting parts weren’t crippling, but there was a more important point. If I didn’t train, my head would explode. I am not going to make any stoke jokes here, but beyond the physical need, there is a slipping mental focus that is slowly going back to all my old bad habits. My eating habits are dropping in the can again, It has been a while since I sat in at a weight Watchers meeting and surprise! my 35 pounds I lost is slowly creeping back. I really do need it to stay lost, maybe crate it up and ship it off to Madagasgar, or Tazmania.

It is on the edge of that depression that I watched that man limping along today. Then I thought “If we dont stop and smell the roses, what do Roses do?” Do they sit and watch, waiting for people to come by and stop? And if people do stop, do the roses say to themselves “Move along dude, you stink”.

-GG

That last post (Episode 3) Showed off the Herbert and Densecat House. I am really pleased about the picture, The downstairs rooms of the doll house really have a Tim Burton-ish feel. Maybe from the lil Mac camera, or maybe its the reflection off of Garrett’s tounge, but I am really pleased with it.

-GG

I need to take a small moment to mention my solidarity for the Writers Guild of America. Being a member of NABET 31, I guess I can see some small connection. Then again I can also see some connection between myself and the Spanish Flu epidemic of 1918.

BUT I DIGRESS.

Undaunted by any residuals concerns the creator of Herbert and Densecat is here with Episode 3. It is tragically only going to be in script form. If you have ever worked with the creator of H and D you might understand.
(Note: as of this writing…the creator has run away yelling something about the feeding of the dead to the others…cant wait to get a picture of the “Others”)

We have a few new characters to introduce:

He is a pinata. He speaks every langauge in the world but in Maryland he speaks English.

Rhea is a girl pichachu. You may think it is because she has flowers on her head. You really can tell because she is a little smaller and has smaller stripes on the back.

This is Shipo. It is mentioned that he is a fox demon from some wildly popular cartoon, I have never watched it so you, the gentle reader, will have to let me know about this one.

Last Character is one that I could not get our Creator to pose so we got the Grumpy one to show (said creator of H and D is off feeding dead things I think).

This is Weebo…you dont spell it with a ‘W’ at the end (and it seems you can generate some wrath if you spell it “Wiibaux”). Weebo (gender uncertain at this time) is mentioned randomly…ok as if any of the other characters aren’t.

And most importantly the setting for it all.

So Ladies and Gentlemen Herbert and Densecat Episode 3

Scene opens: House exterior, second story window.
Sound of banging on window, and distant sound of a pichachu being violently ill.

Herbert: (Yelling) STOP THAT!

Crazy Hedgehog: (in between banging head against the window) Can I have some cookies?

Herbert: (Yelling): Stop That!

Crazy Hedgehog: (Now inside the house)

Herbert: No, now spit them out. How did you get inside?

Crazy Hedgehog: I shrank!

Rhea: (in between vomiting) I drank hot sauce, I thought it was Catsup.

Action: Herbert and Crazy Hedgehog Collide. Rhea vomits again because her stomach acid has polio in it, and she ate all the
cookies.

Mysterious Voice: Zoe is out shopping. Zoe gives flowers to Rhea who becomes a stepmother to Shipo. Join us next week on…HERBERT and DENSECAT.

- GG

Not sure if I like it yet but the new site theme on the Grumpy Gecko Blog is a little more gecko-ish feel to it. Not a Tokay gecko, mind you, which would go back to that blue-ish theme.

But since I have been staring at the blog (Not writting anything mind you) it occured to me I could change it.

Staring you may ask. Why? Because I twisted my ankle and now I needed to sit with my foot up. That was Sunday night. I have also been dealing with the post traumatic stress of smacking Garrett’s face flat into the mud when my ankle went. Today, 4 days later, the image of his head bouncing off the ground, has stopped haunting me. Could be that my ankle is feeling better, could be that my memory is crappy, could be a built in mechanism humans have to cope.

Strangely enough, all I wanted to do was go hang out at the Royal Mile and drink and forget. More strange is that with all the oppertunities to do that, a bag of ice and Alleve have won out. I haven’t been plesant to be around…ok so not so out of the ordinary.

Havent been on WoW for a couple days because I am now a Guild Master!!! Nothing makes me not want to play more than responsiblity to play. Besides the fact that the 2 people who started the guild REALLY need to work out whatever issues they have with each other and I now feel like I am being their…I dont know…intermediate? translator? messenger boy?
I dont like seeing friends bickering but they need to work it out amongst themselves. They have each others phone number…

I do really want to say that Samantha was absolutely great when I busted my ankle. She was helpful, she asked people for ice, she sat with me, and she checked on Garrett. She is an all around great kid. Stacey is great too. She didnt push me from a moving car when I was pissed about everything. She didnt push me out of a moving house when I was ranting with my foot up, pissing and moaning about crap I have no control over. She is THE BEST!

And Garrett, my boy, is truely an amazing kid. After he calmed down, the stream of consciousness started flowing like it hadn’t even had a break. I got a call yesterday that he “collided with another child on the playground” and loosened a tooth. Garrett told me the story on the phone, but he doesnt believe in talking into the phone, speaking off into the ether is good enough for him. Later that night I understood that “collided with another child on the playground” is school nurse speak for “your child busted himself up, dont sue the school”. But this morning, Garrett was rambling on about everything from planets to annoying the cats to Rhea doing something…. But no Herbert and Densecat…. sigh

peace and arthritisis grease