What goes around, comes around…

It’s great to be excited about blogging again and, as I’m sure you’ve noticed from the increased frequency and variety of recent posts, I’m getting drawn into more and more new activities all the time.

My sudden conversion to writing fiction has really inspired me to finish Deus Ex Machina, the sci-fi story that had been patiently hanging around in my head, waiting for me to continue Kreel’s mysterious adventure, Linda G Hill has provided much additional inspiration with her One Liner Wednesday and Stream of Consciousness Saturday slots, both of which I’m now totally hooked on, the new photography blog, Photo Sans Frontiers is up and running (along with its companion Facebook page) and now I find myself with the hugely enjoyable prospect of another, future collaborative project.
And it’s all due to a spot of synchronicity worthy of the Tenuous Lynx his/her/itself.

Back in 2011, as a forty-something internet novice, (as opposed to a nearly-fifty Internet Nobody) I was just beginning to get to grips with something that everyone else seemed to have had a head start on, namely Facebook, and the idea that I could have my own little corner of the Great Big Double-u Double-u Double-u, to do with as I wanted, whether other people wanted me to or not.
I was also drawn to the idea that anyone could create a space that had a definite image of its own, some sort of identifying feel to it that made it stand out from the information overload of the internet.

Which, I quickly began to realise, was what blogs were for.

As I initially searched my newsfeed for any interesting and original content, hidden amongst the pictures of cats, recycled memes, “inspirational” quotes, pictures of cats, game requests, charity fads and more pictures of fucking cats, one of the more promising pages was called simply, Todd and Dustin’s Blog and it contained the slightly superior, sometimes snarky ramblings of a couple of likeable Americans called, rather unimaginatively I thought, Todd and Dustin.
It featured comical, sometimes nonsensical posts, occasional nihilistic ranting, creative writing competitions, video blogs and a satirical edge that I liked right away.

Todd and Dustin – More fun than they look, honest.

The page is currently dormant and nothing new has appeared since January 2013, when the final message to their Facebook fans was as follows:

“GREED. CORRUPTION. RELIGIOUS FUNDAMENTALISM. TEA PARTY LUNATICS. HORRIBLE PARENTING. PEOPLE EATING EACH OTHER’S FACES. A DYING PLANET. WESTBORO BAPTISTS. WAYNE LAPIERRE. DRONE STRIKES. HONEY BOO BOO. JOHN BOEHNER. LOBBYISTS. THE TOP 1%.

THE WORLD IS A TOILET. WE TRIED TO SAVE YOU…”

So, not happy then.
And that was the last I heard of them, which was a shame because they were probably one of the sparks that lit my blogging fuse, so to speak.

If you are on Facebook, you can view their page HERE, but for those of you who haven’t been swallowed by the internet’s answer to crack cocaine, here’s their page’s utterly brilliant author blurb:

“Todd Michaels began his writing career in 1849 under the tutelage of a German Sheppard named Bradley. Since then, he has been producing work with such a non-stop fervor that dead people rot and living people die, merely at the mention of his name. Winner of several non-existent awards, Todd prides himself on his ability to make readers itch in places that they don’t even have while screaming out words that only pets can understand.

Dustin Tyler came out of the womb with a pen in one hand and a completely written short-story in the other. The story was said to be the most “important” item produced by mankind since Eve took a bite out of that giant round red item decades earlier. Unfortunately the story came in contact with what Dustin would later describe as “filthy” hands and had to be destroyed. Since then, Dustin has continued popping out of wombs with complete stories, though none are known to be as good as the original.”

Fast forward to last week and I get a Facebook friend request from some American bloke I’ve never heard of, whose name is a really obvious anagram of a film star I really don’t like, so I messaged him and asked why he chose to solicit my friendship.

As you do.

He told me he had been searching for like-minded people to invite to his page.

This may not seem noteworthy, except for the fact that, in the timezone lag between messages, I’d checked his “About” page.

As you do.

Under “Other names/nicknames” it said Todd and Dustin.

That’s…
I mean, that can’t…
Bloody hell, that’s a coincidence…

Etc…

Needless to say, I was delighted to finally make the acquaintance of someone who played one small part in my decision to take up blogging and, once he’d told me that he and Todd (he’s the Dustin half of the partnership) were on the verge of rebooting their own blog, it didn’t take me very long to suggest working on something together in the not too distant future.

As for what else he and Todd are up to, I was told only that they spend a lot of time playing video games, one of them is married to the other one’s sister, they are in the habit of starting projects that they like to leave half-finished and that; “If you’ve ever gotten a magazine in the mail with descriptions of tacky jewelry you best believe that we wrote it!”

By the way, it seemed important to him that you know this;
He only managed to deliver his friend request to me after escaping the clutches of 300 heavily armed men, using just his movie star good looks, a twizzler he happened to have on his person and a very small amount of violence, mainly involving forcible insertion of spiky and exotic vegetables, a gallon of LSD-infused vanilla custard and, purely as a last resort, a rocket launcher.

All of which goes to show, if you stay on the internet long enough, it will eventually take you to where you want to go, even if you didn’t know you wanted to go there in the first place.

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