Action Figure Daniel

Author: Daniel

  • Beware the Monster within

    I was watching a rather good Batman: The Animated Series episode (“I am the Night”) where Batman paraphrases Friedrich Nietzsche, a German philosopher who once said “Be careful when you fight the monsters, lest you become one.” I reflected back on a conversation I had had earlier in the day and realized that I had started to become a monster, the very kind of monster that I was fighting.

    Further I realized that the sane are the people are the ones who have to fight the hardest. Their fight is not hard because the insane are particularly strong but rather the sane people ones are trying maintain order and the insane are okay with letting it all fall apart. So the sane not only have to battle all the crazy things insane people do but they have to maintain the very ideals that they are fighting for. They can’t fight fire with fire without walking joining the insane. Sure they have some explanation or excuse, but so do the insane. We tag them as insane because their reasoning doesn’t make much sense and the sane people’s reasoning stops making sense too, then the sane have become insane themselves.

    These two thoughts together make me think about how easy it is in a war to become the very thing you are fighting to destroy.

    How easy it is how the monster within to tame to person without.

  • Comments, Please

    I am fascinated by the broad reach and depth present. From happy, bubbly overflowing joy to vast, barren empty sorrow, it is all here. With a sweep of a hand you could capture nearly the entire repertoire of human emotion. This is a rare collection to see all displayed at once. My favorite part was “the moment”. That one single instance where all that you are, your blank superficial face, your true feelings, your sorrows and pains, your hopes and dreams, your demons and monsters, even you Gethsemane, all of these, you realize, tell the wonderful story of where you have been, where you are going and most of all where you are now. This is my story, realized in the one moment. But even after that moment it is too easy to just go back to what I was before. No matter how much you pretend it didn’t happen, you know. You know in the back of your mind it did happen.

    We were talking about the airplane flight, right?

  • My Crazy Thursday

    My Thursday was a crazy but fun and good day (so much so I thought I would tell the world about it). To start with I went in early so that a Network Technician could work on our network. That morning I had purposely laid out some metal that I needed to get soldered. What use is laying stuff out if you don’t forget it? I forgot the metal.

    After the tech was done I went home for lunch and to get the metal and to take a nap. The nap was wonderful. I think that doing a few hours of work then taking a nap before returning to work is one of the most amazing work setups. I wish I could do it every day. But what use is going back home to get something you forgot if you don’t forget it again? I forgot the metal again.

    I headed back home. As I was stopping for a light I was watching so birds frolicking in the sky. Suddenly, BAMM! Just kidding, I didn’t hit anything. I did watch as one of the birds dropped from the sky and landed in the turning lane next to me. What use is seeing something fall out of the sky for the first time if it was just a plain bird? It wasn’t a bird.

    I crept forward to get a better look and the dead bird but instead starred in disbelief. It wasn’t a bird. It was a fish. A dead fish had just fallen out of the sky and landed next to my car. I know it’s crazy. The light turned green before I could get my camera out and by the time I came back it was squished.

    So I got the metal and went to work, again. Work was fairly normal/boring. T asked me if I was working Friday. I told her I thought I might be ill (read: “not interested in working”) and that said illness might last through Monday. She said that I had just got back from vacation and had no business trying to take a four day weekend. I had to try, right?

    After work I went to Confidence’s house so that I could use his dad’s soldering iron. The solder work wasn’t the best, but was good enough. I then got to see Confidence’s art work, which is amazing. He does a lot of work with clay and some paintings. It was a marvelous end to a good day.

  • The Unprototypical Samuel

    When Samuel woke up that morning he didn’t expect anything unusual to happen. In fact, as he stepped out onto the welcome mat outside 4224 Rocky Overview drive he couldn’t even think of anything unusual that could happen. As he walked out onto the sandy beach just outside his door he stretched in the island sun. It was a good and quiet morning. Samuel looked up and down the street. Many of his neighbors were also standing on the beach looking as the ocean waves crashed on the shore. A few were even playing in the morning swells.

    Samuel ducked back inside to grab his breakfast. Eating breakfast on the beach watching the waves come in and out was one of his favorite things to do. Had he known what would happen to him he might have had something different for breakfast. As it was he didn’t know so he stuck with his normal breakfast of thick algae water, it works wonders on the body. Had he known that something unusual would happen to him he might have waved to neighbors. As it was he didn’t know so he didn’t wave to them.

    The sun rose and made the beach sand so hot that Samuel couldn’t stand on it anymore. He headed back into his house as did most of his neighbors. The tide rose all the morning and into the afternoon until it peaked at 3:35 in the afternoon. Samuel’s house was so close to the ocean and sometimes the tide was so high that some of the water spilled into his front door. Today was one of those days. When that happened Samuel simply took a nap and waited for the tide to go back. That is what he did today.

    His nap was a prototypical nap. When he woke up he couldn’t remember his dream, but it didn’t matter much because he was hungry. Samuel headed back to his front door to see how much water the tide had left. It wasn’t much but Samuel mopped it up anyway.

    Samuel once again stood on the beach outside his front door. He stretched as he wondered what he ought to do for the rest of the day. Had he known what was about to happen to him he might have packed up his house or at least some essential items. As he didn’t know he left everything where it was and prepared his lunch. Had he know what was to happen he might have called his mother. As he didn’t know he didn’t call her.

    Instead of doing any number of things that would have prepared him for any number of unusual things that might have happened Samuel decided that he would eat lunch, take a swim in the ocean and then start his evening with a bath. Perhaps the only slightly helpful item on his list was eating lunch. It is much easier to handle a variety of unusual things that might happen when you’re not hungry.

    Samuel began eating his lunch. It was the usual mixture of algae water and shell fish. Just after his third bite he was rudely interrupted by the thump at his door. He walked to the door and looked outside. No one was there. He went back to lunch. After a few more bites he was again rudely interrupted by a much louder thump at his door. Samuel again went to the door and looked outside. No one was there. Samuel went back to his lunch. He ate a few more bites before there was a third thump at his front door. This time it was so loud that it shook his whole house. When he reached the front door he ran onto the beach and looked around.

    He was all alone on the beach, the warm sand beneath his feet and the deep blue sky overhead.
    He turned around and saw the source of the thumping. Sitting on a ledge against the sand dunes was a full sized person. This was the beginning of the unusual things in Samuel’s life. It was unusual for a person to venture this far down the beach. It was unusual that the said person would stop and sit on the beach in this particular location. It was unusual that Samuel would be standing alone on the sand. All these things added together deserved further investigation.

    Samuel took one more look around. He was alone on the beach, just him and the person. He started to walk toward the person. Samuel was a curious crab by nature and so the many unusual events all happening at once more him so interested that he almost forgot that it was dangerous for crabs to run to people. In fact he had already ran halfway between his home and the person before he thought that it was look a little suspicious to have a small crab running to greet a person.

    Samuel stopped and grabbed a small shell lying nearby. He ran the shell through his mouth as if he was looking for food. He dropped the shell and ran some more only to stop again. This time he was feeling around a hole and noted that it could work for cover. These he had done just as a guise. His eyes remained locked with the person’s. They never blinked or veered but remained fixed.

    The tiny crab kept running toward the person. He starred into the deep soulful eyes. They seemed surprised, as they should be. It was unusual for crabs for run to people and the eyes could hardly believe that a crab would run to them instead of running away. The eyes watched as the crab ran and stopped, ran and stopped. They began to realize that the crab was running to their feet and though it pretended to be looking for food it really wasn’t. It was coming to talk, it was coming to say ‘hi’, it was coming to deliver a message.

    The crab stopped. The crab stopped a few feet away. The crab stopped a few feet away from the person.

    The person smiled at crab. The crab smiled at the person.

    The person lowered its head and Samuel looked away.

    When Samuel woke up that morning he didn’t expect anything unusual to happen. He hadn’t eaten something different for breakfast, he hadn’t waved to his neighbors, he hadn’t packed up his house, he hadn’t even called his mother. Samuel now knew that today was an unusual day and he wasn’t sure how to finish the day. He could go back to his house, back to his neighbors, back to his algae breakfast or he could move on.

    He looked again at the person as he tried to decide what to do. Then his mind was made up. He ran past the person and carried on down the beach. He left 4224 Rocky Overview drive behind and never looked back. He would find another house.

    When Samuel woke up the next morning he expected unusual things to happen.

  • Essence of Cherry

    He stretches his tongue out of his mouth and rubs it against his upper lip. His tongue is so dry that every bud on it feels like a glass bead falling into the cracks of his parched lips. For a place so moist and humid he never thought he could be so deprived of water. His tongue, being nearly useless, slips back into his dry mouth. The lick probably made his lips worse instead of better.

    Slowly he lies down on his back, the gravel digging into the back of his head. He wants to brush the gravel smooth but his hands are already so dry they ache. Getting them dusty would make them worse. Instead he just lays there shifting his head from side to side hoping the gravel will magically move or that he’ll find a more comfortable position.

    The dark, thick, heavy clouds are moving overhead. He breathes in the sweet air and is grateful that at least the air is not as dry as his swollen lips. The same wind that pushes the clouds also pushes on his cheek. It is a cool, dry wind so full of deceit; even as it cools his warm skin he can feel it pulling precious moisture out of his cheek. He turns his head to face the wind, the coolness is a relief on his flaming skin but in an instant any moisture his tongue had put on his lips is wicked away.

    He pulls his hood up around his face. It provides some protection from the cruel wind. Even through the thin fabric he can feel the sharp gravel rocks poking at his skull. Cloud after moisture laden cloud move through his view, none are willing to share their abundant water.

    He closes his eyes and fills his lungs once again with the sweet air. It smells like rain, that pleasant, sweet almost dusty scent. Somewhere, someone is getting rain. He hopes they are enjoying it while he is dying like a tropical plant in a dry desert.

    His eyes fly open. For one single, fleeting moment he felt the gentle tap of a tiny drop of water on his lip. The lip so relieved that it now ached at being reminded of what it has been missing. His eyes dart across the sky. There is no sign of more rain. The memory stayed with him though, like a fleeting kiss from a lover that will never be seen again.

    Minutes passed with no more moisture. The clouds continued to move along too proud and mighty to pay any attention to him. As the aching in his lip died down he began to question the moment. Maybe he just imagined it. Maybe his lip was tingling from a momentary lapse in circulation.

    The clouds were getting darker as they rolled over head. Instinctively he reached his tongue out once again, his lips so dry that his tongue had to push them apart. He dragged his tongue across his upper lip like sandpaper across rough stone. Once done pretending to deliver moisture to the upper lip the tongue navigated down to the lower lip.

    There was no pretense of moisturizing; the tongue was here to investigate the damage. He could feel the cracking and splitting, it was more extensive than it had been when he first laid down. But what was to be expected; at least there was no blood. But there was, it just took a minute for enough moisture from his tongue to raise the blood for a taste. The bitter, acidic taste of the blood repulsed him as he started to wonder if it were possible to bleed to death through one’s lips.

    He looked over to some nearby trees and began to wonder how much moisture he could get out of them, if they could possible sooth his aching body and bring much needed relief. The effort would be too much. The leaves were tiny and frail, the dry autumn winds had already started to pull the moisture from the leaves and the bark was sure to be dry.

    He looked back to the clouds, longing for just a few drops of their bounty. Still, they would not yield.

    He could hear the distant sound of thunder. Somewhere, someone was definitely getting rain. He pulled his hood tighter and slipped his hands into his pocket as he continued to watch the clouds go by. As his body settled he could feel more pieces of gravel digging into his flesh reminding him how uncomfortable he was.

    Then there was new pain, something being pushed into his thigh. He pulled his hand from the warm fleece pockets and pushed into his pants pocket. Deeper and deeper it went until it struck a small smooth cylinder. His finger wrapped around it and retreated from the pocket. His hand held the cylinder above his face for inspection. As his eyes stared at the small white cylinder a smile broke through his cracked lips, of all the things to have forgotten, why was it this one simple thing.

    He retrieved his other hand from the fleece pocket. Gripping the top and bottom of the cylinder he pulled splitting the cylinder in two to reveal a glossy pink substance. Deliverance had been in his pocket the whole time. His mouth cracked open as his hand guided the cylinder across his lips, first the top and then the bottom, then his lips closed again. Cap met body and the cylinder was carefully placed again in his pants pocket.

    The smile returned to his face as he rose and brushed off the dirt and gravel, all remnants of his recent brush with death. He looked back up at the dark, think clouds once more. There was no more longing in his look, he was satisfied and didn’t need their cruel teasing anymore. His tongue stretches out once again to rub his lips, but instead of blood he tastes the faint essence of cherry.