I was in a familiar place, very much like downtown Greenville, but with a feel of Broadway at the Beach too. There were lots of people, tourists mainly. It was a nice day; sunny and warm. The trees were all full of green and it was windy. Perfect for kite flying.
I was 'flying' a bicycle. My feet didn't touch the ground, I floated above it at about the height I would be if I were actually bicycling. Above me, a bike flew through the air, guided by some strange remote control in my hands. Not only was I floating a few feet of the ground, my feet were pedaling through the air as if I were bicycling. I watched the bicycle fly through the air and guided it carefully around trees, careful not to hit any of the buildings surrounding the streets. I was aware that the bicycle was very heavy, as a bicycle would be, and so was careful not to let it crash to the ground and hurt anyone. For this reason also, I had to keep it in sight at all times.
The people around me were all entranced, but not as they would be realistically. They had the sort of amazement on their faces as one of us would were we watching a unicyclist, not a man flying a bicycle. The crowds grew heavier and heavier, all of them very excited at my talent and I had to work harder and harder to keep the bicycle from killing someone. There were festival tents set up now.
Around a corner, I lost sight of my bike and panicked. I raced around the corner, trying to guess as to where it was, and finally saw it high above me, racing towards the clouds. I angled it back down and over-compensated. It nosedived and crashed violently into the ground. It suddenly dawned on everyone watching how dangerous this could be, and they looked at me as though I were insane. I picked the bike up, rode on it for a moment to get it up to speed and then jumped to the side, pulling the handlebar up into a wheelie and then letting it fly back into the air.
Sunday, January 18, 2009
Friday, January 9, 2009
Help
The wet grass bent against our shins, wetting the front of our pants, as we sprinted across the field. One of them was standing in the far right side of the field, a machete grasped limply in her hand. Her long hair followed around her as she turned slowly in circles. Her head was down, staring at nothing at all.
I was in front, running towards the nearest building. It was a condo, made of brick, with a steep porch stair coming up to the glass screen door. I turned. The other two survivors I had been traveling with were behind me. The girl had changed direction and was now running directly towards the woman with the machete. "No!", I yelled. "No time!" She turned back.
I was at the front door. It was open, the screen door waving slightly in the wind. I motioned to my companions and stepped through the threshold. The room was dark, but the television was on. I could hear something from the back of the condo. My companions came through behind me, shutting the door, bolting it.
An old woman came into the room and we all jumped, leveling what weapons we had on her. "Stop! We're not here to hurt you ma'am, we just need a place to stay. It's not safe out there." I raised my hands to show my lack of ill intent and looked back, nodding for my group to lower their weapons and relax. "I understand, please, come in." She was wearing a nightgown and looked to be in her sixties. We all wondered how she'd made it this far.
She closed the two doors joining the front room to the rest of the condo, but I opened them immediately.
"Is there anyone else in this house with you?"
"No, no one."
"Are you sure?"
She nodded.
I checked the house and found no one. I ordered my companions and our new housemate to close all the window blinds, turn the lights off and make sure all windows and doors were locked and blocked. We found towels, blocked up the windows to keep what light we had from attracting them.
I sat with the old woman. She introduced herself as Jan.
"I'm glad you could make it. I was beginning to worry about myself."
I was in front, running towards the nearest building. It was a condo, made of brick, with a steep porch stair coming up to the glass screen door. I turned. The other two survivors I had been traveling with were behind me. The girl had changed direction and was now running directly towards the woman with the machete. "No!", I yelled. "No time!" She turned back.
I was at the front door. It was open, the screen door waving slightly in the wind. I motioned to my companions and stepped through the threshold. The room was dark, but the television was on. I could hear something from the back of the condo. My companions came through behind me, shutting the door, bolting it.
An old woman came into the room and we all jumped, leveling what weapons we had on her. "Stop! We're not here to hurt you ma'am, we just need a place to stay. It's not safe out there." I raised my hands to show my lack of ill intent and looked back, nodding for my group to lower their weapons and relax. "I understand, please, come in." She was wearing a nightgown and looked to be in her sixties. We all wondered how she'd made it this far.
She closed the two doors joining the front room to the rest of the condo, but I opened them immediately.
"Is there anyone else in this house with you?"
"No, no one."
"Are you sure?"
She nodded.
I checked the house and found no one. I ordered my companions and our new housemate to close all the window blinds, turn the lights off and make sure all windows and doors were locked and blocked. We found towels, blocked up the windows to keep what light we had from attracting them.
I sat with the old woman. She introduced herself as Jan.
"I'm glad you could make it. I was beginning to worry about myself."
Tuesday, December 23, 2008
Children's Crusade
In light of not having anything more interesting to talk about a lot of the time, I've decided that this blog will be home to some of my dreams. The ones I can remember and don't involve having sex with anyone who reads it anyway.
Last night:
kids at a pool, middle school age. boys and girls both, lots of them, enough to fill the pool almost completely. they're not swimming or anything and i'm one of the kids. i'm asking everyone why they're not doing anything, what are they afraid of, what's wrong with them. suddenly, the police come in and want to talk to some of us, mostly the boys. they capture some of us, but some run off and they give chase. they take about ten boys and chain them together, handcuffed at the wrist. one female cop starts to handcuff me, with two others standing nearby. i'm shouting at them to tell us what we've done wrong and why we're being arrested. they ignore me. the female cop isn't being quick with the handcuffs and isn't reading me my miranda rights. i ask her why not and tell her she should. if she doesn't read them to me by the time she gets the handcuffs on, that's illegal. she gives up, can't seem to figure out the handcuffs. she gives me over to her captain, so i start shouting to him, telling him i haven't been read my miranda rights. he ignores it at first until the handcuffs are almost on, then i say again that what they're doing is illegal without reading me my rights. he stops and it suddenly dawns on him and he says, 'that is illegal', but doesn't read them anyway. i say, 'yeah, it is illegal, you know how i know? because i'm fucking intelligent!" he handcuffs me and starts to lead me away. out a glass door and into a school hallway we go, with the ten chained boys about thirty feet ahead. i see the boys suddenly start to slink away, pulling their small hands through the handcuffs and leaving the cops holding a long chain of empty handcuffs. they run and the cops give chase. i wiggle my own hands out and run down a side hallway and back through the pool room. the kids who weren't arrested are still there, talking in the pool. they see me and say, 'here we go again'. i ignore them and run past.
the rest of the dream takes on a running commentary about this police crackdown on half a dozen school kids for unknown reasons. i hear a news broadcast. for the next few days, the kids who got away in the first 'raid' are on the run and the subject of a huge manhunt. some of the broadcasters sympathize with the police, calling the kids delinquents and runaways, some of them sympathize with the kids, saying they're trying to get home and don't have a reason for why they're being sought.
i see a girl, middle school age but older than she looks. she's running between buildings, alleyways near the school. there are plants and bushes to hide in and she's darting from place to place, trying not to be seen. there are windows everywhere in the buildings, so she can't stop for very long. she comes to the end of a long alleyway and finds a corner in one of the buildings. she crouches behind an air conditioning unit and against the L corner of the building. she can see the road from where she is, but she's hidden in shadow and bush. she rests there for a moment, panting heavily, catching her breath. a police car cruises by. she seems to be in the suburbs; there are homes everywhere. another police car cruises by, slowly. suddenly, there are trucks on the streets all around her, being escorted by intimidating police cruisers and swat vans. the trucks have city sanitation decals on them and some of them are equipped with the green recycling cages on the back. the convoy of trucks nearest her passes by with a police cruiser following behind moving backwards, keeping up speed with the trucks. the police man driving it goes too far off the road trying to drive backwards, so overcompensates the other way and ends up having to turn around. when he does turn around, it causes the cruiser behind him to stop for a minute to turn his wheel towards where the girl is hiding. he casually looks over to her, catches her slightest movement and accelerates over to block her escape. as soon as she catches his eye, she darts up and between the buildings. she knows they're right behind her on foot. she runs out into the road, not bothering to look both ways, and towards the sidewalk on the other side. she dodges one officer who is trying to intercept her and the another fires a taser at her. she avoids the taser, but know she's going to be hit. she charges the officer with the taser and grabs the officers wrist, bending her arm up towards her face. the officer grapples with her and fires the taser once more... into his neck. the girl turns and runs, dodging another officer on the sidewalk.
Last night:
kids at a pool, middle school age. boys and girls both, lots of them, enough to fill the pool almost completely. they're not swimming or anything and i'm one of the kids. i'm asking everyone why they're not doing anything, what are they afraid of, what's wrong with them. suddenly, the police come in and want to talk to some of us, mostly the boys. they capture some of us, but some run off and they give chase. they take about ten boys and chain them together, handcuffed at the wrist. one female cop starts to handcuff me, with two others standing nearby. i'm shouting at them to tell us what we've done wrong and why we're being arrested. they ignore me. the female cop isn't being quick with the handcuffs and isn't reading me my miranda rights. i ask her why not and tell her she should. if she doesn't read them to me by the time she gets the handcuffs on, that's illegal. she gives up, can't seem to figure out the handcuffs. she gives me over to her captain, so i start shouting to him, telling him i haven't been read my miranda rights. he ignores it at first until the handcuffs are almost on, then i say again that what they're doing is illegal without reading me my rights. he stops and it suddenly dawns on him and he says, 'that is illegal', but doesn't read them anyway. i say, 'yeah, it is illegal, you know how i know? because i'm fucking intelligent!" he handcuffs me and starts to lead me away. out a glass door and into a school hallway we go, with the ten chained boys about thirty feet ahead. i see the boys suddenly start to slink away, pulling their small hands through the handcuffs and leaving the cops holding a long chain of empty handcuffs. they run and the cops give chase. i wiggle my own hands out and run down a side hallway and back through the pool room. the kids who weren't arrested are still there, talking in the pool. they see me and say, 'here we go again'. i ignore them and run past.
the rest of the dream takes on a running commentary about this police crackdown on half a dozen school kids for unknown reasons. i hear a news broadcast. for the next few days, the kids who got away in the first 'raid' are on the run and the subject of a huge manhunt. some of the broadcasters sympathize with the police, calling the kids delinquents and runaways, some of them sympathize with the kids, saying they're trying to get home and don't have a reason for why they're being sought.
i see a girl, middle school age but older than she looks. she's running between buildings, alleyways near the school. there are plants and bushes to hide in and she's darting from place to place, trying not to be seen. there are windows everywhere in the buildings, so she can't stop for very long. she comes to the end of a long alleyway and finds a corner in one of the buildings. she crouches behind an air conditioning unit and against the L corner of the building. she can see the road from where she is, but she's hidden in shadow and bush. she rests there for a moment, panting heavily, catching her breath. a police car cruises by. she seems to be in the suburbs; there are homes everywhere. another police car cruises by, slowly. suddenly, there are trucks on the streets all around her, being escorted by intimidating police cruisers and swat vans. the trucks have city sanitation decals on them and some of them are equipped with the green recycling cages on the back. the convoy of trucks nearest her passes by with a police cruiser following behind moving backwards, keeping up speed with the trucks. the police man driving it goes too far off the road trying to drive backwards, so overcompensates the other way and ends up having to turn around. when he does turn around, it causes the cruiser behind him to stop for a minute to turn his wheel towards where the girl is hiding. he casually looks over to her, catches her slightest movement and accelerates over to block her escape. as soon as she catches his eye, she darts up and between the buildings. she knows they're right behind her on foot. she runs out into the road, not bothering to look both ways, and towards the sidewalk on the other side. she dodges one officer who is trying to intercept her and the another fires a taser at her. she avoids the taser, but know she's going to be hit. she charges the officer with the taser and grabs the officers wrist, bending her arm up towards her face. the officer grapples with her and fires the taser once more... into his neck. the girl turns and runs, dodging another officer on the sidewalk.
Tuesday, December 9, 2008
Aperture!
I finally realized what it is and how to change it properly. Sort of pathetic, seeing as I've had my camera for around eight months now. All it took was a 90 second tutorial on youtube. Maybe I should become bored out of my mind more often. It's the only time I think to learn anything.
With my newfound knowledge, I left for downtown Greenville and spent an hour or so taking repetitive pictures with different settings and times. It was a learning experience and there was an enormous improvement over the night pictures I took while in Myrtle Beach. I took quite a few photos of churches downtown, of which there is no shortage. For such a devout atheist, I seem to gravitate towards religious imagery pretty regularly.
Predictably, I was stopped by the "man" about thirty minutes or so into my foray. I was taking pictures of the Academy St. bridge when I saw a cruiser speeding towards me, two lanes opposite my sidewalk. The flashing light on the camera caught his attention and he zoomed across to me, pulling up alongside. I waved to him and was about to ask him what the trouble was when he nodded and saw that I was taking pictures.
"I saw your light and thought you might be trying to flag me down."
"Nope, just taking some pictures," I responded, knowing that wouldn't be the end of it.
He almost started to pull away but suddenly stopped again and leaned towards me, "Hey, have you-"
His radio cut him off, but all I heard was, "...suspect last seen wearing..."
"Have you heard anything that sounded like gunshots?"
I'd heard what sounded like a car backfire about ten minutes before, so I told him this and pointed him in the direction of St. Mary's Catholic Church. He nodded graciously, gave me a hearty thank you and then zoomed off in that direction.
Even if all my pictures sucked, I can sleep well knowing I aided in the capture of a dangerous villain.
With my newfound knowledge, I left for downtown Greenville and spent an hour or so taking repetitive pictures with different settings and times. It was a learning experience and there was an enormous improvement over the night pictures I took while in Myrtle Beach. I took quite a few photos of churches downtown, of which there is no shortage. For such a devout atheist, I seem to gravitate towards religious imagery pretty regularly.
Predictably, I was stopped by the "man" about thirty minutes or so into my foray. I was taking pictures of the Academy St. bridge when I saw a cruiser speeding towards me, two lanes opposite my sidewalk. The flashing light on the camera caught his attention and he zoomed across to me, pulling up alongside. I waved to him and was about to ask him what the trouble was when he nodded and saw that I was taking pictures.
"I saw your light and thought you might be trying to flag me down."
"Nope, just taking some pictures," I responded, knowing that wouldn't be the end of it.
He almost started to pull away but suddenly stopped again and leaned towards me, "Hey, have you-"
His radio cut him off, but all I heard was, "...suspect last seen wearing..."
"Have you heard anything that sounded like gunshots?"
I'd heard what sounded like a car backfire about ten minutes before, so I told him this and pointed him in the direction of St. Mary's Catholic Church. He nodded graciously, gave me a hearty thank you and then zoomed off in that direction.
Even if all my pictures sucked, I can sleep well knowing I aided in the capture of a dangerous villain.
Saturday, November 29, 2008
First
I can't believe it's been six months since my last blog update. Oh, not you, Blogger. We've only just started. I've moved here from xanga. I liked xanga, but I feel it's time for a bit of a change. Maybe this will keep me posting.
At the end of August, I moved from Myrtle Beach and came back home to Greenville. Beach life didn't suit me, I suppose. Actually, it was the tourists. I have a low threshold for stupidity as it is, being around people on vacation who are unapologetically moronic just makes my head hurt. Ashton escaped from the coast with me and we moved in together again. Our apartment is small, but we like it. The landlady is a bitch, but we don't see her often. Small favors.
Ashton is working at the mall nowadays and I have yet to find work. I've been looking, don't worry. The car is finally fixed now, so later this week I'll be trying to get back into pizza delivery. Great fallback, eh? Ashton doesn't mind. I clean the house for her when she gets home and make dinner for the both of us. I do most of the shopping during the day with the single moms and old people. All I need is a child to cart around and I'll be all set.
*knocks on wood*
Oh, the election! Excellent end, eh? I'm only sorry I wasn't blogging throughout the election season. Such great fodder! I can only wonder how many jokes I missed out on Palin's expense.
I was happy with how it all turned out, but I can't say that I was truly part of it. My registration was turned in on time, leaving me only to decide whether or not to vote. I'm not a big believer in 'if you don't vote for one, at least vote against the other', so I had almost decided to forgo my vote entirely. Lots of people were irritated about that decision, but don't you think it would be nice to be able to vote for someone you actually like, rather than just choosing fire over flood? Not to say that Obama is a bad choice. I like the guy alright, and I do feel some of the old pride seeping back into my body, but there's just something about him that I'm suspicious about. And no, it's not about him being the Antichrist, though that would definitely make things interesting. Mostly, I was suspicious because of the amount of people who rallied to his cause in such a short amount of time with seemingly no reason on their part. I'm of the opinion that most of the population is dumb, not totally stupid, but dumb. So whenever a large percentage of that population decides to do something, it's generally because they're scared or gullible. If that makes me an elitist bastard, so be it. I'm not the one trampling people in Walmart for half price So You Think You Can Dance? DVDs.
McCain struck me as a patriot and a hero, but someone who's lost his marbles and can't be trusted with the operation of a motor vehicle, much less the seat of a powerful country. Oh, and did you know he was a war hero? Yup, sure was. You didn't hear? *rollseyes* The man is unstable. But you know, before I knew all that, he almost sounded okay to me. Then of course, he brought in Feminist Nightmare Barbie and I lost all respect for him. ...Eh, I'm not going to go into it. It's been said and resaid and I'll just leave it at Obama won, McCain none.
Maybe theres still a shot that we won't be eating out of trash cans and pricking our ears up for the sound of marauding bandits by this time next year.
At the end of August, I moved from Myrtle Beach and came back home to Greenville. Beach life didn't suit me, I suppose. Actually, it was the tourists. I have a low threshold for stupidity as it is, being around people on vacation who are unapologetically moronic just makes my head hurt. Ashton escaped from the coast with me and we moved in together again. Our apartment is small, but we like it. The landlady is a bitch, but we don't see her often. Small favors.
Ashton is working at the mall nowadays and I have yet to find work. I've been looking, don't worry. The car is finally fixed now, so later this week I'll be trying to get back into pizza delivery. Great fallback, eh? Ashton doesn't mind. I clean the house for her when she gets home and make dinner for the both of us. I do most of the shopping during the day with the single moms and old people. All I need is a child to cart around and I'll be all set.
*knocks on wood*
Oh, the election! Excellent end, eh? I'm only sorry I wasn't blogging throughout the election season. Such great fodder! I can only wonder how many jokes I missed out on Palin's expense.
I was happy with how it all turned out, but I can't say that I was truly part of it. My registration was turned in on time, leaving me only to decide whether or not to vote. I'm not a big believer in 'if you don't vote for one, at least vote against the other', so I had almost decided to forgo my vote entirely. Lots of people were irritated about that decision, but don't you think it would be nice to be able to vote for someone you actually like, rather than just choosing fire over flood? Not to say that Obama is a bad choice. I like the guy alright, and I do feel some of the old pride seeping back into my body, but there's just something about him that I'm suspicious about. And no, it's not about him being the Antichrist, though that would definitely make things interesting. Mostly, I was suspicious because of the amount of people who rallied to his cause in such a short amount of time with seemingly no reason on their part. I'm of the opinion that most of the population is dumb, not totally stupid, but dumb. So whenever a large percentage of that population decides to do something, it's generally because they're scared or gullible. If that makes me an elitist bastard, so be it. I'm not the one trampling people in Walmart for half price So You Think You Can Dance? DVDs.
McCain struck me as a patriot and a hero, but someone who's lost his marbles and can't be trusted with the operation of a motor vehicle, much less the seat of a powerful country. Oh, and did you know he was a war hero? Yup, sure was. You didn't hear? *rollseyes* The man is unstable. But you know, before I knew all that, he almost sounded okay to me. Then of course, he brought in Feminist Nightmare Barbie and I lost all respect for him. ...Eh, I'm not going to go into it. It's been said and resaid and I'll just leave it at Obama won, McCain none.
Maybe theres still a shot that we won't be eating out of trash cans and pricking our ears up for the sound of marauding bandits by this time next year.
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