A new week...

It's Monday again.

Now, I've never been much of a Monday-fan - perhaps conditioned to dislike it from bygone days of having to go to school? - but Mondays do have some positive connotations, too (believe it or not).

They are the start of something new, a beginning, almost like a new chance.

In my case, a new chance to get sorted. Weekends have this weird effect on me. I'm not the most organised person to begin with, but on weekends, things go haywire. Daily routine is abandoned, to-do lists are ignored, chores put off till later (or Monday, as it were). Particularly if the weather's nice outside.

Now, you might shake your head and give me a disappointed sigh on that, but there it is. Weekends are a toxic wonderful mixture of too much time and too little planning.

I love it, I really do. Social life happens, the weather's great for sports, nobody from the office calls with new problems/tasks/catastrophes, I get to sleep in (and as anyone who knows me can tell you, I am so not a morning person)....

Take a peek, continued

Takes place a few paragraphs further on than the last 'peek'. Merle's opponent has looked him over, and judged him wanting. He smiles a condescending little smile at Merle. 

One way or another, this would be my last fight for the day. 

I smiled back, showing my teeth, and the crowd roared again. I was the favourite here. The crowd didn't care that this man was twice as broad as I was, didn't care that he had a sure decade of experience on me. They loved the fact that they'd seen me dance the blades upon these sands three times that day alone. I was the campion, and I'd held my post for longer than any champion before me. 

They probably believed me invincible. 

So did my master. He sent me out to fight, over and over again, even though the Arena regulations cited one fight a day per fighter. He sent me out to fight, and to win him money. 

I was young for a fighter, but luck had been with me, and I had won. Over and over again.

I was champion of the sword, the youngest the Black Sands had ever seen. The crowds loved the champion. All of Corsette loved the champion.

They didn't love me. He wasn't real, this champion, wasn't me. I lived, I fought, I survived. Maybe today I wouldn't. Either way was fine with me. The crowd roared louder, and I lifted my sword again to engage the enemy.    

An interview with Merle...

Takes place sometime during the beginning of the first chapter of my story....

Tessa: (motions for her guest to sit in one of the soft chairs before the fireplace; the young man before her looks at the chair as if not quite sure what to do, but finally sits down right on the edge of the seat) Nice to meet you, Merle. I've been looking forward to this for some time now.

Merle: (he bows to me, a courtier's move with a cute little flourish) Uhm...thank you. Nice to meet you, too, ma'am.

T: (smiling at him) Took you long enough to come by.

M: (bobs his head down, won't meet T's eyes) Sorry, ma'am.

T: (waves a hand through the air) Don't worry about it. You're here now. So tell me, Merle, what are you up to at the moment?

M: Nothing, ma'am.

T: That can't be right. I know for a fact that you won the last arena match, and quite handily, too.

M: Yes, ma'am.

T: So....?

My own personal Quote of the Day

Do, or do not - there is no "try". 

                     Yoda

Words of wisdom!!!!

Unfortunately, I've never been good at listening to good advice. I don't know about you, but I haven't managed to tap into the Force yet. Things proceed at a broken-legged snail's pace, or rather said broken-legged snail would easily overtake me at the speed I'm currently writing.

But... as Oscar Wilde said: We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking up at the stars. No truer words said there, either. Things may be difficult, complicated, seemingly impossible. We may be stuck in the muck of our every-day plod. Yet there's always something to look forward to, something to cheer you up, to make your day. The stars aren't going anywhere, and someday we will get there.

Screw Murphy, today's a good day.

(okay, sorry, but I needed that little rant)