Snypiuer

ARGHHH!!! I've been missing this! One thing, MORE! Love ya' like a brother man, but, unless you're going to start writing stuff that sucks, instead of consistently writing compelling and engrossing material that makes EVERYONE say, "I WANT to continue this journey and find out where it takes me!" you HAVE to give us MORE! I know I'm being selfish, but you just do NOT give a crack-head a little bit'o crack and think it's going to be enough - you just DON'T! So it's kind of your fault . . . I'm just saying!

'Never forgotten' Maybe?

OOC: The more I write, the more details spin-out and the MORE I write. I know what i want to write, but getting there is becoming a bigger undertaking than I thought it would be. For the sake of the story, I'm going to do an abbreviated version and post the full story as a separate post when I finish it. And yes, this IS the SHORT version! After a while, I'll remove this OOC for the stories flow. ***************************************************************** James made his way downstairs to the Taverns' main room.There, he found a familiar figure sitting at the bar, one he never actually met, but knew of. Mr Moog sat silently drinking with his back to James. Without turning, Moog said, "I have a story you must hear." James went to sit next to Moog, but stopped short when he saw blood staining Moogs' clothes and hands. Mr Moog noticed out of the corner of his eye and gave a soft giggle as he said, "Don't worry, he's not dead. Not even a relic that powerful could do anything more than annoy him. But that's not the story you need to hear." James had a puzzled look on his face, "Why would I need to hear ANY story?" Moog finally looked James in the face, "Because I finally figured it out and, quite frankly, you have NO idea what you're dealing with." While James had never actually met Snypiuer's companions, he had heard stories about them. How they fought along side him on Terra Lost. How just being around him, they changed from mere squirrels into Archmages of great power. And he knew that, of the three, Mr Moog was the most jovial and light hearted. The steeliness of Moog's eyes and the hard tone to his voice was enough for James to realize that, yes . . . he, in fact, NEEDED to hear this story. It took Moog hours to tell his story, but he began with, "This story takes place in a faraway land that lay beneath a moon and stars seen only by those who first came to the Keep from that land. It's about Terra Lost. But, more importantly, it's about a young man. It's about what you face." He told of how the First Gods brought forth Order from Chaos and how doing so, caused the most powerful God to ever exist to fall into an eternal coma, of how the second most powerful God was wiped from existence and how only a handful of the rest of the Gods, even shielded and protected at the farthest reaches of Chaos, survived as nothing but shapeless entities, scattered across reality for millennia before they were able to reform. He told of the rise of Man. How he grew in power until, out of fear of their creation, his Creators fled beyond his reach - beyond Reality itself, taking with them what they could of the other Races. Of how Man then wiped out or bred out those that remained. He eventually told of how, through Science and Technology, Man became Gods themselves, spreading across the Universe and he told of the few who entered the Void, never to be seen again. He told of how Man, with all his power, retained a yearning. A longing that brought him back to his homeland and how, being Gods, each of them believed it was his or hers individual birthright to rule. He told of how this led to a war. A war that left all of Reality shattered, the Universe filled with the wreckage of galaxies torn apart and left barren - the remnants of what was left of their stars, wandering aimlessly. He told of how the last of Man, with no where left to fight, finally brought the war to their homeland. How no individual was able to defeat the others, for when one began to gain an upper-hand, the others would turn against him until another began to rise above and the rest then turned against him. He told of how the war ravaged Mans' homeland until the only life upon it was that which found refuge deep beneath its' surface and of how, in a desperate attempt to end the war, a portal was constructed. A portal that would reach beyond Reality and open a doorway to the First Gods in hope that they would return and bring peace. He told of how Man sensed the portal and, before it could be opened fully, they brought about a destruction so vast, even they perished. He told of how, for generations, the few survivors hidden deep below ground struggled and how they finally reemerged and once again spread across the land. He called it the 'Between Time', that time after the First destruction of Terra Lost by Science and Technology and the return of Magic. It was during this part of the story that Mr Moog told of a young man. It was this part of the story that James realized was truly meant for him. ********* Our young man was the third son born, on a farm on the outskirts of a small village, to a family blessed with many boys. As he grew, he took on the chores a child would do, but when he was about to begin helping in the fields and hunting, his mother died giving birth to a younger brother. His older brothers needed outside the house and his younger brothers too young to do much, it fell to him to keep the house running until his father was able to find another wife. Our young man became very efficient and was able to keep everything running so smoothly. When his father finally found a new wife, she was much younger and his father doted on her, so much so, that she convinced him that it would be better for everyone if our young man continued running the household - under her supervision. When he complained of how even his younger brothers, for his fathers' new wife gave him many more, were allowed to go on to help beyond the house, they all called him selfish. When he said he wanted to be more than just their servant while his brothers went off to start families of their own, he was told to be grateful that he would always have a roof over his head - not that that roof would be his, but that his brothers would always allow him to run the house. No one even noticed he was gone until there was no dinner the night he left. They cursed his name when they had to hire three servants to replace him - his father afraid his, still young, wife would leave if he did not hire them for her. They only stopped cursing him when they all finally forgot him, even the younger brothers he helped raise forgot him as if he was never part of their lives. He never knew this, believing that he would be missed and, when he returned after finding his fortune, they would celebrate his return. He traveled far and searched for knowledge from before the destruction, long hidden beneath forgotten ruins. As he learned more and more, he too forgot about those he left behind. His dream of returning with his fortune changed. As he uncovered the truth of Mans' past, he came to realize that, not only did he wish to reclaim that past, he wanted for himself. It was upon a solitary hill that he looked up to the stars one night and swore that he would walk among them as a God. ********* James had been engrossed in the story, so he was startled when the cloaked figure spoke from behind him, "Didn't quite work out the way he intended, did it." - more a statement than a question. Moog didn't look up from his glass, "Been wondering when you would show up." James was puzzled and asked Mr Moog, "What does he mean, 'It didn't turn out' the way he thought it would?" Moog stared at his glass as he said, "It means he went looking for POWER." Moog emptied the glass with one drink and looked at James and in a flat tone finished, "He found it." Moog continued his story, telling of how it was the young mans' searching that led him to the Portal. Of how those who guarded the Portal became aware of him when stories began to spread across the land of a man who wielded power from long ago. How it was while searching a storehouse buried beneath the ruins of a blasted land that they contacted him and brought him to the Portal. How he was first brought to a village hidden in the caldera of a dormant volcano, at the edge of an endless desert, where he met the Guardians and the nurse. And Moog told him the reason the Guardians needed the young man. ********* Our young man knew that the Guardians were creations of Man. Artificial beings known as 'Robots'. When he questioned them as to whether or not they were TRULY alive, they explained that they preferred to be called 'Cybernetics' and that their creators gave them the same rights, as well as treated them, as any other 'Living' creature. The nurse was something different. She was from the time before the destruction. Kept alive by the Guardians. Her name was Rebecca and she told him how the Guardians saved her after the Last Strike. How they pulled her from the rubble and healed her. How they replaced what couldn't be healed with technology. She said that she was a melding of man and machine, a 'Cyborg'. What caught our young man by even more of a surprise than the Guardians and the nurse, were the others. For generations, people from nearby villages would abandon their deformed children at a shrine placed at the base of the volcano in the belief that the Gods had marked them as sacrifices. The nurse would retrieve these children and raise them. She explained that the children were actually mutations, the reemergence of the races Man had bred out of existence. They explained that the Portal had been damaged and not only left partially open, was leaking radiation. The Portal sat deep within the desert and it was the leaking Portal that made it. That it was the radiation that activated long forgotten 'DNA' in villagers near the desert, allowing for the lost races to return. Our young man was in a village filled with the first Dwarves, Orcs, Elves, Trolls and the other races of legend not seen since shortly after the First Gods fled. The Guardians explained that they needed him to fix the leak . . . and to fully open the Portal. They explained that they were not able to approach the Portal because of their 'Neural Net'. Because of their neural nets' power supply, the radiation would destroy it long before they could get to it, regardless of how they shielded themselves. He asked why Rebecca was unable to do it and they explained that she had suffered a massive head injury and they used a neural net like theirs to replace the parts of her brain that were destroyed. They went on to say that, because of their DNA mutations, the radiation was also far too much of a risk for any of the others there to approach the Portal. They had tried to get others, but they had all fled at the first opportunity - in fear. No, our young man was their best hope. He had studied and learned more than any other and, therefor, had an open mind and understanding of what was needed. But, despite all this, it was the promise of the power he would gain that led him to agree to go to the Portal. They supplied him with three things, the keys to the facilities where the Portal was housed, an electron blade (hand-held energy cutter capable of slicing through any material on the molecular level) and a safety suit - a suit constructed of carbon nanotubes, meta-materials and organic nanites. They explained what they believed would need to be done, if the shielding on the portal was too damaged, sections of the main door could be cut away and used to patch it since it was made of the same ultra-dense material, they just cautioned him not to compromise the doors integrity so that it would still be intact and capable of securing the facility. He made his way to the Portal and found that the damage was far greater than the Guardians had thought. He cut sections from the main door until it looked like a spider in a web, but it held. Our young man did not realize it, but even with his suit he was bombarded with vast amounts of radiation. By the time he had sealed the leak, his suit had transformed, the organic nanites mutating into a sentient hive mind and attaching itself to him in an attempt to keep him alive, repairing him on a cellular level as rapidly as possible. The attachment was so thorough, part of him became the suit. Finally, he brought the Portal fully on-line. He was thrown back as a tear in Reality formed and Hethen, Sentinel of the Outer Planes stepped forth. Hethen looked at our young man and said, "You are Man, destroyer and betrayer. The Gods have allowed you to exists without us and now you dare to enter our realm!?" Before our young man could react, Hethen reached for him. Our young man grabbed the closest thing he could to protect himself with, the electron blade. Our young man slashed wildly at Hethens' arm as his hand wrapped around his throat. Hethen stumbled backwards in shock as the blade took his arm off halfway between his elbow and wrist. Seizing the opportunity, our young man attacked hethen as they thrashed about, they crashed into the Portals' control panel and knocking it into the Portals' containment grid. The blast was felt throughout the land as the Portal erupted and then collapsed in on itself. The only thing that stopped the implosion was the main door of the facility lodging itself within the opening and melding with the Portals base, all of which took on the appearance of bone. It became a hole in all of Reality. Over time, the Gods reentered the land, as did the forgotten races and magic. Our young man was pulled into the Portal and never seen again. ********* James was confused, but before he could say anything, a warmth came over him and he felt calm and . . . love. Mr Moog smiled and said softly, "Mother!" James, though filled with a sense of complete happiness still feared to turn and look. He KNEW that a God stood behind him. "It's O.K., James. You can look." Moog said with a sparkle in his eyes. James turned and saw a young woman wearing flowing robes and bathed in light, his heart felt as if it would burst with joy. he felt like a child and wanted her to hold him and sing him to sleep. She smiled and the light faded, she became a simple woman, yet James still felt the warmth and love. he felt . . . safe. She tussled Moogs head and he . . . giggled. "Now Moog, you know that's not how it ends." she told him. James' warm feeling cold, slightly, as the cloaked figure spoke from the shadows, "Why don't YOU tell him what happened . . . Becs." She ignored him, but James could tell she was on edge, his sense of security faded. She continued where Moog left off. ********* It's true that the young man was pulled into the Portal and, while some BELIEVE he was never seen again, the truth is that he did return - though it took many many years. He returned and became one of the Archmages of Terra. And, once Terra was destroyed for the final time, he eventually made his way here. By the way, it may interest you to know the name of the facility, it was the 'Stevens-Newell-Yarborough Portal Installation at the University of East Ridgecrest'. But that's just an interesting fact. What's most important is, while lost beyond the Portal, he hid two things, the keys to the main doors of the Portal facility and the electron blade. ********* The cloaked figure interrupted her, "That's not all he left there Becs." She finally looked at the figure and, while it was obvious she wanted nothing better than to turn and run, she said to it, "We TRIED to save him! Ari and Benny, BOTH of them were burnt out trying!" There was silence as they faced eachother, until the cloaked figure finally broke it, "Yeah. Well, you know what they say about good intentions." Anger flashed across her face as she took a step towards the figure. He said softly, coldly, "Careful Rebecca." She hesitated, but finally said, in a matter of fact tone, "He didn't LEAVE anything there. YOU took it." The tension built as they stood, neither willing to give an inch. James was shocked when the cloaked figure, in a low, yet . . . almost tender tone, said, "He'd be dead otherwise." She gave a slight snort, "Like you said, 'You know what they say about good intentions'." Mr Moog finally spoke up, "LOOK, what's important is the keys and the blade!" James looked at him, "Why are they important?" Mother answered him, "Because either one can unlock or cut open the main door. And there has been two individuals sent to find them." James was still puzzled. The cloaked figure spoke up, "The main door is covering the portal and keeping it from imploding fully, sucking everything into it and sending EVERYTHING back into Chaos. Open the door and . . . poof." James sat as it sunk in. The cloaked figure walked up to him and said, "Clocks ticking and there's a storm outside."

Brilliant in DEED! I see quite a quest for Harmony, taking into account her current state!

Wow. Just . . . WOW! I WANT to say more, but fear I would fail miserably in ANY attempt to express my TRUE delight in this. THANK YOU!

I have lived my life with my remote control button stuck on scan. This hits FAR too close to home!

Mr Moog suddenly stopped his worried pacing and grasped the piece of glass tightly by it's handle, ready to lunge at Snypiuer when he groaned and shifted in bed. The distant sound of thunder rolled towards the Keep of the Pen is Mightier than the Sword as if it was a wave of demons from the darkest abyss. Mr Moog barely had time to think of Pith when the entire Keep shook as the thunder rolled over it. Snypiuer would still not wake up, but he appeared to sleep less fitfully. All day, wind rattled windows throughout the Keep and pulled tiles off of roofs pounded by rain - until night fell, once again, upon the Keep. The storm calmed and Mr Moog stopped his pacing all together. No, he was no longer worried. He KNEW there was danger beyond anything the Keep had ever faced before. He softly whispered to Pith and Silvia, "Whatever he sent you to do . . . you better hurry." Moog stood beside Snypiuer's bed . . . and held the piece of glass over his friends heart - ready to pierce it at a moments notice. He wasn't taking any chances. Because, when the storm calmed, it was right after Snypiuer had once again stopped his fitful sleep and appeared to be listening. Whatever was happening in that other-world the semi-divine walk upon in their sleep, Moog knew the fate of the Keep hung in the balance and it was what happened during the time Snypiuer was motionless and 'listening' that would determine which way the scale tipped.

Great . . . juuUUSSsttt GREAT! First frikin' Jaws spoiled the ocean for me, NOW I'm not going to be able to swim in a pool at night! AND baths! I LIKE a nice relaxing hot bath at night with the lights all low . . . THANKS! Thanks a LOT! You know, sometimes, just SOMETIMES, I wish some of you WEREN'T so good in your writing! And yet, I can't wait for more!

Mr Moog paced, worriedly, around the room. NOT because of the fact that, for the past 3 days, Snypiuer had been asleep and NOTHING he had tried would wake him. Nor was it the fact that, as we know, the sleep of the semi-divine is FAR more than the sleep of mere mortals and Snypiuer was, obviously, in the throes of some dark nightmare. It wasn't even the fact that he hadn't seen that creepy cloak of Snypiuer's since he had taken it off and went to sleep (though Moog DID have a permanent case of the heebie-jeebies because of it). No, what had caused Mr Moog to become so 'on-edge' that he was about to crawl out of his skin was the fact that, after 3 days of fitful, semi-divine sleep that he was unable to be awoken from . . . Snypiuer had, suddenly, gone perfectly still . . . as if he were . . . listening to someone. *3 DAYS AGO* Snypiuer had been in a mood for weeks (if not months) that was growing, exponentially, darker by the minute. Pith, Silvia and Mr Moog understood, with crystal clarity, the danger this increasingly darkening mood placed EVERYONE in because, being his closest companions, they knew more than anyone how truly insane his quest to take the place of the long dead Blood God had driven him and, thus, they knew full well that even they had NO concept of the depths of his insanity nor what it may lead to - only that it was bad . . . very, VERY bad. This knowledge led them to do the only sensible thing . . . they made themselves scarce. So, when they found themselves, suddenly, in Snypiuer's parlour, they knew things had come to a head. At the sight of Snypiuer, Mr Moog gasped and took a step back as Pith and Sil step to either side, giving themselves room to move. ALL of them filled themselves with so much magical energy, the entire room began to give off a low hum and the air around them crackled as they also pulled their weapons and took defensive postures. Snypiuer took in the scene: His closest companions, weapons in hand, at the ready and each filled with enough magical energy to level a small mountain, energy they were barely able to contain and ready to unleash it upon him at the slightest thought. He took it in in an instant and dismissed it even faster - as a God would dismiss the smallest of his creations. He spoke to them in a far off voice, "Darkness and evil portents require our attention. I need to speak to each of you . . . individually. Pith. Follow." Snypiuer turned and entered his inner chambers. His companions let the energy they had grasped fade away as they put their weapons away. Pith followed and, as the door closed behind him, Mr Moog and Sil looked at eachother and shrugged. After a short time, Pith returned. Both Mr Moog and Sil stood, with looks of concern upon their faces, for Pith was dressed for battle. But not just for ANY battle. Moog and Sil had not seen him this prepared since they had fought in the fiercest of battles in the darkest times of Terra Lost. Before either could voice their concerns, he said, "I could NEVER had asked for better companions. A better brother or sister." He grasped Moog and hugged him, then they grasped each others' wrist and shook. He patted Moogs' shoulder as he turned to Sil and repeated the ritual. "Watch yourselves." He told them with an intensity and glare that shook each of them to their core. Then, with a coldness they had NEVER seen in him before, he softly said with a glance over his shoulder towards Snypiuers' door, "Watch HIM even closer." As he stepped away and began to rip a tear in reality itself to travel through, Mr Moog said with a false sense of bravado and humor, "Jeez Pith, you act as if you're about to storm the very Gates of Heaven!" Pith neither turned to look back nor slowed down as he replied in a flat voice, "Not Heaven my friend." As he stepped through and the rip sealed behind him, Moog and Sil saw he had stepped through into an utter darkness filled with screams. Snypiuer's voice came from his inner chambers, "Silvia, time is short." Sil was yelling at Snypiuer before the door even began to close. Moog could hear her muted yells through the door for a while before they went silent. A short time later, the door opened and Silvia came through, dressed for battle the same as Pith. Mr Moog saw a flash of memory from Terra Lost - the last time he had seen her dressed this way. He timidly began to ask, "Sil, what's . . .", she cut him off and softly said, as she hugged him tight, "You take care of yourself . . . and him." She released him and stepped back, Mr Moog's eyes widened with shock and he shuddered - not because her eye suddenly became cold and lifeless as she handed him, what appeared to be a sliver of glass made into a knife whose handle was some sort of silver tape wrapped around one end, and said in a detached voice, "Remember what we talked about. This probably won't kill him, but it may give you enough time to escape." No. What made Mr Moog quake inside, with a fear he had never known, was the single tear he swears he saw begin to form in her eye. He couldn't move as she swept past him. The light from the doorway she ripped in reality blasted him from behind and left a feint outline of his shadow on the wall before him as the tear in reality closed - he didn't even hear when she whispered, "Goodbye my dear friend." He quickly hid the sliver of glass in his shirt and straightened himself as Snypiuer simply said, "Moog." As he entered the chamber, Moog was taken aback at how old and weary Snypiuer appeared. He asked in earnest, "Boss, what's going on?" Snypiuer raised his right arm towards a coat rack in the corner near his bed, which he stood in front of. His cloak began to crawl across his arm, like a giant black snake, and stretched across to the coat rack where it hung itself - a living shadow that seemed to flutter upon breezes only known to it. Mr Moog had ALWAYS been creeped-out by that cloak. But, for some reason, it put him more on edge than usual as he attempted to NOT look at it. Snypiuer slowly sat down at the edge of his bed. "I'm tired, my old friend. I feel as if we are headed for dark times, the likes of which we have not seen since our days upon Terra Lost." Moog shuffled a bit as he placed his hand over the sliver of glass concealed in his shirt. Snypiuer sighed and hung his head. Moog's heart stopped as Snypiuer said in a low, tired voice, "It's just a piece of glass you know. Older than our time on Terra Lost, but just a piece of glass, none the less." He chuckled, weakly, as he rubbed his eye and continued, "A piece of glass with duct tape for a handle. Funny how something so . . . normal, could hold so much power - simply because it was from the time before Magic." Moog stepped to Snypiuer's side and placed his hand, gently, on Snypiuer's arm, "Boss, we've survived situations so bad, the Gods tell stories about us. What CAN'T we get through!?" The sadness in Snypiuer's eye made Mr Moog's heart break. Before Moog could say anything, Snypiuer patted the hand he had placed upon his arm and said, "When was the last time a Demigod, other than myself, walked amongst us? Or the Elders? The Halls of the Pen are silent. The Keep is a living thing and those who dwell within it are it's lifeblood - it's every breath. And they are gone. There is a darkness that senses the Pen is dying and it seeks to consume it. Keep that simple piece of glass close my friend . . . and watch . . . out . . . for . . ." as Snypiuer's words trailed off he lay down. Mr Moog shook him, "Watch out for what? Watch out for WHAT!?" A smile came to Snypiuer's lips as he woke enough to pinch Moogs cheek, ruffle his hair and snidely say, "Why, ME of course!" Snypiuer's hand fell to his side as he sank into a deep slumber. Mr Moog removed Snypiuer's boots, arranged him, comfortably, in bed and watched over his friend. Snypiuer, almost immediately, began to sleep fitfully: Tossing, turning, muttering in his sleep. Moog checked for a fever, but there was none and, if he hadn't known that the sleep of the semi-divine was unlike that of mortals, he would have sworn Snypiuer was suffering from delirium - the storm that hit that first night and the feeling of impending doom that grew moment by moment over the Keep of the Pen is Mightier than the Sword was proof that it wasn't delirium, but it was, in deed, the sleep of the semi-divine that gripped Snypiuer. *PRESENT* But that was three days ago. Three days that Mr Moog, a simple piece of glass in hand, watched over Snypiuer as he slept - fitfully. Three days that a dark, dreadful feeling seeped into every nook and cranny of the Keep, building and growing stronger. Three days that that DAMN creepy cloak had been missing. Three days of waiting for Pith or Silvia to return. For Snypiuer to waken. For that DAMNED cloak to appear! Three days of frayed nerves and frantic thoughts. Three days and now . . . it ALL had stopped. It was still THERE. But it had, simply . . . frozen in place - As if all of reality had taken a breath and was . . . waiting . . . listening.

Snypiuer notices the sticky note. Smiles. Pulls out a slightly larger sticky note and pen. After making some quick markings on it, he puts the pen away and pulls out a pair of scissors and begins cutting it. He places the larger sticky note over Azuran's so that it now appears to have a quite elegant frame. Gently pats it to make sure it's secure and softly says, "There". Smiles again and wistfully continues walking the Pens' sleepy halls.

As always, more would be appreciated!

I like this one. . . it flows very nicely and is just, simply, good!

Each skin can have it's own logo, so if anyone wants to put one together to better match a given skin. . . GO FOR IT!

Give any feed back you have and I'll add any new skins I find!

Go to POLL and let me know which is your favorite skin and we'll set the one with the most votes as default. Until then, I'll randomly change the default skin at my own, whimsical, discretion!

FINALLY!!! The idiot in charge of skins has FINALLY done his job (why do we put up with such shoddy and inefficient work performance!?) Just go to the bottom of the page on the left-hand side and click 'change theme', then choose a skin. The last 2, Hex and Kolor, can change their color theme. On the top right of every page, there is a box with 6 letters/numbers (no idea if it can be removed or hidden). Click on this box and adjust to your liking! Working on making a logo that fits better with a couple of the skins. ENJOY! (and tell the idiot in charge of these things to get his act together or he's a-gonna get a beating!)

O.K., got some new skins, just need to get the logo on them - bear with me!

O.K.! Degorram told me how to get the skins and it worked! Let me grab some and set them up with the CBox and our Logo and I'll make them visible for everyone.

STILL trying to figure out HOW to get the skins. I'm following the directions, but not working! I KNOW I'm making a simple mistake SOMEWHERE! Bear with me and I'm SORRY it's taking so long!

WHOA! I have GOT to get myself in gear! I have not made a News update in ages. I'm just completely non-functioning at the moment (haven't been for some time). Anyways, Patrick has moved us and, like in MOST moves, we lost some things. The skins didn't survive and I'll be doing what I can to fix that - just give me some time to figure out exactly WHAT is different. If I can motivate myself, I'll try to tidy the site up a bit (that is, IF I can figure out HOW).

The human heart is a wondrous thing. It's so small that, when it's filled with joy, it over-flows and you have to share your happiness with everyone you can. Yet, when it's filled with sorrow, it becomes a bottomless pit of pain and sadness - an endless void of tears that we crawl into and shut ourselves away from those we love as we wallow in despair and it feels as if our heart is whithering away and dieing. But, the most wondrous thing about the human heart is, when the tiniest bit of hope touches it, the thinnest bit of happiness caresses it. . . it heals. If these last two poems come from within your own personal well of sorrow and are this good. . . I can't wait to read what you write when your heart heals.

O.K., it's no secret that I have no idea what I'm doing and failing on a grand scale to learn anything. There has been talk of reorganizing the site to make it, at least, look better. Problem is, the people with the knowledge of HOW to do it are hindered by RL and simply don't have the time required. My suggestion is, everyone give their thoughts on what is most important to do first and those with the knowledge of how, just give a quick explanation of what I need to do (what the code looks like and where it should be found) and I'll look up the specifics. I've found several other writing sites that have regular activity and think we can incorporate some of their elements while retaining the intimacy that sets the Pen apart. If any of you know of any sites, give a link and what you believe we should emulate.

Suffering from a monumental case of non-inspiration to write anything, I was wondering where others find their inspiration to write. Do you have a favorite theme or setting that you feel most comfortable with? Do you follow a basic pattern when writing? Whatever you think may help, not just me, but others.

O.K., where to start? Let's put up some statistics first. Stats: Source https://www.cia.gov/...ok/geos/as.html Australia and https://www.cia.gov/...ok/geos/us.html USA Population Australia 21,766,711 (July 2011 est.) USA 313,232,044 (July 2011 est.) Urbanization Australia 89% of total population (2010) USA 82% of total population (2010) Population of Major Cities Australia Sydney 4.429 million; Melbourne 3.853 million; Brisbane 1.97 million; Perth 1.599 million; CANBERRA (capital) 384,000 (2009) USA New York-Newark 19.3 million; Los Angeles-Long Beach-Santa Ana 12.675 million; Chicago 9.134 million; Miami 5.699 million; WASHINGTON, D.C. (capital) 4.421 million (2009) GDP Australia $917.7 billion (2011 est.) Official Exchange Rate $1.507 trillion (2011 est.) Per Capita $40,800 (2011 est.) By Sector agriculture: 4% industry: 25.6% services: 70.4% (2011 est.) USA $15.04 trillion (2011 est.) Official Exchange Rate $15.06 trillion (2011 est.) Per Capita $48,100 (2011 est.) By Sector agriculture: 1.2% industry: 22.1% services: 76.7% (2011 est.) Labor Force Australia 12.02 million (2011 est.) By Occupation agriculture: 3.6% industry: 21.1% services: 75% (2009 est.) USA 153.4 million By Occupation farming, forestry, and fishing: 0.7% manufacturing, extraction, transportation, and crafts: 20.3% managerial, professional, and technical: 37.3% sales and office: 24.2% other services: 17.6% Unemployment Australia 5% (2011 est.) USA 9.1% (2011 est.) Population Below Poverty Level Australia NA% USA 15.1% (2010 est.) Household Income or Consumption by Comparison Share Australia lowest 10%: 2% highest 10%: 25.4% (1994) USA lowest 10%: 2% highest 10%: 30% (2007 est.) Taxes as % of GDP Australia 31.1% of GDP (2011 est.) USA 15% of GDP Now, what can we take from this? In terms of % of Population, more Australians actually live in cities than Americans do. In fact 11.851 million Australians (slightly less than 55% of all Australians) live in just 4 cities and about 80% of all Australians live within the Eastern Seaboard or coastal fringes (http://www.wilmap.com.au/ausfacts.html). This means that delivery of goods in Australia is much more centralized than they are in the USA - with over 50% of the population located in four cities and 80% of the total population living along waterways (coastline). Combine this with a far smaller population than the USA and it should be much more cost effective to supply goods/services in Australia. While I maintain that a mandated higher minimum wage has a lot to do with this, another factor is rate of taxation. Australians are taxed at over twice that of Americans (31.1% vs. 15%) - it's a fundamental fact of business that all costs are transferred to the consumer, thereby increasing the cost to supply goods and services. We can also see that, despite the USA having 15.1% of it's population below the Poverty level and Australia having a statistical 0% below Poverty level, the bottom 10% of the population in both countries have a comparison share of 2% of GDP while there is less than a 5% difference in the top 10%. This does translate to Australia having a slightly better distribution of wealth (due to the difference in population) but the difference in GDP lessens this disparity. Add the fact that every cost of living calculator I can find lists the cost of living in Australia as, anywhere from, 30% to 80% higher than the cost of living in the USA and a taxation rate of twice that of the USA and mandating a higher minimum wage just exacerbates things. I will concede that, due to Australia's' smaller population and the actual distribution of the population, a mandated higher minimum wage has less of a negative effect in Australia than it would in the USA. Also, to make incentivizing a higher minimum wage more effective over all, a restructuring of the tax code would need to be done. I have a basic outline of such a reworked tax structure and will attempt to post a simplified version. . . eventually!? I know I'm missing something. . . just can't figure out what!