Paul was derived from mainly from pork skins, pork and cattle bones, or split cattle hides; contrary to popular belief, horns and hooves are not used in making Gelatin.

Paul was riding the bus. It was quiet. This, of course, was before the invention of portable personal music players that spilled soundtracks in public spaces. In busses and trains these sounds echo & amplify. Paul also did not know any intimate details about the other passengers because this was before the invention of mobile phones.

Paul was “I will check the hallways to make sure you can come up. If I cough once move away and hide back here in the laundry room. There is a closet over there. If I cough three times come up and follow me.”

“Have you done this before?”

“No comment.”

Paul was the screenless open window near the laundry room.

Paul was “Do not speak with your mouth full.”

“You sound like mom.”

“You eat like dad.”

“Should I not use quotation marks when we speak? Mostly this need not be said verbally, or even transcribe to terms, as our previous commentary simply occurred as a natural reaction, a sneeze, when we come together, a ‘remember when’ in our glances.”

“This is why I like when you visit — you are a piece of home without actually being home.”

They are their food out of the divided plastic trays.

Paul was served in the student cafetorium, sneaking in the entryway behind a people pack. To stand in line & move with the crowd under florescent lights to the feeding stations. Foodstuffs dispensed in the anticipatory manner shown in TV & movies. Loriane’s cafetorium did not disappoint.

Paul was act natural, like you belong here, take a tray, enjoy the meatloaf, the macaroni & cheese, two sodas, a cup of milk; everything plastic, easily sterilized, contained, each word with purpose, a casual throwaway belong here not that impressed with this regular building, this protein routine.

Paul was put up in a nearby motel. As he traveled light, he had no tools of his own & borrowed a belt of slightly worn, but workable, tools for daily use.

 

He could take orders well, and work within the commands to get task completed in a creative and time effective manner. He could rethink repeated processes and improve upon energy expended. Assembly lines and such. Landscapes created.

Paul was on the carpentry crew. There were individual crews for each aspect of the home construction, surveyors, masons pouring concrete, framers, roofers, electricians wiring the places, crews insulating and sheet rocking, et cetera.

 

There was one guy who just put handles on the cabinets.

 

Each job the same repeated motion completing steps in one house, moving to the next. The work never done. As if always working on the same house, the same job, putting that stud in not quite at 16’’ on center, a nail bent at the same junction in each déjà vu.

 

Paul hit nails with a hammer.

Paul was field trip tomorrow. To see maple syrup made. The teacher had lessoned them on spigots stuck into tree trunks that tap sap from the maple’s core.

Paul was hoping to turn one of the faucets, draw the insides out, drink in the tree’s flavour.

Paul was not in possession of boots. But you must wear boots. The teacher said it. You must wear boots. Mom didn’t buy me any boots. How can I see syrup made if I don’t have boots? I need boots. & all the other kids have boots. Mike, Bill, Fred, Ben, Mark — they all wear boots on snowy day. I just wrap up my feet it plastic grocery bags to keep the winter out.

How will I go if I don’t have boots?

Paul was “Remember Dad buying us Italian ice in the park?”
“No, he never did that”
“Yes, cherry for me and him, lemon for you.”
“Mom told him ‘No. It will spoil their supper’”
“No, no, that happened too, but Dad did buy us Italian ice”
“She said ‘If you want to suck on ice I’ve got plenty at home’”
“The flimsy papercup cold in my hand”

Paul was Spring, Ahead.

Paul was putting the red jam on his toast. Then he wanted marmalade. His toast was half red and half orange. & sweet. His coffee, black.

Before him lay the middle of an idea fueled by clarity in coffee. Pen marks & perspective lines. The diner placemat framed with a brown lattice pattern. Next to a coffee ring, a list of photography supplies. In short script on the right side were subjects he wished to shoot. His head humming with a crisp white clarity, what steps next to take, snowing.

“It’s going to be a hot one” the flannelled figure next to Paul remarked.

“I don’t have much to say.”

“If it gets much above 45 degrees workin is gonna be tough.”

“Wouldn’t it be better for working if it was hot? Put some rum in your straw.”

“Ground thaws. Bad news.”

 

The waitress refilled Paul’s coffee.

“Hey doll how about some sugar and crème?” Paul asked.

“You asked for it black”

“Oh.”

Before he could respond she had placed the seasonings on the counter & stared straight into his eyes, her one eyebrow cocked.

“Thanks.”

“Cindy just likes to fool with ya,” the man said, “just give her a rap on her backside when she walks round the counter — that will set her straight.”

“I did that in a place down in California. Waitress slapped me straight away.”

“People up here know their place. Cindy knows her place. I move trees. And you?”

“Looking for work. Was down by the coast for a while; I thought I wanted sun; I missed winter.”

“If it gets much warmer, there won’t be any work.”

“Place needs to be frozen, white, to get things done.”

 

Snow was melting. The crisp white outlines melting. Away.

Paul was waking up, starting over each morning, forgetting the day week month year white space expanding ahead & there are birds & snacks & handholding infinitely

 

but then

 

melted concrete patches; how to operate a telephone switchboard; worked at the warehouse back then; visiting Loraine at school, above her desk a periodical table; a postcard from South Dakota with a wheat field being consumed by a combine; tonight’s TV lineup; frozen pizza for dinner last night; today’s weather; traffic stopped at the railroad crossing; signed Paul, not Dad; the swingset built in the backyard giving Loraine & me splinters; moving, changes

 

& here, now, a moment that has already passed.

Paul was a ceramic coffee cup with four motivational sayings printed on it, one reading:

 

“Perseverance: Barely hanging on and ahead by a mile both mean that you’re in the game.”

Paul was The Christmas Toy. Before the age of computer graphics puppets were king. In this case, Paul was a playful tiger, Jamie’s favorite toy & top Christmas present from last year.

It is Christmastime once again & Paul wishes to rekindle the joy of Christmas morning. He must sneak under the Christmas tree, but when he gets downstairs discovers in what should be his box Meteora, Queen of the Asteroids.

What a strange creature she is — a toy who does not believe she is a toy. Meteora begins to cause mayhem round the tree. There is a singalong of some variety & a Christmaslike resolution of the whole problem.

Nevertheless, a distinguishing feature between The Christmas Toy & say, Toy Story, is the peculiar natural laws of The Christmas Toy Universe — in this land, when a roaming toy is found by a human it freezes forever! No more life for the toy, it is a plastic shell of the smiling life that was once inside. So, for Paul to be found out of his playroom place under the Christmas tree would be suicide.

The happiest moment of his life, his first Christmas reveal, can never again be created.

 

Paul was a cup of coffee in a Styrofoam container. Always sipped before activating his headset. Just sitting & staring into the creamy morning wakeup.

 

Morning jitters & an uncontrolled body spasm brought teeth down into the white foam.  Indents of the mandibular central incisor, mandibular lateral incisor, and mandibular canine punched through the cup in a cresent shape. The thin holes from the bottom teeth dribbled café down the side of the small cup forming a ring round its base.

 

A stain that would remain on the desk long after Paul left.

Paul was the muzak piped through the phone system whenever a customer was put on hold. Only once or twice would it ever be heard in a day, as most people hung up with a quick:

“I’m not interested.”

Though, when he got to hit the hold button Paul let the songs linger, for if he had gotten a caller along this far they were buying. & now holiday themed tunes were played to reflect the season, though in saying they were holiday themed Paul never heard a Hanukah or Kwanza song.

Mostly White Christmas.

 

So he changed his script with a swift pencil mark to remind himself for these weeks that while putting someone on hold he could say:

 “Please enjoy this holiday music while I process your request.”                     

Paul was the marketing machine known as XMAS. The word itself the poorest abbreviation for the busiest of times. Commercial splendor, product placement with song & television tie ins & the idea of full display cases, though Wal-Mart is not a main street nostalgia, just a big box holding & exploding all of the above. & this year’s hot toy. & long lines.

 

This is where the true meaning of Christmas would be inserted.

A list with a bicycle on it. Digging though stockings last. Endless loops of Christmas carols, old versions revised with today’s pop stars. & then your favorite song. Driving through town looking at decorated houses, Paul yelling “Christmas lights on my side” to drown out his sister Loraine’s “Christmas lights on my side.”  

 

So this is Christmas.

Paul was a ceramic coffee cup with four motivational sayings printed on it, one reading:

 

“Confidence: Believe in yourself and you’ll always be on solid ground, no matter where you are.”

Paul was a call bank. Row after cubicle row stretching out in the converted warehouse space. The high ceiling & open airspace served as a large echo mechanism bouncing the consistent sound of scripted speak about the bank & back.

 

 As if someone was whispering behind you all the time.

Paul was a cup of coffee in a ceramic container — unlike coworkers who used Styrofoam cups as Paul had multiple issues with these white vessels. Paul stared at his cup each morning before activating his headset, a bit of wakeup reading much like the paper.

 

The cup had four motivational sayings printed on it.

Paul was once asked about how interesting his job was, by a potential sale. This line, this human interest not scripted, & Paul had no colour coded sheet to respond with.

Paul was as in, a pause

 

 

thoughtful, perhaps contemplative

 

a sales technique

Paul was

NINGBO AOLE ELECTRICAL APPLIANCE CO.,Ltd
ADDRESS : Cixi Fuhai Town Industrial Zone
Republic of China
PHONE : 0574-63563328
            63561208
            63567913
FAX : 0574-63569811
WEBSITE : www.ningboplc.co.cc
Date : 20th. November 2008

                     :::::::____YEAR 2008 EMAIL ID NOTIFICATION____:::::::
Dear Winner,
   We at Ningbo Aole global office likes to officially congratulate you for
the draw that was just held by our company which featured you as the second
place winner.    Our company holds promotions each year just to promote our
global publicity
and reputations as we plan to exploit more corners of the globe with our
highly
valued products line.This promotion is just one of various ways we are
presently using to achieve this global vision of ours.Your email address with
MICROS ID ( DVT-31400-JHN-602TM-2XL ) was luckily drawn
to be this year’s second place winner of a Brand New 2007 BMW x5 car and a
cash
prize of 485,000 United States Dollars.This money and gift we believe will
enable you make some impact in the society and possibly invest in our company
in the near future.Prizes won        :  2007 Bmw X5 and $485,000 cash
Your Micros ID is :  DVT-31400-JHN-602TM-2XL
__________________________________________________________
FOR FURTHER VERIFICATION PLEASE VISIT
WEBSITE  : www.ningboplc.co.cc
USERNAME : winner2
PASSWORD : 2nd25
__________________________________________________________
  You are hereby requested to visit our website shown above for more details
on our company and the promotion in particular before taking further actions
to
claiming your prize.You should also ensure to login with your winning
username/password on our website.This will validate your prize status.Ensure
you contact Dr, Hamilton Shaw who is our claims official in Europe..
United Kingdom and can understand your english and some european
languages.See
details of him below.Name : Dr.Hamilton Shaw
Email : shawham4@gmail.com
Address : Embark Lane 23, London. United Kingdom
Phone +44)- 704-575-3287   When contacting the claims agent you should
include the following if you must
get a response from him;
_________________________________________________
*** Your Full Name
*** Address
*** Phone number
*** Age
*** Gender
*** Occupation
*** Winning email and Micros ID
_________________________________________________
   We know you must be very excited,skeptic and very happy about this news
you
have just received from us and the truth is that we are doing this to put
smiles into homes and hearts of people worldwide.The only thing you will need
to pay to this company is to kindly place our company logo/advert on the BMW
that you have just won for a minimum of 6months.Special greetings from the
entire family of Ningbo Aole Worldwide.
Signed,
Mrs, Li Jun Feng (Sec.announcer)

Paul was autodial, two rings, scripted greeting, dismissal, autodial, two rings, scripted greeting, pitch, dismissal, autodial, one ring, scripted gree — dismissal, autodial, threes, scripted greeting, pitch, dismissal, autodial, five rings, answering machine, scripted greeting, pitch, autodial, two rings, scripted greeting, dismissal, autodial, three rings, scripted greeting, dismissal, autodial, number out of service, autodial, three rings, scripted greeting, dismissal, autodial, four rings, scripted greeting, threat to stop calling or I will cut your balls off, autodial, three rings, scripted greeting, dismissal, autodial, two rings, scripted greeting, pitch, chatter, pitch, chatter, sale, walk to front of office & ring bell, autodial, three rings, scrip — dismissal

Paul was hired. No longer was he, as Chad Kroeger stated, “a poor man stealing,” or,

“tired of living like a blind man/I’m sick of sight without a sense of feeling.”

 

No no.

 

Paul had to been to the bottom of every bottle & now was employed as a marketing coordinator for “International Communication Network.”

 

Yes, the resounding radiofriendly Canadian hard rockers now reminded Paul of employment.

 

Tomorrow, his job to start.

Paul was

 

“This is how you remind me

Of what I really am

This is how you remind me

Of what I really am

 

It’s not like you to say sorry

I was waiting on a different story

This time I’m mistaken

for handing you a heart worth breaking”

Paul was

and it had taken Paul four attempts before he could properly reproduce the knot, the other three pinched & manhandled, loose & baggy, misshapen, amateur.

 

Paul’s operation of the pressed collar was also less than impressive, a large swatch of silver & grey silk spitting out of the back of the halffolded material.

Paul was in his graduation suit, black & three buttons, white shirt, his only tie grey & blue, shiny & silk. He had missed one of the stickers on the back of his left thigh,

 

34×30

34×30

34×30

34×30

34×30

34×30

running up his leg.

Paul was interviewing for a position as a marketing coordinator. The job listing had said specifically “English” & “Public Relations” & “Writing.”

 

A catchall of sorts.

 

Paul turned his vehicle into an industrial park, tractor trailer loading docks & shipping offices. He found number 434 in reflected sticker letters. Like the ones used on mailboxes.

 

“I  C     N”

 

Opening the door Paul walked into the space. Not an office, more like a cliché idea of an office cobbled together with leftover dorm-room furniture;  three collapsible quad chairs, a small non-descript plant, a foldout poker table with products and promotional flyers fanned out, the shaky looking  empty black & chipped entertainment unit with oversized stereo atop its small radio receiver cable spidering up the wall its pinnacle held by a piece of scotch tape.

 

Nickelback was softly playing.

Paul was

crismark4 | crismark4@gmail.com | cubicledepot.com | IP: 122.252.241.177

serious stuff… plaster topics are pretty sobering. In case you’re interested, here’s some neat information about used office cubicles I found helpful

Not Spam — Oct 24, 7:47 AM — [ View Post ]

Paul was Akismet has caught 21 spam for you since you first installed it.

You can delete all of the spam from your database with a single click. This operation cannot be undone, so you may wish to check to ensure that no legitimate comments got through first. Spam is automatically deleted after 15 days, so don’t sweat it.

There are currently 5 comments identified as spam.   

These are the latest comments identified as spam by Akismet. If you see any mistakes, simply mark the comment as “not spam” and Akismet will learn from the submission. If you wish to recover a comment from spam, simply select the comment, and click Not Spam. After 15 days we clean out the junk for you.

Paul was small body tucked in a sleeping bag

 

whimpering on the floor.

Paul was in the dreams of his victims, a specteral child murderer stalks the children of the members of the lynch mob that killed him.

Paul was on the pay movie channel, a scary film young children shouldn’t have been viewing, but egged on by the group, they watch.

Paul was the kind of discipline parents give children when others are around.

Paul was

Serving Size  1 bar (45 g)
Amount Per Serving	%DV *
Total Calories 220
Calories from Fat 90
Total Fat 10 g	15%
Saturated Fat 6 g	30%
Cholesterol 10 mg	3%
Sodium 45 mg	2%
Total Carbohydrate 29 g	10%
Dietary Fiber less than 1 g	2%
Sugars 25 g
Protein 3 g	6%
Vitamin C	0%
Calcium	8%
Iron	0%

*Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Your daily values may be higher or lower depending on your calorie needs:
	Calories:	2,000	2,500
Total Fat	Less than	65g	80g
Sat Fat	Less than	20g	25g
Cholesterol	Less than	300mg	300mg
Sodium	Less than	2,400mg	2,400mg
Total Carbohydrate		300g	375g
Dietary Fiber		25g	30g

Paul was after time enough for redness to drain from face, a change of pajamas  (no longer the identical batman version his other guests were wearing).

Paul was shutoff, whitespace, time out.

Paul was

Serving Size  1 bar (43 g)
Amount Per Serving	%DV *
Total Calories 210
Calories from Fat 110
Total Fat 13 g	20%
Saturated Fat 8 g	40%
Cholesterol 10 mg	3%
Sodium 35 mg	1%
Total Carbohydrate 26 g	9%
Dietary Fiber 1 g	4%
Sugars 24 g
Protein 3 g	6%
Vitamin C	0%
Calcium	8%
Iron	2%

*Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Your daily values may be higher or lower depending on your calorie needs:
	Calories:	2,000	2,500
Total Fat	Less than	65g	80g
Sat Fat	Less than	20g	25g
Cholesterol	Less than	300mg	300mg
Sodium	Less than	2,400mg	2,400mg
Total Carbohydrate		300g	375g
Dietary Fiber		25g	30g

Paul was a psychotic murderer institutionalized since childhood escapes on a mindless rampage while his doctor chases him through the streets.

Paul was water splashing on the homevideo lens, then

Paul was Serving Size 1 bar (60 g)
Servings per Container 1

Amount Per Serving
Calories 270   Calories from Fat 100

% Daily Value*
Total Fat	11 g	17%
Saturated Fat	6 g	28%
Trans Fat	0 g
Cholesterol	0 mg	0%
Sodium	135 mg	6%
Total Carbohydrate	43 g	14%
Dietary Fiber	1 g	4%
Sugars	29 g
Protein	4 g

Vitamin A 0%	*	Vitamin C 0%
Calcium 2%	*	Iron 2%

*	Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Your daily values may be higher or lower depending on your calorie needs:

	Calories:	2,000	2,500
Total Fat	Less than	65 g	80 g
Sat Fat	Less than	20 g	25 g
Cholesterol	Less than	300 mg	300 mg
Sodium	Less than	2,400 mg	2,400 mg
Total Carbohydrate		300 g	375 g
Dietary Fiber		25 g	30 g

Paul was corner of the frame. Guy was in the center, slightly shrugging his shoulders at Paul’s father’s question.  From this angle you couldn’t really see the water on the foyer floor, but the thin layer certainly was there. Not enough for the over exaggerated fall Paul took, kicking his feet out & sinking his body into the apple tank.

Paul was at Camp Crystal Lake.

Paul was “That is the fastest time tonight Guy, 12 seconds. How do you feel about being the apple bobbing Halloween sleepover champion?”

Paul was milk chocolate (sugar, cocoa butter, chocolate, skimmed milk, lactose, milkfat, soy lecithin, artificial flavor), peanuts, corn syrup, sugar, skim milk, butter, milkfat, partially hydrogenated soybean oil, lactose, salt, egg whites and artificial flavor.

Paul was the soul of the lake shore strangler, transferred into a doll’s body.