Briefs of Fiction, posted on March 26, 2010 at 09h02
A hundred years from tomorrow, Cristofer Banks will finish assembling the most powerful telescope yet. With child-like eagerness, he engages the rotator cuff and sets it into position. He hurries to the Observatory Bay and waits impatiently for the generators to warm up. The Earth will be so far below him that he will lose the satellite radio link from time to time, but it’s nothing he will worry about. As soon as the telescope is fully operational, he will stare eagerly into the monitor.
In the drawer beside him is a tedious manual. In it are specifications of the telescope’s machinery and a detailed breakdown of the quantum physics that make it all function, including the photon nanolens. Cristofer will never refer back to this manual, however, because he remembers exactly how he designed it, and of course because it works perfectly.
The magnification of the telescope operates by supercharging and speeding up the wavelengths of light, which travels at infinite speed — (proven by this experiment; Cristofer will win his second Nobel Prize for Physics) — and is affected only by core universal gravity — (which is how he won his first). A supercharged wave, of course, is not stopped by mass and can travel further based on how much energy you apply. This is why Cristofer will find himself zooming in as far as he can through everything, pushing the telescope as far as it can.
Something curious will catch his eye, though, and he will stop for a moment. He will not know what he’s looking at, not exactly, not while he’s dumbfounded and still.
He will raise one of his hands. And the figure in the Observatory Bay of the space station on the monitor will raise one of his hands too.
Cristofer will turn around, then laugh when he realizes that of course he could never see his own face. Of course he can only look out into the Universe in but one direction.
Crime of Life, posted on March 24, 2010 at 12h38
The California sun had long gone down and our hotel room became our stage of conflict. I had no urgency to be up in the morning, so I thought I might go out and explore this unfamiliar city. There was much to see.
At the time I was in a role I thought I could manage; the lusting friend, never so easily accomplished as is intended. She said it wasn’t fair that she had to be up early for her conference. She wanted to go out. I thought that if I stayed, she would see how considerate I was. This is why I took my shoes off and sat in the room quietly while she slept, doing my best impression of a loving boyfriend. I knew she would remember this gesture fondly.
Weeks later I recalled this upon her. I said that I regretted not going out that night, especially in light of what happened after the trip. I stayed to be polite, I stayed because I thought it would change how she felt towards me. It didn’t. To her memory, the incident never happened, just like so many other things never happened. To this day I wonder how present I ever was.
Lyrics, posted on March 22, 2010 at 10h22
You say you don’t feel the way you did when I first met you
Things change, that’s always the way it is; I’ll try to forget you
And if my eyes should happen to meet yours, please ignore me
Love is never a one way street, so don’t you adore me
As days pass, the feelings we have don’t last, there’s changes of weather
And sometimes I wish we had had that chance to lay there together
We’ve grown old and now know what we want
It’s too late to want you
My old mind, I’ve finally made it up
Do you think I forgot you?
What are you thinking?
You know I’m thinking of you
My Regular Mind, posted on March 22, 2010 at 03h33
Yesterday afternoon, we went to a teahouse in our neighbourhood. After carefully picking out our tea, we sat down at a table to enjoy it. An older man behind us, perhaps in his late sixties, asked my dear what tea she was drinking. This was how our conversation started.
We could tell that he wanted to talk, so we did. Through his light accent, he told us that he was visiting from Ottawa, though he has no ties there anymore and may move to Vancouver soon. One of his sons has a family here and he would like to be closer to them, whereas his other son lives in Dubai working as a private pilot for a Saudi family. He would not like to move there.
When he is in Vancouver, he said, he comes to this same place where him and his wife used to come so often when she was alive. She passed away last year.
After he was done his tea, he thanked the girls working there, then came to say goodbye to us on his way out. He smiled and told us to spend time together. It’s important.
The impression that some strangers leave on us is enormous. People we may only see once in our lifetime can still give us hope, can still provide us wisdom if we let them. Every person has a story, and in every story is something beautiful.
We aren’t here forever. Go love someone.
My Regular Mind, posted on March 21, 2010 at 04h23
Many people seem to forget that Quentin Tarantino did not write Pulp Fiction alone. His longtime friend Roger Avary provided stories and revisions to the screenplay, but somehow Tarantino got all the credit. And then they went their separate ways.
In September 2009, Roger Avary lost control of his vehicle and killed a friend who was with him. He was sentenced to a year in prison for vehicular manslaughter. Fade out.
His Twitter account stayed active though during his work furlough hours. As someone wrote, “My friend is tweeting from the inside. It’s riveting, horrible strange. Jail in 140 character lumps.” It seems he’s been found out now though, caught after two months of sneakery.
The screenplay bits that #34 wrote on Twitter were particularly interesting. A selection:
Continued…
Crime of Life, posted on March 20, 2010 at 10h39
Long before I ever became vegetarian, I found myself dating one of them. Yes, one of “them,” because where I come from, vegetarians are quite another group altogether.
We went out for dinner a few times and on these occasions we’d get into deep discussions about vegetarianism. I’d never given it any serious consideration because I knew man was supposed to eat animals. I knew we needed to, I knew we always had, and I knew no other way.
Continued…
Recipes, posted on March 19, 2010 at 11h45
The first time we made this we immediately fell in love with it! It’s such a great recipe for people that don’t like to cook. Lots of vegetables, lots of flavour, and lots of yummy leftovers for days afterwards! I like to have it with multigrain toast on the side, it makes me go mmm every time!
Continued…
Lyrics, posted on March 18, 2010 at 11h04
Written by Michael Lagace
Bright in the night, see it light up the skies
A blood red moon soon to silence the cries
This morning brings a warning, reminding us why
Mourning is the only thing that’s humane in dying
Riding to the sunset go the victor, the spoils
Leaping over legions of the lifeless but loyal
Leave behind a legacy of sorrow in soil
Seeds for family trees diseased with turmoil
Time heals wounds, but too slow to rely on
Intolerance breeds, war is on the horizon
And it’s not surprising: war makes cents
In the sense it takes money to assassinate men
They say God made us all in his likeness
Does that mean His kingdom is exactly like this?
Kids growing up knowing nothing but violence
So used to explosions, they’re scared of the silence?
Fresh young minds must be taught to hate
Carefully corrupted, a clockwork grape
And they walk through faith hoping angels await
But finally get to Heaven and have to pray at the gates
Continued…
The dentist leaves me with such a miserable feeling of helplessness. Twice now I’ve come out of that office and didn’t even make it to the elevator before I felt down. The procedure itself isn’t as painful as the cost of their false compassion. When I’m in their seat, I’m the most important person in the world, and when I’m at the front desk, it’s clear why. It’s all about the money.
I’ve told the dentist on two occasions that I couldn’t afford the procedure. And honestly, I can’t. Yesterday’s thirty minute appointment cost over two thousand dollars. This isn’t something that I just write off on my budget, this stays on my credit card for years. I find it hard to believe that the dentist actually understands this. His office is on the top floor of an expensive building and very rarely have I seen other patients there. Someone has to pay the lease.
There are other dentists in the sea, and I’m sure one of them would be more affordable. The problem is that this has been ongoing for years already. The first surgery with a different dentist ended up not working, another didn’t seem confident, and this one now was recommended to me by a friend. At this stage I only want this ordeal over, and I suppose this is why I relegate myself to meeting their demands and coping with the ensuing misery.
Continued…
Poems, posted on March 15, 2010 at 12h50
Tonight you and I are shadows
We move through the room unseen
Dressed in each other’s darkness
Delicately adrift in a dream
It sometimes can seem so shallow
To presume that we’re asleep
Waiting, wanting, and waking
Whispers, weaving, and weak
