Thursday, February 09, 2012

carrying my moon powered zap gun i found myself downloading some data into the server i had recently installed, just basic zeroes and ones, some holographic imprints and corrupted feedback loops. i'd been out in the sun for most of the day and looked slightly bronzed, i'd even shed some skin and looked healthy although my teeth were playing up and i needed glasses every time i wanted to read. there was my dodgy knee and the broken bones that had never mended correctly but worst of all was the strange and sudden accumulation of wax in my ear. i'd suddenly find one of my ears blocked, my right one, it would happen in a matter of seconds, a strange filling would just manifest itself within the drum. it would feel awfully uncomfortable and i'd hobble to the bathroom to grab some cotton buds to rid myself of this uncomfortable sensation. yes i was getting old and out here i was alone, not sure what to expect, slightly nervous about the sudden way the body rebels and not knowing anything about this part of life.
but today as i sat down in front of the server i felt reasonably healthy and watched the transfer complete, it felt good to have more random access memory. 
it was the phone that interrupted me, i'd turned the volume down so it was no longer intrusive, just a nice tone quite pleasant and ambient.
it was eagle always without fail finding me right in the middle of something.
'hello,' he would say, all happy that i answered the phone.
in my usual disoriented way i would enter into some sort of awkward social greeting. i don't like telephones much, i use them infrequently and tend to keep my chatter short and to the point.
we would chat a little about family business and gradually as i found myself becoming familiar with the telephone process i'd loosen up and get engaged in some sort of exchange of information.
tonight he explained about my birthday in the mayan calendar. apparently it was last saturday, and i share it with roger waters from pink floyd, interesting i thought.
we chatted about a number of other snippets, babies, girls, conspiracy theories, music, this and that but i found myself slowing down, unable to finish sentences, i'd sometimes interrupt eagle and have to ask who i was talking to, and once i even seemed to wonder what this strange object i was holding to my ear was.
mission control began to look unfamiliar, the pile of books on the floor were strange and as i read the titles they all seemed unfamiliar. the voice at the end of the telephone kept asking me if i was okay, eventually i put the phone down and just sat there wondering what i was doing. then i looked at the screen, and watched the server lights flash, a flicker of recognition, i had left the download process running, my information was almost completely stored in the server. i'd gone to far. 
i dragged and dropped some essential packets of information, put them back in and carried on my conversation with eagle. 
that was a close one.
i was getting more absent minded everyday.    

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