The Lair of the Emerald Serpent

So another November in Nanoland is over and it's time for the ritual post mortem

There are two things I have learned and one that I have confirmed

( A Plodding Python )

Izzie’s been in exile from Cyberia for the last three days. Just too many interesting things going on in the mundane muggle world

Thursday was on the coffee trail. Nothing particularly significant but getting off the bus several stops early near Seventh Avenue and noticing several bunches of clover like weeds was a good omen. It meant being in the present and being able to enjoy and be inspired by all the little things
Friday was a big day out. First was a visit to Toodyay with an old friend. Toodyay is a country town about an hour away on the train from the big smoke. It sort of resembles Bridgetown but is not quite as lush and green. Winter is the peak of tourism season there as it gets terribly hot in summer.

On our previous visit in March 2010 the gorgeous cafe upstairs on the balcony was closed. This time we were in luck. Or so it seemed. Turns out the cafe on the balcony is still there but it is under new management. These people are not the brightest lights on the Christmas tree and a few sandwiches short of a picnic. But putting on the impartial Martian hat, it was amusing watching the antics of the Louisiana Swamp Monster in her boiler suit dishing up her New Orleans Style cuisine.

There were more swamp monsters rampaging around on the train journey home. Unlike the trip down where the train was nearly empty, on the way back it was packed and was not able to sit with our witchy friend. So took the opportunity to get out that little black and gold book and catch up on the body count and the rest of the drama at the Cornucopia.

But there were more spooky and scary adventures in store for this serpent. ecosopher one of our friends from Nanoland invited the Izzie to a German film festival to see a movie with the intriguing title of “Hell”

The pitch is a story set some time in the future when everything is hotter and drier, most of mainland Europe is some sort of post apocalyptic wasteland. And maybe there’s zombies
Izzie just loves a dire doomy gloomy Dystopia (even one with never ending sunshine) and this sounds like just our cup of hemlock.

Here is the official 'pitch'

Literally translated as ‘bright’, the film is set in a future world where food is scarce, it doesn’t rain and the sun is very powerful. Two sisters and a male friend exist in this tough environment where survival is problematic. When they encounter another man, their very existence is challenged until they eventually arrive at a commune that may be able to solve their food issues. This debut feature by Tim Fehlbaum is a challenging, atmospheric film with simmering tensions and a powerful sense of society under threat

It started at a spooky abandoned service station and felt vaguely reminiscent of The Hitcher and other assorted Highway 666 horror stories. This was a place where people would kill for a can of petrol or bottle of water.

( Bright and Shiny Tales )

Wednesday was an icky sticky disgustingly muggy day. It was too miserable to slink around after work so just returned to the lair to scrub the scales and indulge in a long serpent snooze
Woke around 4.30pm and had the choice of clocking up another Buy Nothing Day lurking in the Lair, doing a bit of decluttering and some squiggling in Cyberia, or a visit to The Treasure Chest and the Caravan of Kitsch to see if there were any last minute cheap tickets for the freaky Fringe Shows. Figured that the serpent can snooze any day of the week but there’s only three weeks of Fringe festival freakishness.

( Freaks, picnics, flying puddings and promises )

Izzie is one zonked old serpent. Way too much excitement in the last week and today was crash time.
Was an early bird out the door on Saturday morning. Had the grand plan to slink over to City Farm’s cafe and gardens to do some last minute plotting and planning before pottering back to the city for the Big Aussie BBQ

But then got to thinking that it would all be a bit rushed and while the cafe will be there next week, the big barbecue will not. So decided to lurk around the parks instead and do some reading and spot if there would be a single kosher sausage for sale at the event.


The organizers obviously had grand plans. There must have been about ten BBQ clusters - each with about ten barbies bedecked with sizzling sausages and bags of crappy plastic white bread. Guessing that the main reason for not using buns was less being nasty little profit seeking cheapskates but simply the lack of space. The logistics for this event must have been a nightmare
It was ever so amusing to see that it was sponsored by Coles and Bunnings - both known for crappy customer service and rubbish products

Most of the folks on the stands were volunteers and the proceeds were going to an assortment of charities
Each cluster had chalk lines drawn in the sand like they were expecting such enormous queues that each line had to be specially demarcated

The grub on offer was basically one sausage with a slice of white bread, an assortment of sauces and big bins filled with ice and cans of carbonated high fructose corn syrup masquerading as liquid refreshments along with bottles of Mount Franklin water for the more health conscious. The more dollar conscious such as a certain serpent noticed that there were numerous water fountains around this park offering much better tasting H2O for free

Just out of plain curiosity, did seek and find one of the two stands serving kosher sausages. Got to thinking that they probably had more meat in them than the normal versions
Also got to thinking that they really should have had a Commonwealth Corner with alternative munchies on offer like at some of the other event sites. Most folks would rather pay 5 silver sickles for a half decent satay, sushi, mie goreng, nasi lemak or nachos than 2 for a crappy sausage in a piece of plastic bread

But most folks did not come for the food. The smart ones brought their own. The real reason most folks had come apart from the party was to see the Queen
One silly bugger asked if she was going to walk around the park to which he got the reply along the lines - of course not. For God’s sake, the poor woman is 85 years old. Give her a break.

Izzie was there for the party and to watch the royal watchers. Certainly not for the sausages. The grand plan was to slink around the park near Victoria Street as that would be where the black range rover coming down and turning to do the grand tour before the whole meet and greet ritual over at the Esplanade.

A ten minute walk would then get the Izzie over to the Esplanade where the serious business would be going on.
That was the theory. The reality was that there were fences erected all around the park with police and security guards all over the place preventing folks from crossing the road. The more agile folks could climb over but would probably get arrested on the spot - such were the draconian security rules in force.

Once the royals had passed the end of the street, they didn’t enforce the barricades so got to the esplanade around 11.30. But it too was fenced and no one else was allowed in due to the crowds. The cops said the best view would be on the big screens dotted everywhere
What was most amusing aside from certain folks of the “I did but see her passing by” persuasion who treat her like a Goddess or at least a pop star, was the large numbers of Chinese in the crowds. Some students, some tourists and some families living here but it really seemed to be a source of total amusement and fascination for them. Lots had not just the obligatory iPhones but big digital cameras with zoom lenses


After watching the black range rover depart for the last time, slinked up to Stirling Gardens to sit and enjoy the peace and quiet and to wait for most of the crowds to move on. Had to go back through the barbecue territories to get to the train station and at this stage they were offering two sausages with a slice of bread or just walking around with aluminium trays of the things just giving them away.

Izzie declined but got offered a free bottle of Mt Franklin instead. It wasn’t too bad when it was cold. At that stage most of the ice had been tipped in heaps on the grass. But as it warmed up it was completely stale and tasteless. The tap water in the fountains that was also warm was much sweeter and nicer and most importantly of all it did not taste like plastic.

Took advantage of the free trains and buses to go down to Mandurah. The train line has been there just short of four years but still not managed to get down there yet. Mainly due to the cost. Why pay nine silver sickles for a day trip there when there’s plenty of nicer and nearer places that cost half as much to get there and back

Even around 2pm the trains were still pretty full. Took 40 minutes to get to the destination. It has a nice foreshore but did not see any pelicans like last time some ten years ago. Most of the shops seem to be closed up and the place is a bit of a wasteland.
The local foreshore is much prettier with lovely views of the city especially at night. It was the location for a free concert on Sunday. It was a gorgeous place for a concert. But turned out that Dan Sultan, the one act this serpent wanted to see was not going to turn up after all. He’d got stranded over in Melbourne due to the latest Qantas drama.

There’s been a lot of pissed off travelers. Especially amusing was how so many tin pot dictators and their entourage got stuck here in delightful Dursleyville. They’d already hogged the best hotels at taxpayers expense so the other stranded travelers were left with no places to stay
Qantas is the new Garuda. It’s probably run by goblins. These days all the airlines are in trouble with the increasing price of fuel and all those broke folks who cannot afford to go on overseas holidays anymore

Had quite a nice time sitting under the paperbark trees listening to Capercaille and even the completely kitsch Bombay Royale. Did not bring a picnic or other munchies but sat peeking through our little nano notebook jotting down ideas and underlining the most promising ones already written as well as flicking through the deck of cards in search of inspiration
Today was supposed to be dedicated to such activities but ended up crashing and being rather brain dead. Nothing like hordes of pesky flies to fry the brain and to make an Izzie most grumpy and cranky indeed.

Even the gorgeous old lunatic asylum was not immune from their pestilent presence.
Did get to peek on board the replica sailing ship “The Endeavour’ on its second last day open to the public but that is for another post. But it will provide inspiration for the boat that used to be in Memorial Park before the insurance zombies insisted on getting rid of it due to public liability issues.
Now it is time to slink off into the darkness and sharpen the quill for 30 days of squiggling craziness. No more lurking online until the daily quota of 2,000 words is reached. That is Izzie’s trick for staying on target. Lurking in Cyberia will now be reserved as a special treat for good behaviour. It’s much more motivating than packets of dark chocolate Tim Tams.

Izzie slinks into Cyberia after the best part of a month absence. Or more correctly said, hanging around in other lurking grounds than the usual

The squiggling frenzy that was Camp Nanowrimo is over, the visitors from overseas are gone and life is slowly returning to abnormal.
So much stuff going on locally and out there in the big bad world but feeling too drained and brain dead to gossip about any of it

Maybe in the next few weeks will get around to catching up and doing a bit of stuff in the Lair too. The place has been invaded by feral nasturtiums and the pretty pom pom blossoms of the wattles are popping up everywhere

There's broad beans and dragon fruit to be planted and general decluttering and goblin business to attend to also
Then there's a certain birthday to attend to in the next few weeks. Aside from lots of bottle of booze, what on earth do you get the mother who has got everything?

Now it's time to slink off into the darkness. Got loads of procrastinating to do to make up for the lack of it last month

Just a quick squiggle to say that the serpent has not been abducted by aliens. Rather she has traded in a real life tent and torrential rains in Petunia's garden for a virtual one over at nanoland
Actually it's been quite fun lurking under a fluffy quilt in the big green tent with two chooks and magpies for company and some amazing sky shows - thunder, lightening and the works. It's been raining here for the last two weeks and today was the first dry day in all that time.


Yessss. Against all better judgement especially when there's visitors from overseas at the ma's place, the serpent has decided to do the Camp nanowrimo thing and has been busy squiggling since the start of August which coincided quite nicely with Daisy's departure up north on a camping adventure. They've taken the tent too so it's back to the boring old bed for now.

The writing rules are still the same as ever. No lazing, lurking, slinking or generally slacking in Cyberia until the daily word count quota has been reached or preferably exceeded. Got some serious sprinting to do over the next few days so as to be able to slack off when the Izzie sister and co return next week from their northern camping adventures.

Otherwise, been quite crazy lately and there's been all sorts of Dursleyish dramas over the last three weeks or so. Not to mention the unusual amount of gloom and doom in the big bad muggle world out there

Found two playing cards just lying on a pavement. Both were jokers - one black and white and the other multicoloured. There were no other cards around. On the backs was a big blue logo promoting next Tuesday's census. Most peculiar indeed. It seems so like an omen especially since back in May when on holidays also found two jokers lying on the ground along with a ten of spades.

Now all that remains is to decide what to (or if to) fill in the 'religion' box on Tuesday night. This time it is optional. Oh for the good old days when the questions included such gems as "List the number of idiots and imbeciles in your household"
More interesting census snippets

Been back from holidays a week now but that does not stop the serpent from pottering around and getting up to mischief
Last Thursday was one such day. It was a glorious crisp and crunchy day and got up early in order to be in far away Fremantle for the second week of a book binding course

It was a good morning and would have been most delighted to spend the day lurking around the old lunatic asylum after the class for several hours. There were books to read and emerald notebooks to squiggle in and coffees to be sipped but there was also a free workshop in the city at 2pm more than 30 minutes away on the train
Could easily just not bother turning up but would then remain eternally curious about missed opportunities and anyway there's another four weeks of this course to linger around the loony bin

The workshop was called "Free Flow" and was aimed at people who want to write their life story or about their family and as an afterthought - anyone who wants to write fiction in general

The presenter first asked the 20 or so folks who had turned up what sort of questions they had about writing and proceeded to write them up all on the board with the intention that most of them would be answered by the end of 90 minutes

He then asked if any of us had ever read a book where the characters were so real we did not want to say goodbye to them or the setting was so interesting that we would rather be there than in the real world. He proceeded to mention his ten and twelve year old kids who would rather spend their spare time at Hogwarts than doing their school work or other mundane muggle activities.
That is the sort of effect you want to have on your readers. Izzie commented that she was still waiting for her invitation.

He told us that he had learned five rules of writing as a student many moons ago in an adult education writing course and found them to be the most useful advice on writing he's ever had
The Izzie so had to giggle when he told us what they were

( Five rules of writing and other musings )

Just returned from a wonderful weird few days down south in the serpent's favorite sacred site - well sort of. Decided to deviate slightly by staying in a different place.

One of the prettiest places to sit in the little town is on an old park bench in an alcove near a church gate overlooking the hills, a disused railway line and a gorgeous old building with an iron roof and green painted veranda.
It is a hotel as well as a restaurant and the view over from the church is towards the kitchen and upstairs balcony.
Would sit there after sunset admiring the view and wondering what wicked sorts of dishes were being brewed in that mysterious kitchen and what sort of beastly creatures would be lurking on that balcony
This was the perfect spot for reading spooking Lovecraft stories and that is exactly what Izzie had been doing the last two years down there.

Figured that it was finally time to find out about the lurkers in the dark. Did inquire last year about the cost of rooms there. The standard rooms were $100 per night and the deluxe rooms $120 for singles and an extra $20 per extra person. But the big minus was no breakfast
Figured that $100 was quite reasonable until noticing the maps and realizing that those rooms were the awful motel things out the back also visible from the church and looking like something out of some 1950s horror movie.
Since the whole point was to be upstairs in the old house near the balcony this was not going to do at all. So decadent deluxe it would have to be.

Finally got round to visiting the hotel's website on the first day of May. Izzie is such a pathetic procrastinating python. Just a peek was sufficient to confirm that visiting once a year is just not enough.
So found the booking page and was intrigued to see that there was another category of rooms listed that were not even mentioned in the brochures - just listed as basic rooms with no pictures of them or information of any sort.
The price was ever ever so tempting at a mere $60 which is cheaper than any of the rooms in the usual location. But since the standard rooms were large but nasty looking prefab motel jobs, these cheapies must surely be a couple of shoe boxes near the wheelie bins.
And wasn't the whole point of staying in this particular place to be in the gorgeous old building itself preferably upstairs? So played safe and stuck to the decadent deluxe option at twice the price.

After a very inspired train trip down on Tuesday and even the second leg on the coach was quite enjoyable, the Izzie was constantly pestered by nanowrimo muses whispering oodles of ideas into the green serpent skull.
Arrived at the hotel only to find that they had stuffed up the reservation. Was a bit peeved having paid in advance by credit card. Turns out another customer with the same name had cancelled and they had gotten the wrong one. It's not like it's Izzie Smith or Jones we are talking about here. How many Dursleys can there possibly be and another one decides to travel to the same place at the same time and then chickens out? Probably realized that Bridgetown is the most unDursleyish place imaginable and then went for some place more suitable like Manjimup just 30 minutes down the road
They did find the Izzie reservation with the request for a room upstairs in the old house and rang the other Dursley in Perth to confirm that he had indeed cancelled.

Once this was all sorted out, asked if it was possible to peek at the cheapie rooms for future reference before going to the one assigned for the next two days
Was also wondering why they were not listed in the brochures. No problems. Those are apparently what they call the 'hot boxes' - rooms of last resort as they don't have proper heating or airconditioning, they have no ensuites and are quite small.
Turns out that these two rooms are at the top of the stairs in the old building with windows overlooking the balcony. Izzie would be inclined to call them cute and cozy rather than tiny and they were still big enough for a double bed with space to spare
The serpent's room was right next door. It was much much bigger with a grand four poster bed with burgundy and gold bed linen and a large bathroom adjoining.

It was gorgeous but not twice as nice. But did not regret playing safe as it was quite nice to have a private bathroom. That is the one big big problem with the usual lurking ground which is also in an old house. Four of the rooms - two doubles and two singles share the same common bathroom. No big deal during the week but when all the rooms are full you got to resort to getting up very early to beat the mad rush.
This hotel - since all the rooms upstairs have ensuites except the two cheapies and there are two bathrooms at the end of the corridor - there's no bathroom or loo blues to worry about at all

So spent lots of time in the evening sitting on the balcony and also was out there drinking cups of coffee in the morning. The room had a kettle, milk, coffee and teabags so just needed to get some nibblies from the local stores for a cheapskate breakfast

After sorting out our bag lady stuff and snooping in the bathroom, the first mission in this decadent and gorgeous old room was to snoop through all the bedside tables and the writing desk in search of a certain something. Searched high and low and was kind of amused that it was not to be found at all. But maybe it hides its presence from unbelievers. Signs and wonders
Wondered if it would be a good idea to go down to reception to demand a copy of the Gideon Bible.

Turned out the writing desk with its strange design of two raised surfaces and a sunken one in the middle was just the perfect size for laying out tarot cards for plotting and planning
Had 12 on one side and 12 on the other and squiggled ideas and inspirations in the notebook which was sitting in the middle

There was one more ritual to be observed before leaving on Thursday morning.
Back around July 2009 stumbled across The One Deck - a set of tarot cards that was love at first sight. Called the Dark Grimoire - it was based on H P Lovecraft stories. But the atmosphere and the look of the places depicted in this sepia toned deck of doom was uncannily like this very town - especially the church across the road and the many old buildings made of wood with spooky turrets and towers and lots of balconies.
So to sit on this very balcony overlooking the town while peeking through the deck as if looking through a photo album was a most suitable way to spend some time and very inspiring it was too.
Remembered back to other times sitting near that church and starting a book with the very promising title of "Shadowmancer" which turned out to be a monstrous abomination and sample of the definitely deviant art form called "Christian Fiction"
Lucky that a certain serpent seen the error of her ways and discovered the real thing instead of wasting time with wannabees. But maybe it is worth another peek if only to learn 'what not to do' when wanting to write spooky stories of the supernatural.


Checked out on Thursday morning after reluctantly saying goodbye to that fascinating and intriguing balcony. Once again took a parting glance at the map in the reception office. Realized that nearly all the deluxe rooms were in the very pretty but new nearby brick building and without that specific request would have ended up in one of them. It seems that everyone these days wants the bright shiny and those that appreciate the magnificence of the Old Ones and the Old Ways are an endangered species

So most contented to know that it is possible to indulge this decadent addiction to this most spooky and eldritch locations for a mere 60 sickles per night. It's getting the time off from work that is the main obstacle
Still sticking to the usual place for the annual garden festival as we really missed the songs of frogs late at night and the gorgeous breakfasts and especially the black starry skies.
Even a handful of street lights are sufficient to scare away the stars at night so the balcony proved unsuitable for stargazing in spite of seeming perfect for such purposes in the cold light of day

So now waking from this wonderful dream world and back to mundane muggle reality, it's time to muse and ponder on the strange faces and places down there - seen and unseen and twist them into threads of some long and strange tale over the next month or two

At last it's payback for the disgusting and awful week since last Tuesday. It's so true that blessed are those who expect nothing for they shall not be disappointed
And last week was well and truly on steroids.
December had started with unusually mild weather -almost cold at times and the odd drop of rain and wind. So everyone sort of got caught off guard thinking that this strangeness would continue

Thanks to the astronomy almanac had long ago noticed that the solstice and full moon would be on the same day - well sort of. Full moon was Tuesday 21st and the solstice on Wednesday.
Had the dates and times all checked out and figured that since the sunset and moonrise were only five minutes apart that the best place to go would be the one with 360 degree views. That is Memorial Hill in Fremantle. So the traditional beach solstice sunset could happily wait for Wednesday
But the weather had other plans. Tuesday was clammy and cloudy and there was simply no point in going all the way to Freo for a 90% no show.
Wednesday was even worse. Ickier, stickier and infinitely hotter and more humid and cloudy of course. Was totally miserable, zonked and drained. Once again it was cloudy so no beach sunset just a slink to the Lair to snooze and sulk and feel generably miserable

Due to the clouds didn't even get a decent score on the solar panel inverter - a pissy 3 something kilowatts rather than the usual 5.5 expected at this time of year
It just got creepier and clammier and by Saturday had the worst of all possible worlds. A humid 33 is far more miserable and uncomfortable than a hot dry 39. But Christmas we got an icky sticky 39.5
Izzie is a bit of a Grinch when it comes to Christmas. It's not just the commercialism but the big pretend with the snowflakes, reindeer and Santa shit that it is the middle of winter when everyone is sweltering. A sad bunch of South Brits are the Anglo Aussies
Can happily overlook Christmas if we get our summer solstice picnic by the beach along with the same little ritual on New Year's Eve. But this year the long awaited solstice and full moon rise were totally ruined by the sucky Singapore weather
So instead of being recharged the batteries were totally drained
Funny - did do the solstice thing last year but managed to be all neurotic and the the hot water pipes sprung a leak. Christmas was hot but not humid and the following week's weather was gorgeous

Luckily by the night time it had gotten very very windy so the humidity had gone. The wild easterlies meant that it would be hot and dry the next day but hot and dry is infinitely better than hot and wet. The highlight of the day was snoozing outside in the tent at Petunia's place with the winds blowing and the slightly less than full moon shining in the tent window

Civilized weather finally returned on Tuesday. Wednesday included a visit to the Secret Garden cafe after work - the last working day of the year.
Had resurrected an old week to a page A5 diary from 2005 to recycle for next year. Had only written one or two entries so it's perfectly reusable
Decided to list the 20 or something things from the 101 list that we want to get ticked off next year. The creatures that totally sabotaged this years' grand plans are now long gone so there's no more excuses for delays and dilly dallying

Visited the Cybershop where exactly one year ago we bought the gorgeous Big Mac. Really should have a birthday party for the Precioussss. Got all nostalgic and sad to see that the lovely cafe two doors down with the plane trees and lovely garden had been a horrid Thai restaurant since May. Still missing the place. Had such grand plans for it to be the 2010 nano cafe.
Followed that by a visit to an Indian restaurant for lunch. Decided that it would be an interesting mission to try vegetarian thali in ten different restaurants. It is the ultimate lucky dip dish. There was no spinach dish but as usual a totally delicious dahl. Must really learn to cook this stuff properly at the Lair as it really is so dirt cheap and we got plenty of ghee and yellow split peas in the pantry

Had to return some library books in another suburb. Due back tomorrow but got other plans for the last day of the year. This suburb has lots of nice cafes including one that provided the major plot point for a certain story in November. So figured that as it would be seriously unauspicious to bring a certain tarot deck to Petunia's place tomorrow evening and certainly not to work the next morning, it would be better to do the honours and take the first peek today
And that is just what the Izzie did. We can see why the Tarotforum folks reckon that the Victorian Romantic deck is even creepier than the Bohemian gothic.

Since it is going to be next years' nano random plot generator, decided that today in the cafe would be a perfect place for a first peek. Also came up with the idea of running two stories using this deck and the good old dark grimoire. Randomly drawing one and then using the corresponding cards for the other and then seeing which deck produces the best plot possibilities

Been filling in dates for all the various projects and figured that Tuesday 1st February is the perfect day to start dealing the deck ;)

It was lovely to have a non neurotic productive day with lots of nostalgia and inspiration
Even did a quick blitz of the kitchen bench tops this evening. Always a good idea to start new year's resolutions a few days early

Tomorrow apart from picnicking and browsing book stores will be spent filling in dates and deadlines in that 2005 diary.
20 goals should be enough to keep a serpent busy.

It's a most peculiar thing how the approach of the winner finish line has a strange effect on motivation to keep on squiggling
Was going for a nice round 56,000 words but once the magic 50,000 came and went, along with the weekend at work without access to Scrivener for squiggling, somehow the Inner Inquisitor with the Cat O Nine Tails promising all sorts of punishment for failing to meet the daily quota sort of slackened off.

On Friday faced the choice of slinking back to the Lair at 2pm for a snooze and then the rest of the evening squiggling which worked out every well the week before or the alternative of staying in the city gobbling coffees in order to attend one last Write In at 6pm
Figured that following the new formula of doing something different would tend towards the write in since it will be a whole 11 months until the next one.

So sat in a big fat comfy leather chair near a window of the Milligan Street Dome cafe and finally got started on reading a very interesting green book with a mysterious black cat on the cover.
The other treat in store is Douglas Hofstadter's "I am a strange loop"

The first giggle got from reading "Fooled by Randomness- the hidden role of chance in life and in the markets" (Nassim Nicholas Taleb) was in the introduction when the writer talked about Lucky Fools who do well and attribute their success to talent and not luck and the problem is that nearly everyone else does too until their luck finally runs out. And by then it is invariably too late and the damage has been done
The main thread of the book is about the crazy things that happen when humans find patterns, messages and meaning in randomness when none exist at all

He had been asked about why he decided not to do things the other way around and why he does not seem so concerned about the situations 'where patterns and messages may have been ignored'
Since this so very rarely happens, he figures it is not worth investigating and also that the consequences of mistaking a signal for noise and talent for chance are just so infinitely less tragic on the very rare occasions they do occur

He has great fun with post modernism and literary theory which have elevated the human tendency of finding something in nothing to a most amusing art form
Where poets and writers are informed of deep, esoteric meanings in their work that even they did not know exist. All attributable to the subconscious of course

So got to thinking that in a way that this year's nano squigglings were in their own way an offering to the Gods of Chance
Constructing a plot line based on nothing but a bunch of randomly drawn tarot cards was a rather chancy thing to do.
While the particular deck was chosen as being most appropriate for the theme and setting which was deliberately chosen, everything else that happened was based largely on trying to generate meanings from 22 sets of 4 cards drawn at random from the deck
Not completely and totally at random as for that it would be best to use some computer algorithm.
There was a bit of tweeking and cheating involved - each group of four cards was chosen only from the 56 minor suit cards and often in groups of 3 or 4 in order to guarantee that at least in that bunch there would be no redrawn cards
Introduced the other 22 for the last four chapters - due to getting seriously tired of constantly turning up the knight of swords, three of cups and four of wands
They then took over the whole show but that was most likely less due to some grand design but lousy shuffling. And this scheme still did not stop that pesky knight from once again leaving his calling card

So once the sequence of 88 randomly drawn cards were chosen, the next procedure was to find some way of linking each one to the next and the one that came before and of course to any recurrence of that particular card earlier or later amongst the 88
The game then would be to just pile on the symbolism, occult and strange esoteric meanings until the story looked almost inevitable and predetermined
This trick had the major advantage of being lots of fun to do and being a wonderful way of avoiding writer's block. After all there is no excuse for being unable to add something to at least one of those 88 segments rather than remaining stuck at one single spot in the construction of this dark satanic tower of cards

Here's hoping that next year's deck will be the very wicked and twisted Russian version of the Victorian Gothic. In it's own strange way it is even creepier than its so called dark Bohemian Gothic sister.
Getting ones paws on that elusive little beastie truly is a game of chance with the odds stacked firmly in favour of the Baba Facebook groupies and those Cyberian citizens who stay glued to their screens constantly clicking the refresh button

There's also the old favorite Dark Grimoire from last year but will be needing to have lots of book stores, libraries and mutant monsters in a certain sleepy spooky little town down south to take account of just how ridiculously often they appear in that deck.

It might be time to use a real random generator and not fumbling serpent fingers so that we can be assured of being a genuine worshipper at the altar of Chance
But one other thing the serpent has learned, time spent away from the screen is not wasted time but an opportunity for plotting and scheming and scanning the surroundings for snippets to snatch
And also there's a treasure trove of freaks for the taking at the day job and it would be a shame to waste them. So got a whole year to fill up files of crazy characters in very great detail so that the lot of them can be getting on with plotting ready to be let loose from their starting stalls as the clock strikes midnight next Halloween
Due to such slacking, realized on returning to work on Saturday 20th that there were two very juicy characters there for the picking who had gotten totally left out and another two newbies who bear an uncanny resemblance to some of the people in the cards. That very scary High Priestess and the crabby old batty 4 of pentacles lady look so exactly like certain very real people that even those without the misfortune to know them would recognize them instantly

It might be a good start to do some of that with the present inmates of Lucifer's Gardens as there's plenty of room for fattening them up.