Ode...

i love my legs; as far as i know, i always have. i can't remember when i didn't love my, at times spindly, often-referred-to-as-chicken legs. even at a time when i either hated or was indifferent to every other part of me, i loved my legs. my legs, which i love by the way, were built for a life of leisure. they were built for high heels and miniskirts and, you know, that's not a bad thing to be built for. the trouble is that's not what my legs ever wanted to do. my legs wanted to climb trees, crawl through tunnels and fall off speeding bicycles - and they carry the many years of scars to prove it. my legs still want to win races, jump high and long, and play every sport they come across. but that's not all. oh no ... my legs want to run and run and run. ah, those legs. my legs. we always want what we shouldn't have. and when i try to reason with them, my legs ask me - would you rather sprain your ankle stumbling over the insanely high heel of some silly shoe or during a high-octane pick-up basketball game? when you soak your sore feet, isn't it great that it's because of a long run in the glorious outdoors and not because of some ill-fitting instruments of torture strapped to them? how cool is it that your knees hurt, not because you walked around all day on tiptoes, but because you ran faster, and further than you ever imagined possible?

i tell you, it's difficult to argue with my legs and, because i love them and because i want them to be happy and.. well... because they are right, i let them do what they will. these legs that i love.

To Go Where... Well, ONE Other Man Has Gone Before

we're going to the moon! i'm so excited. i had almost given up on it, what with all the talk of mars travel, i thought the moon had been forgotten. i know neil armstrong and friends have been, but since when has anyone gone anywhere just once? of course, except maybe a dragon's lair and billings, montana... but we're going to the moon!

i sit and wonder about that man in the moon. are we going to make an effort to meet him this time? what will he be like? will he be really excited to finally be able to chat with us face to face, instead of just gazing upon us from distance? or will be he like a bitter miss havisham - tired of sitting around waiting and waiting, with the tea getting cold and moon spiders building webs around him? i had been getting tired of all the unmanned missions. can you imagine how disappointing it has been for the man in the moon to go running out to meet his guests, only to be confronted by soulless robots? the poor man. it may well end up being like the boy who cried wolf. we shall arrive on the moon and the man in the moon will stay in his house, in his pyjamas, slippered feet on an ottoman, refusing to be fooled by yet another empty rocket. i hope not.

but wait, what is this i hear? exploit? going to the moon to mine for titanium and seek helium? they are not interested in the man in the moon. it seems that folk have decided that we shouldn't limit our greedy digging and exploitation to just one place. what good is the moon if we can't profit from it? all these people yelling, but what about the consequences? money has no time for consequences! onward we go!!!

we're going to the moon.... uh-oh.