Yes.

We're here.

There's a small but dedicated bunch of us. Don't be lonely. We'll keep you entertained. We're very entertaining. In many ways. Not all of them necessarily healthy ways, but you really can't be too picky these days.

Besides, we can tell you all kinds of stories about Mark :-)

Are you sitting comfortably? Good. Then I'll begin...

Kevin

This is very sad, Mark. I think you've been reading too much Neil Gaiman lately. You've started to give personalities to inanimate objects. But at least your blog seems friendly, unlike Mr. Gaiman's characters Mr. Road and Mr. Town. (I'm re-reading American Gods currently.)

{crckle}{ssss}...at which point Mark ran screaming through the...{sss}....nuns...{crkcle}..rabbi and the priest...{ssssssssss}...small pony...{crckle}...Mark had no idea?....{crckle}...debatable...{ssss}...national news....{ssssss}...had no idea he was so...{ssssss}...'s not the worst!...{crckle}...'s worse!?!...{crckle}...eah. The time Mark...{sssssssssssssssssssssss}

Damn those {ssssssss}...olar flares... ;-)

Kevin Again

Can't you sleep, little weblog? Well, cuddle up under the covers and I'll tell you a story .... Once Upon a Time, there was a Bounce. It was a very good Bounce, but also a sad and lonely Bounce, for it had nobody to share its Bounce with, you see. One day, as it was Bouncing sadly along the road (Bouncing sadly goes kind of like this: whup, spludge, whup, spludge), it looked up to see a baby carriage outside the door of a cheerful-looking kind of house, with children's pictures in the windows and washing blowing on the line outside. From the carriage, it could hear a kind of gurgling chuckle and, upon investigation, he found a chubby little baby boy inside, with dark and curly hair. "Here", thought the Bounce, "is someone who will value a Bounce like me in the years to come. Here is someone who will take off his shoes and dance in the rain, who will jump up high to pick a flower from a tree and give it to someone who needs to smile."

"Here", the Bounce concluded, happily, "is a Friend for a Bounce like me." And the Bounce and the Boy have been Friends Ever Since. The End.

OK, you all have to forgive me that one on account of I can't find the purple pills and I ate too much of the kid's Hallowe'en candy. ;)

Incidentally, Kevin, I think it's rather poor form to mention the pony and nun incident. You know the judge said it was only 90% Mark's fault. The rabbi and priest story, though ... brings back memories. Happy days, eh?

First off, Mija, I probably am given to anthropomorphism - it goes back a long way. I remember back at school when we all had to write a story involving a railway station. Mine was the only story where the railway station died at the end.

Secondly, I still can't believe the nun got away with it. That the judge and jury bought her story over mine is a slight on my character that I still haven't gotten over. It was obvious to any outsider that the rabbi and the priest were complicit in the whole sordid affair, but did anyone believe me?

Hmph.

God had some serious quality-control problems.