NZSpecFic Blogging week

It's New Zealand Speculative Fiction Blogging Week... well, the last day of it. I have had an ear infection so I only found out about it on Friday and since then I have been trying to work out what to write about. Hence the belated nature of my post.

I have never been outside of New Zealand. Not for lack of wanderlust though, just for lack of finances. I do not hold a passport as I have never needed one. However one day the world will be mine...

I have to make that clear, because that is my bias. I don't know any better (or worse).

I suspect that New Zealand is a large part of the reason for my inclination towards speculative fiction, both in my personal reading and in my writing. How can we not love fantasy, when we live in it? Compared with all I have heard of other places, our isolation brings us luxuries that other countries can only dream of. Within a half day drive of where I live, I can be on a snowy mountain top or a sun-kissed beach of golden sands or in the wind-whipped surf of the back-sanded west coast or in lush endless forest or surrounded by grasslands as far as the eye can see. There are trees, birds, living things here that exist nowhere else; the personal freedoms also. But we do not live oblivious to the rest of the world, multi-culturalism abounds. How easy then for us to dream of other worlds, other cultures, other realities, other beings. If there are fantastic creatures then here is certainly a place one would expect them.

She woke, all 4 feet and 2 inches of her, to the sounds of each member of a penny whistle band rehearsing a different tune. Her groggy thoughts edged closer to a simpler conclusion. The Puriri at the bottom of the back garden was laiden with pink fruits. The morning air was alive: with Tui, their bleached white cravats puffed against their iridescent suits; with Wax-eye, darting lime and grey streaks through the foliage; with Grey Warbler only noticeable by their song; and with Fantail looking in askance and expectation at the fruit flies hovering over the fallen plums.

She walked out into her morning symphony, thoughts on the story her mother had told her of two girls who had fooled the world into believing fairy folk lived at the bottom of their garden. On a day like this, her unruly curls shining in the dawning sun; she could feel the magic about her, she could sense revelry, she could believe that there were fairies and their like hidden within the green leafy depths before her. She tried to look out of the corners of her eyes for secretive movements, until she was distracted by the trilling cries of the birds in the Pohutukawa tree, and then by her mother calling out for tea. She dragged her feet slowly back toward the kitchen.

Against the sweet smelling lavenders, the fairy smiled, straightened it's bumble-bee costume, and launched into flight.

Silver coin

Mmmmmm such a good song. Beautiful. Wonderful sentiment. Sometimes I feel a thing and I get annoyed that there isn't a song that says that thing so that I can sing along. In those moments I want to write my own songs (as opposed to just lyrics which I do write... begrudgingly) .... a thought I step rapidly away from because how do you get it made into a song if it isn't "I kissed a girl"? I don't have the skill or talent for vocalizing my own lyrics, and don't have a stray illiterate singer to teach my words to. But this song captures a thing I feel in a way no other song does. Now I just need to find another song that talks about... another thing...

Lyrics:

Heard the rattle from the train

Sounds of a hundred people,
Maybe more
Cut through the ropes before you came
I had a dream that you were gone.

I'm in the days of throwing rocks
When I saw your picture on a silver coin
Stole a kiss through your golden locks
I had a dream that you were gone.
Woke up and you were gone

All the love has gone away
Cos I didn't have the heart or strength to say
I'll miss you when you're gone
I'll miss you when you're gone
I'll miss you when you're gone
I'll miss you when you're gone

Heard the rattle from the chains
This goddamn room it gets so small sometimes
I had a dream that you were gone
Woke up and you were gone

assorted thoughts.

She looked at him, her deep eyes darkened by hurt and betrayal, and he could not stand the unspoken accusation carried in her injured gaze. But perhaps worse still that she might give voice to the hidden, bleeding wounds he had so carelessly inflicted upon her. He stood mute, as did she, the moment stretching to years between them. With the shift of the world they moved on, two immortals become strangers in a web of silence.

Ways (make that A way, way in the singular) to annoy me.
- Taking a contrary position when I assert that I am or may be unable to attend a social arrangement. For sure "I really would like you to attend" or "I will be disappointed if you can't make it". But "You have to come!"... NO, I don't. I really don't. No force can compel me. And whilst you might prefer that I prioritize you over my future, and you might think to yourself "it is only one event", that isn't how it frakking works. I realise that I am generally compliant and compromising, and you might think that pushing your agenda will "make me realise it is REALLY important to you" and perhaps it is, perhaps it is a highly significant to you, but what your attitude actually says to me is that you don't give a damn about me or my life/obligations/responsibilities/commitments. I have things going on, and no, you aren't so special and important and fluffy that I am going to place your desires ahead of my needs. You know that what I am doing right now is important, and short term, and I am sorry if I can't make your events during this time, but I have to prioritize this and I have to do it now, and I'll make an effort some other time when I am not in the middle of my one opportunity to get this right. It isn't like this is the only time you have, your event could be some other time... perhaps that would inconvenience you or not suit your pretty picture of the world but if it was that bloody important to you then you could try to plan around me or put it off... or you can do it without me. I have deadlines, and I have time constraints. Don't be so gorram selfish, if I say no it is because I have a damn good reason, and I expect you to respect it or you can frak off. In the same situation reversed you wouldn't hesitate to say no to me. So here. NO, NONONONONONONONO. I am not going, and I don't care if you break your heart. So frakking there.

You know what bugs me about the song "Whiskey in the jar." Why would you keep whiskey in a jar? And to be honest, if there WAS whiskey in said jar, a few minutes later there wouldn't be, so the song should actually go "there was whiskey in the jar, but then I drank it, now I have a jar... maybe I will make some marmalade or something."

I need a drink, or five.
I don't sleep these days.

I consider you a stranger now.

There’s loneliness inside her
And she’d do anything to fill it in
And though it’s red blood bleeding from her now
It feels like cold blue ice in her heart
When all the colors mix together - to grey
And it breaks her heart

Grey Street, Dave Matthews Band