The Endless Story Game

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Hello! This is a group creativity game. Let's write an interesting story that never ends. Simply contribute a maximum of three sentences at a time and play as often as you wish. I'll start:
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The ribbons of color in tonight's sunset took my breath away. Swirls of delicate pinks, soulful blues, passionate purples and tangerine oranges seemed to melt effortlessly into the sky's horizon. Then, in a moment without warning, it happened.
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I had been told about them since childhood. They come without warning. To stand or climb around the detritus that happened to get flushed from the forest during large storms was a foolish thing to do. You forget important information sometimes and sometimes pay for your forgetfulness. The logs and other woody trash were piled up like pick-up sticks and here I was --right where no one is supposed to be when a sneaker wave materialized and began to move logs at the front of the pile. Many have paid the price for--

 

scratcho's refusal to see reality. His relentless obsession with the green Skittle to the exlusion of all other ability to connect to other forms of stimuli has created an intense desire in his fellow hipforum members to obtain large bags of colored confectionery. Moreover, had scratcho attempted to remove the green Skittle due to his own high level of dysfunctional toxicity, which is what it has been repeatedly recommended he do, he would have formed a bond with ROLLINGALONG due to their mutual love of . . .

 

...the nectar of the majestic agave plant. They decided to brush aside the sizzling deluge of the hot midday sun, trek another twelve miles, and set up camp at the foot of Meteor Mountain. Tonight was a full lunar eclipse, and they were hoping to catch a glimpse of the eerie vermillion moon through each phase of the eclipse. Tomorrow's showdown at Snooker's Saloon would prove, beyond any doubt, who was the most worthy of the ultimate grand prize.

 

That prize was a barrel of apples, i then bought some pigs and fed every poor person for 30 miles

 

The poor people appreciated the glow-in-the-dark Pez candies that were ever so generously distributed by broony but were continuing to feel thirsty and began to demand chocolate milk with which to wash them down, thus causing broony to feel unloved, undervalued and not very supported which in turn created a situation that . . .

 

...had to be resolved. The problem was that regular chocolate milk would not keep without refrigeration, so how could the thirst of the masses be quenched? Eavesdrop had an idea to organize a huge event to raise funds to purchase 1,000 cases of chocolate-flavored YooHoo for the parched masses! Yes, this historic mega-event would later become known as...

 

the hipforums flower power chocolate cherokee celebration.

ROLLINALONG, LGH1288, broony and eavesdrop (yes, those are our real names) were all feeling enlightened and self-actualized but felt that what was really missing were S'mores and scented bubble bath because those are the items that are most needed by the impoverished low wage earners who are currently unable to afford eminem's newest album and who cannot scrape together enuff money to attend a Brittney Spears concert. And so it was felt that there was a void that needed to be fullfilled in order for true inner peace and psychological well being to be achieved in it's highest form.

And so AS SOON as LGH had completed his (or her) morning edition of Peanut Butter Cap'n Crunch with Crunchberries . . .

 

He forgot all about any life problem. He put on his boots made a lunch and went on a hike. When he got to the top of the mountain he decided to eat a lot of magic mushrooms.

 

And so the peppermint flavored magic mushrooms which had been ever so generously donated by broony caused LGH to hallucinate beautiful psychedelic rainbow hippy peace signs which in turn caused LGH to philosophize about the in-depth spiritual nature of his purple tie dyed bell bottom pants and his chocolate covered granola and the fact that he is planning to name his first son Meadowlark. And this experience was way cool groovy as are these run on sentences until broony came along looking for a retro Smurf and a couple of Hello Kitty pendants from Hot Topic and some glow-in-the-dark Pez dispensers that broony felt were entitlements because high self-esteem matters a lot and so . . .

 

...LGH1288 shocked the entire Hip community and surprisingly announced "Dear Citizens! I am a peaceful, happy and drug-free individual. I love my mind in its natural state, and prefer to keep it in all its full-functioning glory! Some of you have mistakenly declared that I would ingest the "magic mushrooms" or use any mind-altering substances that others typically enjoy. To each their own Begin the "FLOWER POWER CHOCOLATE CHEROKEE CELEBRATION"! YooHoo for all

 

And thus began LGH's inclusion into the society of Drug Free propaganda that is aimed at parents of teenagers who were not breathing or existing at the time the commercial with the fried egg and the slogan This Is Your Brian On Drugs was incessently on air during commercial breaks and it is said parents who are now currently sending teenagers named Myckynzee and Da'Kota to wilderness therapy camps that cost very much money and where the children are deprived of YooHoo in order so that they may be brainwashed into believing chocolate vodka on ice is poison that will inhibit their careers as future hipforum moderators which would of course be tragic especially since my fluffernutter sandwich wasn't refrigerated last night due to . . .

 

...someone's already damaged brain being completely soaked with 'shrooms when they totally screwed up the assembly of the refrigerator's compressor, so the appliance broke down before all the little YooHoo boxes could be loaded onto its racks. The entire "FLOWER POWER CHOCOLATE CHEROKEE CELEBRATION" was now risking failure because of the irresponsibility of one drug-impaired factory worker. But, as the ancient proverb tells us, "one bad apple don't spoil the whole bunch", and luckily there was a sharp-minded event coordinator who had arranged for a backup refrigeration unit; the show must go on! LGH smiled and thought, "that "80's PSA really paid off!".

 

And so, upon realizing that the YooHoo had not in fact been spiked with vodka, the participants in the Flower Power Chocolate Cherokee Celebration became despondant and decided to plan a massive protest demonstration as an expression of their moral outrage and righteous indignation, a protest that would require LGH to have to retreat into his (or her, we are not really sure what gender LGH is) bedroom which is decorated with sparkle rainbows and pink and purple peace symbols and signs from 1985 which read THIS IS YOUR BRAIN ON DRUGS and which feature pictures of scrambled eggs which cause teenagers to respond by laughing and saying "Those brains look delicious!"

CHAPTER II The Decapitation Of LGH1288

 

Except for repeated attempts by a radically violent deviant to derail what began as a peaceful and joyous festival, the "FLOWER POWER CHOCOLATE CHEROKEE CELEBRATION" finally proceeded without a hitch. Thousands of citizens enjoyed a beautiful day of artistic music and dancing without consuming any mind-altering drugs which, by the year 3208, was considered a really stupid habit engaged in only by some mentally-damaged drones. Members of "The Modern Society for the Advancement of Natural Enlightenment" had worked very hard to elevate the mental acuity of the masses, and the world had finally become populated with a more intelligent genetic pool.

 

A genetic pool that does not have a diving board or a spiral slide is indeed sad tho and this deprivation caused the enlightened masses to develope Post Traumatic Stress Disorder for which they required heavy doses of substances which in the year 3208 are still illegal and this made LGH sad and caused him (or her) to seek solace in Pixy Stix and peppermint flavored hot cocoa which he (or she) did not want to share with fellow hipforum posters due to a shortage that was caused by Eavesdrop's compulsive shoplifting habit and so LGH burned some incense and began to meditate and then decided to head over to Ebay to bid on that Hot Topic gift card that is worth . . .

 

.....less than a useless box of rocks; worth zero and a waste of time since the original intent was aimlessly squandered on silliness and incoherency. Anyhow, it was time to pack up all the staging and the sound system, but not before one last live mega jam with all the musicians who had agreed to participate in a charity recording project that would benefit the sad PTSD sufferers. Thanks to LGH's unparalleled kindness and tremendous generosity, the proceeds of the event would be distributed to many worthy charites in major inner cities throughout the country. The famous and multi-dimensionally talented hipster "E-drop" would spearhead a new direction for the project, a truly fabulous cosmic journey to a brave new world of cooperation.

 

But LGH (who's initials stand for Let's Get High!) did not realize that it is not the major inner city dwellers who are most in need of charity. Suicide rates are in fact highest among those who's lifestyles exist on the upper levels of the economic scale. Inner city dwellers have better access to mind altering substances and don't have anorexia because they can eat as many chicken mcnuggets and egg mcmuffins as they would like without anyone trying to give them low-self esteem because of this. And so LGH (or Let's Get High!, as his friends like to call him) decided to divert his charitible intentions instead toward saving the lives of the many mosquitos who's rights are violated everytime they are violently hit with fly swatters by humans who have no regard for fly life and this new mission energized LGH and caused his obsessive compulsive disorder to go into remission but then he made the major mistake of checking his myspace friends wall only to find that . . .

 

Thank you. Thank you, very much. Chancellor Kohl, Governing Mayor Diepgen, ladies and gentlemen: Twenty four years ago, President John F. Kennedy visited Berlin, and speaking to the people of this city and the world at the city hall. Well since then two other presidents have come, each in his turn to Berlin. And today, I, myself, make my second visit to your city.
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We come to Berlin, we American Presidents, because it's our duty to speak in this place of freedom. But I must confess, we’re drawn here by other things as well; by the feeling of history in this city -- more than 500 years older than our own nation; by the beauty of the Grunewald and the Tiergarten; most of all, by your courage and determination. Perhaps the composer, Paul Linke, understood something about American Presidents. You see, like so many Presidents before me, I come here today because wherever I go, whatever I do: “Ich hab noch einen Koffer in Berlin” [I still have a suitcase in Berlin.]
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Our gathering today is being broadcast throughout Western Europe and North America. I understand that it is being seen and heard as well in the East. To those listening throughout Eastern Europe, I extend my warmest greetings and the good will of the American people. To those listening in East Berlin, a special word: Although I cannot be with you, I address my remarks to you just as surely as to those standing here before me. For I join you, as I join your fellow countrymen in the West, in this firm, this unalterable belief: Es gibt nur ein Berlin. [There is only one Berlin.]
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Behind me stands a wall that encircles the free sectors of this city, part of a vast system of barriers that divides the entire continent of Europe. From the Baltic South, those barriers cut across Germany in a gash of barbed wire, concrete, dog runs, and guard towers. Farther south, there may be no visible, no obvious wall. But there remain armed guards and checkpoints all the same -- still a restriction on the right to travel, still an instrument to impose upon ordinary men and women the will of a totalitarian state.
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Yet, it is here in Berlin where the wall emerges most clearly; here, cutting across your city, where the news photo and the television screen have imprinted this brutal division of a continent upon the mind of the world.
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Standing before the Brandenburg Gate, every man is a German separated from his fellow men.
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Every man is a Berliner, forced to look upon a scar.
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President Von Weizsäcker has said, "The German question is open as long as the Brandenburg Gate is closed." Well today -- today I say: As long as this gate is closed, as long as this scar of a wall is permitted to stand, it is not the German question alone that remains open, but the question of freedom for all mankind.
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Yet, I do not come here to lament. For I find in Berlin a message of hope, even in the shadow of this wall, a message of triumph.
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In this season of spring in 1945, the people of Berlin emerged from their air-raid shelters to find devastation. Thousands of miles away, the people of the United States reached out to help. And in 1947 Secretary of State -- as you've been told -- George Marshall announced the creation of what would become known as the Marshall Plan. Speaking precisely 40 years ago this month, he said: "Our policy is directed not against any country or doctrine, but against hunger, poverty, desperation, and chaos."
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In the Reichstag a few moments ago, I saw a display commemorating this 40th anniversary of the Marshall Plan. I was struck by a sign -- the sign on a burnt-out, gutted structure that was being rebuilt. I understand that Berliners of my own generation can remember seeing signs like it dotted throughout the western sectors of the city. The sign read simply: "The Marshall Plan is helping here to strengthen the free world." A strong, free world in the West -- that dream became real. Japan rose from ruin to become an economic giant. Italy, France, Belgium -- virtually every nation in Western Europe saw political and economic rebirth; the European Community was founded.
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In West Germany and here in Berlin, there took place an economic miracle, the Wirtschaftswunder. Adenauer, Erhard, Reuter, and other leaders understood the practical importance of liberty -- that just as truth can flourish only when the journalist is given freedom of speech, so prosperity can come about only when the farmer and businessman enjoy economic freedom. The German leaders -- the German leaders reduced tariffs, expanded free trade, lowered taxes. From 1950 to 1960 alone, the standard of living in West Germany and Berlin doubled.
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Where four decades ago there was rubble, today in West Berlin there is the greatest industrial output of any city in Germany: busy office blocks, fine homes and apartments, proud avenues, and the spreading lawns of parkland. Where a city's culture seemed to have been destroyed, today there are two great universities, orchestras and an opera, countless theaters, and museums. Where there was want, today there's abundance -- food, clothing, automobiles -- the wonderful goods of the Kudamm. From devastation, from utter ruin, you Berliners have, in freedom, rebuilt a city that once again ranks as one of the greatest on earth. Now the Soviets may have had other plans. But my friends, there were a few things the Soviets didn't count on: Berliner Herz, Berliner Humor, ja, und Berliner Schnauze. [Berliner heart, Berliner humor, yes, and a Berliner Schnauze.]
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In the 1950s -- In the 1950s Khrushchev predicted: "We will bury you."
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But in the West today, we see a free world that has achieved a level of prosperity and well-being unprecedented in all human history. In the Communist world, we see failure, technological backwardness, declining standards of health, even want of the most basic kind -- too little food. Even today, the Soviet Union still cannot feed itself. After these four decades, then, there stands before the entire world one great and inescapable conclusion: Freedom leads to prosperity. Freedom replaces the ancient hatreds among the nations with comity and peace. Freedom is the victor.
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And now -- now the Soviets themselves may, in a limited way, be coming to understand the importance of freedom. We hear much from Moscow about a new policy of reform and openness. Some political prisoners have been released. Certain foreign news broadcasts are no longer being jammed. Some economic enterprises have been permitted to operate with greater freedom from state control.
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Are these the beginnings of profound changes in the Soviet state? Or are they token gestures intended to raise false hopes in the West, or to strengthen the Soviet system without changing it? We welcome change and openness; for we believe that freedom and security go together, that the advance of human liberty -- the advance of human liberty can only strengthen the cause of world peace.
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There is one sign the Soviets can make that would be unmistakable, that would advance dramatically the cause of freedom and peace.
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General Secretary Gorbachev, if you seek peace, if you seek prosperity for the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, if you seek liberalazation: Come here to this gate.
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Mr. Gorbachev, open this gate.
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Mr. Gorbachev -- Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!
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I understand the fear of war and the pain of division that afflict this continent, and I pledge to you my country's efforts to help overcome these burdens. To be sure, we in the West must resist Soviet expansion. So, we must maintain defenses of unassailable strength. Yet we seek peace; so we must strive to reduce arms on both sides.
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Beginning 10 years ago, the Soviets challenged the Western alliance with a grave new threat, hundreds of new and more deadly SS-20 nuclear missiles capable of striking every capital in Europe. The Western alliance responded by committing itself to a counter-deployment (unless the Soviets agreed to negotiate a better solution) -- namely, the elimination of such weapons on both sides. For many months, the Soviets refused to bargain in earnestness. As the alliance, in turn, prepared to go forward with its counter-deployment, there were difficult days, days of protests like those during my 1982 visit to this city; and the Soviets later walked away from the table.
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But through it all, the alliance held firm. And I invite those who protested then -- I invite those who protest today -- to mark this fact: Because we remained strong, the Soviets came back to the table. Because we remained strong, today we have within reach the possibility, not merely of limiting the growth of arms, but of eliminating, for the first time, an entire class of nuclear weapons from the face of the earth.
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As I speak, NATO ministers are meeting in Iceland to review the progress of our proposals for eliminating these weapons. At the talks in Geneva, we have also proposed deep cuts in strategic offensive weapons. And the Western allies have likewise made far-reaching proposals to reduce the danger of conventional war and to place a total ban on chemical weapons.
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While we pursue these arms reductions, I pledge to you that we will maintain the capacity to deter Soviet aggression at any level at which it might occur. And in cooperation with many of our allies, the United States is pursuing the Strategic Defense Initiative -- research to base deterrence not on the threat of offensive retaliation, but on defenses that truly defend; on systems, in short, that will not target populations, but shield them. By these means we seek to increase the safety of Europe and all the world. But we must remember a crucial fact: East and West do not mistrust each other because we are armed; we are armed because we mistrust each other. And our differences are not about weapons but about liberty. When President Kennedy spoke at the City Hall those 24 years ago, freedom was encircled; Berlin was under siege. And today, despite all the pressures upon this city, Berlin stands secure in its liberty. And freedom itself is transforming the globe.
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In the Philippines, in South and Central America, democracy has been given a rebirth. Throughout the Pacific, free markets are working miracle after miracle of economic growth. In the industrialized nations, a technological revolution is taking place, a revolution marked by rapid, dramatic advances in computers and telecommunications.
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In Europe, only one nation and those it controls refuse to join the community of freedom. Yet in this age of redoubled economic growth, of information and innovation, the Soviet Union faces a choice: It must make fundamental changes, or it will become obsolete.
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Today, thus, represents a moment of hope. We in the West stand ready to cooperate with the East to promote true openness, to break down barriers that separate people, to create a safer, freer world. And surely there is no better place than Berlin, the meeting place of East and West, to make a start.
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Free people of Berlin: Today, as in the past, the United States stands for the strict observance and full implementation of all parts of the Four Power Agreement of 1971. Let us use this occasion, the 750th anniversary of this city, to usher in a new era, to seek a still fuller, richer life for the Berlin of the future. Together, let us maintain and develop the ties between the Federal Republic and the Western sectors of Berlin, which is permitted by the 1971 agreement.
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And I invite Mr. Gorbachev: Let us work to bring the Eastern and Western parts of the city closer together, so that all the inhabitants of all Berlin can enjoy the benefits that come with life in one of the great cities of the world.
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To open Berlin still further to all Europe, East and West, let us expand the vital air access to this city, finding ways of making commercial air service to Berlin more convenient, more comfortable, and more economical. We look to the day when West Berlin can become one of the chief aviation hubs in all central Europe.
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With -- With our French -- With our French and British partners, the United States is prepared to help bring international meetings to Berlin. It would be only fitting for Berlin to serve as the site of United Nations meetings, or world conferences on human rights and arms control, or other issues that call for international cooperation.
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There is no better way to establish hope for the future than to enlighten young minds, and we would be honored to sponsor summer youth exchanges, cultural events, and other programs for young Berliners from the East. Our French and British friends, I'm certain, will do the same. And it's my hope that an authority can be found in East Berlin to sponsor visits from young people of the Western sectors.
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One final proposal, one close to my heart: Sport represents a source of enjoyment and ennoblement, and you may have noted that the Republic of Korea -- South Korea -- has offered to permit certain events of the 1988 Olympics to take place in the North. International sports competitions of all kinds could take place in both parts of this city. And what better way to demonstrate to the world the openness of this city than to offer in some future year to hold the Olympic games here in Berlin, East and West.
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In these four decades, as I have said, you Berliners have built a great city. You've done so in spite of threats -- the Soviet attempts to impose the East-mark, the blockade. Today the city thrives in spite of the challenges implicit in the very presence of this wall. What keeps you here? Certainly there's a great deal to be said for your fortitude, for your defiant courage. But I believe there's something deeper, something that involves Berlin's whole look and feel and way of life -- not mere sentiment. No one could live long in Berlin without being completely disabused of illusions. Something, instead, that has seen the difficulties of life in Berlin but chose to accept them, that continues to build this good and proud city in contrast to a surrounding totalitarian presence, that refuses to release human energies or aspirations, something that speaks with a powerful voice of affirmation, that says "yes" to this city, yes to the future, yes to freedom. In a word, I would submit that what keeps you in Berlin -- is "love."
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Love both profound and abiding.
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Perhaps this gets to the root of the matter, to the most fundamental distinction of all between East and West. The totalitarian world produces backwardness because it does such violence to the spirit, thwarting the human impulse to create, to enjoy, to worship. The totalitarian world finds even symbols of love and of worship an affront.
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Years ago, before the East Germans began rebuilding their churches, they erected a secular structure: the television tower at Alexander Platz. Virtually ever since, the authorities have been working to correct what they view as the tower's one major flaw: treating the glass sphere at the top with paints and chemicals of every kind. Yet even today when the sun strikes that sphere, that sphere that towers over all Berlin, the light makes the sign of the cross. There in Berlin, like the city itself, symbols of love, symbols of worship, cannot be suppressed.
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As I looked out a moment ago from the Reichstag, that embodiment of German unity, I noticed words crudely spray-painted upon the wall, perhaps by a young Berliner (quote):
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"This wall will fall. Beliefs become reality."
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Yes, across Europe, this wall will fall, for it cannot withstand faith; it cannot withstand truth. The wall cannot withstand freedom.
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And I would like, before I close, to say one word. I have read, and I have been questioned since I've been here about certain demonstrations against my coming. And I would like to say just one thing, and to those who demonstrate so. I wonder if they have ever asked themselves that if they should have the kind of government they apparently seek, no one would ever be able to do what they're doing again.
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Thank you and God bless you all. Thank you.
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Ronald Reagan Remarks at the Brandenburg Gate, delivered 12 June 1987, West Berlin