I don't deal in stolen goods ... at least on a regular basis, mind.

However, the fine line between stealing, borrowing without permission, pilfering et all blurs at this fine little thing 'borrowed' from RedRider333's journal entry (originally 'borrowed' from Mera) (originally 'borrowed' from ... it's a twisted cycle really, one that'll make any librarian quiver).

And so there you have it. Post at your own risk. 'Borrow' according to Rule 8

Leave your name and:
1. I'll respond with something random about you.
2. I'll challenge you to try something.
3. I'll pick a color that I associate with you.
4. I'll tell you something I like about you.
5. I'll tell you my first/clearest/funniest memory of you.
6. I'll tell you what animal you remind me of.
7. I'll ask you something I've always wanted to ask you.
8. If I do this for you, you must post this on yours.

Lately I've been working on a little romance story for a certain challenge, and a challenge it's proving to be; romance isn't my usual cup of green tea (you heard me).

It got me thinking though about the emotion known as love and the strange connection it has to war, as the famous saying goes. What is it about love that has it being compared with something so clearly its opposite?

Is it the passion? Soldiers are known to go all out to defend the sovereignity of their homeland, similar to two suitors hell bent on wooing the woman of their dreams. Is it the mental anguish? The horrors a soldier faces on the battlefield can also just as easily be seen on the faces of the spurned suitor.

Are we all subject to the same laws that dictate wartime conduct in our quest for love? Does the Geneva Convention cover the treatment of heart-broken men and women? Break the laws of attraction, skip past first and go straight to third base, break the sacred trust of friendship and face the wrath of a military tribunal?

Ah, if only things were so simple. Over the millenia, we have goen through war after war and with each war we grow wiser and more civilized, thus forming the basis of the sacred rules governing war-time conduct, hallmarks of our evolution in dealing with the most sensitive and explosive of issues.

The game of love, as explosive an issue as any, though knows no laws because, even after millenia of refining the act of seduction, we have still not reached the finesse we so desire. We stab each other in the back, resort to blackmail, propaganda, outright intimidation and delicate mind games, ignore all laws of decency and honour, all for the hand of the subject of our affections. After all this time have we ever gotten past the level of neanderthals clubbing each other on the head before carting off the loser's mate on his shoulder?

I think not. And who cares?

Laws were meant to be broken.

Writer's block and a deadline, that's what.

*sigh* What do I write here? This 'is' supposed to be my first journal entry but I haven't the foggiest on what to put in it. No offence to the wonderful people of DA but I expected a guideline at least, a few pointers on what one should expouse to the general public, or even a set of default 'fill in the blanks' but nay all I get is a helpful 'You have not created any journals'.

Indeed I have not and it taunts me so, sitting there to the right of the screen, mocking me for my inability to string a few words together, laughing at my lack of thoughts and opinions. I'd bite back but the truth's too hard (pun fully intended).

I have writer's block and I can't write. Woe is me!

But what is this? Have I just written at least three paragraphs of angst? Has my muse returned, sneaking back in like an emo poet? Why, was it ever gone in the first place or am I simply too unobservant to see inspiration before me?

I believe the latter and hence the moral of the entry:

"Inspiration's everywhere if you look for it"

or ...

"Don't eat sugar before writing a journal entry"