[JimmyDimples]

Ah yes, Trischman's Paradox:  "A pipe gives a wise man time to think and a fool something to put in his mouth."

The problem is, now I'm more inclined to include a character that smokes now.  *sigh* See what happens when you hang around the wrong crowd?

[JimmyDimples]

Yes, Lingster, for the message bodies.

Oh, another little thing I've missed a bit… the Members tab on top.  I liked being able to click on the tab that sorted out who were the top posters in this place.  Made it easy to keep tabs on who the next Site Superhero (or next coming promotee) was going to be.

[JimmyDimples]

A monkey, hah?

Will this work?

[JimmyDimples]

It's serviceable, but to be honest, I preferred the sans-serif look of the old forum's font. 

[JimmyDimples]

Wachsende, my respect for you, your writing, and your hero just went through the roof.  You showed a TRUE maturity that's sorely missing from this genre.  Well done, and thanks for sharing. 

[JimmyDimples]

Oh, I forgot to mention… I had Tetsuko smoking in Chapter 9 of Like a Weed.

…

Okay, it was after someone hit her with a lit Molotov cocktail, but still.  😛

[JimmyDimples]

Hmm… BION, I have featured that one in my writings before.

In China Will Grow Larger, the GLA general and Lao Zi Bom, the Chinese traitor enjoy puffing on a hookah.

In the Dyna story Mezaros Surfaces, Professor DeBuncombe enjoys smoking on a pipe while he tells Deena the tale of the true dark legend of Atlantis.

And while I suppose there might be more room for it happening in my stories, and probably does "off-camera," I simply didn't include it because it didn't forward the plot.  Also in the  "write what you know" department, while I have lived in tobacco territory almost all my life, I haven't tried it since I asked my then-smoking dad if I could try one of his Winstons… and he said, "Why, SURE!"  ;D And made me suck the whole thing down to the filter once I started hacking, coughing, and groaning, "I don't wanna do this anymore" once I lit up.

Mean, vicious, and nasty… and it kept me clean.

And thusly, the second verse here will sum my opinion up quite nicely:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NUeDjAkPgLc

[JimmyDimples]

You have to admit, though… as StrongBad would say, that trooper IS modestly hot. 

Better on the eyes than getting hot soup poured in 'em. 😉

[JimmyDimples]

Well, there was a bit of an epilogue to after my workday at the distribution center:

After I was done, I'd gone back home, and discovered I'd needed groceries.  At first, I thought that going about everyday life with this atrocity going on seemed kind of callous, but I realized that simply sitting at home and wringing my hands wasn't going to help anybody.  So I went over to the local Wal-Mart Supercenter to pick up the edibles.

Mood was midnight quiet and tomb somber.  No crowds.  No noise.  The monitors which usually had all those loud, colorful, raucous "Thank You For Shopping At Wal-Mart!" spots were tuned into CNN and the news footage from New York.  Not a yellow round smiley face anywhere.

I couldn't help but think… it took an assault on the nation to get rid of them.

When I got back home, I stocked the stuff, turned on the TV and got back online.  All my friends had been counting cyber-noses and making sure we were all present and accounted for.  I was worried that my computer was going to end up hash because I suspected a major scale terrorist attack like this would probably have a virus blitz to come up next.  Didn't happen, but I was watching my virtual "back."

Then finally, I'd gotten a phone call from a nervous cyberfriend… from BRITAIN.  I'd been a web paranoiac about trusting my phone number with just anybody, and she'd finally gotten mine.  Now she was chattering away about how she'd been trying to contact a friend in New England but couldn't reach her since the main call processing center was in the destroyed World Trade Center.  And she said her brother was going on about he was expecting America to go completely bat-shot and start launching nukes any second now.  I reassured her that we weren't going to be THAT bullheaded. 

I surfed on, and noticed which major media conglomerates owned what by the news arms that had overridden the stations… CBS News took over MTV, VH1, CMT and USA; ABC News took over the ESPN stuff, CNN took over TNN, TNT, the WB and TBS, Fox News commandeered Fox Sports… and even The Learning Channel was showing the BBC.  Even the Home and Garden Channel had put up an announcement graphic saying they were suspending programming due to the national tragedy. 

As I'd written before in one of my fictions, when I saw how many channels were controlled by how few hands… that realization alone was pretty frightening. 

But there was one ray of light in the whole mess.  On foreign viewpoints:  TLC's BBC newscast reported that many people in New York were volunteering on the spot to help out… free water, helping others search for loved ones, offering a shoulder to cry on, first aid… the reporter on site had said there seemed to be a Dunkirk spirit among the locals, like the British civilian boating volunteers did when they evacuated their troops in World War II. 

I have to admit, that did my heart proud.  And in the week following, I'd gotten into the volunteer spirit.  Helped out with a blood drive at my church.  Donated to a food drive.  Kept praying for the nation.  And bought a flag or two for my car.  (Once I found some at K-mart… they were sold out in my town for a while.)

And that's what I took away from that… that's what this now-divided nation needs.  Remember September 11th… but also the 12th, 13th, 14th, and all those days onward.  Those days when all Americans and their friends worldwide got together… red, yellow, black or white; rich or poor; Ph.D or G.E.D.; male or female; Christian, Jewish, Muslim, atheist, or something else; city slicker or redneck bumpkin; liberal sissy or right-wing caveman…

…and buff amazons or, like me, fat slobs.

We need, love, compassion, unity, mutual support, charity drives, self-sacrifice… and resolve not to let the terrorists keep us scared or divided.  And we need to get it back BADLY.

I just hope and pray America doesn't need another September 11th for that to happen. 🙁

[JimmyDimples]

Sweet picture.  And thanks for adding and sharing it with us.

And let me have the honor and joy of being the first person to congratulate you on your newly achieved status as Site Superhero.  8)

[Author]

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