Rory’s Morning Dawdler (2023-02-05)

A pattern is beginning to emerge. Afternoon has become the new morning when replying to Rory’s Morning Dawdler. I mean I’m 3 for 3 so far! I do still have at London Fog and a slice of lemon loaf next to me though!

Have you learned anything new about your personality that you didn’t know beforehand whilst on your blogging journey?

Greg Glazebrook @ GMGPhotography

I always believed my creative side was better served in hands-on pursuits like woodworking or pottery. Even when I began writing the concept for the blog was as a social commentary site. Mostly rants and opinions but as one can see from eight years of almost nothing that was a colossal failure.

I didn’t see this venture as a creative outlet until I responded to a prompt that I happened upon. From there it has become more creative, less opinionated and a whole lot of fun! The jury is still out on success or failure though!

Check out Forgotten, the first creative endeavour posted at Greg’s Blog and a turning point in the evolution of the site.

What are your last thoughts of the night before you turn your lights off, ready to sleep? 

Usually, as I’m pulling on my Darth Vader breathing apparatus, I’m just hoping I wake up in the morning. So far I’m sporting a perfect record!

What is the most ridiculous thing you have ever heard anyone say, write, or blog about?

Where to begin…

As we become more polarized politically people on the fringes say the dumbest things. I am not a fan of our current Prime Minister. I prefer a more fiscally responsible government and my politics lie somewhere between the ideologies of the two major parties. That said we held and election and when the dust settled his party was able to broker coalition using the rules of governing we have agreed to since the forming of this great country in 1867. Just because the horse I backed didn’t win the race doesn’t mean I can demand my initial wager back. That’s not how it works. Maybe if we weren’t all so wrapped up in our own lives and took a moment to do our civic duty things would be different.

That said I find it ridiculous to hear people compare the young Trudeau to Putin, Kim, or Jinping. Yes, he cracked down on a bunch of foolish protesters paralyzing the Canadian capital over COVID-19 restrictions. It was not the government or Ottawa police’s finest moment but the protest had run its course and it was time to move on.

Ottawa Trucker Convoy ≠ Tiananmen Square Protest

Still, The nutters would have you believe the restrictions were a grab at totalitarian power and the end of democracy as we know it. Truth is, as our understanding of the virus has expanded and as we move beyond the initial threat that the anti-vaxxers/anti-maskers movements refuse to acknowledge even existed the restrictions have been lifted and daily life has returned to a semblance of normalcy. Sometimes the greater good has to come before individual rights.

His record has not come close to the atrocities of the monsters these fringe fools group him with. He hasn’t invaded another country to restore some former illusion of glory while butchering men, women and children along the way. He hasn’t rolled tanks over protesting dissidents or jailed them indefinitely for opposing real government brutality and civil liberty violations. He hasn’t committed human rights atrocities against any number of ethnic minorities or anyone who may be a threat to his power. I would love to have seen how Moscow, Pyongyang, or Beijing would have responded to the trucker convoy protests. I can assure you it would have ended much quicker and more brutally than it did here.

What can you do today that you were not capable of a year ago?

More than one and a half pushups, longer than ten painful seconds planking, and certain death after 3 minutes on the Airdyne torture stationary bike. That may have been a bit of an exaggeration but as I continue exercising to counteract my sloth I can feel the changes that are beginning to take effect.


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The Nightbird

The Nightbird

It is absurd in a dubious kind of way,
the need to fit in with simulated norms.
I don’t care anymore if the jukebox plays
a re-mix of this fucked up excuse for a life.

The nightbird does not bend beneath such sorrow,
soaring high above the smoke-filled bordellos,
She knows no fear of being crushed beneath
the one-eyed monster’s armadillo-skinned boot.

I lay here all but empty – shamefully waiting
for the scent of homemade soap, and
the primal thrust of a hot starched pistol,
Though I’ve not a pound of flesh left to give.

I’m swept high upon a ribbon that swirls
in the turbulent eddies she leaves behind,
Catching glimpses of freedom in the pull of her wake.
Below my battered shell awaits, unsure if I’ll return.


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WDP – My First Computer

WDP – My First Computer

My first computer was the Commodore 64 (C-64) built and sold by Commodore Business Machines. It was the successor to the Commodore Vic-20 and the Commodore PET that I used in the computer science lab at my High School. I remember having to punch cards to write our first program on the PET. A ball that dropped from left, bounced three or four times before rolling off the right side of the screen. Once that was done we got to program using the keyboard although most of us just snuck in copies of the adventure word game Miser. I also had a friend who owned a Vic-20 and based on his experience I convinced my parents that I needed one of these new and improved 8-bit machines for Christmas.

I remember the big breakthrough in graphics that the Commodore 64 brought to the computing arena. The term used to describe the programming marvel was sprites. Essentially it was the first time that objects, characters, etc could move past each other fluidly in a computer video game. before the C-64 it was one character against a static background only. I know what a stunning breakthrough for the time considering the open 3D worlds we play in today.

For all that computing power all I ever did was play an Olympic Sports game and Tank Battle. Tank Battle was literally two tanks on opposing hills with randomly generated terrain between them and a wind strength and direction indicator across the top of the screen Each player took turns setting the angle of the turret pitch and the firing strength in an effort to blow your opponent’s tank up first.

Every now and then someone tries to resurrect these things and I am sure they stoke some sort of nostalgia in the people who buy them. My friend who I mentioned earlier who owned the Vic-20, C-64 and the last of the Commodores, the Amiga now seeks these antiques out and restores them as his hobby. Me, I just write flash fiction on WordPress using a modern computer or smartphone!


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In Between

In Between

Serena could feel her heart pounding and muscles tightening in the moments before the sedative took effect. Terrified to find herself in the one situation she had dreaded her entire life, where the lines begin to blur in between actuality and perception.

She struggled to push the harrowing shadow that hovered in the haze above her away but her lifeless limbs lay like dead weights at her sides. Not wholly unconscious but just beyond reality’s grasp, and left retreating into the darkest horrors churning in the recesses of her mind.


As consciousness crept back in and blinding light filtered through her eyelids signalling that she was somewhere else – was this the end?

She flung away warm blankets and struggled to lift herself against the push of the nurse’s thrust, “Everything is ok Serena, you are in recovery and the Doctor will be around to see you later but for the time being you need to rest.”


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Out of the Cold

Out of the Cold

As the thermometer plummeted to new record lows and the chill of winter’s wind cut even deeper through the channel beneath Highway 89, Buzz feared his home and the bottle of antifreeze he keep tucked under his jacket wouldn’t be enough.

Miranda pleaded with Buzz to follow, but he was leery of the people in those shelters; they didn’t hold his best interest at heart and wanted him to conform to their idea of living.

Still, he knew it would kill Miranda if she returned to find him frozen so he followed her as requested.

He couldn’t pinpoint the origin of his fear and the desire to run back to the bridge but as he stood there something about the front entrance calmed him and he knew everything was going to be alright – at least for tonight.


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Four Line Fiction (2305)

Welcome to the inaugural Four Line Fiction, a pix-to-prose challenge. Each Thursday, at 9:00am Eastern Time (Canada/United States) I will post an image I have captured myself, featured from another blog or plucked from one of the Interweb’s many royalty-free image sites. You as the writer are to use that image as a point of inspiration to craft a masterpiece of fiction in four lines.

The image for February 2nd, 2023 is the word “Welcome” made of rainbow-coloured slats of plywood set against a multicoloured wall. Fitting for the first-ever Four Line Fiction challenge.

Be creative and have fun. I look forward to reading the tales you spin. Don’t forget to show your fellow bloggers some love -❤️- take some time to read, like, and comment on their masterpieces.

Click here for full rules and guidelines

Another Person’s Trash

Another Person’s Trash

“Every Wednesday Mom insists I take her to the Sally Ann after morning Bingo,” I said with a deliberate eye roll.

“You say ‘Thrift Store’ with a pejorative connotation.”

“It’s all junk and every time we go, she stops at the tables filled with odds and ends left by the dead. How many quasi-fine China teapots and cups does an 82-year-old woman need.”

“Come on Sis, you know she collects that shit. Don’t you recall summer weekends being dragged from yard to yard? All those treasures she plucked from unsuspecting sellers put us through college.”

“Hmmm… Whatcha doing Saturday?”


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T-Shirt Wisdom Wednesday (2305)

T-Shirt Wisdom has moved to Wednesday. Hump day just felt more natural for this bi-weekly feature. I mean doesn’t everyone need a chuckle to get over that hump! The concept is still the same, I will post a graphic that is funny, poignant, witty, honest, crude, toothsome, with bite, or just plain old ridiculous. Some I’ll have plagiarized directly from a chest near you. Others may not have been spotted in the wild but they probably should be out there.

Time keeps slippin’, slippin’… (literally as in one day later!) It’s hard to argue with the logic in this one.

Suggestions are always welcome. If you come across something you think is worthy of being pasted across someone’s chest and paraded around publicly jot it down and send me a message. If it makes the cut I will whip up a graphic design template and use it in a future post. Any suggestions used will include a shout-out and link to your blog on the week it posts.


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A Reckoning

Remember when I was whole,
In tune with time, a vibrant soul.

With every lie and new excuse,
My moral compass coming loose.

Wave on wave erodes my soul,
Until I’m but a gaping hole.

All my riches, hints of fame,
Cannot erase my guilt and shame.

So hellbent on winning the race,
I forgot to leave this world –
a better place.


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11. Revenge: The Bonding

11. Revenge: The Bonding

Lilith stood face to face with the beast. That for which she’d feigned apathy towards exposed. It’s reaction to the truth behind her façade was surprisingly wise and gentle. She did not need to ask for its help, it understood.


The Revenge Series


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