FlashSense: Touch

She came to me in a dream.

By which I mean, she woke me to say goodbye before she went to work.

She scratched my chest and head and I moaned happily in response, and then off she went.

When she got back home for lunch I was still asleep, so she kissed me on the forehead and scratched my chest again, to wake me…

I’d dreamed of her while she was gone.

Scratching my chest and my head, telling me she loved me.

I’d thought she’d been doing it nonstop for hours.

It was basically the best thing ever…

Weekly Prompt Story: Play

http://oneadayuntilthedayidie.com/?p=24031

Play

(among others)

By Christopher Munroe

I’m white, male, and from the ‘90s.

As such, in high school I owned one album each by Moby, Weezer and The Offspring.

You know the ones.

They were ubiquitous pieces of music at the time. Everyone owned and loved them, they were inescapable.

For women my age it was the first Jewel album and Alanis Morrisette. Every girl I dated in university had them both.

I’m at best lukewarm on the artists nowadays, but I’ll admit, I still smile when I hear those particular records.

They’re the soundtrack of my youth.

And I need that reminder now and again…

Sound

There’s no greater joy than listening to your favorite band from when you were fifteen and realizing they still totally hold up.

Specifically, Carter the Unstoppable Sex Machine.

I relistened to their first five albums recently, and wow. A mix of punk, dance beats and puns, they’re the exact sort of band I wanted to join when I was young enough to want to join a band.

Also: Best name for a band in rock.

Are they as good as I think they are?

Perhaps not.

Still, they remind me of my youth, and I love them.

And that’s enough…

Weekly Prompt Story: Smell

http://oneadayuntilthedayidie.com/?p=23989

Cologne

By Christopher Munroe

I’ve released a cologne!

No idea why. A company offered to create one for me and it seemed the thing to do.

Many public figures market a signature scent, for people who inexplicably want to smell like Lady GaGa or Justin Bieber in spite of never having been near enough them to know what they smell like.

I was surprised at the offer, honestly, what with the fact that I’m not famous and all.

Still, I will admit, I’m thrilled to help bring my new cologne to market.

…should any of you buy it, let me know how it smells.

Flashsense: Smell

About a month after you quit smoking, you get your sense of smell back.

It’s gradual at first, but soon the smells of your world flood back and a whole realm of experience you’d been missing returns.

Because, you realize, the world smells surprisingly good.

Food smells incredible, as does your partner while you’re intimate, flowers are everywhere, and you notice it again and again, as though for the first time.

But what you smell most keenly is cigarette smoke, and it’s the most appetizing scent in the world.

Intoxicating.

And that’s why I can never quit smoking for good…

Weekly Prompt Story: Old

http://oneadayuntilthedayidie.com/?p=23954

Dubstep

By Christopher Munroe

I have to admit, I don’t enjoy Dubstep.

Which is weird, I’ve enjoyed electronic music in the past. I liked Chemical Brothers and Prodigy during the ‘90s, I still love Daft Punk. Aphex Twin’s Richard D. James albums is one of my favorites, and there’s a clear line between that and Dubstep, and yet…

I can’t get into it. I suspect the fault isn’t Dubstep’s, but my own.

Because I’m growing older.

I’m always growing older, every minute of every day. It’s the one constant of my life.

And one day I’ll die.

But, more importantly, I don’t enjoy Dubstep.

Flashsense: Taste

Dear local Viet restaurants.

I love you.

Vietnamese food’s delicious, and you’re everywhere I go.

There’s a cute, local Viet place near work, ones in Kensington and downtown for days off. When I visit the theater, there’s one next door.

I can literally see one out the window from where I’m sitting right now.

I have no idea why Calgary loves Vietnamese food as much as it seems to, but I’m glad, it makes grabbing a meal so much easier.

When I travel, other cities have no equivalent cuisine, and I don’t understand why.

They don’t know what they’re missing….

Weekly Prompt Story: Blank

The Blank

By Christopher Munroe

He was blank, of average height and average looks, favoring neutral hues in his clothes and uninteresting hairstyles.

He was friendly, personable, but never took a stand on any issue, never offered an opinion that was in the least bit out of the mainstream. He kept to small talk and platitudes, and listened more than he spoke.

Once he left a room everyone immediately forgot he’d ever been there.

He was invisible.

And it was only later that they realized their jewelry was missing, never making the connection to the fellow who’d been with their crowd but not of them…

Flashsense: Vision

I don’t watch the sun rise as much a I used to…

When I worked graveyards the sun would be rising right as I got home for most of spring, and again in autumn, and I’d sit on the chair in front of my place with a beer, watching it. It was basically the best way in the world to relax after a day of work.

I miss it.

However, it’s the only thing I do miss about working graveyards, it was backbreaking work, just horrible.

I’d hate to go back.

And missing sunrises is a small price to pay.