Science fiction, fantasy, mystery and what-not
This morning delivered light serendipity.
Waiting to turn, he was behind a silver third generation Toyota Prius and a current series Dodge Ram pickup, also in silver. Both turned left, and he did the same.
As the three accelerated down the boulevard, he checked the oncoming traffic: a silver third generation Toyota Prius, and a current series silver Dodge Ram pickup. From his angle, the two pairs of vehicles were identical.
He laughed as the cars and trucks passed each other, wondering if their drivers noticed what he was seeing and about the odds for this happening.
It would have been really freaky if a car like mine was behind the other two doppelvehicles coming my way, especially if the driver looked like me.
This is a short dream, or more explicitly, my memory of this one is brief. I have a sense that there was more dream but disturbances in the force truncated remembering more substance.
This was a neat part, though. Truging up a hill, I was in a deep twilight, one that curtailed light, limiting what I saw and knew. A weight was on me and my shoulders, back, and leg muscles were all aching. Weariness was slowing me. Each step was shorter and the time between steps was longer. I was thinking, I might not make it, and what should I do if I didn’t?
Taking a longer break to rest and rally my will, I looked almost straight up. Above me was a jagged rend in the darkness, displaying a galaxy splashed with red and blue swaths, a surprising and breathtaking sight.
Almost immediately after seeing the galaxy, I was in another place. Confusion punched through me about the change. I staggered a little, feeling myself off balance.
Then a man was talking to me, an older, baritone voice. I whipped my glances around, trying to understand who and where he was, missing what he was saying. When he paused, I asked, “What?”
Impatience glazing his inflections, he said, “I said, this is your new rock. We’re replacing your old rock.”
Bewilderment ascended in me. “What are you talking about?” But in parallel to me asking that, I saw a line of boulders in spotlights ahead of me. All were pretty large but the first one, an light grey ovoid, sucked in my attention. “What rocks?”
“You’ve been dragging a huge rock, a boulder, up the mountain. We think it’s time you get a break, so we’re giving you this one to drag for a while.”
“That little gray one?”
“Yes.” The impatience flared. “That’s the one.”
I shook my head. “I didn’t even know I was dragging a rock.”
“Dragging, carrying it,” the other said. “Do you want it?”
While that exchange went on, I took in a huge black monolith to one side, bending backwards to see its top. “Is that the rock I had?” I knew it was. Rock was a pale noun for the enormous piece towering over me. “I’ve been dragging that?”
“Yes, that’s your burden.”
Laughing, I was already answering, “I’ll take the grey one, then, sure. That’s a lot smaller.” I was thinking, that’ll make it all much, much easier.
“Okay, go ahead, then, take it, but you should now, it will grow. Burdens always do.”
Mood: roly poly
Congratulations; we are now into November, 2023’s eleventh month. Hope your November Eve went well. Ours was a quiet one, just a pot brownie and some streamV and reading.
Today is Wednesday, November 1, 2023. Ashlandia, where winters are mild but brisk, is chilly this morning. 37 F has climbed into the low forties under gray yarn clouds wearily highlighted by tepid sunshine. Amazing me, the weather masters declared that our high will be in the low 70s before the sunny period goes away — sunset, I think it’s called.
As it is now November, we’re preparing for turning back the clocks this Saturday, thinking about how we’ll spend that extra hour.
Politics occupy much of my gray mass again. Well, I call it politics but much of it has to do with the trials involving the former POTUS, DJ Trump. His children are testifying in one trial this week. As none of them seem able to keep the story straight and tell the same thing under questioning, it’ll be interesting to see if or how the stories explaining the property valuations will differ.
Meanwhile, I was thinking about how I’d like to see us move forward and move on toward solutions for the many problems besetting us, but the GOP has become so radicalized under MAGA leadership that I don’t believe this nation has forward gears any longer. We’re just stuck spinning our wheels, slowly slipping backwards toward a new era of white heterosexual male dominance.
You’d think that I, a WHM, would say, gee, that’s cool, my people will be in charge. First, many white males are not my people. Our values diverge too completely. Second, I’m one of those people who believe in equality and justice for all, and that it shouldn’t be predicated on sexual orientation, gender, pronouns, education, wealth, skin color, or religious beliefs. Someone should start a country based on those principles. From my point of view, intellectually, morally, spiritually, culturally, our nation is only as free as the least free of our peole, only strong as the weakest of our people, and we can’t advance as needed to solve our problems if we keep spending resources and energy trying to fight ourselves.
But that’s just me.
Catching wind of my thinking, The Neurons are offering Olivia Rodrigo and “Vampire” in the morning mental music stream (Trademark indeterminate). See, Olivia is singing about her relationship with another. That other is manipulative, using her and abusing her, sucking her dry, she sings, just as the GOP is doing to the United States. Take Sen. Tommy Tuberville. Please.
Tuberville, a MAGA Repubican Senator working alone, has deciced that the US military was too woke. It’s such a bullshit concept that I gag just thinking about his projection. But this upsets poor Tommy. So, to make the military, which has existed for 200 years plus and developed its policies continuously throughout that time with expert input, into his own image, Tommy has decided that he will decapitate the military by blocking senior promotions until the military gives in. This has been going on for months.
What’s bunching Tommy’s panties up now is that the US Senate has grown concerned about how this affects military planning and readiness, you know, because fucking war takes few breaks. I’m not for war, and the way I see it, cutting off the military leadership’s head emboldens other nations whose leaders think that waging war is a good way forward. So, back to the main point, the Senate, led by Democrats but supported by Republicans, are going to change the rules and terminate Tommy’s tantrum. More or less. There are exceptions.
This, to Tommy Tuberville, a man of the people, is very unfair. See, it’s all about Tommy, in Tommy’s mind, and now he’s whining, wah, look at they’re trying to do to me. Wah, they’re not including me in any talks. They are so unfair and uncompromising, not even willing to negotiate with me, just because I’m a senator terrorist holding our military hostage. They’re mean and un-American.
Yeah, suck it, Tommy, you vampire.
So here’s Olivia Rodrigo with the soft but emotional “Vampire”. Hope you enjoy it.
Stay positive, remaing brave, and keep leaning forward. I have coffee; here’s the video. Cheers
Michael Seidel, writer 