One Above All

[Tramspotter]

Originally Posted by lizziebith

I should probably mention here that I have, as pets, 7 spiders.

I'm assuming tarantulas.

My HS friend Nick has had a BlackWiddow he kept it on his desk at work for quite some time I should ask if its still alive it was getting rather big.

He holds the record for craziest (read fearless) mofo I know.

[SacTown Chronic]

Right now, as I type this, someone on earth is being murdered.
Someone is getting their heart broken.
Someone just found out that their spouse/mate/lover has been cheating on them.
Someone is getting ripped off by a con artist.
Someone is being raped.
A child is being abused.
Someone just got fired.
Someone is starving.
A homeless person is swallowing his pride and is begging for loose change.


The world is about non-stop pain and suffering. It must hurt to be God.



Right now, as I type this, someone is falling in love for the first time.
Someone just got a promotion.
Someone is having their wedding proposal accepted.
A child is being hugged.
Someone is having a baby.
Someone is seeing an ocean for the first time.
Some geek is finally losing his virginity.
Someone is buying their first home.
Someone's life is being saved by medical technology.


The world is about non-stop joy and love. It must be wonderful being God.

[Matterhorn Fan]

The Phantom Tollbooth is a masterpiece.

"Remarkable view," announced the Humbug, bouncing from the car as if he were responsible for the whole thing.

"Isn't it beautiful?" gasped Milo.

"Oh, I don't know," answered a strange voice. "It's all in the way you look at things."

"I beg your pardon?" said Milo, for he didn't see who had spoken.

"I said it's all in how you look at things," repeated the voice.

Milo turned around and found himself staring at two very neatly poilished bwoen shoes, for standing directly in front of him (if you can use the word "standing" for anyone suspended in mid-air) was another boy just about his age, whose feet were easily three feet off the ground.

"For instance," continued the boy, "if you happened to like deserts, you might not think this was beautiful at all."

"That's true," said the Humbug, who didn't like to contradict anyone whose feet were that far off the ground.

"For instance," said the boy again, "if Christmas trees were people and people were Christmas trees, we'd all be chopped down, put up in the living room, and covered with tinsel, while the trees opened our presents."

"What does that have to do with it?" asked Milo.

"Nothing at all," he answered, "but it's an interesting possibility, don't you think?"

"How do you manage to stand up there?" asked Milo, for this was the subject which most interested him.

"I about to ask you a similar question," answered the boy, "for you must be much older than you look to be standing on the ground."

"What do you mean?" Milo asked.

"Well," said the boy, "in my family everyone is born in the air, with his head at exactly the height it's going to be when he's an adult, and then we all grow toward the ground. When we're fully grown up or, as you can see, grown down, our feet finally touch. Of course, there are a few of us whose feet never reach the ground no matter how old we get, but I suppose it's the same in every family."

He hopped a few steps in the air, skipped back to where he started, and then began again.

"You certainly must be very old to have reached the ground already."

"Oh no," said Milo seriously, "In my family we all start on the ground and grow up, and we never know how far until we actually get there."

"What a silly system." The boy laughed. "Then you head keeps changing its height and you always see things in a different way? Why, when you're fifteen things won't look at all the way they did when you were ten, and at twenty everything will change again."

"I suppose so," replied Milo, for he had never really thought about the matter.

"We always see things from the same angle," the boy continued. "It's much less trouble that way. Besides, it makes more sense to grown down and not up. When you're very young, you can never hurt yourself falling down if you're in mid-air, and you certainly can't get into trouble for scuffing up your shoes or marking the floor if there's nothing to scuff them on and the floor is three feet away."

"That's very true," thought Tock, who wondered how the dogs in the family liked the arrangement.

[Ghoulish Delight]

Ooh, that's a good one too (but not the other scene I was thinking of).

[Matterhorn Fan]

Originally Posted by Ghoulish Delight

Ooh, that's a good one too (but not the other scene I was thinking of).

I figured it probably wasn't, but it's a section of that book that I really like. I also like the Island of Conclusions and ah, well, everything in that book.

[Ghoulish Delight]

Originally Posted by Matterhorn Fan

and ah, well, everything in that book.

It's an amazing book, I've read my copy to death (literally, it's hardly attached to the spine anymore). The other scene that this thread brought to mind was Alec (the tallest midget, the shortest giant, the fattest thin man, and the thinnest fat man).

[Gemini Cricket]

I love those 'Phantom Tollbooth' snippets. They're muy cool.

I was just thinking back to the movie 'Amelie' when she wondered how many people in Paris were having orgasms at that exact second. Then the director shows us who they are as they're having them. Love that.

When I mentioned this to Ralphie, he said the same thing that Sac said about how many babies were being born and how many deaths. He also pointed out that one really couldn't say 'Somewhere in the world someone is the ugliest person on earth' because the definition of ugly varies from person to person.

I wonder if there are usually more births happening each year than deaths. I hear that there was, but I'm not sure. Interesting.

[mousepod]

Originally Posted by Gemini Cricket

I wonder if there are usually more births happening each year than deaths. I hear that there was, but I'm not sure. Interesting.

Yes. That one's true. Hence my earlier post that there are more people alive today than ever lived.

Thanks for The Phantom Tollbooth. Haven't read that one since 4th grade. I'd better pick up a copy.

[Matterhorn Fan]

Alec's the kid who's floating in the air. The smallest giant is in the chapter that follows--I've checked for his name, and it looks like he isn't given one.

[Ghoulish Delight]

Oops, you're right. I did a quick scan for his name, and saw "Alec" forgetting that he tagged along with them for that bit.