Looking down from the damn dam rail into the still blood stained rocks below, I thought of changing Tennessee into Kentucky again and be done with it.
But then, raising my head and seeing the city-scape still beautiful in the sunset through the gorge in front of me, I turned away and started walking again, contemplating the red (technology) and the green (anatomy) and how to balance the two and not give up hope. Sanity don’t leave me yet!
Frank Lynn cut off the radio in disgust. “Aw man, this car is like our country in that it’s a *wreck* and deserves to be towed away.”
“Oh, Frankie, Frankie,” countered one time lover Wanessa, having a different view on things. “Just because you don’t like what The Man be trying to tell us, the good Lord above us all, he still knows what’s good and best, don’t you worry. Don’t you worry a bit about this here country. We’ll be fiiiiiiiine.” She paused, then came up with what she thought was a winning line: “We’re saving *babies* after all.”
Frank looked over, sensing a divide between red and blue, as if an impenetrable white line was drawn between their car seats, passenger and driver. And she had control of the wheel now. Can they resolve it? Tow hook secured, the car moves up and then away from the scene of the crime, where Frank first heard the results. Like a big red cube dropped on us all. And not just one.
Here come the aliens?
Filed under **VIRTUAL OT, 0044, 0514, GTA, Inter Face
“Eat Jack Sheepe power you loser!”
—–
“When I started mowing down pedestrians with my souped up riding lawn mower made from discarded plane parts, I knew I had to change or else face the consequences, like felony charges. That’s when I decided to become a leader rather than a follower. Else the pent up anger would keep resurfacing. I had to find my true potential.”
“Good, Jack. Good to get this out. We’re making so much progress today.”
“Well thanks, Clyde. Nice to see my big bucks I’m forking out to you are finally paying off, ha ha.”
“Riight. So let’s go back to the beginning (again). The vineyard. When did you return?”
(to be continued)
Filed under **VIRTUAL OT, 0044, 0509, GTA
“My first real gig as an owner of a business actually came through the vineyard. I bought out the O’Neill Brother’s crop dusting business when 2/3rds of them died in that unfortunate fire which destroyed their family home, including the only 2 of the 3 who could actually fly a plane. Like me. Only later did I learn the true culprit behind the tragedy.”
“So… you knew how to fly a plane?”
“Yeah. Learned it from my 2 uncles growing up in Wrightsville Beach, North Carolina.”
“Interesting.”
“Isn’t it? Anyway, Martha — the owner of the vineyard at the time — said to come by every week to douse the vines with a special herbal pesticide she concocted herself, just like those O’Neill brothers did before me, and be sure to leave by 3, or else take a break at 2:45 and don’t resume until 3:15. Else — and the first time she mentioned this she made a throat slitting gesture with her hand and mouth, which of course I took as death. 3 o’clock — death; keep that in mind. But at the time I just took all of this as part of the peculiarities of the old woman and didn’t believe the stuff she was telling me. After all, she had a special recipe for pesticides, you see — a weird-o. But I still didn’t fly at 3. No use taking any chances, I figured. She later revealed that 3 o’clock at night would be bad for me too but didn’t mention it at first because she knew I’d only fly the plane during the day.”
“Why did you call yourself Jack Sheepe in those days?” he asked, thinking of the hanger and its sign. “Instead of Jack Shepherde, like you are now — like the LOST guy? But, let me guess: because you view yourself as a *leader* now, and not a follower. You changed the name to show this.”
“Correct. Do you even need me here? Sounds like you could have done this interview by yourself (!).”
“No, I need you here,” he says with no humor. “Now. Let’s talk about the move to the big city, how that came about.”
“First there was a detour. Through Christianity.”
Filed under **VIRTUAL OT, 0044, 0508, GTA, Oregon
He was wealthy beyond anything he could have dreamed of now but he couldn’t help but keep thinking of his humble origins in that vineyard over in the hills north of Lost Sanos, before he became, as it were, LOST in the hustle and bustle of the city’s mean streets. Capitalism, greed took over. Lust for power. Money. A simple video editor of GTA V he was back then. First camera. Couldn’t even figure out how to add his own speech in for the longest time. But then the talking started, and it never ended. Deal after deal after deal, making his way to the top of the pyramid, stepping on the heads of his competitors along the way. Smushing down everything beneath him that needed to be dealt with in his path like accrued sedimentary layers of mud and preserved skeletons. He didn’t feel like he was standing on the shoulders of giants to get to this point. He *was* the giant, towering above the land of man, tall as Atlas. A man and also a whole world. In his head. He could see the circumference, could navigate the surface like a modern day Magellan to all ports of call here there and there to collect favors, debts, even bribes if necessary to keep the collective going forward. But more and more lately he yearned for that old, delicious glass of Pinot noir, his favorite, while staring into the tiled fountain from his favorite seat on the patio, and wondering how to actually produce sound from his lips. Ah, the good old days.
If only he could find his fountain pens he could write down the halcyon beginnings, but big bucks blocked the way once more in the form of an attache case full of dough here, lid raised so he could gaze in on his most recently acquired booty. And he also wondered why he converted his laptop into such.
“Gertrude!” he called on the intercom to his underling secretary, one of the beaten down, one of the ones trying to escape the pressure of the city and return to country origins in her own northern arcadia of the early 21st Century, Morro Bay I believe it is called, a place Jack also knew about; where they met, actually. “Bring me a computer in here pronto and, let’s see, let’s make it a 62 inch monitor this time.” Big screen needed for a big view of the world, he rationalized. His world. F- the pens, f- the fountain, *f-* the vineyard. His thoughts had returned to the normal ones.
—-
“Do you want me to remove the attache case to make more room for you?” she asked after bringing it in and setting it up, gazing down on his now even more crowded desk and also wondering why he converted his laptop into such.
“No I’m not finished staring at it,” he said brusquely, barely acknowledging her presence all the time. Return to normal as I said. She left without more words.
Filed under **VIRTUAL OT, 0044, 0507, GTA
Q: Tell us a little about yourself. And how you got involved in the Mysteries.
A: Well, my name is Tom Morrow Jack Shepherde, and, yes, that’s like the LOST guy. Except with an extra e on the end, the 9th to complete the 3 and the 6.
Q: Cool.
A: Yeah, that’s part of the Mysteries too as it turns out.
Q: Nice.
A: So, you know, I came up here to the vineyard because I like the nice view from the hills. Figured I could, er, practice my video techniques in this cool setting.
Q: Nifty.
A: And then people, you know, my online GTA buddies, told me about the vine and that I should check it out. So I did. Just over there (he points). You can just insert that picture I took here if you wish.
Q: I will.
A: And, um, as you can see from this next photo — please insert again — I also found out that the vine glows at night, which my friends *didn’t* tell me about.
Then I found the ring nearby which was *also* glowing; just down there on a, um, culvert at the bottom of the vineyard (he points again).
Q: Tell us more about the ring.
A: Well, er, I connected it — eventually — to a marriage, like as in a marriage that took place at the vineyard. That was the symbolism that Rock* put in here. Or at least that’s what everyone — my friends again, my online chooms — were telling me. Then I started to have my doubts. I started thinking that the marriage in the vineyard was *my* marriage, as if I was the one getting married here. But not to someone else as in a human — not really. Instead: to the vineyard itself, the wine and so forth. And, ahem, Viney.
Q: Viney?
A: Ah, you know. (he lowers his voice as if this is just a secret between me and him) The vine.
(to be continued)
Filed under **VIRTUAL OT, 0044, 0506, GTA
Waldo indicates downtown Lost Sanos in the distance where he soon plans to get lost to continue the game, even though he’ll be redder at the time. Not sure why there’re 2 downtowns here, though, to be honest. Have to study.
In other recent Google Earth Street View news while we’re talking about it: feet again.
Or should I say Google Earth Feet View in these cases?
Filed under **VIRTUAL OT, 0044, 0415, California, Google Street View, GTA
On her way to work, Debbie drives past the old location of The Fern restaurant, lamenting its absence. Now a Crucial Fix coffee shop, still cool but not the same. She especially loved talking Plastic Cutlery with the owner Fern Stalin, a common love interest. Fern dated Plastic in the 00s and Debbie went out with Mr. Cutlery in the 10s. She wondered whatever happened to him. And her.
Later, walking back to the parking deck on her way home, Debbie wondered about the likewise missing Middle of the law firm Slaughter Slaughter and Slaughter, Upper and Lower still around. She makes a mental note to check up on that too.
(to be continued)
Filed under **VIRTUAL OT, 0044, 0307, GTA
Bruised and battered, I’m almost there… FREEZE.
… But not quite.
“Old piece of shit!” a punk driver shouted through the window at me as I drive through Little Seoul in the middle of my journey, stating the obvious.
“Hell-looooo!” I shouted back, then wondered why. FREEZE (Dammit!).
I made the rest of my commute quieter, with streets empty now. It seemed to be the safest way to return home. No freeze.
(to be continued?)
Filed under **VIRTUAL OT, 0044, 0303, GTA
She started talking about MUSKET as a frigg’n genius and a red flag was raised for the first real time in the 2+ hour long video. She began to round herself out where I could see the other side, the dark one we all have; made her human beyond mere whitewashed brainiac — fair deal. She then talked about the merger of technology and anatomy and told Musket to “go for it” with his related, controversial projects because it was going to happen anyway. This reminded me of all the Cyberpunk 2077 body modifications, like eye replacements (thanks a lot Blue Moon!). Musket is a genius but really only as a businessman and self-promoter, sort of like the Big Orange one he also hails, self reflecting self. Couldn’t this be a frigg’n warning from a game envisioning a dystopian future? Girlfriend Grimes is there. Grimes is the key. Musician.
But what is the warning? one might ask. What’s wrong with *worshiping technology*?
Let’s drop the cubes on the square to end.
Filed under **VIRTUAL OT, 0044, 0213, C2077, GTA, Inter Face, Kabusie, Washington
Sunklands 