Secret of the Vampire

It is a great big concrete building that is built like a parking structure but inside it is open with pipes everywhere going up and down. It is drizzling and dark and it has been this for a long time, a week at least. I am going in to the building with a group of maybe five guys and we are talking of this as a great adventure. The building appears abandoned with only pipes and steel stairways filling the interior. We go up and it is dark and damp inside. I am told by a doorman to only go up because going down we might run in to some sort of dangerous creature. We go up but I decide to go down, my friends won’t go down and they continue up. I go down and see that the building goes far under ground. There are people going up and I pass them and they say not to go down. I am scared but I decide that I must face my fear. As I reach the ground level and start down the first few steps below ground level I can almost not move with fear. I get a feeling, a knowing that overrides my fear, I know that as long as I can control my fear I will be OK but if I give in I will not make it, this is certain and if I quit I will miss out on finding out a secret that will change my life for the better. I know totally and utterly that my future depends on this knowledge. I pass the ground floor and keep going down I see that there are no other people around, I am leaving even the sounds of the many people above and entering a silence broken only by the sounds I make. I am alone. I keep going down many levels. I am not as scared now as I get used to being on my own. I have a flashlight and it is getting dim but I can see OK. I come up on a creature. He comes at me from the shadows and I see that he is a vampire tall and growing. I am in terror as the Vampire is reaching out for me. I cannot back away and I’m panicking, loosing my ability to think coherently. I force myself to be calm so that I can think of a way to survive the encounter. I know that as long as I can think I can figure out a way to make it and the vampire stops at that moment. I realize at that moment as the vampire is shrinking before my eyes that he only lives on the terror of his victims. He morphs into a creature that is shaped like a penguin, about 3 foot tall. His hair looks to be painted on his head and the blank look actually makes me laugh, he looks like a cartoon character. When I see this he just looks at me and backs into his corner. I see his face very close as I go past and I am a bit scared to know the power he had over me and could have again if I let him. I now have doubts about my ability to remain calm while under attack by this creature at my back but I have no fear of him now. I pass safely and continue down. I hear the noise of work going on, the sound of machines working below but not far now and a red glow and heat and I stop. I look up the stairs and down toward the red glow and I cannot decide which way to go, back or foreword.

World on Fire

I had a dream back in 2003 that I have on my mind recently. I have been hearing language that corresponds to the dream in the media.

It starts that I am a low level officer on a small cruise ship, midshipman might be the term, Gail was the captain. I talked to her about striking out on an adventure to test my skills. I went from the ship swimming across a lagoon that was more like a swamp. An alligator came up and bit me on the side and I felt physical pain that was real. I was afraid that I was not up to the test and that I had made a mistake to be so reckless as to test my skill for no purpose but just then a thought from a deeper part of me reassured me that I was up to the test and to use the skills I had and that I wasn’t alone, there were others looking out for me. I was able to endure and escape without harm by using the skills I had learned and as the alligator let loose I became aware of movement coming toward me so I turned my head to see a row boat with Gail, Cindy and a couple other people coming near, one of them had a stick ready to fend off the alligator but had not used it. They congratulated me on my success and I asked how long they had been there. Gail answered that they had been watching out for me the entire time. I thanked them and she asked if I were continuing and I said yes. She said that they would not follow any further but would keep me in their thoughts. I continued to the shore and ended up on a beach. I turned back and saw the ship in the lagoon with trees all around and the water was green, it reminded me of southern US swamps I had seen in pictures. I had a thought that the water didn’t look deep enough for the ship and it should not go further into the swamp. I walked down the little part of sand and saw that there was a food stand and some people near. I walked over and talked to the man making some food and he asked if I had come from the ship. I said yes and that I had just swam over to look around. He said I was lucky to be associated with the ship and he wished he could be part of it. I told him he could but he said no, he had a different job that would keep him on the beach. I looked back at the ship and had a great admiration for it but then I realized it was time for me to go out on my own. I felt a loss that I was going to leave but I knew that I had learned what I needed though there was more I could have learned but I had gotten what I needed and it was time to move on. I didn’t want to just leave so I swam back and even though it had been a short adventure it seemed so long and there were new people already as crew. I was let aboard with respect given to me like I was a ranking officer, I was surprised about that and didn’t feel I deserved it but I went along. I cleaned up and put on a nice uniform, packed my bags and told Gail of my decision to leave. She told me that I could return anytime I wanted with full honor but I knew I would not return to the ship, that part of my life was complete yet at the same time I felt comforted to know I could always return to a place I would be accepted and had a place in the organization. It gave me confidence. I thanked her and took me to a small boat, a new looking runabout that I knew was powerful, fast, seaworthy and just the right size, it had room for four people even though it was for me. Gail said “her is your boat you built”. I got into the boat, I was not surprised to have a boat of my own for I knew I had built one but to see it I was happy that it was bigger and nicer than I thought it would be, I expected a little row boat. I motored away and looked back to see the ship I realized how small my boat was and I almost turned back, I then thought this is my boat and the ship is many peoples ship to learn to build their own boats so I headed for a dock where my land house was. I tied up my boat and walked along the beach and up to my house on the bluff and when I got to the top before I could enter the house I turned to take in the view and I was horrified and scared to see the entire horizon was flames, the entire world was burning and the flames were coming toward me. I looked from the flame to the land between and I saw people in long lines carrying their possessions coming toward me. I then got the perspective of distance and how fast the flames were moving and I saw that I still had time. At this point the refugees were almost to me and I had a fear that I would be trampled but they were all going to the dock in a somewhat orderly fashion. I thought that maybe someone would take my boat and leave me stranded but I looked and saw that there were many small boats coming in to pick up the people and were taking them over the horizon. I felt sad that so many people didn’t have their own boats and had to be rescued but then I realized that they were not being left behind but were being rescued though not is in a way that I would have wanted and I felt happy that I had built a beautiful, fast and now seemingly large boat and comfortable. The other realization was that only I could use my boat. I then went into my house t get my belongings and I found my home was a mess, totally disorganized and I began to panic, I had trash mixed in with unimportant stuff mixed in with my most valuable possessions. If I threw it all in the boxes there I could never carry all of it and there wasn’t room enough on the boat, I had to weed it out or leave it all. I am not ready to leave it all for I know some of it is valuable and I want it or at least make a choice after inspection of it all. I go on the floor and started to go through the stuff and I was falling into panic and then despair that I would have to leave everything unwillingly, some things had value that I needed to keep but it was all mixed in with trash and junk. I decided to look to see how close the flames were and stood and looked out a window, I saw that the flames were still very far away and if I worked real hard I would have just enough time to organize my stuff and discard the junk and pack the valuables. I would have just enough time as long as I kept working at it. I looked back in the room and saw that it was about five boxes of stuff and the valuables would fill only one box, I have time and room for just what is valuable and a boat that is ready at the dock.

Holloween Cartoons

It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown: (1966) This is my favorite Halloween cartoon. I actually remember when it first aired. What a special night. Of course mom made fresh buttered popcorn. While the main focus of this special is Linus's all-night stakeout of the sincerest of pumpkin patches and Snoopy's battle with the Red Baron – both of which fantasies ultimately prove fruitless – it is also characterized by the charming dialog of its “the-gang-goes-trick-or-treating” subplot. Most memorable is Charlie Brown's own "I got a rock."

Happy Halloween to one and all!

A Tail of Discovery

There were rats running around my home. So I got three cats. The thing was that my cats would not chase the rats, in fact they ignored them. First I would see one rat running through the back of my closet. Then as time went by it was two, then three, then groups of two and three. My cats were big and well groomed and fed and so it would appear were my rats. Soon the rats were running in packs all over my house and my cats would play with each other or lay and lick themselves with no apparent interest in the rats. These rats, I must say, were energetic. Always running along the base of the walls. All were adults and large, brown, brown - gray and other such rat colors. These rats were generally neat and well behaved, never a dropping or any damage was found and quieter than a mouse. Soon I accepted the rats and I would watch them run around the house as I worked away and my cats would groom themselves and play. One day as one of my cats lay at the foot of my bed and groomed himself I pulled back the bedding at bed time, what to my surprise, three rats ran out from underneath. My cat just lay there grooming away. At that moment I realized, with great certainty, the rats are in my head.

Tour of Los Angeles

From a road named Mulholland Drive you can see the entire San Fernando Valley. At night the streets are lined by streetlights giving off a glow that illuminates the buildings and trees giving the impression that all this is a modelers creation. The yellow light of buildings and houses give a warm and wholesome glow. The green, yellow and red of traffic signals changing ever so often give the background a sort of visual rhythm. And the headlights and taillights of cars on the freeway create a river of white and red light and even at this hour it is alive with a constant movement the gives life to the scene. From here it is all just lights and buildings, trees and cars. No people are seen even though I know that they are there, in their homes and a few on the streets. Life is going on, happiness, love, contentment and more and the ugly things too but all is covered in darkness, distance and light. It is beautiful at night.
Downtown L. A. is a mean, dirty and ugly place at ground level. The streets are in poor condition and so are the bums that live in their cardboard sidewalk castles. The suits and skirts come out at lunch and give the city the appearance of civilization. The beautiful tall shinny buildings and the seventy-five thousand dollar cars mixed in with the relics of a beaten down decrepit past. And surrounding this is the semi industrial landscape to the east and the mean very rich and totally poor west, the hill to the north that gives the impression of a disconnected hollow of failing and struggling residential life and the violence and poverty of the south. But in the first light of dawn driving above this on the wonderful freeway the shinning of the rays of a new rising sun glisten on concrete and glass and all is quiet and empty. It is beautiful, it is perfect, and I am in love with this great and terrible city.

It's a Nomads' Life

Late October is my favorite time of the year. At least when October is here it is.

I get to thinking about what I've accomplished the summer past, you see, summer is usually my busiest time of year.

The leaves are turning their autumn colors. The days are short yet it is still warm here in Southern California.

I always feel like traveling in October. I feel like traveling all the time but in October it is even more so.

I guess that I am a Nomad at heart. I've lived at over 35 different addresses in the last 30 years. I average 2 moves a year. Most of this time I haven't even left Los Angeles county.

And considering that I didn't move once before I was in the ninth grade I feel this is quite an accomplishment. By the way, I'm 46 now.

A list of towns might be interesting.

1. Reseda / Tarzana (what was Reseda turned out to really be Tarzana)
2. Canoga Park
3. Harbor City
4. Malibu
5. Spanaway, WA
6. Sylmar
7. City of Commerce
8. Van Nuys
9. North Hollywood
10. Ontario
11. Lake Elsinore
12. Lomita
13. Gardena
14. Mar Vista
15. Carson
16. Kingman, AZ
17. Los Angeles
18. South Santa Anna
19. San Pedro
20. Sherman Oaks
21. Lake Los Angeles
22. Encino
23. Pasadena
24. Glendale
25. Arcadia
26. Altadena
27. Tujunga
28. Kagel Canyon
29. Valley Village
30. La Crecenta
31. Dunedin, FL
32. Shadow Hills
33. Burbank

I've listed these in the order that I first lived in the town but I have lived in some of these towns multiple times.

And now I'm looking to move to another part of the country.

I want to buy a yacht so that I can be constantly on the move yet still be at home, or maybe a motor home and life on the road.

I should have taken up a career as a trucker. I could easily live out of a semi-truck. I wouldn't need more than a mailing address, a place to sleep and cash in hand then travel across the land.

I have to move, that's just the way it is.

From the experiences of Riley.