Riddle #3

Ally of downtrodden, it gives the weakest a chance;
A much needed fuel for an optimist's stance.
It lends even the worst off a reason to live,
A chance for a better future is what it does give.

The young usually have it, but it fades after time,
It still provides quite a boost through life's arduous climb.
But the higher you climb, the greater your fall,
If you stake too much, you just might lose it all.

Alone it is useless, just the substance of dream,
With determination it forms a powerful team.
It inspires progress, improvement, success
You might need a lot, to interpret this mess.

Well, better late than never. Sorry for the delay; perhaps I'll eventually get around to writing them ahead of time. At any rate, I finally did get it done, and that's what matters. As a note, for the confused reader, "this mess" refers to the riddle not the answer and "with determination" means along with the idea determination, not how it forms the "team", (I know some of you have a tizzy about that sort of thing).

As for the standings, last week's riddle was worth 2 points for a certain answer, one point for the weaker, not a focused or concentrated answer (IM me if you're confused). So here they are, in no particular order: Derek 3, Elizabeth G. 3, Caitlin 3, Martha 2, Melissa 2, The Sugue 1, Lee 1, Elizabeth E. 1, Kelly 1.

It's still not too late to answer for this week's and last week's riddles. If you haven't please do so soon. I'll still accept the answers until next Monday, after which I'll start enforcing a week long limit (if you do answer after that, you can still get half credit).

That's all, for now.

The Rebels Went Down to Cleveland

Well, last night was rather interesting. I remembered to bring gloves so, unlike last time, my hands did not turn into the hands of Death itself and burn with the fires that can only be found in the coldest of cold (very minimal frostbite recovery pains, for those less dramatically inclined). And, of course, we won. For those who missed it, you missed a good game.

One of the strange things about High School games is that I don't pay attention to them constantly. Usually I'll pay attention through the first quarter or so, get distracted through the second, talk to the band in the third, and pay attention in the fourth. Last night was no different. I was summoned to Martha and Cathy's side to participate in "cute" "clever" word plays such as "My Little Chinese Take-Out", "My Danish Danish", "My Mexican Jumping Bean", etc. Now, I'm as much a fan as plays on words as the next guy, but after awhile even I have my limit. Apparently they don't. So, after numerous escape attempts involving flares, jail breaks, and a whole lot of confetti, a decoy presented herself and I jumped the razor-sharp, electric fence, got past the heat-seeking guard kittens, and evaded the Acid-shooting Helicopters to make my get-away into the bright horizon. Well, I may have exaggerated a bit, and it really wasn't that bad, but nevertheless, it's still based on truth I tells ya!

The Pep Bus was also slightly interesting. Now, most of you who come here can generally go along with whatever crazy, rambling, random, nonsensical conversations I come up with. To the uninitiated, I just seem crazy (no, I know what I said. You don't have to point out the flaws and or irony). I believe I've convinced Michael Winston (a former Northwestern, such as myself. Once you've been through that horror, you lose a piece of your soul!) that I am just that. Now, I can't be sure, but he gave me quite a few "Riiiiggghhhtttt" looks. I mean, I only talked about the right way to found and use a cult and the ethics of hobo killing (one is an accident, two is a public service, three is a serial killing, yada yada). He didn't go along with it as well as I'm sure some of you would have, but he didn't mace and/or maul me either.

Anyway, I should be posting a riddle later today or tomorrow (my sister created a violent take-over while I was writing this so although it was started Saturday, it's being posted Sunday). I don't want to make Sunday's post super long, we'll just have to see how things go. Until next time...

I can make titles?

Well, at the suggestion of The Sugue, I've decided to write about something that relates in no way to my day today. Keep in mind, I do realize that as soon as I start writing about it, it has taken a part of my day and therefore is void. Try to ignore the paradoxes, oxymorons, and giant waffles and you'll do fine."

After minimal deliberation, I've decided Ross Perot has had no affect on my day, up to this point. Yes, that's right. Ross Perot. For those who don't know him, he's the big-eared, Texas billionaire who ran for president in 1992 and 1996 as an independent and got 19% and 8% of the popular vote, respectively.

Now, one interesting thing about Ross is he's crazy. He's pretty much admitted it. He's obssessive, paranoid, and all sorts of cooky things you can find if you search google long enough (ain't unsupported sources fun!). Really, I'm rather surprised he hasn't expanded towards world domination. I wouldn't be that surprised if he has a secret volcano lair deep in the heart of Texas where he oversees his minions and plots our eventual Doom.

So Ross, from me to you, good luck. I'll be there to take over when the voices start telling you to polka with that pink wildebeast that just walked in the back door your car doesn't have.

And, for lack of anything better, here's this week's Best IM quote (you people really need to think out of the box more when you talk to me!):
Kelly: Whoa, setting off a nuclear warhead with a paw sounds like quite a feat.

Well, I must be some sort of prophet because it seems that I know myself entirely too well. Indeed, our rally was today and, of course, I had a subconscious panic attack. They amaze and confound me. Not only are they completely irrational, but they work in such strange ways. I falter over simple words, skip entire sentences, and my mind is a general state of confusion, even though I can't tell exactly what's wrong. Even despite all of my experience in the spotlight (albeit, not that much, but enough that I wouldn't expect such a radical reaction), I still have panic attacks. Derek and Zaq didn't appear to have that problem, maybe they know the secret to success. Go figure.

Anywho, not much else happened today. I did obtain a few good ideas for future rhymes (such as "Ode to the Parentheses"), and they may show up sometime soon. Or they may go the way of the passenger pigeon and deliver a few pizzas before venturing to the big bird house in the sky (and by that, I mean Big Bird's rooftop appartment). Happy Time Wasting!

Well, I suppose the band folks will be back today (barring any inexplicable warps in the time-space continuum or penguin air-raids[I Told You Not To Feed Them!!!]). I suppose I'll begrudgingly acknowledge their existence, (although I might pretend Carrie's not back for a few more days, just to maintain at least a semblance of tranquility). Anywho, I'm glad you guys are back (or will be, by the time you read this). Silence is alright for awhile, but eventually it gets rebellious and tries to get you to do things like go outside, clean house, or something else equally (and horribly) productive. For a supposedly mute idea, it sure does demand a lot!

On another note, tomorrow's the History rally. I don't really know the educational value of it, but someone's got to be JQ. So I'll go there, make my nervous, fumbling speech in my shoddy, impromptu costume, and then stand there awkwardly and wait for the blasted thing to end. How many times has that happened before? (And yes, that's a rhetorical question. You don't need to answer it). So that means I've been Baron Holbach, Thomas Jefferson, Napoleon, Blaise Pascal(sorta), the Artist Never Known as Prince, and now John Quincy Adams. There are probably others, but only so many ghosts can haunt me at once.

Well, that about wraps it up for today (other than a haircut and me getting examined/whatever you call it for contacts). Until next time...

Well, at least I got a riddle up. It seems that most of my riddles that aren't terribly flawed are either too easy or impossible. Go figure. As a score update, I've had two right answers and one half-right answer (since it's 12lines, the whole thing is worth 2 points, so I'm giving halfcredit for a certain answer). Ah well, maybe someday I'll make another difficult riddle (I've just had one thus far).

Anywho, I've been stricken by my approximately tri-yearly cold. They're rather annoying little devils, and miserable becomes a permanent state, temporarily. It's times like these where you are able to appreciate all the rest of the time you're not sick or injured or whatever. When you're feeling down and depressed, just think of all the agonizing, annoying, and downright terrible situations you're not in at that particular moment, it can really put things into perspective. For instance "Gee, this math test is tough! How can it possibly get worse? Oh yes, I could be naked, boiling over a molten pit while acid slowly drops onto my feet, and I could have a cold with a migraine headache, and spiders with sharp, itchy legs crawl all over my back, and I could have to listen to free form poetry all at the same time!" So see, it can always get worse. Except in one situation, but if I bring that up, it might just jinx it.

Well, I've got to go get some snot out of my throat! Later!

Riddle #2
Fuel for an intense fire that rages from within,
The source of many horrors, and the cause of so much sin
Yet still it's brought much good, when targeted at strife,
It's simply part of living, a part of human life.

Many try to stop it, and sometimes they succeed,
Yet to stop injustice, it's something we can need.
An obstacle to peace, this is to be sure,
Many think they're tainted, unless of this they're pure.

Although you may not think it, it shows you really care,
Still when you're the target, you'd rather be elsewhere.
It gives many a life a meaning, strange, and yet it's true;
So tell me what's the answer, and does it afflict you?

Well there you have it. Sort of late, but what are you going to do, fire me? This one may be tough because you may not agree with some of the lines I attribute to the answer. Just remember to look at your ideas from different perspectives, and I don't think this will be too hard. As far as the results for the first week, virtually everyone got it right, although I made one or two allowances since very shortly after I wrote the riddle I went back to change it to make it more specific. The ones who entered (and now have 1), for those who were idly wondering about such trivial things, were Caitlin, Martha, Derek, Lee, THE SUGUE, Melissa, Kelly, Elizabeth G., and Elizabeth E.

For those who haven't sent in an answer, you still have two weeks before I enforce the one week time limit, so send away ( DeepFriedDyl@comcast.net).
(The last riddle was on Friday, October 24 if you want to look in the archives).