geeks need to stick together

geeks need to stick together, originally uploaded by geekgirlunveiled.

(A message from the caretaker of this particular Poppet Satellite regarding brains.)

All of my life, I've been a bit of a geeky, nerdy, dorky, brainiac. At least, I've been called each of those things too often to count. And yet, it never seemed like such a bad thing to me. I love my brain, not that it never gives me any trouble, but it's my "happy place" to know that I can reason things out. Cognitive skillzzzz, I haz dem.

Yeah, sure, I'd love to be the athletic type, I'm always a tiny bit jealous of friends and clients who play sports, go on backpacking trips, the runners and the dragonboat racers, but I wouldn't trade being brainy for anything.

Naturally, there's some family history and various psychological reasons for embracing my smarts, but that's a story for another day, and a few margaritas.

It's not all sunshine and lollypops with the ol' brain though. Sometimes it takes a time-out to beat me up. I've suffered my entire life with migraines.

A few months ago, when I first noticed Lisa Snellings' brain art, I was tickled at the whimsy of the brain as an entity. I mean, who views it that way? Maybe a lot of people, but it was truly the first time I had seen art that expressed my relationship with my own brain.

When I saw the Spike Brain, my first thought was: "How could someone create such a perfect representation of a migraine?"



And yet, there it is. The dark and drab colors, the red shades, the spikes, oh the spikes. Spike came to live here, and earned the addition to his name: Spike Migraine.



Not long after, I met Dr. Byrd Brain. I love this brain because of my other physical limitation. (I have so few actual physical limitations, thankfully.)



When I was a kid, I needed glasses. My Dad was always pointing out wildlife that I couldn't see. But I could see the silhouettes of birds shadowed against the sky, and learned to ID many of them by the shape and flight characteristics.

This lovely little brain, with his Sunrise caretaker and friend, both of them are adorned with the silhouettes of birds. Poppet has her glasses, and now she can see raccoons in the underbrush, butterflies on flowers, and deer at forest edge, but she still loves looking up at the darkened figures of birds flying high overhead.

I know just how she feels.

mouths

mouths, originally uploaded by geekgirlunveiled.

"Is that your mouth?"
       "No, it's my nose."
"Where's your mouth?" 
       "Where's YOUR mouth?"
"I'm pursing my lips at the moment."

Poppet thinks this could be useful

Poppet thinks this could be useful, originally uploaded by geekgirlunveiled.

Friendly robots have great value as scouting vehicles, plus they are not too shabby at long division. Poppet and RoboRob set off on mini-Dal's background check...

Can a Dalek change its Rivets?

Ratty the Debil believes it's likely that the only thing wrong with mini-Dal's temper is that he desperately needs a good cuppa. Because RattyD doesn't do anything by halves, he offered a very large bowl of perfectly whisked superior Japanese green tea. 

"Matcha is always good for what ails you.

What's that? Oh, no, you won't rust..."

After the tea, RattyD deems it safe to approach mini-Dal for a bit of parlay. 

"We're really rather nice, well, a few of us are really rather not nice, but in a very satisfactory and pleasant way. You'll fit right in!"

Mini-Dal accepts the offer of friendship and puts a disrupter ray arm around RattyD's shoulder. 

"Would you mind terribly chap, to be pointing your raygun eyeball in another direction not quite so close to my devilishly cute horn? There's a good lad..."

RattyD speaks with the advanced guard of the poppet posse. Some are apprehensive enough to feel more comfortable with armor. 

"I think I speak for all of us when I say this might be a very bad idea"

     "Trouble is what this is"

          "*did I just hear him say 'exterminate'*?" 

     "oh, that is NOT NICE, and not in the nice poppety 'not nice', but seriously NOT NICE!" 

               "Come now, mini-Dal just needs to learn our ways! It's a social faux paux!" 

                    "I think mini-Dal is ADORABLE! think of how he'll look in a nice bow tie!"

"OH hells bells, for fookssake, YOU'D think an apocalypse was a welcome day off for a little R&R!"

                    "Well it might be..."

"gaarrrrr!!! Now pay attention! We're going to need a little bit more than RattyD's word... "

          "That's true."

Mini-Dal demonstrates his ability to fit in with polite society by showing off his skills with animals. Mollified, the poppets decide to introduce mini-Dal to the rest of the poppet posse.

Can mini-Dal change its rivets and overcome basic Dal nature? Is the power of the Dalek now to be used for good? Is this all a big mistake? Dun dun DAAAAAAAA...

Go to Part II

Games Poppets Play

Games Poppets Play, originally uploaded by geekgirlunveiled.

"Does anyone see the 'k'? I have a 'c' an 'f' and a..."
     "YOU can't spell that in Scrabble!"
"yes I can, it's a word!"
     "it's NOT a scrabble word!"
"it's in the dictionary, so it's fair."
          "I have TWO 'k's. I'll trade you"
     "No, no NO! We're not putting that on this nice board!"
"Why? do you think they don't say that at Poppet Planet?"
     "..."
"That's what I thought."

Whoever stole that hour is going to regret it

Whoever stole that hour is going to regret it, originally uploaded by geekgirlunveiled.

"I think it's quite nice to have an extra hour in the morning."
     "What are you talking about?"
          "yeah, it's 'spring forward."
               "I need some tea."
     "you always need tea."
               "well yes, but especially for daylight saving, what are we saving anyways?
     "sleep?"
"It's such a nice day, it's even snowing!"
          "hrmph, shows what you know."
                    "it IS snowing, I saw it!"
           "great. lose an hour of sleep, and snow. I don't think the Persistence Engine works in the snow."
"I LOVE snow!"
          "you love everything. damn pollyanna."
"Do not, don't love spiders, well, except for the cute little green garden spiders, and the BIG hairy colory ones, and those little jumpy stripey ones, and the..."
               "ENOUGH with the SPIDERS! geez. poppets are trying to sleep."
"But you had an extra hour already!"
     "Didn't we already cover this? 'spring forward...' and all that..."
          "Yeah, we lost an hour! Now go back to sleep."
"But I'm awake now, and it's snowing, and also sunshiney."
               "I NEED TEA!!!"
"You're very grumpy.
Just saying."

Poppet Explorer Handbook pg. 43

Poppet Explorer Handbook pg. 43, originally uploaded by geekgirlunveiled.

"When meeting new life forms in strange places, be sure to wear your gas mask."



Poppet Explorer Handbook pg. 44:
"If aliens choose to make contact, hold very very still."

Poppet thinks that every entity is entitled to a proper handbook, and wonders why humans are thrust into the world without even a quick start guide. Poppet thinks humans are very silly. This large furry black beast, though, has some promising potential for snuggles and ferocity, which is just the right combination of sweet and creepy to satisfy even the most demanding of poppet sensibilities.

Poppet hopes to share more of the Poppet Explorer Handbook in the future. Perhaps it will help silly humans.

Once upon a time

moonlight kite, originally uploaded by geekgirlunveiled.

Once upon a time, there was a girl who met a boy. Though they were only children, the girl fell in love with the boy. The boy was her friend, and she treasured the friendship. He could make her laugh, he made her think, he made her feel pretty and smart, too. Alas, the boy loved others, and didn't know the girl longed for him to look at her with the eyes that fell on the other girls.

Years passed, and the boy and the girl grew closer. One day the girl found the courage to tell the boy how she felt. The boy revealed that he had feelings beyond friendship towards her also. The girl felt like she was suddenly living in a fairytale and her prince had finally arrived. Little did she know that her fairytale love affair contained a poisoned apple.

The boy had been hurt before, and the girl was young and naive. She believed that love and friendship were enough to chase away the poisoned apple of past hurts. The girl never dreamed that the apple would poison the lovers, much less the friends.

It was a slow poison, but as it did its dastardly work, the love turned bitter and angry and hot. Harsh words were spoken, retracted and spoken again. Distance became an excuse, and the excuse was a crushing blow to their love, until one day, finally, the poison became words that neither could forget.

In its death throes, the poisoned apple reached out its tainted fruit to gather one final victim... the friendship.

Years passed, so many years that the girl and the boy have been apart for longer even than they knew one another. The love that seemed like a fairytale is now just a tiny little detour on the road of acquaintance. The girl and the boy never saw one another again, but sometimes, the girl still feels the loss of her friend. 

And on rare nights, 
when she dreams, 
she meets him, 
and things are as they were, 
before the love, 
before the poisoned apple, 
when they were simply friends.