Limitless Ramblings

today's story was inspired by the above photo, from Shaggyshoo at flickr.

enjoy... even though this one is particularly crappy. :/

Center Stage

- Figure out who your audience is and give them what they want. This can very easily become a ‘chicken and egg’ situation: you’ll attract as readers the kinds of people who like to read what you publish, but if you want to keep them reading, you have to keep providing them with what attracted them to your site in the first place.

There are very few things that rub me the wrong way to the point that I'll get angry about them very quickly... but one of those things is trying to be someone else to impress other people.

I am a form supporter of being yourself, and kind of get upset when people say you should change who you are if you want friends or a boyfriend. Needless to say, when I read the above criteria for How You Can Increase Your Blog Traffic, I got kind of upset.

I understand that it's not exactly saying to change who you are or what you post, but the gist of it is, post what others like so they'll keep reading... to which I have to say, what's the point of having a blog.

The internet is full of sites where people can go and find things that interest them... it isn't my job to make my blog one of those sites. I suppose if you're hungry for blog traffic, this may seem like good advice... but seriously, is internet popularity really worth that?

A blog is about you, what you like or don't like, what you're striving for, what you want to do with your life... a blog is about anything YOU want it to be, not about tweaking it so others will read it. If people want to read what you have to say, they will. If not, they won't. That doesn't change the fact that you should still blog how YOU want to, to make you happy, not to please others.

I started this blog so that I could have a place where I could journal publicly, and say what I felt needed to be said... to get it out there... but at the same time, I really couldn't care less if no one read it. I'm not going to change what I say, how I post, or what this blog is about so that I can get more readers.

Because when it comes down to it, Limitless Ramblings is a place where I can put what's on MY mind, not try to figure out what's on yours. And if our thoughts happen to overlap, then more power to it.

Today's story is very special, because it was co-authored by Camden Gudgel, who's blog can be found HERE.

He came up with the characters and the key plot points, and I filled in the rest. Good team effort!!

So, I hope you enjoy it!

Camden's Story

**Neither Camden or I own Toy Story, or any of the characters related to Toy Story. All rights belong to Pixar.



The Authors

Alright... so, this is based off a prompt given to me by Jenny. Here's the prompt:

Write about the word Cleave
Start with "I remember when"
And: character- about 6'2", balding hair with blue eyes and long arms. Plot: your character is very sad. Prompt: They would have been ok if they hadn't stopped for the stranger

I didn't keep all of it. My character is balding, the story starts with "I remember when", and my character is very sad. And they would have been fine had they not... bumped into... the stranger.

Just a side note: Prompts like the one above are VERY welcome... if you have one, leave it in the comments here, or at the Entwash, on my Formspring, or e-mail me at bleureivers@live.com.

Anyway, without further ado, here is Confessions of a Sparklepire, special thanks to Jenny Nagy!

(In case you can't figure out where to click to get to the story... click... HERE.)

Every once in a while, I come across something that fascinates me so much, words cannot begin to describe. Not like an obsession, but a healthy, pure, fascination. I actually don't experience them as much as I like, because I like taking things apart and figuring out what makes them tick. If I can't figure out why something does what it does, it just fascinates the hell out of me. And once it does, I start to sort of play this game where I try to understand how it works, knowing full well that I never will and my mind is, in effect, blown every time. But the best thing about these "somethings" is that the not knowing, the fascination, the inability to understand... it makes me happy.

Reflections are like that for me. I understand that certain surfaces reflect light in a certain way, be they flat or concave, and that sometimes - most of the time - that results in a copy of yourself, or various objects that are placed near the reflective surface. But as much as I "get" it, I don't get it even more.

Take you, for example. When you look in a mirror, you see your reflection. It's you, but it's not. What you see is an illusion, but it's real. It copies your every move... like a shadow, but with a face, and definition. Reflections contradict everything ever. No 2 snowflakes are the same, but look. A perfect doppelganger is staring right back at you. They reflect depth and yet have none. A mirror could reflect a truth, but the very fact that it's a reflection makes it a lie.

Is your mind blown yet? It may just be me, but this love for reflections has been a type of gateway for me. It's really gotten me into art and photography. A fascination for reflections led to a respect for those who seemed to capture the magic. I'm rubbish myself, but I've been able to get into works of other great artists due to my fascination.

Take my favorite artist, M.C. Escher, for example. The first drawing I saw of his was the Hand with Reflecting Sphere. It was love at first sight. Something about how he was able to so perfectly capture the magic of a reflection... how he seemingly uses it to open up this entire world we wouldn't be able to see, were it not for the sphere. And then there's the lie factor. He's drawn a reflection, taken something unreal and made it even more unreal. A lie of a lie. And you have to trust him. Going in, knowing you're looking at a drawing of a reflection - a lie of a lie - you have to trust that that's what that room really looks like, that that's what HE really looks like. Because who knows? Reflections are tricky like that.

Salvador Dali's "Swans Reflecting Elephants" is a great example of this. Jordan showed me this last night, and I absolutely love it. Another entrancing thing about reflections is they could be so much more than what we see. There could be a whole world on the other side of that mirror, a parallel world with subtle differences that change everything. Every time you look in a mirror, someone on the other side could be asking themselves if you're real, or just a reflection of light. Improbable? Sure. But fascinating and intriguing none the less, and Dali captures it so perfectly. It took me a little while before I saw it, but once I did... I gained that much more respect for him. It's a reflection but it reveals so much more.

Photography also reveals a lot of fascinating aspects of reflections, the most prevalent being how different angles reveal different things. Take this shot of John Barrowman* for example. Perhaps there's some science or mathamatical voodoo that explains why he reflects the way he does but, looking at the shot, I would not have guessed it would reflect that way. The way he faces the camera, you would think only his back would be reflected, but instead we see almost a perfect profile of his face. To me, that adds tons more depth to the photo, and gives it more layers. It tells you more about how he's sitting, where the camera is positioned, things that would be slightly skewed had the mirror not been there. And it's not just mirrors. Reflections from windows, water, types of stone, all reveal so much more to the looker, as if opening another world.

And perhaps that's what the whole fascination comes down to. Whether it's a literal new world, or just something you wouldn't have seen had there not been some means of reflection present, there is so much going on there than just a mere light illusion. And for that reason, I hope I never truly understand them. There's so much beauty in not knowing, and we completely miss it because we're so hungry to understand.

Knowledge is great, but sometimes, a little bit of ignorance can be magical.


*I used this picture, not because it was Barrowman, but because it was the shot that spurred on the discussion I had with Jordan last night that led to this blog. I'm nothing if not grateful.

Alright so... today's story was a bit longer and took a few hours to write, so instead of giving a big meaty post, I'm just going to link you all to the post I wrote for my friend Justin over at his blog.

The Apple iPad: The Missing Link...?

Now, for today's DADC, this is basically a "what would happen if" that continues from an episode from S3 of Heroes. The story takes place after Pinehearst explodes, and centers around 1 specific Heroes character, as well as 1 other that isn't in Heroes, persay. It was a prompt given to me, so I hope I fulfilled it satisfactorily... lol. Is that a word? XD Anyway, enjoy!!

Everything Ends: Chapter 1

Few... today ended up being a little bit more blog-hectic than I thought it would be!! BUT, ALAS, I have completed Day 1 of my "Drabble a Day" challenge... which, I've been informed, my friend Jenny is doing as well! So everyone should take a peek at her blog for some more interesting literary tidbits!

Anyway, today's blog isn't going to be nearly as meaty as some in the past, because - along with today's drabble - I was also given the opportunity to fill in for my friend Justin over at his blog.

So, this is just a quick little post to let everyone know I accomplished the goal for today, and have written my first drabble thing...

Also, There's a vlog to come in the next few days (hopefully), so keep your eyes peeled for that.

I suppose I should set up the story... it's called the Blanket because, well, it's about a blanket. A particular blanket, actually. One of the little boys I watch lost his favorite blanket a few days back, and for whatever reason I just really wanted to write this. I'm hoping to be able to write a few children's drabbles while I do this, get a few stories under my belt or something. Who knows. Anyway, without further ado:

The Blanket