Returning to Questions asked but never answered...


This old dragon still has a serious issue with faith in humanity stuck in the back of his dusty brain, but we aren't going there now. I fear that if I spew out what I am thinking I will permanently taint my relationship with humankind and I don't want that to happen. Maybe after I calm down just a bit, I can write about it, but for right now I might just go on a rage and eat a couple of humans guilty only of straying too close to an angry and disillusioned old dragon.

So I have decided that today is a good day to go to the mail bag as it were. I was asked several questions weeks ago, but have up until now ignored these questions. That is a Dragon's prerogative after all. For some reason people never get too insistent with me anyway. Hmm, I wonder why. And now on to the questions:

So seriously, though, a historical question: is there a dragon-like being in Incan mythology?

Yes, and she's not just mythological. Her name is Mama Pacha and the Incans saw her as something like your mother nature. They thought she helped them with their crops and ensured good growing seasons. They also think she created earth quakes when she was mad. To be honest I am not sure where the helping with crops bit came from, but there were various dragons that caused earthquakes or at least what appeared to be earthquakes. Sometimes we do that when we are just moving around with out much care.

And this leads to another question, given the Incan dragon snobbery: Where are you from, originally?

Hmm, tough question to answer that one. My parents pretty much abandoned me at birth. I only remember being in a mountain near by a great ocean. I wandered quite a bit and ended up spending a lot of time through what you call Central America. My best guess is that I am from some where in Mexico, but I really can't say for sure.

We have heard much of your treasure trove. What is in it?

Wow, getting personal now, aren't we? Or maybe you just didn't realize that to a dragon his treasure trove is about as personal as you can get. Few people ever see one and live to tell about it. Now some dragons actually do have gold, silver and jewels as their treasure, but then again some are much more sentimental. Mine has some 'valuables', probably enough to make any human very wealthy, but it is more mementos. Things that remind me of dragons, people and places. Portraits, shells, skeletons, armor, weapons, books, furniture, paintings; even a few photographs and old notes.

How do you get your treasure?

I pretty much collect it and have collected it over the years. I don't generally steal it if that's what you are asking, though I lot of it has come in the form of gifts and tributes. The honest gifts mean more than tributes out of fear, but I collect them all just the same.

Do dragons trade treasure with one another?

Generally no, though we do often gift treasures to one another. Often we just keep what we have in our own hoards. It is very rare when we even let another dragon see our hoards.

Have there been great dragon wars over treasure?

Have you been reading Tolkein again? No, never any dragon wars at all, much less wars over treasure. Dragons are solitary beings so it would be pretty much impossible to get enough of us together to actually have a war. Plus we try not to attack one another, there aren't many of us left. On the hand, some dragons, the greedier ones, have fought over treasure especially after another dragon dies. But, we don't like to talk about.

And that is all for today. Maybe tomorrow we will get back into my feelings on humanity.

Jack Dragon

Desperately trying to keep faith in humanity, er, I mean Of books and covers...

First allow me to apologize for my absence. I realize that to anyone who might care what a dragon has to say, waiting days and even weeks to see if I will post again must get irritating and frustrating. I apologize for this, and do not excuse my absence except to say that I have been off trying to help others. And let me just say, I do not leave without saying goodbye though that happens to me often enough. I will always return to my blog until I tell you otherwise.

And one more important item before I launch into the rant of an old and tired dragon. An interesting young lady has agreed to create a portrait of me. It is in the works, actually I think it is done, but I have not yet seen it. It's quite possible she's worried I might eat her if I don't like it. That happens when you deal with dragons. Well Karys dear you are a unique and interesting individual and as such are not eating material. Sorry if this disappoints you. Regardless of how I feel about the portrait, you have reinforced in this old dragon that a great book does not need an ordinary cover.

And there I am off my intended rant and onto something entirely new. There is plenty of time to desperately try to keep faith in humanity. I've spent years and years doing as much and it seems that's where I always remain, just trying to keep faith. Sometimes I have faith and then something comes along and knocks me on my big scaly ass. And yes I am bitter though I try not to be. It seems that so very often when I find that human who I think exemplifies every ideal of humanity I end being disappointed or worse yet, betrayed. And betrayal stings even if I sometimes eat the betrayer. But, I've gone off on a tangent from my tangent which returns me to the original topic, and that is not the topic for today's entry.

So back to my tangent topic, of books and covers. As you've probably guessed it's based on the cliche "you can't judge a book by its cover". I agree with this in spirit, but I hate how it seems to be embodied. If I see somebody who looks stupid, but is really smart, saying "well you can't judge a book by it's cover" just means this person really does look stupid but he's not. In reality maybe I should reevaluate my idea of what makes somebody look stupid in my eyes. And of course the reason nobody does this is because they would soon learn that there is no particular look that makes someone stupid, smart, rich, poor, optimistic, pessimistic, pragmatic, well schooled, street smart or anything else.

Now with that said, there are sometime cues, but even these can be misleading. Somebody always wears nice close, maybe they have money, maybe they are smart shoppers, or deeply in dept. Somebody has crappy clothes, same story applies. You really can't tell without knowing the person better and even then you may not know. Some people live in nice houses, drive nice cars and have great clothes because they are wealthy or highly paid, other's live the same lifestyle through borrowing and credit cards. Unless you are privy to their tax returns it is impossible to tell the two apart.

So then let's move on to other things; hairstyles, tattoos, piercing to name a few. And let me just say we dragons don't do such things because we have no hair and it's really hard, almost impossible actually, to pierce our skin with a piercing or tattoo needles. But this isn't about me its about you humans and your strange habits and strange expectations resulting from these habits. So let's take a simple tattoo, though piercing and hairstyles work the same way with less permanence. And that tattoo can be an expression of one's self, a reminder, a memento, or just a silly way to try to look tougher or more hip than you are. The same is true for piercing and hairstyles.

And there's more, or less if you will. Let's go back in time, to explore the roots of these expressions. Now hairstyles have never been especially painful, but they have required more time, but hairstyles don't mean much since they can always be changed. Piercing used to require a needle, some ugly pain and a good chance of infection. Now they can just be snapped in with a gun. It doesn't require someone with the inner strength and determination that should be necessary to take an the outward expression that piercing used to be. And the same is true with tattoos, now done with electric sterile needles. Once they were done over hours, even days with bone chisels and blinding pain.

So the problem is that half the people out there with tattoos and piercings are just poser wankers who think they look cooler to other people. They think they express individuality, but without the thought and determination they don't express much more than a shallow compulsion. And careful before you read the wrong thing here. I am not saying that such things are always shallow compulsion, not at all. Just that they can be and that unless we talk to the person it is impossible to care. And I can tell you that returning back to the person who started this rant, this old dragon has certified her own piercings and worthy of one dragon's praise.

And before I sign off this latest installment of dragon ravings let me offer some advice to all those out there who might be thinking about tattoos or piercings. First, if you are the human equivalent of a dragonling, don't do it. You are probably too young to know what you really want done to your body for a lifetime. And whether you are an adult or just ignoring my first bit of advice, here's rule 2; think about it, think about it, wait a month and think about it, wait a year and think about it some more. If you still want to get it done and haven't changed your mind over this time, you probably have put enough thought into. Spend another month imagining that tattoo and how it will look in 10, 20, 30, and 40 years and how you will look as well. Hint: a cute little flower that draws attention to your flat stomach at 20 will probably be an abomination at 60. And now I'm going to get a little sexist and add one more rule, if you are a man have it done like a man. If you want a pierced ear, do it yourself. If you want a tattoo, look into getting one done with a bone chisel the old fashioned way. Own the pain and you will own that tattoo.

That is all, most of this advice will be ignored anyway.

Jack Dragon

Back to those chairs again, Friendship

Allow me to apologize to anyone tracking this Dragon's ramblings for not posting in a while. I was locked away in my lair once again, not really moping, or pining per se, just enjoying some solitude. I was hiding from the knowledge that the sun would not be coming out. Sometimes it is easier to avoid looking at the sky rather than having a look and confirming the worst. Ah we dragons are peculiar creatures, but living forever will do that to a being. While I am in apology mode, I know that one of my loyal fans has more questions for me, these will be answered in due time, but not in this particular post. A dragon's gotta follow his heart, and this post is what my heart is pounding about.

So let's talk about those two chairs in the house for friendship. Why only two? Don't friends come in multiples? The answer is simple; yes friends can come in multiples, but true friendships are one on one and thus require exactly two chairs. Sure you can be friends with a particular group of people, but in the end each relationship with each person in that group is a separate entity. Some are friends, some are acquaintance some just run in the same circle of friends. But, none of them are truly friends unless you have something one-on-one between the two of you.

I am not one who tosses the word friend around lightly either. Friendship involves a unique bond between two individuals. Someone you occasionally see and exchange platitudes with is probably not a friend. Rather, friendship requires a deeper understanding on one another and a bond of trust that is not easily broken.

As a dragon my friendships are few and far between. Partly because eating people on a regular basis makes one a bit unapproachable. But, also because I don't allow most people close enough to form the bond of trust. See we dragons are heavily armored and thick skinned both physically and emotionally. It ain't easy to get by either skin and that's just fine with me. I think that for those that do befriend a dragon it is almost always a deeply rewarding experience though I recognize that is pretty vain of me to say so, but true none the less.

Being an immortal creature I see friendships as transient. This comes from the fact that all of my mortal friends will eventually die, though often they lose interest in dragon things before that happens. Some friendships are long lasting and indelible. Though rare, these friends be gone from my life for years at a time and pick right back up where we left off upon their return. More common are friendships where-in each friend fills a need that the other has at that time in their lives. Some of these develop into life long friendships others fade away once the purpose is served. I do not consider these lesser friendships, rather they are what they are.

I have yet to talk about the single chair and the three chairs, that will come in later posts. I also promise to answer those question posed by one of my readers some time soon. But I am a dragon and I do what I please, so that will come when it comes.

Jack -it is what it is- Dragon

Feeling Strangely Fine

This is a quick and short post, though there will be more later. Today I awoke feeling strangely fine which is actually the title of a CD by Semisonic. I am not sure why I have this warm, fuzzy buzz about me 'cause things aren't going so great for ol' Jack. But we will go with it and see where it takes us. More later.

Jack