Specialization is for Insects

One of Izzie's real life creative indulgences is membership of a public speaking group which meets in the city at the ungodly hour of 7am on Fridays
We do things like answering questions without notice, meeting procedure and plain old speeches. Excellent training for wannabee politicians

Izzie got rostered on to do a speech last week on the unlikely and seemingly impossible topic of "Specialization is for Insects"
There were two of us doing four minute speeches on this topic and we both got the usual two weeks notice. But at 6.30 on the bus, was still totally and absolutely uninspired. So there was only one thing left to do - to consult the cards

Pulled three out of the pack and placed them in a row. Linking the three to form a story is the best possible outcome but just a source of ideas would be perfectly acceptable
So the Dark Grimoire fell open on the following pages

2 of Pentacles
Justice
5 of Swords

So the first speaker talked about mosquitoes as being flying syringes and not much else and other than their vampiric tendencies, then talked about the architectural marvels of bee hives and artistic merit of spider webs (spiders are not technically insects but who cares?)
Humans also have artistic and architectural talents but can do much other besides. We can specialize but don't have to get stuck in a rut

Izzie had a somewhat more twisted tale only tangential to the title

For centuries, humans have been perfectly horrid to poor little critters - zapping them with fly swats, Mortein, DDT, overworking poor bees and insulting them with nasty noxious toxic gm crops, sticking pins in butterflies and being generally obnoxious
But now it's payback time. Insects want their revenge on nasty stinking pesky humans and The treacherous serpent Izzie as their human representative in negotiations will outline their plan of attack unless we mend our wicked ways
This was sort of in the manner of a rather controversial assignment recently set by a secondary school teacher
Izzie's plan for biological and chemical warfare included strikes by bees and overtime for mosquitoes and bubonic plague infested fleas and maggot laying flies everywhere

Both speeches went down very well. The critic loved the serpent's sick sense of humour and noticed the link to that big beat up about the terrorism teacher in the paper that week. The fact that the talk was not quite on topic other than staring insects as the main protagonist did not seem to bother him at all.

After the meeting, it turned out that the other speaker had also not prepared properly and had relied on last minute inspiration. What makes it so amusing, none of the audience had any idea and Izzie would have sworn she spent ages getting the mozzie sound effects just right and arranging ideas into a logical and interesting sequence

This place is a good training ground for abandoning the usual boring cautiousness and learning how to improvise and wing it and most importantly at all - the art of learning to create a mask and hide behind it and to test it in a safe place before letting it loose where it counts
Bluffing and bamboozling with BS is a talent that the serpent does not have and desperately needs to develop rather than hiding in the corner totally convinced of our utter incompetence

Blessed are those who expect nothing, for they shall not be disappointed

Specialization is for Insects

One of Izzie's real life creative indulgences is membership of a public speaking group which meets in the city at the ungodly hour of 7am on Fridays
We do things like answering questions without notice, meeting procedure and plain old speeches. Excellent training for wannabee politicians

Izzie got rostered on to do a speech last week on the unlikely and seemingly impossible topic of "Specialization is for Insects"
There were two of us doing four minute speeches on this topic and we both got the usual two weeks notice. But at 6.30 on the bus, was still totally and absolutely uninspired. So there was only one thing left to do - to consult the cards

Pulled three out of the pack and placed them in a row. Linking the three to form a story is the best possible outcome but just a source of ideas would be perfectly acceptable
So the Dark Grimoire fell open on the following pages

2 of Pentacles
Justice
5 of Swords

So the first speaker talked about mosquitoes as being flying syringes and not much else and other than their vampiric tendencies, then talked about the architectural marvels of bee hives and artistic merit of spider webs (spiders are not technically insects but who cares?)
Humans also have artistic and architectural talents but can do much other besides. We can specialize but don't have to get stuck in a rut

Izzie had a somewhat more twisted tale only tangential to the title

For centuries, humans have been perfectly horrid to poor little critters - zapping them with fly swats, Mortein, DDT, overworking poor bees and insulting them with nasty noxious toxic gm crops, sticking pins in butterflies and being generally obnoxious
But now it's payback time. Insects want their revenge on nasty stinking pesky humans and The treacherous serpent Izzie as their human representative in negotiations will outline their plan of attack unless we mend our wicked ways
This was sort of in the manner of a rather controversial assignment recently set by a secondary school teacher
Izzie's plan for biological and chemical warfare included strikes by bees and overtime for mosquitoes and bubonic plague infested fleas and maggot laying flies everywhere

Both speeches went down very well. The critic loved the serpent's sick sense of humour and noticed the link to that big beat up about the terrorism teacher in the paper that week. The fact that the talk was not quite on topic other than staring insects as the main protagonist did not seem to bother him at all.

After the meeting, it turned out that the other speaker had also not prepared properly and had relied on last minute inspiration. What makes it so amusing, none of the audience had any idea and Izzie would have sworn she spent ages getting the mozzie sound effects just right and arranging ideas into a logical and interesting sequence

This place is a good training ground for abandoning the usual boring cautiousness and learning how to improvise and wing it and most importantly at all - the art of learning to create a mask and hide behind it and to test it in a safe place before letting it loose where it counts
Bluffing and bamboozling with BS is a talent that the serpent does not have and desperately needs to develop rather than hiding in the corner totally convinced of our utter incompetence

Blessed are those who expect nothing, for they shall not be disappointed