Insignificant Meanderings

I know this guy who felt both stagnant and directionless. So he just started walking, for miles and miles. He was lost in thought, no sense of time, sleepwalking. Then he stopped, subconscious pushing him back into reality, and realized that he was standing at a crossroad. Left, or right? He froze, paced, flailed in frustration. Feeling exhausted, he laid down on the side of the road and cried himself to sleep. He awoke, greeted by the moonlight and refreshed by a cool breeze. Now lucid, he realized that it didn’t matter which direction he took, because he had no destination. And losing sight of where he was going was the true source of his frustration. So, he pulled himself up by his bootstraps and started walking. He turned right and kept moving, now feeling the pangs of thirst. He looked up, taking in his surroundings for the first time. Just beyond the point where the traffic circle converged, he found a 7-11. A few minutes later, he was sipping the best Big Gulp he ever had…

Lying on my back and looking at the emerging stars, I begin to drift off to sleep. I can feel the gentle wind blow through my hair, the scorpion sitting on my knee. I try to move, but numbness overcomes, my hands are underwater. My sandy feet sit motionless, screaming. I don’t know why I’m afraid of a scorpion. If I sit still, he’ll leave. If he bites me, I die. Either way, the episode will be over soon. But yet, the fear and terror overwhelm. This is a dream, no? And if it is, I should be able to control it. Squeezing my eyes tight, I tell the universe, please remove this scorpion from my dream. And in its place, leave $175,000 cash. That should be enough to sustain me for a little while and makes up for the dread of the scorpion. When I wake up, I will be buried in a small mound of crisp, tightly bound bundles of cash. Next thing I know, I feel my consciousness rising. I debate opening my eyes. Part of me is terrified that the scorpion will be there. Another part is terrified that the money will not be there. But of course, it’s going to be there, if I have the confidence that it is. I have no trouble with that, as strange and mystical as that may sound. For this to work, I must embrace that dreams are boundless and woven with reality. My eyes begin to let in minuscule slivers of light. I recollect that it’s twilight. My legs feel heavy, which initially frightens me. But no, none of that, I tell myself as I slowly reach down to learn what my trembling hand will encounter. I touch the scorpion. As I begin to shriek, I realize that the hard outer shell is really the skin of a bulging burlap bag, a wad of $100s boldly protruding out of the top. I am overcome with emotion as I internalize that the universe has delivered. In gratitude, I slowly stand up, pick up the bag and heave it over my shoulder. Smiling, I begin walking away from the beach, away from my dream, and back into the amazing adventure that is my life.

I just took a walk and found myself wandering around Dave & Busters in downtown Silver Spring. It has been at least 25 years since I have even been to an arcade and I had a feeling that it was going to be mindboggling. I noticed that there were a few VR games and they may be cool (I will probably go back sometime and play the one called Terminator, just because T2 was one of the greatest movies of all time), along with air hockey, and an assortment of games that I would expect to find at the county fair. There was nobody at the bar and I couldn’t resist the urge to enjoy a pint of IPA (okay, maybe 2). The bar atmosphere was like a sports bar, but besides for a few afternoon baseball games, most of the events that were playing were repeats of the Stanley Cup Finals and random college bowl games. What really captured my attention was the arcade games with the gigantic screens- these have got to be amazing… and they were! ~Not because of the screen size or their crazy new technology, but the games themselves. SPACE INVADERS! MRS PACMAN! GALAGA! I felt like it was 1985 and I walked out smiling 🙂 With technology advancing every infinitesimal moment, the classics are still the best.

A train flies by at shuttering speed,

Blinking, brilliant-

A car accelerates,

Screeches-

A person meandering,

Unconsciously enshrouded-

Convergence greets oblivion-

Enrapturing,

Then all-consuming-

Uninterrupted disconnection,

The lobotomization of society-

Cellphone