January 08, 2005chimeric saga [recollection]the night keeps a strange harem.
picture this: vacation to a tropical island - two weeks of equatorial climate working its magic to rejuvenate a desperate being. monsoon rains washing away emotional baggage with just enough wind to sweep out mental cobwebs hiding in even the craggiest corners. deadweight harness of the job's daily routine and responsibility hucked into rolling ocean waves, allowed to drown without nary a second thought of concern or regret. intercontinental lonliness warmed away by the temperate sun an the cadent twilight laughter of too-long separated family.
you would think that as the mind, body and soul molted the oily down of life strung a little too thin - the subconscious would take the hint and press pause on the dreamscape radiowaves. apparently, the exotic locale had an equally exotic effect on the elemental artistic freedom employed by my darker mind.
i can appreciate the need of a creative entity to, once in a while, flex imagination's muscles and break away from a rutted mold. try something different, something new, another approach to what is otherwise conventional. such are the wings of inspiration.
i do, however, begin to pause for concern when such imaginative flexing evolves into a solitaire REM mindgame focused solely on the challenge of outdoing itself each consecutive night.
quite often i've questioned just where the fuck i come up with these things. more remarkable yet is that not only did i succeed in going above and beyond just a worrisome step every damned time - but i was able to recall enough of each nightly episode to scribble the odd collection of notes come morning. rarely do i have any retention much less on such a consistent basis.
without my daily chores to worry about once the zombification of jetlag wore off..... guess the subconscious went into overdrive out of boredom..... or something.
Posted by Wolf at January 08, 2005 12:56 PM
DAY 2 - SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 2004 - BAND OF BROTHERS
we had a mission. i don't remember what, but the airbus not only traveled across the pacific ocean, it could stroll merrily through time, as well. we arrived in the midst of wwii, my company and i, filing through the airport in something of an orderly fashion. first order of business was picking up our duffle bags. second was a briefing on our assignment. an assignment which would have us followed in some sort of documentary fashion to record our trials and tribulations for the folks back home and preserve our story for generations to come. really hard to get excited about potential heroism and historical significance when you knew it would take at least 15 episodes to reach any resolution.
DAY 3 - SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 14, 2004 - ON THE CAMPAIGN TRAIL
the battle cry of "democratic voting for the disabled!" is all that sticks in my mind
DAY 4 - MONDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 2004 - REHABILITATION
back at banner farms, down by the big arena though it appeared as if combined with the upper ring at onondarka. the judge's stand was filled with faces both strange and familiar. on approach, i could hear them gossiping about the upcoming show. wondering if bentley would return to the showring after his rehabilitation..... no, i told them, he never made it through.
even before i woke i knew i'd be in emotional turmoil. was already wondering just how i'd pull it off and chill myself out without waking anybody else up and worrying the family that had no idea how mangled my dreams were. then i heard - and saw - the phrase "R.U.O.K." which obviously meant i wasn't awake yet. but open my eyes i did, and saw this miniature, leathery wrinkle of an elderly woman sitting cross-legged on my pillow. perhaps the size of a doll - ten or so inches, tops, rail thin. white hair hugged her skull in relaxed curls. her clothing was little more than loose cut-shirt and pants in moderate linen or light cotton. light cerulean shirt with two breast pockets. cream pants with drawstring cuffs. her sandles blended with the deep, coppery tan of her skin. she'd definitely been out in the sun for many summers. sort've reminded me of one of those little dried-apple puppets she was so leathery and wrinkly. she blinked, leaned in a little closer, and repeated the question. "R. U. O. K."
i didn't have time to answer. a quizzical blink turned into time warp that put me right in the middle of a pet emergency room on torrential overflow from some natural disaster that could NOT disturb the private party going on downstairs. somewhere, completely across the hospital-wide ER from where i was currently standing there were surgical packs that i had to autoclave. now.
DAY 5 - TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 16, 2004 - REINDEER GAMES
it's a month before christmas and already the natives are festive. some department store got dolled up complete with sub-zero temperatures, snow, gingerbread houses and reindeer paddocks. the line meandered slowly through the little lamplit town towards the pinnacle of all holiday faire - a fat man in a red suit. not to worry about the long, wait, though, i had my little buddy the marmot with me. he sat on my shoulder and watched with us as the reindeer were lead on parade past the gawking, awe-struck kids. too bad one decided to take a shortcut through the triangle section at the center of the frame on a men's bicycle. as the children watched in rapt horror, it got stuck once its antlers were through and, sadly, there was no hope. might as well put it out of its misery and cease such needless suffering. a corporate she-elf took up the task. stepped right on up and sawed. it's fucking. antlers. off. now.... all the boys and girls got to have their very own red christmas suits. but, at least i still had my little buddy the marmot with me.
then for part deux, i was moving into the new dorm on campus and battling it out with embry that he was not putting those god-awful curtains up in our apartment.
DAY 6 - WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 17, 2004 - PIRATE HALFWAY HOUSE
i? was captain james t. hook of the uss jolly roger. our mission was to boldy go where no pirate ship had gone before... straight into the middle of the arabian desert to steal jasmine's warship from aladdin's palace. much to our dismay, the uss jolly roger was out of gas. so we popped into a pirate ship gas station conveniently located just down the block in the sixth of seven seas. not a good place for a pit stop when it seems captain james t. hook and his band of merry men had somehow swashbuckled all other attending pirates in need of pirate-fuel. lots of sword-clanging. but we escaped in a flurry of eyepatches with a full tank of gas.
((okay, this? should have been a clue to step awaaaaaay from the spicey food))
one roll-over and a pillow fluff later, i arrived at a halfway house for troubled kids. i was to join their intercollegiate riding team.
((okay, how about laying off the local food entirely for at least a few days....))
DAY 7 - THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 18, 2004 - BACKUP PLAN
the triple pines polo association was re-opening back home in california. a flyer posted at sue's tavern told me so. i.... never knew we had a polo association up on the mountain. another little known fact was that the president/director of the triple pines polo association was none other than david duchovny himself. upon a chance meeting in a booth at the other end of the bar - small towns are convenient that way - mr. duchovny expressed his participation as a club founder as "dad always gave me something to fall back on." seems there really isn't life after x-files.
score the privilege of designing a new logo for the triple pines polo association and step outside to head home... and arrive back in texas at an alternate history of crockett's wedding.
DAY 8 - FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 19, 2004 - JUST TRYING TO KEEP UP
try my hand at selling pirated dvds all by my lonesome in a radio booth.
rent a new pad at bakersfield high school, then go out for drinks with brd.
hit west point since it's..... apparently near enough to do so cause i seem to be able to wrinkle time in my dreams.... and make an appearance at some track and field something or other.
back at the overflowing pet emergency room of monday night, there is an explosion in the girl's bathroom that has disturbed the private party downstairs.
driving down panama road that's now in singapore instead of bakersfield and wreck the tacoma. no icy-roads this time, just a small white vehicle in need of obliterating. consider it obliterated.
DAY 9 - SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 2004 - SUPREME BEANS
god got tired of the way things were going on earth so called the last supper (dining hall style). then s/he asked those with a 6.5+ gpa to give the proper definition of a human being. all able to do so lined up on an elevator providing direct access to the fluffy white clouds upon high from mere steps away from the very table the faithful gathered around. as it chugged slowly heavenward, they recited insufferably long-winded and infinitely detailed definitions in hopes to cheat death and avoid falling back to the earth below. incentive coming from their bird's eye view of the ravaged lands burning right outside the curiously resistant dining hall. smoke was getting too thick to discern which contestants fell or made it to the pearly gates. i took pride in offering the shortest definition. self titled supreme being on earth.
never got to find out the holy verdict, as i was on the phone at a new house (that looked much like a two-story version of neighbor's back in oklahoma) and nobody would fucking shut up so i could hear who was on the other end of the line.
DAY 10 - SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 2004 - SPACE CADET
we opened up a store next to don's liquor mart in cali. opted for a mechanic's shop, instead of a food joint. profits were down, so lee left and took another guy with him. filled the empty slots by hiring two new hands. well, we hired the predator, we adopted the alien. customers were afraid of violent deaths while shopping, so things were still a little tough. but we knew the two knew kids on the block would work out with time. the alient had invisable power to jump out, therefore we had to control it by setting up a mentor right. and to do that, we had to do a ceremonial rite. so.... off to the starship enterprise. after docking with the borg ship we found it was the alien ship instead and headed downstairs. distractions abound, so the rite began on some landing in the central stairwell that was luckily too dark to see wtf a 'slime rub' turned out to be... cause dammit... that alarm sure is taking its sweet time to go off....
DAY 11 - MONDAY, NOVEMBER 22, 2004 - FELINE OPPRESSION
woke up in a roll-o's sweatshop. learn something new every day, cause i had no idea each piece of candy was individually hand-filled and wrapped for quality inspection. not entirely trusting of that quality guarantee, though, cause the entire employee population was made up of dead cats......
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