I just hit the 1000 post mark ... it only took 4 YEARS!!!!!!!!!!!
I had to submit this as part of my portfolio for my English exam this year. I thought I would post it here for the lolz ... *** Tides of Battle Thunder. Lightning. Rain. They clashed down on ivory sails. The steely sky assaulted us from above, Heaven’s chariots and seraphic arrows striking wood, cloth and flesh. There was no doubt that the sky was angry, the menacing deep turquoise glare which precedes dawn, normally chasing the darkness away, was reserved for us that day. The sky once again launched her assault, barraging us with yet more heavy artillery which blasted our faces and froze us to the very core. However, the sky and her legions where the least of our worries, and we thought fairly little of them on that occasion. If the sky was angry, then her sister – the sea – was in a towering, unrelenting fury. The almost pleasant prickling of the heavens’ feeble offensive paled in comparison to the sweeping, splashing, shattering waves which rose high over the horizon and obscured the haven of land from my sight as I stood aboard the lower deck. Wind blasted my face, spume bit into my skin. I felt terrified, yet alive, and more alive than I had felt in what seemed to be a lifetime. The utter contempt and malice that the elements showed towards me made me curl my lip bitterly. The sky and the sea may be in a petulant rage, but their tantrum was nothing to me. Let them take umbrage with us; let them try. Then I saw it, just over the waves for but a fraction of a second. White sails drenched – prow distorted, topmast warped. Another vessel battling the storm, a common enemy; or rather, they had been fighting, yet they were being slowly defeated as the waves engulfed the ruin of the once-proud craft. They were on the edge of destruction, and it seemed inevitable that many of the crew running around in blind panic upon her would not see the grey dawn break. “Man the capstan!†I heard the skipper shout. I did not understand what he meant – the words were not mine to hear. I am a merchant. The talk of sailors and boatswain does not mean a thing, much as my talk of coin and trade would mean little to them. I saw the sinking ship come closer, sad sails tattered and hull beginning to flood. The sea had had her victory, how many prisoners would she now take to her deep, dark depths? We reached the drowning vessel a few minutes later, the mast like the pale arm that gropes for air when drowning or clutches onto life after a battle. I saw men; sailors and passengers alike, running around panicking. Only a few had seen us and even they saw us as a delusion; a final vain hope created by the mind to ease their suffering in their final moments. I looked out over the raging storm, already taking prisoners or wood, nail and life. I saw another man on the wreck staring back at me, his pale skin like moonshine but sickly as though drained of colour by the onslaught. I could see in his face and his eyes that he could not be more than three-and-twenty. The utter terror in him rooted me to the spot and as we drew closer to the ship in an attempt at rescue, it came. A monstrous, crystalline, unstoppable wall of water launched a swift and true assault on us. The sea was furious that we should steal her victory and was determined to destroy us. I remember hearing the captain shouting, a lurch, and a twist. After that there was nothing but falling and falling and falling … Silence enveloped me. The booming of thunder and the crashing of waves born from the battle above ceased to plague my ringing ears. I fell still further, down, and down so far no light reached me in an endless world of perpetual darkness, undulating at the will of the sea, wherever she felt need to drag her prisoner. Suddenly then, I felt it; a feeling I shall not forget until the day the Lord takes me. Cold. Complete, penetrating, unrelenting cold sharper than a needle and more painful than the point of a thousand glittering knives stabbed through every ounce of my being. It drained me of any warmth I had dared to bring with me from the skirmishes above and bled any happiness or joy, even any anger or hate or some other emotion I had left in me, leaving only complete, utter void fill with only the feeling of coldness. I saw my wife standing in the darkness and wondered how she might be there. My question was no sooner asked than it was answered. I saw golden gates, encrusted with diamonds and decorated with incomparable filigree as I had ever seen. Around these twined tendrils of purple-white cloud which seemed warm and inviting, like the dry land after a sea-storm or quiet repose after a long day. My wife, my dear wife, the love of my life who had been so tragically and unjustly ripped from me by the same warden who now watched over my cell and kept me captive, beckon me towards her. I felt my aching heart say†yesâ€, yet I also heard my calculating brains refuse vehemently. I wanted to go with her, every fibre of my being did, but I still had so much to do, so many dreams left unfulfilled – both of our dreams left unfulfilled. I would not - could not – allow myself to be beaten by the same army that had ambushed her all of those many years ago. A pale hand reached out to me from the darkness to my back, shining iridescently like starlight in that umbral mantle. I turned to take a hold of it, turning my head only to glance back one last time at my love. She was smiling. I walked back into the darkness, away from the gates and smoke, back to life, and to light, and the battle, now resolved, above. The young man grabbed my arm tightly, and together we worked, him pulling, me attempting to assist, yet to no avail, the sea still would not let me escape from her jaws. “Come on!†he shouted, “Help the man up!†His voice echoed redolent in my mind, like the ball that signals noon-time or the first call of the bird at dawn. A few more men gathered around the lifeboat, and with our combined strength, I finally escaped the clutches of my captor. I sat in the lifeboat. The sea had calmed slightly, and the sky’s barrage had ceased. I don’t remember much after that until I saw the captain, relieved to see me alive, not because he was a friend, but because the death of a merchant on a voyage does not bode well for one’s reputation. “How many are lost?†I coughed, wondering how many wives would not see their loves again. “From us, five. From the others … ten.†He said strictly, as usual, yet I swear I detected a waver in his voice. Between the two vessels, we had lost a quarter of our original number. The sea had won this battle, and we were but the pale survivors, leaving that place for port as the sun rose red and mourning over the battlefield. *** Unintentional near death/out of body experience for the win ^^;; CnC is appreciated, but mostly I'm just glad you read it ^^.
I wondered what people opinions are o dystopian fantasy, so for example Steampunk or Cyberpunk fiction/anime/otherstuff. I really enjoy it because it seems to be so different from the norm in terms of style and delivery, and I think that really makes it more interesting to me. What do you think?
... so I should preface this. So, as anyone who owns a PS3 should know, Blu-Ray disks aren't region locked: therefore, you can play any PS3 game and any PS3. However, does anyone know if this extends to the DVD drive inside my original black monolith? Could I import a PS2 game form, say, America and play it on my EU PS3 without having to get swap magic etc? Just a random question that's been bugging me for a while.
I just realised I joined on pi day ... 5 years ago. I lol'd.
Hi, I was wondering. If you received an honorable mention in a previous Top5, does this then entitle you to the related pin. I didn't know who to PM, so I'm not sure this constitutes a thread or not, but meh.
So, at the end of the cutscene at Yen Sid's tower near the start of KH2, Maleficent appears to return there, or that's at least implied. However, when you go there, Yen Sid is gone, which I thought meant that she either killed him or turned him into a heartless. However, Yen Sid appears in the secret ending of Re:Coded, so this cannot be the case. My question is, where did Master Yen Sid go during the events of Kingdom Hearts 2 until he appears again? Thoughts?
Do you ever wonder if teachers other members of the education system actually remember what it was like to be on the other side? I ask this because I was just given my timetable for my Higher Prelims. Highers are exams which test advanced levels of knowledge on subjects studied in your penultimate (but most important arguably) year of high school. These exams are mentally testing and require a lot of revision. I was handed my timetable on Wednesday to find that all five of my exams are withing the space of 3 consecutive days, with only about an hour between subjects. That's not even enough time to get something to eat, let alone relax! You have to wonder at times like this: "Do they even remember what it was like when they were our age? The stress, the pressure to do well?" Surely, if they actually remembered or cared about us doing well, they'd space out the prelim exams in the same was that the actual examinations (organised by an outside authority) are conducted. Considering that they are always banging on about how important there prelims are and how if we don't do very well in the real exam then they can use these to appeal our grades, you'd think they'd make it as fair as possible on us. Also, there have been many times in the past where I have received 4 pieces of difficult homework all due for the same day. You have to think whether or not there is any communication between the teachers at all, and this only serves to make it more difficult for us pupils. So what do you think? Do you think that teachers need to think back more to their old school days when teaching their pupils?
Is anyone else doing this. It starts November 1st (Tomorrow). Basically you have 1 month to write a 50,000 word Novel (1667 words a day). I's a huge undertaking but I think I'm going to do it. It loks fun. For more info click Here. If you want to be my writing buddy if you are doing it my name is BrokenLimit. clawtooth was taken ... >.>.
Isn't it awesome when you have 4 really important exams and a performance of a play all in the same week?
So today, my brother and I got our exam results for the exams we sat in May of this year. I was really pleased with my results as I got 1s (the highest grade you can get) for most of my exams and a 2 for Art which I was expecting. I also got an A for Higher Music (an exam normally sat by 17 year olds, but I sat it a year early). Everything was going fine until my brother opened his letter. He applied for university a year earlier than normal (he's 17, Uni is free in Scotland). He needed to get an A and two Bs to get into university, sounds easy right? He opened his letter, hoping maybe for an A, a B and two Cs. He opened it to find this: Advanced Higher Music(one level above Higher): B (he got an A like i did for his Higher) Higher Englsih: B Higher Geography: C Higher Computing: C Higher Physics: D (a recognised fail) Higher Maths: Fail. He did nopt have the qualifications that he needed to get into University. He's totally destraught. He seems to think that his life is over, just because he had a bad round pof exams. He totally flipped out and had several arguements with our parents, asked for people to say what they really thought he should do about it, and then he totally ignored all of the advice. I then left the house to leave the situation because it was getting too much for me. After 5 hours roughly at my friendly local gaming store, who were very considerate of my predicament. I went back home at Semven PM and had dinner. My brother (now asleep) had simmered down, so I am told. I was content for about an hour, but suddenly, my mother came up to my bedroom and spoiled my day once again. We live in a house that we rent. Our dad is the only one who works, as my mother was driven to depression at the last place she worked and has not worked in about 4 years. Over the past year, however, things seem to ave been getting harder and harder, and with my parents both being smokers, if there's no money for them to fuel their habbit, they will get angry. That point aside however, I was told that my Dad had made a mistake with something to do with his advanced pay and as such, has not payed this month's rent. He has told us that, if he doesn't get £800 to him by tomorrow, he'll evict us. I don't know what the fuck Im suppoed to do! I've had about the worst day possible and there doesn't seem to be any way out. I don't even know if I should tell all of you this, but I really needed to get this off my chest. Today was supposed to be a happy day for me and it has turned into, quite possibly, the worst day of my life. I hate this! I've only just gotten used to living in the place where we live currently and more changes, especially with possibly the most important academic year of my LIFE about to start, I don't know how to cope with this right now. Oh and by the way, if ANY haters are gonna hate, I am litterally gong to BUST A CAP! I don't really have to time of day today, less so than any other day. What should I do?
I recorded this today. Watch if ya want. You don't have to. Just sayin' ^_^;; Enjoy and CnC appreciated, I know that I made a few mistakes and the piano is deathly out of tune.
I think Repliku should write a book. Who's with me?
The Open Door He sat across the table, eyes shining like lapis, staring at the two figures on the other side, awaiting a response. They seemed oblivious, shocked by the words that they had heard but moments ago, wondering if he had been joking when he had said: “I’m gay.” There had been rumours flying like mosquitoes for weeks. I had always swatted them away, or squashed them while they bit me, but after almost a whole month, I began to feel as though they were draining my belief for nourishment. Now, as I saw beside the dark-brown haired, bright blue eyed figure of my brother, wondering what was going to happen and what my parents sitting across from us would say … “It might just be a phase”, she defended. My mother always has been afraid of change. “No mum”, my brother rebutted, “I know that I’m this way and nothing anyone says is going to change that”. Cailean has always been a headstrong person. He always does just what he wanted to do; he has ambition, and is not afraid to speak his mind. He’s not too impartial to punching or kicking me when I annoy him. The room remained quiet for what seemed to be eons. My mind was in turmoil, spinning like a roulette wheel, and all the while I wondered where the ball would stop in the whirling stream of emotions. As I sat between the three of them, feeling like some sort of mediator or high-court judge with gavel poised, I began to wonder how my parents would react to this astonishing revelation. I had, of course, heard about parents who had been accepting of their children’s sexuality. Conversely, to my great chagrin, I had heard far more accounts of parents who had thrown their “deviant” offspring out, disowning them, ostracising them and fooling themselves into thinking they had never existed. Time seemed suspended in the room, abandoning its metronomic pulse and all the while torturing me, mocking me, forcing me to wait, and wait, and wait … “Well, Cailean, I’m a realist”, my father said, shattering silence’s barricade on the a thousand hopeful shards. “It’s not exactly perfect, nor will it be easy, but I don’t care who you love, as long as you love them for who they are”, he resolved. My mother nodded, still with a slightly incredulous look on her face. In my mind, the judge brought down his gavel, deeming my brother innocent. The roulette wheel stopped at acceptance and I won a bonus of gladness and relief. The mosquitoes were eradicated by the deadly disease of understanding and time once again began its sixty per minute drumbeat … … And time goes on, and still goes on. As I write this, Cailean has just come back from a trip to America where he was visiting his boyfriend. And you know what? Good for him! The events from that night still echo redolent in my mind, and as frantic as I was and as unpleasant the mix of emotions were, I learned something that night. Be yourself. I don’t care what others say. I don’t care what rumours people start about me. I don’t care what religious doctrine, or governmental policy, or social taboos reflect upon me. This is my life. I’ll be who I want to be, and if society doesn’t like that then I don’t care a jot! I want to be me, not some person modelled on ignorance, social stereotype and bias. They can’t change me, only I have that power. I don’t care what others say, I’ll live my life for me. This is my story.
A new mystery has surfaced!
My brother came back from America today with gangrene :'(.
I lold. It is true!
In the description for the "Staff" section it says: Seeing as Forum Helpers haven't existed for like ... 2 years, shouldn't this really be changed to "Reporters" instead?
I just recently re-discovered how awesome this film is when we watched it in french class. I really love it, there are some hilarious moments and some very serious poignant moments. I think that Amélie is such a perv at some points. ONly for those of a non-sensetive nature though, it's fairly explicit at some points.
In this thread, we will write an epic story using only 10 words each at a time. It was a warm, sunny, day in the spamzone when ...
