This week's word is flanuer, as posted by Mason.
The first thing that popped into my head (as a definition for the word) was a person with a flan (dessert) for a head. Weird...
The next thing of course was someone who hunted the monster Flan (found in some Final Fantasy games).
Well, the actual definition is much more realistic than my versions. Oh well! :)
Showing posts with label word day. Show all posts
Showing posts with label word day. Show all posts
Thursday, November 15, 2007
Friday, November 9, 2007
Word (Recap)
I know this is coming a very short while after my actual post for the word 'myrmidon', but it's technically the next day. :) Just some thoughts here: I picked a pretty hard word, at least I found that what I wanted to do (write a short fiction story) was terribly complicated based on that word. Nothing sounded right, and I had a lot of trouble actually writing anything down. Still, something finally came out, and I liked it, though I will probably not go back and read it for fear of not liking it now.
There were a bunch of other people who posted, with a delightful variety of types of posts. I enjoyed reading all of them, hopefully those who participated liked writing them. Here's links to those other posts, if I didn't catch you in this list, just let me know and I'll add a link to the correct post. (I checked other blogs after posting mine, and if you haven't posted yet but still want to, no problem! Don't let this stop you. :)
Lemming - Word-post metapost
Mason - Today's word is "myrmidon"
Lidarose - Expanding my vocabulary
Jonathan - Myrmidon
Maybe more to come as I catch them! :)
So, if people are still interested, the first person to volunteer (in the comments) can pick the word for next week and announce it on wednesday and that way it'll be easy to post something on thursday! :)
There were a bunch of other people who posted, with a delightful variety of types of posts. I enjoyed reading all of them, hopefully those who participated liked writing them. Here's links to those other posts, if I didn't catch you in this list, just let me know and I'll add a link to the correct post. (I checked other blogs after posting mine, and if you haven't posted yet but still want to, no problem! Don't let this stop you. :)
Lemming - Word-post metapost
Mason - Today's word is "myrmidon"
Lidarose - Expanding my vocabulary
Jonathan - Myrmidon
Maybe more to come as I catch them! :)
So, if people are still interested, the first person to volunteer (in the comments) can pick the word for next week and announce it on wednesday and that way it'll be easy to post something on thursday! :)
Thursday, November 8, 2007
Myrmidon (short story)
He woke up that morning with a sense of purpose. The day had yet to begin, but he was already dressing, strapping on his well-worn armor. Unhurried, he checked his weapons: the short blade, the sword, the longbow, they were all ready to be used. He left the barracks, stopping by the kitchen for a warm breakfast, and then began the climb.
The views from the walls of Shadow's Keep are majestic. Or terrifying, depending on which wall you look out from. This day he stood guard on the Eastwatch wall, highest of them all and the one that inspired fear. Many recruits had stood this wall and gazed out into the gloom that lay eastward, barely recognizable as a mire that lay between tightly knit mountains. They were always assigned to the Eastwatch once during their first week. After their watch, he could always tell which would stay on as guards, and which would leave after their five years. The ones who stayed on had a purpose.
This day the mire was quiet. He took his place on the wall, exchanging a silent recognition with the guards leaving their posts, and the ones taking them. It would be an uneventful day, he could already see that, and for which he was grateful. It was not that long ago that the horrors had risen and the Eastwatch had been breached. He could still feel the burning touch that had left him with a permanent limp, no matter how the healers tried to treat it. Shifting weight, he again tested the leg. It was a habit now, to ensure he could rely on it in a fight, that he would not break when pressed into combat.
The day passed, lunch came and went, and finally the darkness came. He gazed out into the east one last time before his replacement made it up to the wall. The descent was the same, poorly lit with the dark, but he did not need the light to know the route. He hadn't needed it before, either. The courtyard was empty, and he went to the kitchens for dinner. It was quiet, mostly empty as he sat down to eat. After a while, an unmistakable figure entered the kitchen, the king's sorcerer, the appointed lord of the keep. He knew the sorcerer would come, had known why the whole day.
It was the last day of his fortieth year on the walls of Shadow's Keep. The rules were the rules, and he would not break them. A nod to the sorcerer. The usual things were said, he had seen and heard it several times before. He was given the letter, the one which would give him any position he wanted in the city, a merchant's life, a landowner, or just a quiet retirement. It was unwanted, and he could tell the sorcerer knew that, but would not change it. He said his goodbye to the others, and slept his last night in the Keep.
He did not wake up the next morning. His purpose was gone.
The views from the walls of Shadow's Keep are majestic. Or terrifying, depending on which wall you look out from. This day he stood guard on the Eastwatch wall, highest of them all and the one that inspired fear. Many recruits had stood this wall and gazed out into the gloom that lay eastward, barely recognizable as a mire that lay between tightly knit mountains. They were always assigned to the Eastwatch once during their first week. After their watch, he could always tell which would stay on as guards, and which would leave after their five years. The ones who stayed on had a purpose.
This day the mire was quiet. He took his place on the wall, exchanging a silent recognition with the guards leaving their posts, and the ones taking them. It would be an uneventful day, he could already see that, and for which he was grateful. It was not that long ago that the horrors had risen and the Eastwatch had been breached. He could still feel the burning touch that had left him with a permanent limp, no matter how the healers tried to treat it. Shifting weight, he again tested the leg. It was a habit now, to ensure he could rely on it in a fight, that he would not break when pressed into combat.
The day passed, lunch came and went, and finally the darkness came. He gazed out into the east one last time before his replacement made it up to the wall. The descent was the same, poorly lit with the dark, but he did not need the light to know the route. He hadn't needed it before, either. The courtyard was empty, and he went to the kitchens for dinner. It was quiet, mostly empty as he sat down to eat. After a while, an unmistakable figure entered the kitchen, the king's sorcerer, the appointed lord of the keep. He knew the sorcerer would come, had known why the whole day.
It was the last day of his fortieth year on the walls of Shadow's Keep. The rules were the rules, and he would not break them. A nod to the sorcerer. The usual things were said, he had seen and heard it several times before. He was given the letter, the one which would give him any position he wanted in the city, a merchant's life, a landowner, or just a quiet retirement. It was unwanted, and he could tell the sorcerer knew that, but would not change it. He said his goodbye to the others, and slept his last night in the Keep.
He did not wake up the next morning. His purpose was gone.
Wednesday, November 7, 2007
Word!
As promised, I've picked the word to write about tomorrow.
The 'rules' are very simple: write a post this thursday (tomorrow) which involves in some way the chosen word. It could be whatever you thought of to write when free associating on the word, it could be a story with some relation to it, whatever you like.
A lot of people mentioned they'd try and participate when I brought up this idea, so if all goes well I'll link them in a post on friday, but regular readers can probably figure out how to find the other blogs as well. :)
And now, since I would guess people are still waiting to see what word was picked, here we go: myrmidon
I tried several different ways of picking a word, and usually ended up with stuff like 'and' and 'the', etc. So taking a slightly more non-random approach, I took a look at dictionary.com's word of the day list, and finding those fairly random and interesting, picked one from the last seven days that I thought might be interesting. Follow the link given above for the word of the day archive for the word, I think there's also a link to the full entry.
The 'rules' are very simple: write a post this thursday (tomorrow) which involves in some way the chosen word. It could be whatever you thought of to write when free associating on the word, it could be a story with some relation to it, whatever you like.
A lot of people mentioned they'd try and participate when I brought up this idea, so if all goes well I'll link them in a post on friday, but regular readers can probably figure out how to find the other blogs as well. :)
And now, since I would guess people are still waiting to see what word was picked, here we go: myrmidon
I tried several different ways of picking a word, and usually ended up with stuff like 'and' and 'the', etc. So taking a slightly more non-random approach, I took a look at dictionary.com's word of the day list, and finding those fairly random and interesting, picked one from the last seven days that I thought might be interesting. Follow the link given above for the word of the day archive for the word, I think there's also a link to the full entry.
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