Memories...

Dave stood in the room that used to be his. It looked like a bomb had hit it. Bits of old toys lied scattered everywhere, each with it's own unique link to his past. Memories flooded over him from every direction.

He had shared this 3m x 2m room with his three brothers. A quick calculation told him they had around 1.5 square meters of floor space each. 'I'm such a geek.'

Over there was where they had played with this toy and over there was where this game had happened. That was where Pea had been flung into the TV and cut his head open. That was where they had painted a picture on the wall. Dave thought back to how big headed he had been about every little thing. He had actually considered himself a great artist, more than a match for his younger sibling. When did he stop drawing anything other than a smiley face?

That's where the computer originally went. That's where they had signed up to online gaming. Ultima, the latest of Ste's fads. That's where they had painted and played with Games Workshop's figurines. Ste had spent so much time and money on those little things and when he was finally getting into it, all his friends where on there way out. Shame. That's where Alan had wrapped himself up in his blanket and parked himself in front of the TV. Heaven forbid anyone else might like a go on that games console. Is that where Alan had sat on that penknife? He really wasn't sure.

That's where they had cut up old boxes and created wonderful toys. Who else could claim to have made a fully 3D transformer which actually transformed out of a cereal packet and celotape? That Soundwave was cool. Or the fortresses with secret compartments and hidden extras.

That was where Dave had completed game after game after game on console after console. That was where Fire had become an unstoppable gaming champion. Burnt away anything and everything that had stood in his path.

That was where Ste had learnt to eat football, sleep football, drink coca cola. Such a sad day for all involved.

This had been his room. This had been his home. His 1.5 square meters. His life. Pea was leaving. The last of the Natsios children had finally flew away from the nest. The room would finally be reclaimed by Dave's mum and dad after 28 years. They had done a remarkable job raising 5 children in a 2 bedroom terraced house. It must not have been easy. The memory of the room would fade into just that, a memory. He took one final look at a lifetimes supply of junk. Everything reminded him of something. Everything.

Except this weird bit of black plastic. Where the hell had that come from? It didn't really look like anything.

Oh well, almost everything.

Judgement Day

Dave stood next to the man playing the bagpipes under a giant sparkly Christmas tree and waited. Aline had sounded upset in her text. Apparently "they" all were upset with Dave as of late. He had "changed".

When Aline arrived on the sceen, she said the words that can drive fear and dread into even the bravest of men.

"Let's go shopping, I've just got a couple more people to buy things for."

(NOTE: Yes Macca, I know what your getting from Aline. All I can say is "ouch, what did you do?")

The shopping came and went and the pair of them now sat together in McDonalds with a minty McFlurry each. What better time to finally have the deep conversation that had been on Aline's mind for clearly 2 years now. This was it, Judgement Day.

The conversation was surprisingly short and painless. Aline appologised almost as much as she accused and not much was said other than, "We should really meet up more often."

Dave agreed whole heartedly and all was right in the world once more. Judgement Day had passed and killer robots had not destroyed humanity, what more could anyone want. It truely was a Merry Christmas. Of cause, it meant Dave's speach went mostly unsaid...

"To Whom it may Concern (i.e All of "them")

I am fully aware that I have not spent as much time with all my old friends as I did in the good old days. Unfortantly, this is kind of the way of life and not entirely my fault.
Obviously I could never spend as much time with the people I used to live with as I used to, for the simple reason that we no longer live together. Nor do we go to school together, nor Uni together, nor work together. Straight away that kinda narrows down a whole heap of time.
I am in university most days from 9 till 5, I am then in work monday to thursday 5 to 9. Waking up early the next day leaves me completely not in the mood to do anything after work. That narrows my available time down to friday night and the weekend. This time last year I WAS working 7 days a week.
Believe it or not i have to eat, this usually requires shopping. I have to do housework. I have to go to Church every Sunday. I have to mark homeworks. My time quickly starts to fade away.
As for, "You never call". I've never been much of a phone person, quite often find it hard to understand people on the phone, not surprising when u consider something daft like 80% of communication is through body language. Besides which, a phone works both ways, if we haven't spoken on the phone it's not completely down to me right?
On top of which I AM married. I am not ashamed of the fact that Jean is the center of my universe now. Nor do I take back or regret my recent comment that Jean is my best friend. Maybe I'm strange, but I kinda grew up thinking that's how things were suppose to be when you got married.

Comming from Aline, who when asked, "Who is your best friend?" replied, "Everyone.", I'm surprised she made such a fuss over that best friend thing at all.

Have I changed? Yes. Yes I have. I think we all have. I think most people in the world are different now than how they were 3 years ago. Especially people like Beth (aged 3) and Anya (aged 5 months). I've become much more aware of the world around me. I guess in some ways I've matured. But if you stick some loud music on and hand me a drink I'll probably still dance 'better' than everyone else put together, sing like an idiot and have a great time doing it.
Do I still think certain pointless things are cute, funny or cool? Yes, but I just don't want SO many of them lying round in my house. Am I still Dave Caveman, international sex symbol, Man of Love, baby? Some things will never change.

I hope whoever reads this has a great day. I really am a happy chappy, even if parts of that sounded less than chappy standards. I enjoy my life and I'm usually proud of it. I do miss some of the times we had together and i do like spending time with everyone.

See you all soon."

'Oh well,' Dave thought to himself, 'This is very nice Minty McFlurry."

"Shall we go home?"

Rules

"If I make rules for myself, I can't break them. If I break them all the time, they're not rules. My spirit has value. I'm not willing to sell my spirit."
- L.J 2005

Dave heard these words and thought about the rules he had made for himself over the years. If a man says he will do one thing and then turns round and does the other, what kind of man is he? Luckily, Dave was a good man, he always did what he set out to do...

1. Thou shall wake up at 7am every morning when your wife has too...
...Or stay in bed till around 9:30.

2. Thou shall get up and do some house work before going to Uni...
...Or lie there and stare at the ceiling.

3. Thou shall do an increasing number of sit ups every day...
...Or spend an increasing amount of time sitting down.

4. Thou shall go swimming every day...
...for the first week of Uni, then forget about it.

5. Thou shall learn to speak Chinese...
...one day.

6. Thou shall study and work on your PhD for at least 6 hours a day...
... which includes an hour of email checking, 2 hours of deciding what to do and 3 hours of surfing the web.

7. Thou shall read more books...
...when you have time.

8. Thou shall teach your niece...
...at some point.

9. Thou shall take your wife to see the world...
... next year?

10. Thou shall not waste all day writing a blog...
...half the day is fine though.

Luckily, Dave was a good man, who had always done what he set out to.

Good boy, Dave. Good boy.

Tis the Season

Christmas shopping. A full contact sport which should come with a health warning.

Dave had been given a simple task. "Buy your family some presents, you know them better than I do." He was going it alone. A monday morning and the shops were still packed to breaking point. Heaven help those people brave enough to shop on a Saturday. He didn't have a clue what to buy, lost and frightened in a hurricane of people. 'Argh'.

Suddenly a familar song began to play for the 100th time, but this time it hit Dave right in the face. "Feed the world. Let them know it's Christmas time..."

Where did it all go wrong?

Christmas, the season of good will. Joy. Happiness. At what point did such a wonderfully beautiful dream become so fuelled by greed? It seems Christmas has become nothing more than Presents and Pretty things that Sparkle.

Is that all there is in life to produce good will? Joy? Happiness? Wouldn't it be nice if the company of our friends and family could bring us joy without the need for humourous underwear, fancy socks, rubber chickens and solar powered tourches all wrapped up with a pretty pink bow. Wouldn't it be nice if all the multiple billions of pounds spent on presents, alot of which end up unused, unwanted and bined, could buy a few loafs of bread for some starving children instead?

The song finished. The day dream passed. The real world flooded back. 'Right, Alan, what would Alan want... ooh that looks shiney...'