To: Poppy
Re: Fads, Christianity and Genetic Problems

Well, that first statement is entirely true. You know that, everyone does. Your actions have natural consequences, and except in extreme cases getting people hurt or killed is about as bad as it gets. I'm here to tell you how it is, not to lie to you as a form of encouragement. The truth can be difficult to deal with, but it is what it is.

Being with someone can do that. A kind word and a good joke and suddenly the world doesn't seem so bad after all. Of course, a nasty word and ironic crack about your behind and you can suddenly feel like crawling into a big hole and disappearing. It's a question of balancing your feelings, and being independent. Once you've mastered being yourself with yourself, then it's time to seek a relationship.

Children are easily impressionable, as are most adults. Fads like this are the result of a society gone mad. Especially over such a silly idea. It is in many respects like a cult, but there is little to be done about it. Of course, the fact that they guard the books so much says something about society's priorities as well. In the end though, 'popular' things such as this make money, and that's what publishers care about. From their point of view, if it encourages children to damage glasses and look stupid so be it.

Now, I said Christians shouldn't allow gay marriage. I did not say it shouldn't be allowed entirely. Christians by their very nature are not as adaptable as most others when it comes to new ideas, and of course they will stagnate. Evolution happens based on this idea, that groups that cannot adapt to change, die. Christianity (following the current trend and likely outcome) will eventually become so isolated from society they will get no new members, and their misguided religion will cease to exist. This will happen far quicker if education improves in your schools.

People have a choice about who they marry this is true, but more often than not humans believe they cannot choose who to fall in love with. Although this is wrong, it is what people believe and therefore we must proceed based on that. So one could say that a brother and sister could not help but fall in love, and in society as it is now, they would not only be forbidden to marry, but if it was proved they were having sex they could be prosecuted. Not so long ago, they'd have been outcasts as soon as it was discovered in any case. Nowadays, societies starting to realise people have to be a bit more open minded about such things.

People with genetic disorders DO have choice, just like everyone else. There are plenty of children needing adoption for example. One or both partners could undergo voluntary sterilisation. Of course, legally it's another matter. There'd be public outcry if suddenly people could be prosecuted for knowing they were likely to have 'genetically defective' children and going ahead anyway. It is only in incest, that they can (and are) prosecuted for this crime. In reality, it's only because it's such a taboo subject, and that the Christian church is involved, that one is a crime and the other isn't.

Well, you have a choice. If you want to go out and murder people, go ahead. I won't stop you. Of course, you'll likely be arrested, but there'll be no consequences for it after you die. It all depends on how 'you' want to express 'yourself'.

Having moral values is all about leading a good life and being a good person. Christianity is about worshipping God (which I do not require or even want), following the grossly edited version of someone else's moral values, and having a little bit of leading a good life and being a good person involved in that.

-----Original Message-----

From: Complaints Department [mailto:Address removed by anti spam software]

Sent: 20 June 2008 16:24

To: God

Subject: FW: Dedication

Well, it's just a nice song. It's also the opposite of what I am, and I find it funny to have it played in nightclubs. There are others too of course. But you'd look so cute!

I guess there are some of them I'd like to see (have sex with) again. I dunno, feels a little weird. I don't think I could possibly visit them all and still expect to have a life outside of being a parent. Shuddering at the very thought here. And yet I do feel a little guilty, but I'm sure it's just Michaels influence...

And well, it's usually just random when I watch you. I don't sit there staring at the screen all day or have other angels call me the second you enter the bathroom or anything like that.

Woo! Of course I appreciate the strippers and porn stars! Adds a bit of spice to human life. Your lives could certainly do with some in most cases...

Oh yeah Paris Hilton, did you see '1 Night in Paris'? That was pretty good, and funny.

Well, if you feel like that about your Dad then I guess that's up to you. I'd try to talk to him myself, if only because you have to live with him.

Love, light and medical experiments,

Gabriel

Signature - There'll be time for explanations later. And hopefully, some sex!

To: God
Re: Dedication

Let me just check I read that correctly. To summarise: ‘Do what you think you should do. The worst that can happen is someone gets injured or killed’. That’s not the most encouraging advice you could give someone, you know. Things like that prove my point entirely. Maybe for next time you’ll know not to say that, but that’s alright for the next person you tell. You’ve already said it to me, and the damage is already done.

I do find it amazing how happy Jack manages to make me. He really cheers me up. He has a brilliant sense of humour. You know someone who can make me smile has really got something special. I wouldn’t be able to live without Jack now.

You don’t have to worship the creators of other books…can you tell all those kids who worship JK Rowling that? All those annoying kids who snap their glasses in half and tape them back together to be like Harry Potter and try running through walls at train stations. Don’t get me wrong. I love reading, and I’m really happy that Harry Potter’s got so many kids reading who would otherwise just be on their computers, but some of them are just completely ignorant of the fact that there are other (MUCH better) books out there. I hate all the bookshops who open at midnight when there’s a new Harry Potter book out. They never open at midnight for the new books I want. And every time there is a new Harry Potter book they have to keep them under armed guard until they’re released! They’re BOOKS! They guard those books better than they guard prisons!

I’m so glad I’ve finally found something you actually agree with me on about Christianity. Gay marriages shouldn’t be allowed. I was expecting you to say that Christians should get off their moral high horse and just accept that gay marriages happen and embrace that.

It’s different with incest though. Brothers and sisters have a choice about who they marry. There are enough other people out there, they don’t have to marry each other. They have kids who aren’t genetically right, just like other people with genetic disorders, but if the brothers and sisters got married to someone else, that wouldn’t be a problem. People with genetic disorders don’t have much choice – it’s in their genes and it’s a risk they take when they have kids with anyone. It’s not fair to say they can’t get married because of that. They can’t help it. Their lives are bad enough as it is.

Okay, you win that argument about M_ses. I’d like to think I’d never do anything like that, but don’t count me out yet. If I decide to do what I think is right, then I hit my head or something, murdering people might suddenly seem like a good idea, and with no religion, there won’t be anything to stop me.

Christianity is all about leading a good life and being a good person. It wanted me to develop into a good person. Now I just want what I want, and it’s making me feel selfish. You can’t say that I’m a better person now.

Gabriel, damn right I wouldn’t be interested in singing Yellow Submarine for you! Stop watching me! You make me want to do damage to something! What do you like so much about that song anyway? It’s alright, I suppose…

Maybe you should go and visit some of your kids. You said you had to a lot of time on your hands (I do hope it's boredom that has you watching me in the shower and not you sitting there waiting for me to get in). You don’t have to visit them all. If you’re inconsiderate enough to get someone pregnant and then leave, the least you can do is go visit them once in a while.

Strippers and porn stars are appreciated by perverts like you. It is possible to get rich by doing normal, legitimate things too, you know. You can even get rich for doing absolutely nothing. Look at Paris Hilton.

I wish I could ignore my dad. I give him the impression that I ignore him, because that’s what he does to me, but inside what he affects me more than I let him know. It’s pointless me trying to talk to him. It’s beyond the point now where our relationship can be repaired. He doesn’t deserve any kind of attention from me. It makes me angry to think I’m wasting time thinking about him. I don’t want to talk to a man who could ignore his nine year old daughter after her mother died.

-Poppy

To: Poppy
Re: Damages and Moral Choices

The damage you speak of is inconsequential in most cases, or at least negligible. Occasionally, such as in the case of money or the involvement of children there's actual physical damage. Other times it could result in injury or death, so that's another obvious one. Still, none of the things that happen to you have to effect you so directly now. You can still live your life, and it even seems to be getting a little better. Funny what having someone nice around can do to human spirits.

There's a 'lot of good stuff' on television and in many books. That doesn't mean you have to worship the creators of said books, nor follow someone else's interpretation of them.

I will agree that Christians should not allow gay marriage. It goes against what it says in their holiest book, and therefore they should view it as wrong. Those that don't are hypocrites, or simply fools. That doesn't make them right however, and any clear thinker will immediately realise they are dead wrong. Marriage is no longer generally about religion, although people like to pretend it is. It is now more a legal thing, with a bit of religion sometimes hanging off it. I can see no cause for humanity as it is to say that gay relationships or marriage are wrong, unless they believe that I told them it is.

Just the same with incestual relationships. As a society, the argument usually used against them incestual relationships is the potential for any children to be harmed due to genetic reasons. This argument could easily be used however against people with genetic defects, or diseases such as HIV. Society seems reluctant to decide on this.

Your mind gives you the ability to process information logically. That part of it doesn't differentiate between moral and immoral behaviour, it simply allows humans to reason things out. His heart told him what he wanted, his mind simply showed him how to do it. Clearly you're not like him, and hopefully your heart will put your mind to better uses.

Now that you're in a position where you have to decide your own morality, you have the potential to develop as you wish, rather than what religion would have you develop as.

-----Original Message-----

From: Complaints Department [mailto:Address removed by anti spam software]

Sent: 19 June 2008 19:49

To: God

Subject: FW: Hypocrites

Well, I suppose I've seen quite a lot of you by now. I was going to ask if you did requests, I'm sure there would have been an interest! I guess you wouldn't be interested in maybe singing "Yellow Submarine" for me tomorrow?

Speaking of compassion, damn, I think Michael might be having more of an effect on me than I thought... I'm even starting to get this silly impulse to go visit some of my more unfortunate children. I'm trying to convince myself it would take too long to do.

Well, all I'm saying is a good singing voice and a girl in the nude is bound to be popular in your society. Your strippers and porn stars and such make loads of money, so it's obviously appreciated. Of course, priests and such tend to make a pittance, which just shows your societies priorities.

It doesn't seem all that serious to me. It looks like you ignore your Dad just as much as he ignores you. And hey, he's attracted to youngish girls, a lot human guys are. People respond to the death of a loved one in very different ways too, some just withdraw while others need a shoulder to cry on. Been a long time though, you could try talking to him properly, it doesn't look like you'd have much to lose by doing so.

Love, light and medical experiments,

Gabriel

Signature - There'll be time for explanations later. And hopefully, some sex!

To: God
Re: Hypocrites

It’s so easy for you to say to just choose differently next time if things go wrong, but by then the damage is already done. Can you really blame me for not having confidence in myself after everything that’s happened to me? You’ve seen the results of a lot of it. I don’t want those consequences and responsibilities on my shoulders. Maybe there is a lot of rubbish in the Bible, but there’s also a lot of good stuff in there too.

Those Christians who can allow gay marriages (even in church now, I’m sorry to say) aren’t true Christians, like those ‘Christians’ who start wars and abuse children. You said the Bible clearly condemns homosexuality. It’s not hard to find the bits in it that do, so anyone who can know that, ignore it and still call themselves a Christian has something wrong somewhere. It makes it even worse that it was two gay priests who were married. They should know better. They can’t even say it was a stupid mistake. They didn’t get drunk or anything and end up accidentally getting married in church. It was all planned. They’re not fit to be priests. The Bible says homosexuality is bad, but they still continue to do that kind of stuff. They obviously have faith in something else more than the teachings they’re teaching other people.

If society starts allowing same-sex marriages, then how long will it be before brothers and sisters are allowed to marry? Before we know it the church will be marrying relatives too.

M_ses lived in a different time when there were different moral standards. Of course I don’t condone it, but he wasn’t a Christian, because Christianity didn’t exist yet. He was probably following either his mind or his heart when he decided to do what he did (see what I’m getting at there?). From what I can tell, all the scheming you tell me he did to hide his crimes or justify them, it’s probably his mind, the same thing you said should be my first port of call when deciding whether or not to do something.

Gabriel, truth be told, I did actually come home to have a shower. I just had it before I sent my last message because if I had said I was going to have a shower, then you’d watch. Don’t make me start having to take showers at a different time each day just to fool you.

I asked you to promise me that you weren’t going to watch me any more, not to justify yourself. You said compassion was caring about people. I don’t want you watching me. It makes me feel uncomfortable, and if you care about me, you’ll stop it.

Maybe I would get good comments if I did upload a video like that, but if they’re comments from people like you, I can do without them, thanks.

About my dad, there’s a lot of contributing factors to that. He acts as though Mum never happened and I don’t exist. We never talk, and he’s always bringing girls home with him, a large majority of them young enough to be his daughter, some of them probably not far off granddaughter. A few weeks ago, he brought home a girl who used to be in my science class. That was just weird. He’d make me feel like an inconvenience to him if he ever actually spoke to me. I do my best to avoid him but when I am forced to be in the same room as him I might as well be invisible for all the recognition I get. After Mum died and I needed someone the most was when he suddenly didn’t want to know me any more. I know he doesn’t care about me. He makes me feel so worthless and insignificant.

-Poppy

To: Poppy
Re: Ethical Decisions

In fact that's exactly what I would suggest. Who else are you going to let decide how you should think, feel and act? Let me reassure you though, you are not more fallible than everyone else. You've just had a really tough time, and lack confidence in your decision making process. Certainly not irreparable. Of course, if people were punished for making stupid decisions most humans would be in prison all their lives. You're going to cock it up sometimes, and there's no real harm in that. You didn't come into this existence to know exactly what was going to happen, to make perfect decisions. You came here to create who you are, relative to what you are not. If it goes wrong (and remember that 'wrong' is only a point of view), choose again.

Following someone or something else through life means they take the responsibility and the consequences when things go bad. This makes it easier, but you're not really here to be a puppet.

You're quite right of course, since religions are simply ideals. But those ideals are created by humans, and they come with the judgements humans make. Homosexuality is an obvious one, the bible itself calls it detestable. Religious followers also contradict each other and themselves as a whole, there are now denominations of Christians who support and bless gay couples, despite the bible.

M_ses, one of the most respected prophets (who supposedly received divine law from me), even went so far in the bible as to lead an army to murder every Midianite woman, every boy and every non-virgin girl. The virgins were shared among the soldiers. Somehow, you people read this book and think it's gospel.

You are the only judge of right and wrong for you, if you feel you've done wrong, do it better next time. Change is inevitable, if people didn't change their ideals and beliefs life would lose a lot of its purpose. Being able to change, to accept new information and incorporate it into who you are is not weak. It's the sign of evolution, and if done consciously, the sign of intelligence.

As to the ice skating, perhaps you just need some more practice. Like most things in life, if you work at it you'll be able to reap what you sow.

-----Original Message-----

From: Complaints Department [mailto:Address removed by anti spam software]

Sent: 19 June 2008 17:14

To: God

Subject: FW: Faith in yourself

Compassion isn't about giving people what they want, or about not doing what they don't want. It's just a feeling, you care about people. The reason I don't think you should upload the photo of Damien is because uploading a photo like that of someone else without their consent could get you into serious trouble. Let's face it he'd deserve it. If course, if you upload something entirely of yourself that's very different. I imagine if you put something like that up most of the comments you'd get would be positive, and those that weren't would be from conservative fools.

I don't see that being watched in the showers going to do you any harm, therefore no reason to feel compassionate towards you in that regard. Hey it's up to you, but in human form I wouldn't want to go to someone else's house for dinner looking and smelling like I hadn't bothered to bathe.

I guess I've been watching since just a little while after the beginning of this whole conversation. In fact I only do it occasionally. I do watch other people as well. You wouldn't believe what some of them get up to in the bathroom when they think nobody's looking.

Well yeah, moving out would certainly free you from your father, but I must say you've never really said why you hate him, and that's a strong word to use for a human in relation to their families.

Love, light and medical experiments,

Gabriel

Signature - There'll be time for explanations later. And hopefully, some sex!

To: God
Re: Faith in yourself

I’m sure you can’t be suggesting that I should decide everything on my own. You know I make too many stupid decisions. You said yourself that everyone’s fallible, but it seems like I’m even more fallible than everyone else. It’s too much responsibility for me. The last time I followed my heart, I got drunk and we all know what happened after that. If I had still been following my religion as strictly as I used to, I wouldn’t have gotten drunk in the first place and none of that would ever have happened.

Religions don’t start wars, and they don’t abuse children. Religions are groups of teachings centred around something. People start wars and abuse children. Even if they claim to belong to a certain religion, if a person really followed it properly then they wouldn’t do those things. Those things happen when they have more ‘faith’ in themselves than their religion, and here you are telling me to have faith in myself. I’m not going to start wars or abuse children, but without something there to guide me, there are an awful lot of wrong things I could end up doing quite by accident that the Bible would never have allowed me to do.

I don’t see why I should have to change. In a lot of respects, I was doing a lot better when I was a proper Christian. I didn’t have to have a long ethical debate with myself over EVERYTHING I do.

Religion is (or maybe it was…) a big part of who I am. It’s the way I’ve lived my whole life. It’s the way I was brought up. It just feels like a slap in the face to my mum’s memory the fact that you’ve managed to break down in two months what took me eighteen years to build up. I know nobody would have been able to break down my mum’s religion. It makes me feel weak.

I’ve had a really good day today. Jack was taking his sister Emily ice skating and asked me if I wanted to come as well. I fell over so many times and I’m hurting all over, but we had really good fun. The embarrassing thing was that I’d been ice skating before and I kept falling over, but Emily’s only 9 and had never been before and she didn’t fall over once. I’ve just come home to get changed, since my clothes are now all wet from melted ice. I’m going over to Jack’s for dinner tonight.

Gabriel, it has everything to do with compassion! If you were that compassionate, you’d know I don’t want to be watched in the shower and you wouldn’t do it. You might have noticed I didn’t have a shower this morning, and it’s all your fault that my hair looks horrible today. I’m hoping you didn’t notice actually, because you shouldn’t be watching. I can’t believe the person who told me not to upload the photo of Damien onto Facebook because it would end up causing me trouble is the same person who’s suggesting I film myself singing in the shower and uploading it onto YouTube. How long have you been watching me? Actually, I’m not sure if I want to know the answer to that question. Just promise me that you’ll stop, and I want you to mean it. Find yourself a new favourite.

I do notice a lot of people stay with people they hate, but you don’t really have much choice when it’s your family. I hate my dad, but I don’t have much choice at the moment. The second I’m able to move out on my own, I’ll do it without looking back.

-Poppy

To: Poppy
Re: Faith and Standards

Having faith in oneself can be just as powerful as faith in a religion. Of course, companies, religions and governments always feel stronger and more powerful than the individual, because there's safety in numbers. Being part of something such as this can also take away individual responsibility somewhat, if something goes wrong it can be blamed on any number of things, rather than it being entirely one persons fault. So having faith in yourself can be harder, if you don't have confidence in your beliefs, actions and abilities. This feeling is often what makes people turn to religion in the first place, incidentally.

Now, you're in a position where you have to give up the childlike belief in religion. That's difficult, because suddenly you're responsible for every moral decision and action you take. This is the 'hole' people feel when this happens, that suddenly, they have to rely on themselves and other humans. Of course, knowing that both yourself and other humans are fallible makes this a hard thing to accept.

The way to deal with it is thus, follow your mind. If that can't or won't provide an answer, follow your heart. If both fail, or if there isn't enough time to process them, follow your instincts. If all else fails, flip a coin. All you can do is your best, and you're already doing 'better' (by human moral standards) than the religion you used to follow. You never led armies to rape and pillage the cities of those who had different beliefs to yourself. To give a more recent example, you do not have the shadow of abusing children and then covering it up over you. The church does.

It could well be an advantage to have a day marked as a rest day. Still, that doesn't justify making it a decree from God. A lot of things humans do are not really good ideas, but are done simply because it has been done for a long time. They become traditions. Not that these are particularly bad in most cases, but they usually make little sense, and they are followed because humans don't like change. There are exceptions to the rule of course, and extremes on both sides of that. Your religions for the most part certainly represent those who are not ready to change. Your transhumanists represent those that are eager for it. Of course, it'll all happen eventually regardless, unless you manage to blow yourselves up first.

-----Original Message-----

From: Complaints Department [mailto:Address removed by anti spam software]

Sent: 16 June 2008 20:41

To: God

Subject: FW: Changes

Aww!

Well, angels tend to spend a lot of their time watching people of all races doing interesting things, according to their prime desire. We also keep 'favourites' from time to time. I really don't see what compassion has to do with watching someone in the shower singing. Besides, you sound (and look) great! You should be proud of it. Maybe make some videos and put them on YouTube or something!

Well, once you leave home the family thing would presumably become less of an issue. Still, I see what you mean. It's hard to imagine Michael doing something unforgivable, since he never does anything I have to forgive him for. So if he did that, he wouldn't be who he was, which is impossible. Still, of course I wouldn't be with someone I hated. What would be the point in that? I notice humans do it a lot though...

I doubt Damien knows you have that photo, since I deleted it from his sent items folder. He might suspect it I suppose, but I don't see what would make him think that. Even so, he has no proof.

I decide what the 'right' thing to do is mainly by just doing whatever I feel like doing at the time. It's different for me (and for most angels) though, since I know there are no true consequences, and that souls choose their own experiences. Since my prime desire is perversity, that tends to be the main driving factor behind what I feel like at the time.

Michael is much the same of course, but his is compassion. He tends to do whatever he feels will help others feel better.

You're different though, as a human you have all the emotions at the same time, with no single one really ahead of the others. You're also in a human world, which means foresight and preparation as well as following your heart.

Love, light and medical experiments,

Gabriel

Signature - There'll be time for explanations later. And hopefully, some sex!

To: God
Re: Differences

Of course it’s easier for me to tell anyone, not just Jack, things than my family, or what’s left of it. I honestly can’t remember the last time I had any kind of conversation with my dad. Still, I can talk to Jack about things and know he’ll listen and understand, which I couldn’t have done with Damien. My mum’s death was something I was smart enough not to bring up with Damien, but Jack understands how I feel about it. He’s really interested in how people cope with losing someone.

Having faith in myself isn’t quite the same as having a religion to follow. Christianity doesn’t have bad things happen to it. At the end of the day, it’ll still be there no matter what happens. Christianity doesn’t make me hate it when bad things happen. I can’t say the same about myself.

When you say people feel like they’ve lost something, that’s EXACTLY how I feel. It feels like there’s a big hole in me and I’m less of a person now than I used to be. I don’t want to do anything that’ll make Jack feel that way too. I see how happy he is being a Christian and wish I could still feel that way. It feels wrong not following the Bible like I used to. Mum would be so disappointed in me.

I suppose it’s in everyone’s interests to have a day like that though. Everyone has to rest some time, so why not have everyone resting on the same day? The world doesn’t really work that way any more though, because shops still open and everything even on a Sunday now. Sunday could be any other day of the week now. Of course, there is resting and then taking it to the extreme. Resting should be relaxing. Some Jews won’t turn on the TV because it’s work, they won’t cook food because it’s work. If that was me, I’d hate the day which was supposed to be for rest. I’d be bored out of my head. I don’t think a day of rest and worship should be a chore.

I could do perfectly well without a lot of things. It doesn’t mean I can get rid of them though.

Gabriel, have you been watching me in the shower? Stop it! Seriously! I was beginning to like you. I know you’re the angel of perversity and it’s probably beyond you to stop, but you can certainly watch someone else instead. What happened to all the compassion you’d supposedly gotten from Michael?

It’s different with brothers and sisters, because you’re stuck with them even if you hate each other, but with friends you have much more of a choice. You wouldn’t be friends with them if you didn’t like each other. It’s not really that different to you. If you realised one day you suddenly hated Michael, would you both still be together? What if he did something that was totally unforgivable?

Do you think Damien knows I have the photo of him? That would be interesting. I know how I’d feel if someone I knew had a photo of me like that. Having said that though, I like to think I’d never have anything like that happen to me.

Maybe I should forget about the Ten Commandments, since I’ve gotten rid of everything else left in the Bible, but how else can you decide on what’s the right thing to do? How do you decide? You’re probably not the best person to ask that question, actually. You watch me in the shower and don’t have a problem with it. How does Michael decide what’s the best thing to do?

-Poppy

To: Poppy
Re: Faith and Commandments

Well there you go. Every event has positive and negative outcomes, even if you don't see them right away. Talking to someone 'new' has that advantage, there's no baggage and therefore no topics that are off limits, within reason. It can be much easier to talk to someone outside of family in that way. Most humans have little things they don't want other people to know about, and a singing voice is fine. Still, Gabriel thinks you look quite funny when you're naked and singing in the shower.

It is easy to see why you would envy Jack. Having faith in something, almost regardless of what it is, brings humans comfort in their lives. Makes them seem happier. Still, it doesn't have to be religion. You can have faith in yourself, in other people or in an ethical philosophy just to name a few. Having faith in yourself has always been difficult for humans, they'd rather have faith in a supernatural being, even if this beings words are filtered through books and other humans just like them!

When people realise that their religion is not a reasonable belief to hold, they've lost something. Sort of like the kind of childlike belief in magic humans have. Although as humans say, 'it's all part of growing up'. This is true whether we're talking in physical years or spiritual growth.

Of course, Jack will get to this point as well. Could be a matter of weeks or lifetimes, depending on his choices. And now yours as well.

It's interesting to compare the way you try to follow the Ten Commandments with the way you did before, but it's only now that matters. Of course, it doesn't actually matter whether you follow the Christian rule book at all either. As to the forth rule, I can't see any possible reason why a God would want his subjects to behave in a different way on a certain day of the week. A God who required such specific behaviour would surely instead simply choose which rules were better, and simply go by that all the time.

It's nice to see a (sort of ) Christian with such a sceptical view of days like that. You're quite right of course, it's in big businesses (and in a several cases big religions) interests to have days like that.

It is of course sad about mother's day, and grief is a perfectly normal human reaction. Of course, that's not to say humans 'need' to be afflicted by it. You can do perfectly well without grief.

-----Original Message-----

From: Complaints Department [mailto:Address removed by anti spam software]

Sent: 16 June 2008 20:41

To: God

Subject: FW: Changes

Well, actually I don't know much about that. Never been an interest of mine. The only intimate attachment I've ever had is with Michael, and it's not a restrictive one like human families and relationships. But hey, if that kind of close relationship is what you want, it doesn't have to be with a sibling. It doesn't make any odds how there're related to you, that's just genetics. As long as you care for each other, that's what's important.

Yeah best you don't upload a photo like that, it would only going to cause you problems in the long run. Damien remembers what happened this time, and probably won't want to talk to anyone for a while!

Also, I'd forget about the Ten Commandments, just follow your heart!

AND your brain.

Love, light and medical experiments,

Gabriel

Signature - There'll be time for explanations later. And hopefully, some sex!

To: God
Re: Changes

I suppose I am lucky in that sense. When I think back, if it wasn’t for that night with Damien, things wouldn’t have happened and I would never have met Jack. We met up again today and just hung around. It’s nice to have someone to talk to again. I can even talk to him about things that I would never have talked to Damien about, and I’ve only known him for a few days. I’ve spent so much time alone these past few months I was beginning to forget what my voice sounded like outside of singing in the shower when my dad’s out of the house (I wouldn’t sing unless I knew there was nobody else there to hear, even though my singing voice isn’t that bad).

I think in some ways I envy Jack. I’m not really a Christian any more (not properly, anyway), but that choice has kind of been taken away from me with things that have happened to me. I do wish I could still call myself a Christian and really mean it. I’m still hanging onto my Christianity, but I’m not really sure why. I still go to church most weeks, but I don’t know why because it doesn’t do anything for me any more. I went with Jack yesterday and I remembered how it felt to be able to listen to a sermon with complete belief in what was being said.

Don’t worry, I’m not going to tell Jack about the type of stuff that goes in and out of my email account. Even if he is a Christian, I don’t think he’d believe me anyway. Either that or he’d have me committed.

I tend to follow the Ten Commandments naturally, since I’ve been doing it my whole life. I’m used to it. There’s only a few I really have to put effort into.

I’ve never broken the first three commandments. As for the fourth, I never really do anything on any day of the week anyway, Sunday or not, so that’s not difficult for me. I’m just glad I wasn’t born a Jew though. Some of them won’t even do anything that involves electricity because it’s ‘work’. There’s no way I’d be able to stick to that.

The fifth commandment, like I said, I ignore my dad, and that’s about all the honour I can manage. I hate what he does, but as long as it doesn’t purposely affect me, I’ll keep out of his life like he keeps out of mine. I like to pretend that it’s magic fairies who leave me money every Thursday to go and do food shopping. I wish the fairies would do the shopping for me though.

I’ve never broken the sixth, seventh or eighth, and I’m an honest person, so I’d never break the ninth.

The tenth commandment is out of the window for me. I try not to, but I envy a lot of people. It seems like everyone has a better life than me. Jack doesn’t have that much more going for him than I do, and I envy him because still manages to be happy with it.

I hate Father’s day and days like it anyway. It’s just a way to get people to spend money, like how the prices of roses skyrocket for two weeks in February. Dad hasn’t said anything to me about yesterday, but he never talks to me anyway, so I don’t know if he noticed.

Mother’s day is the worst day of the year for me. It always makes me cry.

Gabriel, I’m sure you probably know more than I do about the attachment involved in families than I do. My dad could disappear off the face of the Earth and it wouldn’t bother me. I do wonder what it would be like to have brothers and sisters sometimes though. Jack gets along so well with his mum and sister. It must be great to have people there for you when you get home. It’s the opposite when I’m at home, since that’s when I’m most on my own.

If I was that kind of person, I’d upload the photo from my phone onto Damien’s Facebook page, but I’ve decided I’m just going to try to forget about Damien now. He hasn’t texted me at all since Thursday. Let’s hope it stays that way for a while.

Don’t worry, I’m not going to show Jack the photo either. I wouldn’t want to show him the scum I fell for once.

-Poppy

To: Poppy
Re: It is Good

Well then, now you see how such a simple thing such as meeting someone purely by chance at a nightclub can change your future life. So you see, there are people out there (even as close as on your own street so you're lucky there) that you have things in common with. These little things (even things like being crap at pool) can form the basis of a solid friendship. This could be the start of something special, since you're so alone and almost all humans need someone to relate to.

However, one thing you should keep in mind in your new friendship with Jack is he's still a Christian, without the recent experiences you've had. You may want to tread carefully in that area. Your religious views have certainly changed, and somehow I don't think he'll react too well to your reality at the moment. In the end though if it goes well, you'll be able to let him in to that part of your life too.

Still, this is all proof that life isn't totally unfair if nothing else.

You mentioning the Ten Commandments is an interesting point to illustrate this, since you do still obey them, but in a different way. "Do not have any other gods before me", well you can't possibly since there are no others, as I am the collective experience of all of you. You could therefore be said (although not in the way he imagines) to be obeying that one.

The second is equally ok, since it is about not making idols to worship. Any such idol you created is still part of me, and since you are part of me you'd be worshipping me if you did it. You'd also be worshipping yourself. Clearly, this one doesn't apply.

The third says you should not misuse the name of God. Again, since God created all possible experiences, you couldn't possibly say something 'against' God, or use our own name in vain.

The fourth is a little more difficult, keeping the Sabbath day holy. Not that it's in any way important to me what humans do on a Sunday or any other day, but that's something you might have trouble with. You could say of course (quite rightly) that technically any point in time, and any experience is 'holy', and therefore you do follow that rule.

The fifth as you've mentioned is more difficult, because you do not honour your Father. At this point, we both know there's nothing inherently wrong with that, but it could be a problem.

Sixth, seventh and eighth are easy, since you've never killed anyone, stolen anything or cheated on a partner. It won't be difficult for you to keep that going either.

Ninth is another easy one, not being something you've committed or are likely too.

The tenth is just silly, since human beings are currently incapable of living their lives without envy. It's just an emotion you have to deal with. So even if it were to be a problem, Jack feels this as well.

It is true that nearly everyone is observed by one angel or another at certain points in their lives, you far more than most others for obvious reasons.

Days such as Fathers day are very strange, the idea that you need certain special days to give each other presents... Entirely a human invention of course. Like birthdays, people place so much value on the period of one year of your calendar. It's not even that accurate, if you consider a true year to be when the Earth makes one full cycle around your Sun. The difference between your calendar and 'real time' is such that your true birthdays can be a full day out.

-----Original Message-----

From: Complaints Department [mailto:Address removed by anti spam software]

Sent: 15 June 2008 23:42

To: God

Subject: FW: Positive Experiences

Wow! I do remember the guy yeah, I thought he seemed nice, and that putting you in that position might help you get over the shyness/loneliness thing a little. Looks like it worked even better than I thought!

I guess angels don't really 'get' the attachment humans have to family's, since we don't really have any. That's why a lot of us like having children of other races. Gotta pass the time somehow...

The whole thing was great fun though, pity I didn't have my own mobile, could have kept those pics! Still, Damien got to see them all when he recovered, so that was something, and you got to see the ending.

And thankies! I do try when it comes to those who deserve it!

Love, light and medical experiments,

Gabriel

Signature - There'll be time for explanations later. And hopefully, some sex!

ps. Probably better you don't let Jack see that pic...

To: God
Re: Positive Experiences

Wow, what a week this has been. After last week too, I can’t believe how amazing this week has turned out to be. At least for this week, my life is beginning to make up for itself.

Well, if a load of angels have nothing else better to do than follow my life, I’d better not disappoint them. Mum always used to tell me that everyone has an angel watching over them. Looks like I’ve got several.

Gabriel, do you remember Jack? He was the guy you left me with while you went on your ill-fated quest to get the DJ at the club to give the dance music a rest and play Yellow Submarine instead (I asked Michael if you were drunk then, and he said that that was just the way you act all the time). Anyway, we swapped phone numbers and he phoned me yesterday and we spent ages talking to each other. It turns out we have a lot in common. His parents got divorced two years ago and he lives with his mum and his sister now, and he’s been a Christian since they split up. After we’d been talking for about an hour, we found out that we both live on the same street! To be fair though, it is a really long street. After that, we decided to meet up since it was silly to be on the phone to each other when we were that close. We hung around with each other until about 8, but then he had to take his sister to her drama club (his mum can’t drive because she has epilepsy). So, I went home then, but he phoned me again later and asked if I wanted to go out with him somewhere, and we ended up at one of the pubs in town, which was really good fun. It was nice to meet someone who was worse at pool than I am. I didn’t think such a person existed. My aim is terrible. We both walked home together (it was amazing how much we had to talk about – we’d been talking pretty much the whole day) and it was almost midnight by the time I got home.

I wasn’t intending to go to church today because I’d had a late night, but he phoned me up and asked if I wanted to go with him. I don’t know how he manages to be out on a Saturday night and still be up and wide awake for church the next morning. Our street is just about an even distance between two churches – he normally goes to one and I go to the other, which is why we’d never seen each other before. We had a long debate over who was going to go to the others’ church, but in the end he came with me to my church. In the end, they’re all teaching more or less the same thing. It’s the first time I’ve been to church and enjoyed it in quite a while now.

I really enjoyed being around Jack. I think he enjoyed being with me too. From what I can gather he doesn’t have too many friends either. That’s probably why when we both got together we had so much to talk about. It was nice to have someone to be able to talk about my life to and have them know how you feel, and at the same time have someone to just talk about random unimportant stuff with too.

I’ve had such a mad week this week that I totally forgot it was father’s day today. I didn’t remember until we were in the church and the sermon was about fathers. Normally I force myself to get a card for my dad, but I decided not to this year. I could have gone out and got one after church, but I didn’t. Father’s day is supposed to be about letting your dad know how much he means to you, but now I don’t live my life by the Ten Commandments as much as I used to, it’s my choice whether or not I honour my mother and father, and I don’t honour my father. I do my best to ignore him, and that’s as far as the honour goes now.

Gabriel, I would have loved to have seen Damien after all that. There’s a sick part of me inside that wants to see all the photos you took. If they’re on his phone, I expect he’s deleted them by now though. At least I still have this one to laugh at though. I knew there had to be more to the story than you were going to tell me the other night. Just putting Damien in a dress and leaving him somewhere didn’t quite seem like you on its own. When you came to my house, you were laughing far too much for that to have been it.

Nice job on that.

All these late nights recently are catching up on me now. I think I’m going to have to call it a night.

-Poppy

To: Poppy
Re: Existance and Sweet Revenge

Well, what you miss may not be him as such but having a relationship. Humans have an instinctive need to have someone in their lives they can trust, rely on and talk to about their problems. An intimate relationship fits the bill, but in most cases, a strong friendship works just as well.

I can assure you, I did not 'place' you in this life to balance some karmic requirement. You have placed yourself here in order to experience life in a certain way. Now, the choice is always yours. Unlike the angels, humans can change their minds (and frequently do without realising it) at any point in their lives as to what experiences they want. Most people will agree they want to be happy, so a reasonable means of accomplishing this is to think about what would make you happy. After your experience with Michael, it seems that a great part of this could be accomplished by finding someone to relate to, and there are such people out there. You are certainly not the only one to have been through a bad relationship, and (in a somewhat sad but nonetheless true way) that gives you common ground to start friendships off on. Human females love to talk about their ex's flaws (and you'd have plenty to talk about here) as much as the males do, and this can be a starting point for new friendships. Misery loves company, but decent company can with time negate the misery.

For humans, it's about what you can learn. But human existence is not forever, and so people turn to religions and spiritual ideas to justify something beyond the simple lives they lead. For souls, it's about what you can experience, and the experience (whatever it may be) justifies itself. The truth is, there's no such thing as a 'negative' experience in the great scheme of things, it's just another step in the process of life. If one can recognise and understand this, it can help to remind one that it all has a purpose, and better things lie ahead. You'll be part of that 'collective' of souls of course, so the point is, whatever happens in your life, you'll get a happy ending.

Michelle may not be the best mother, but it needn't make any difference to you. You'd be better off leaving that whole bit of your life behind and look for new challenges. You're certainly not responsible to the baby or anything like that.

Well, your life could now be said to be a kind of angel soap opera. It's certainly getting popular, but of course, there's not much else for angels to do aside from be in physical form themselves. So, it seems that Michael and Gabriel managed to pull of their plan, and from the way you describe it it seems to have had a positive impact. You now know that Damien's not the only person who can make you feel good, and there are enough people in the world that some of them will inevitably become friends with you.

It's great that you and Michael had such a good time, and that you ended up with some good books to read too. I'll let Gabriel tell you more details of what happened with her and Damien, but I think you should keep the picture. It'll remind you in later times about how you felt now, and it'll be a good laugh.

-----Original Message-----

From: Complaints Department [mailto:Address removed by anti spam software]

Sent: 13 June 2008 15:33

To: God

Subject: FW: Events

Hey hey I'm back!

Poppy that was great! I guess you're dying to know what happened my side...

So originally we arrived on Earth, I went to find Damien and Michael went to the library to find you.

Well, while Michael was busy being nice to you I was busy seducing Damien and dressing him up like a cheap bimbo! He actually made a pretty convincing one, but you'll already know since I sent you a pic of him at the end of the evening, with him being tied to a lamppost and a suspiciously white fluid drying on his face and most of his clothes. Well there's a reason for that...

What he didn't know was the perfume I sprayed on him actually had a considerable amount of female hormones on it, making him an instant magnet for any human males around (including himself funnily enough).

Anyway we (read "I") decided to go out to a nightclub, where a lot of people utterly failed to notice what was going on. A couple nightclubs later (and after he'd had quite a lot to drink), he was aroused and drunk enough to respond to the guys trying to 'get to know' him, and I'm sure my own aura was helping out that process. We took a lot of pictures, and the guys (who were also pretty drunk) were great at the whole taking him outside and sexually abusing him thing.

Now that I think of it, I should have probably kept his phone. I took him to the first lamppost I saw and handcuffed him there. He must have called for help, or maybe some random person managed to take the handcuffs off him. Ah well, it was a great night anyway.

Love, light and medical experiments,

Gabriel

Signature - There'll be time for explanations later. And hopefully, some sex!

To: God
Re: Events

I find it hard to see what the solution is for the situation with Damien. I’m sure that what Gabriel’s done isn’t the solution either, but I suppose it’s a bit late for that, just like it’s too late to stop me from getting drunk that night. You say I have to deal with the way I feel about it, but all this has achieved is make me remember how much I really miss having Damien around.

Maybe in the end everyone will have had an even set of positive and negative experiences, but that’s the collective. I know right now in my life, there’s not an even balance between the two. It’s not even close. It wouldn’t surprise me if you were missing a big load of negative experiences off your checklist and you put me here to fulfil some of them for you. It seems that in the end, everyone else is going to benefit from my terrible life. Forgive me for sounding selfish, but…

There’s not much I can learn from the things that have happened to me in my life. They’re mostly things other people have done. I’ve learnt that cars can kill people, drinking is bad, especially if you’re going to drive, and that a lot of people are terrible and evil people who don’t think of anyone but themselves. I wouldn’t want to be like that, but I just feel like I’m the exception to a lot of rules.

I don’t think I’m ready for college yet. It’s not that I don’t want to go, because I used to aspire to things back when I believed I had a real future, but with my life the way it is, I don’t think I could bear it at the moment. My life’s bad enough, without throwing in college and coursework and exams into the mix. I’m already spending half of my life depressed at the moment. I don’t need to spend the other half being stressed. Maybe next year, when I’m more ready for it, and I can avoid Damien because he’ll be in the year above me. Perhaps by then everything between me and him will have blown over and things won’t be as bad.

From what I know of Michelle, she has to be the most unfit mother in the world. I feel sorry for the baby. I don’t think Michelle can provide any kind of stability, whether she’s single or not. If Michelle ends up as a single parent, the baby’s going to grow up to be just as mental as she is. Damien might not have any morals, but at least he doesn’t have a screw loose.

Is my life turning into some kind of angel soap opera? How many people are following this? Well, I don’t want to disappoint anyone, so…

You’ll probably all remember yesterday after I sent my message that I said I was going to the library. The library is about 25 minutes’ walk from my house, which I realise now was just enough time for Michael to read my email and find out where I was to. I didn’t realise it at the time, but me meeting Michael was all part of Gabriel’s plan to keep me occupied so I couldn’t do anything that would hinder her plans with Damien. It looks like I was the only person who wasn’t in on it too. I’m getting ahead of myself now.

I got to the library and Michael was there waiting for me when I got inside. I wasn’t really in the best mood at the time and he knew that, so after he introduced himself he gave me the best hug I’ve had in a long time. It made me realise that I’ve been wrong about myself. I don’t miss Damien half as much as I think I do, I just miss having someone to hug me and things like that. It’s probably screwed up my relationship radar (like Damien hasn’t!) because I’ll never be able to find a boyfriend who can give hugs even half as good as Michael can.

Well, the whole point of me going to the library was to take my mind off of Damien and what may or may not have been happening to him, and since Michael had been sent to distract me from that as well, we spent well over an hour in the library looking at different books and picking out ones that looked like they were worth reading. Michael picked out a few books for me, and the one I’m reading at the moment is turning out to be one of the best books I’ve ever read. I’ll have to remember to get Gabriel to thank him when she comes back. Well, time was getting on, and since I hadn’t had any lunch I was beginning to get hungry, so about quarter to two we decided it was time to get going. Well, I decided it was time to get going, but I could tell that Michael was reluctant to leave the library, which I realise now was because he would have to think of more things to do that would keep me occupied and distracted long enough for Gabriel to finish her business.

Michael asked me where I wanted to go for lunch. There’s a café on the other side of town that does the best food I’ve ever tasted, which is about another 20 minutes’ walk from the library, but I could tell from his body language that Michael was reluctant for us to go there, because I realise now that it’s only about a minute away from where Damien would have been if Gabriel hadn’t caught up with him. Still, I hadn’t gotten suspicious of Michael being there yet, and if he had said anything I would have been suspicious then and realised what he was doing, so he couldn’t stop me and him from going to the café.

The weather was so sunny, we were pretty hot by the time we got to the café, and I wasn’t really in the mood for hot food by the time we got there. He’d obviously read the conversation I’d had with Camael a while ago, so he bought us both strawberry ice creams, but when I said I wanted to sit outside and eat it, he was reluctant again, probably because we were so close to where Damien would have been, if he had walked past I wouldn’t have been able to miss him. That was when I twigged onto the fact that he was trying to distract me. I didn’t say anything at first, but I did make him come sit outside with me. I waited until he stopped talking about things to distract me, then I decided to drop into the conversation: “So, what’s Gabriel got planned?”. I could tell from his face then that he knew he’d failed his job in keeping me distracted and just stopped trying.

He still didn’t want to tell me what Gabriel was doing, so he turned the conversation onto me, asking me why I would care what Gabriel was doing to Damien (I did pick up on the fact that he used the present tense rather than future tense), and I didn’t really have a proper answer for that at first. It took me a moment to put it into words. If there was a chance that what Gabriel was doing to Damien was going to keep him away from me and teach him a lesson, then it could only be a good thing, but at the same time, you can’t help but feel sorry for anyone who Gabriel decides to take revenge on, even when it’s Damien. Being the angel of compassion, he really understood where I was coming from with that. He told me not to worry about it too much because being Gabriel’s boyfriend meant that she had picked up a certain amount of his compassion, and Gabriel wouldn’t do anything that Damien didn’t deserve. That did worry me a bit again, the fact that Gabriel wouldn’t do anything he didn’t deserve because I know she hates him as much as I know I should. At that point I did really want to phone Damien and warn him, but I knew it was probably already too late, I’d probably regret it later, and I didn’t need to give Damien another reason to think I still liked him, so it didn’t take much persuasion for Michael to convince me not to.

Once we’d finished our ice creams, we just sat there for a bit talking about different things. Thinking about Damien had put me in a bad mood again, so Michael got me to talk about it. Gabriel was 100% right about that infuriating compassionate smile of his. I didn’t really want to talk about it, so Michael just smiled that smile at me and told me if I didn’t want to I didn’t have to and he respected my decision. Once he said that, it worked like reverse psychology and I wanted to talk about it, just because of him. I did feel better afterwards. I write it enough here, but it felt good to be able to say it out loud to someone. He just sat there and listened to what I had to say without saying anything back. It felt good to be able to unload my problems onto someone. I didn’t feel as bad about myself after that.

We sat there until about 5 o’clock, just talking. I really enjoyed having him around. Having people other than Damien to hang around with is something I haven’t had since primary school, so I’m really going to miss it now, whereas before I didn’t know what I was missing, so didn’t miss it.

Well, after that we decided it was about time we got moving, but I didn’t really want to go home because I was enjoying spending time with Michael, so he asked me where else I wanted to go. I didn’t really know – me not having friends throughout secondary school had keyed me out of the type of fun places in my area to go, although Michael’s company on its own was enough to keep me happy. We decided to just walk in the general direction of home, but at the same time if we got there and I didn’t want to go home, we could just go somewhere else. Since we were 45 minutes’ worth of walking away from my house, I was a bit tired by the time we actually got to my house thanks to the sleep I lost on Sunday night that I haven’t caught up on yet, but I didn’t want Michael to go, so he came inside with me (Dad brings home enough girlfriends not to complain if I bring a guy home with me, but he wasn’t home anyway).

We went up to my room and I just lay down on the bed for a while Michael sat in my chair not saying anything, but even with my eyes closed I could tell he was smiling that smile of his. I fell asleep for about an hour, I think, but Michael was still there when I woke up again with that smile.

I was actually woken by my phone going off in my pocket. I had a text, and only my dad and Damien have my number, and I don’t think my dad has ever texted me, so I knew it had to be Damien. I didn’t want to look, afraid of what it might say, but Michael laughed, probably already knowing what it would be, and told me I should open it. It turned out that Gabriel had taken a photo of Damien now that she was done with him on Damien’s phone and decided to send it to me. I wasn’t sure whether to laugh or cry at the photo. Part of me wants to delete it so that I never have to look at it ever again, but despite that, there’s another part of me inside that wants to keep it to laugh at in the future. I haven’t deleted it yet, but I’m not sure I want to look at it again. I can only imagine what Gabriel did to Damien. I’m not sure I want to know, but I know she’ll be just dying to tell me. You’ll have to get her side of the story from her.

Not too long after that, Gabriel turned up at my house to find us. She couldn’t stop giggling, which makes me wonder even more what she did to him. I’m glad she didn’t give me all the details then of what she did, but I’m sure they’ll be coming my way sooner or later.

Well, knowing Gabriel, she wasn’t going to let me lie in bed, so me, her and Michael went out to the club where I first met them. I was worried at first because Damien goes there all the time, but Gabriel assured me that after what she had done, Damien wouldn’t be in any condition to be going out anywhere. We had a really good time (and I didn’t even have to get drunk). I got home at about half one in the morning.

-Poppy

To: Poppy
Re: Awareness and Reason

Forgetting things is not the solution to problems like this, the only solution (since this is almost purely an emotional problem rather than a physical one) is the deal with how you feel about it. Reality 'is' where you are, no matter if you're drunk or even asleep. The only problem is, if you're less aware for whatever reason, you'll end up letting other people make your choices for you, such as happened with Damien.

All souls experience (or will have by the end) a perfectly balanced amount of positive and negative experiences. This is simply because we will have experienced all experiences. Foolish mistakes are part of that, but if you can learn from it, it becomes a positive experience in the end. Paths are not usually completely closed, with certain exceptions such as death. Being happy is certainly not a path that's been closed to you. There are still plenty of ways to get there, but they do virtually all involve meeting more people and forming new relationships. A walk down the street can be the beginning of that.

I see no reason you cannot still go to college if there's a subject you'd like to learn about. There's no entry requirement that says you have to have a boyfriend. At least, not for a respectable college. Most begin in September, so you could even start this year if you chose to. Don't forget that going to pubs or nightclubs does not mean you have to drink alcohol either.

The problem of couples splitting up when there's children involved has always been a difficult one. The reality is though, that couples who do not belong together are not going to be able to provide the stability a child needs any more than a single parent. Much better for whichever parent has custody to find a new partner they actually love.

Fictional people are often much more easy to relate to than real ones, they're less complicated, they don't argue with you or anything like that. You can simply follow their lives and feel their sadness and joy. You can also control exactly how and when you do this, which makes it somewhat more convenient than a real relationship. Obviously though, it doesn't have the same feeling of connection as a genuine relationship, and is therefore not as useful or beneficial.

I'm told Gabriel has already set in motion a plot to ensure you don't get to Damien before she does, but by the time you read this it'll be too late in any case. Damien has to make his choices just like you, Gabriel and everyone else, and he's got himself stuck in the middle of a situation he'll not be able to escape from.

If the irrational part of you has been too dominant, change that. Take control of your mind, and think about what you're doing. Obey your rational thoughts. It is no more difficult to do this for you than it is for any other person.

-----Original Message-----

From: Complaints Department [mailto:Address removed by anti spam software]

Sent: 12 June 2008 12:05

To: God

Subject: FW: Irrationality

Howdy, latest message from the girl!

Let us know how it goes with Michael Poppy, quite a lot of us are following this whole thing! We'd even be thinking of making a film about it, if we actually ever did that...

Love, light and, expression.

Charoum

Signature -The louder you shout, the more you'll be heard.