So the other day, I got a gift. I did a friend a favor and she told me she had the perfect gift for me. Yay, presents! We had trouble getting together with schedules and such (nevermind she lives less than a mile from me) so she had a friend bring it to me. I get an unexpected gift bag one afternoon with a peculiar thing inside...A little stone statue. Some kind of gargoyle, I figured.
Honestly, I don't know much about this sort of thing. As far as I knew, they were creepy little statues on old buildings, steeped in mythology. They sang in Disney's version of the Hunchback of Notre Dame (which I refuse to watch). Skymall magazine sells ones that fit on your downspouts and shoot water out of their mouths. That's about all I had on the subject. So I was surprised to find out this guy below is the guardian of the writer! Who knew?
Curled up in his beak was a scroll of paper that explained it all...
This is Alkimos.
His name means "valiant." He is of a very rare group of Story Gryphons related to the gargoyle family.
His kind have been raised since their creation as defenders of the two most valuable things to this world: the story and the writer.
His razor-like beak and ripping claws drives away all that is the anathma to a writer: procrastination and writer's block.
With his wings he protects you from the harshness of critics, while ushering in the warm winds on inspiration, urging you to write.
Alkimos looks like a statue, but he is not. He gathers all of the creativity in the room and focuses it on you. His world is you.
There is only one warning! Alkimos, like any story gryphon, needs you, the author, to write. If you do not, beware! He does not fade. He does not die. Instead, his unhappiness grows until it turns to rage. He focuses his fury on your most treasured object, the manuscript that is sitting there, waiting for you. He will shred that manuscript in his frustration. (The trainers are working on this flaw with little success.) It is up to you to make him happy by writing.
May the words constantly flow and your creativity always burn because... Alkimos is watching you, and will gladly use your story as a snack.
Very cool. I didn't know there was something like this! Given as much as I was whining about lucky charms a few weeks ago, one landed in my lap. Mo (which is what I've taken to calling him because Alkimos is far too big a word) is my new good luck totem. He sits on my desk looking quite regal amongst all the other crap I keep there. He looks down on me as I work. Watching. Waiting.
There have been no casualties as of yet, although there may be shortly if I don't get on it. :) I'm horrible at getting gifts - I never know what to ask for. I sort of foolishly hope people know me well enough to pick out something without me pointing and grunting like a 2 year old. I'm usually wrong, but every now and then, I get a very pleasant surprise. What's the coolest or most unexpected gift you've ever gotten?
SP
5 comments:
I got this big purple hat once...
I've gotten lots of wonderful gifts over the years, the most unexpected from my husband. He seems to know just how to surprise me and comes up with the best stuff, like the time he gave me a weekend at a B&B for Mother's Day. Alone, so I could write. :)
One interesting story comes from the year before last. At our local chapter party we play dirty santa, and I opened this beautiful wooden letter plaque spelling the word DREAM. It was golden with little scrolls and absolutely gorgeous. Of course, didn't take long before it was stolen from me and I didn't get an opportunity to take it back. Imagine my surprise when my sister gave me the exact same thing for Christmas! I'd never mentioned it to anyone. She said she saw it and knew it was perfect for me.
Cool, huh?
Seriously, my husband and boys have left me speechless several times through the years with gifts -- the computer I wasn't expecting, the Birkenstocks I knew #2 son had worked his tail off to buy, the cute paperweight #1 son bought because he knew I'd appreciate the words engraved on it -- "Because I said so."
There have honestly been so many cool and unexpected gifts through the years but sometimes it's the little handful of dandelions clutched in a dirty fist or the sparkly rock (and I don't mean a diamond) that means the most because it comes with nothing but pure love attached.
PM-- Your purple hat rocks. :-)
I don't have a gargoyle, although DG has one. I can't remember who gave it to him, but it was connected some way to computer issues. He sits on DG's side of the office, so maybe I'm guarded too!
I love Mo though! He's cute!
Oooh, Mo is cool! Hmm, best gift? Hubby and I suck at surprising one another with stuff. We typically just buy what we want, or encourage the other one to get something when it wasn't expected. He did buy me a 32GB iPod Touch last year while I was standing there protesting I didn't need it.
But, probably the best thing ever is simply his faith over the years that I would succeed at this crazy career called writing. :)
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