Present


17
Nov 10

The angels are calling for us again.

Last call for alcohol again.

 

The reality of my fragile sanity is becoming moot and more apparent each day. I could have had a piece of perfection, but I couldn’t handle it. Now I sit in dive bars wallowing in self pity as I ignore synapse flashes of a miserable future alone; devoid of soul, joy and happiness.

 

I hate this environment.

 

Each breath and glance left or right reminds me of the failures of my life story. The failures that plague me every fucking moment of my life. When you realize that you’re nothing and have lost everything that was something, you are then, at that vulnerable moment of time, are at your best.

 

So many memories. Each memory, in reflection defined a piece of my being; a piece of my soul. Now all that I have are those faint reminders of a life I could have had, but didn’t want. Eyes like razorblades, and the lingering scent of power and destruction were now gone. The fear I once felt for my life had now faded; faded into absolute insanity, leaving me a chuckling mess of myself. There was nothing I could do though, I was now more lost than I ever was. I realized I was very vulnerable and misguided.

 

 

Tim was right.

 

It was only a matter of time before it would all begin to crumble… My mind, my heart, and my soul. Everything has it’s beginning and end; this unraveling was the first step in the journey that would lead to an unforgiving finale.

 

You can never escape space, it only escapes your grasp, and dilutes any concept of whatever you feel is real. I am now lost here, pending to be completely forgotten. A fitting finish; one I predicted so many stars ago.


31
Mar 10

This is for the moon men on mars.

Dear Journal,

It’s been forever and a day since I last sat down and let this machine transform my random synapses, blackouts, premonitions and paranoia into sterile binary data for the moon men of the future to enjoy when I’m dead. 

I took some time off from the LA Times; more like a sabbatical with a one of half months of unpaid time to go hunting for my soul.  I got in my car and drove. Drove and drove and drove to what was possibly nowhere.  For the most part it was a good purge; stupidly I put my relationship on cryostasis, hoping it would defrost and dissolve for me.  She’s still here, right where I left her, waiting for me.  What can I say, I’m just a magnet for nonsense, piddly-winks and unfulfilled desires. 

On my Gulliver’s travels I stopped in a half past decent pub with the usual mediocre food and marooned, shipwrecked personnel abiding to my every beckoning call.  The poison was tasty and generous though, I’ll give them that.  None-the-less, there was a song the half-past hip DJ in the corner spun, whose lyrics caught the eye of my ear.

“It was yesterday I flew away, and capsized these bitter thoughts of you”

I love that fucking line. 

I caught myself saying “Fuck yeah!” in my head as I took a sip of my drink.  Totally and utterly relating those words to my meager interpretation of my life.  The sadness in his voice sounded like the genius of my tweaked out hero from history, Cobain, when he sung an acoustic version of Pennyroyal Tea. 

Rest in peace you loon.

My dreams are still vivid, painted in blown out high contrast pastel colors, where the ambient sound is playing in fast forward on a shitty boom-box.  Like when I’m awake, I’m never in my dreams; I’m just watching, and running like an olympic sprinter to the next destination, all day and all night.  When it’s time to catch my breath, I know it’s time to wake up.  I think though, the answers are starting to come to me.  Everything I do is a random puzzle that I should be re-orienting to finally get my golden ticket home.  The notes in my handwriting that I don’t remember, my stalker, Ivy’s poison and encounters with those who are just like me are all becoming clear.

I just need more time.  I just need to be patient, and learn to breathe; so I can navigate these Stygian waters once again.


26
Nov 09

Razor-blade eyes, my impending demise?

The woman with razor blade for eyes… I don’t know who she is; but I feel that I’m in love with her.  For months I’ve seen her in the distance watching; sometimes she passes by and says nothing.  She says nothing but her scent of expensive perfume and pheromones linger to remind me that she indeed is real.

She scares me as much as she arouses me.  Why has she followed me for months, making it very apparent that she is disecting me with her eyes?  I should have mentioned her to Tim.  I know he’ll generically think she’s a figment of my allready fragmented mind; but I know she’s real.  I feel her.  When I sleep, when time stands still, when I watch the tears from my eyes drop onto my desk for no apparent reason… She’s fucking there.

Every time she’s within my grasp, my ability to speak is always crushed; and that’s when I see her smile and squint her devilish eyes.  But then I face reality.  I have a keeper of my time which is defined as the present and possible future at home.  A keeper who most likely is flexing her remote control choke hold against my throat to stop me from venturing too far away from the farm.  It’s been too many days, months, years that I’ve been orbiting that satellite.  Long enough that it’s apparent that separation of our elliptical paths will resolve in the destruction of our both worlds.  My mind attempts to draft up a chaos theory that will result in both my exoneration of my prison orbit, and return to the time that really is my present.

Maybe this predator in the shadows is my liberator, or maybe it’s my impending demise.  I don’t know, just like with everything else that’s the randomizing jigsaw puzzle which is my life.  I should take that vacation time that I have coming to me; lie and say it’s a business trip.  I have to do something.  Anything to give me some freedom and peace of mind to find out what the hell is really going on.

I’ll take my vacation, and I’ll write less.  I’ll write again when I come back with answers for you, and myself.

Goodbye.


2
Nov 09

Look towards polar north.

I started my road to recovery of sorts… Just trying to figure out what really is going with me, and everything else around me.  So I decided to tap into my mental health benefits here at the Times, and look for a shrink.  So many in this city; I felt like a high school pimp flipping through his little black book of whores.  I decided to pick one based off of the photograph and figured fuck it, any help is better than none at all.

He acted as friendly as his photograph in the directory depicted him.  I could tell he was a shy individual with his quirky mannerisms, and lack of eye contact.  It was almost “cute” to say the least.  I never knew therapists could be so quirky, you know?  It’s not how they are represented on the television or in the movies.  But it makes sense in retrospect.  A mental health therapist or counselor is an artist of sorts.  They are missing a screw in their collective toolkit which allows them to see things in a different light, perspective or even reality.  With Tim the therapist, I felt comfortable he could tell me what was going on, or at least give me enough pieces to place this junior jigsaw puzzle of my life together.

After our third session, Tim started out by saying: “You are different”.

What do you mean, different Tim?

“Your story, your life, your persona, everything.  it’s just different.” 

Surprising to me, Tim was actually looking at my face and my eyes, instead of squirrelly meandering away.  It was like he was trying to harvest information from my soul through my eyes.  It’s the similar look of the woman with razor blade eyes that I’ve only come in close contact through the lingering smell of her expensive French perfume, and hair raising on the back of my neck when I know she’s stalking me through a crowd of strangers.

“There’s an explanation of what you feel, the things you predict, and why you are lost.”

Tim reached for his pad in which his notes were scrawled on, and copies of my journals were ear marked and stapled together.  My throat went dry, like I was drinking a bowl of dust and gravel.

“Patterns.  It’s all about patterns RJ. You see them in a way that most people can’t”.

Go On…

“You’ve come across others like you before haven’t you?  And when you did you could feel them from a mile away, like a bloodhound”. 

Tim kept his eyes fixated on me.  I could tell he was having a revelation that I’ve had many times before, except I was hearing it from a complete stranger.  Something that only happened once in my life, and now here in what is the “present”.

“You’re just so in tune in nature and time, you can see through the fold.  This is what is tormenting and puzzling you, RJ”.

What are you telling me Tim?  You’re leaving me with more ambiguity and there’s only 15 minutes left on the meter here.

Tim laughed and looked at his watch. “You’re right, time is running thin on us… RJ, I can’t tell you if you’re from the future or not, because I don’t understand the variables of space of time; but I do understand life really well”.

I looked at Tim waiting for his next breath of words to fall. Words that I already knew he was going to say.

I’m guessing you’re going to say something about focus, Tim?

Correct. You are lacking focus, RJ… Seriously lacking focus.  The moment you tell yourself to regain clarity, the stronger your natural ability will be, and the quicker you’ll be able to find your way ‘home’”.

Tim handed me a card with the time and date of our next appointment; schedule for a few months from now. Before I could ask he told me: “Figure it out, and come back at that date”.

Just like that, I was out on my ass again.  At least I had a compass to guide me a little bit better.  Before I could take my first step towards a heightened discovery, there she was.  The woman with razor blade eyes was there within arms reach walking my way.  I felt like I finally got my ticket to hell, because my soul was on fire, and my hands were as cold as ice.  Who the fuck is this person? Why must this impending bundle of danger have such a scent of refined power?

As she walked past me, her eyes, smile and scent dissected my senses and left me literally gasping for air.  I couldn’t ask who the fuck she was with no air to propel past my voice box.  All I could do is feel her presence leave me yet again, this time accompanied with a devilish laugh.

I will confront you. And i will decipher what the fuck it is that I’ve been awakened to decipher at this instance of life.  Answers are definitely coming soon.


20
Oct 09

Un “be” y dos “ce” spells Rebecca.

It’s cold today, and this bowl of four and half day old leftover chili is making me sick.  Fuck it.  Despite the watery preamble of nausea, I don’t feel like running down the block to Wok and Roll for more takeout.  Hot sauce and beer is the ultimate cure anyways, for days like this.

Today, while sitting at my desk and watching more paperwork come in than go out, I had a memory from what would be my past.  It was the ridiculous bright smile of this woman who was a co-worker of mine during my college days.  She seriously had one of the best smiles and brightest eyes that I’ve ever come across to date.

“You’re one of them, aren’t you?”

Those words she said echoed in my mind like it was yesterday.  I kept looking into her eyes, and that goofy smile that made my headache fade into nothing.  You’re a bold bitch were one of the many thoughts that scattered across my mind.

I ask her what she meant by “one of them” knowing very well  I knew she too was “one of them” as well.

“You know, one of them. You see and feel things that are from a different time, and it scares the shit out of you.”

I stared at her, and she stared right back at me with those fucking bright eyes and now a sheepish grin.  I pulled her aside, and asked her how the hell she knew what she thought she knew.

“It’s your aura; I knew it from when you came into this training room.  I’m Rebecca by the way, RJ.  That’s un ‘be’ y dos ‘ce’”. 

Her slender finger poking my peeling name tag, brought me some comfort.  She was the first person other than my mother that knew about the weird shit that torments each day.  We became close friends after that day, and established a kindred bond that even today, miles and miles apart, still lingers.

The air started to taste stale as it usually does when I lose sync with whatever time I’m gravitating in.  I wish I could lose sync and go back to the still framed memories of then.  Far less paper work, but the food was still aged and sterlized with Bud Light and Tabasco.

Regardless, I think I’m actually going to be sick.  I’ll take this as a sign that I need to get my shit together, and find my glide path.  That aura that sweet Rebecca saw hidden on my person has only been fading since I’ve been lost here.  My trip to the past to see her eyes and spirit was for a reason.  It was another breadcrumb and piece to this jigsaw puzzle that I need to start solving, fast.


9
Oct 09

Life and Love. Love and Life

I heard the most beautiful string of words that were put together to describe love last night.  “Waking up each morning, looking over to your partner and understanding why you love them more and more each day”.  

It was a realization about life and love. Love and life.  I’ve been here for a few years wandering this reality, and incompatible instance of time. Those words were from a woman who was having a conversation with what appeared to be an old friend.  They were obviously catching up; the laughter, the smiles and even tears; it wasn’t mushy to watch from the corner of my eye.. It was poetry and life in motion, and unfolding.

In a few short words, this woman with a cheesier cat smile like no other explained the definition of love.  I then started to reflect upon my own life, and miscellaneous points of confusion and as myself, if I ever felt that way.  The response that came from the shadows and echos of my mind was:  “Answer foggy, try again”.  Yes my fucking head works like a magic eight ball sometimes. 

This was the truth though.  In reflection of the random shit storm incidents in my life that were masked with denial or sadness… This was one was definitely the truth.  I really didn’t know the answer to this. Fuck.

Fuck
Fuck
and Fuck.

Reality is a bitch sometimes.  I looked at that man in the corner of my eye, and saw that he indeed loved his friend, and she too was in love with him; but there was an element missing that didn’t make them whole.  Their relationship would only be logical; not mystical.  I felt for him and her.  It was a visible but invisible barrier that was the handicap for the both of them.  But this is the reality of relationships and life, no less.

At that point, I understand why my mother loved to cook so much.  Random, yes. But it makes sense, as I type in this living journal.  it’s the release.  It’s the art form; it’s the freedom from the monotony that your relationship had spiraled down into.  Relationships that were based on survival.  Survival was a key lesson that was shared in the time I’m from.

It’s just funny though.

You are seperated from that element, and taken to a point of time in which you can reflect on what you didn’t understand or took for granted.  In the end, I’m still so cold.  I watch the goose bumps grow on my arms, and my hair stand on end when it’s fucking warm and toasty in LA.  It’s just a bitter reminder of how much I fucking hate everything; and what I’ve become.

A lost transient, who has come to the realization that he’s never coming home again.

Fuck.

My tears are so full of alcohol, they numb my fucking face as they stream.


22
Sep 09

Point of origin? Somewhere near.

You know the day is going to go well when you start crying at your desk after your first bite of tasty cinnabon.  Not talking the baby-tantrum style of crying. I’m talking about the silent cry you see in key moments of a dramatic flick, where there’s nothing but silence, and then a solitary mystery tear streams down your face.

That’s what I did.  I did just that.  Some days I know why those one or two tears stream down my face; others it’s just a mystery.  Kinda like those nosebleeds that you’d see kids in your 2nd grade home room class have.  I never had one of those, come to tell you the truth. 

Time marches on though.  I’m still lost and confused about my time, and my existence.  When those tears stream and fall; I can see and feel every nanosecond of the process.  The air becomes stale, sound becomes damp, and time starts to slow down and fade.

Maybe I should take the time (no pun intended) and look around for answers, whenever that happens next.  Each streaming, dive bombing, kamikaze tear that falls feels like an eternity.

Ivy.
Ivy.
Ivy….

Where are you, now?

A meeting which was only weeks ago, feels like months and years ago.  Random thoughts during these tear based rifts of time must move back and forth between the past, present and future perfect.  What once was a random summer missed scent of attraction, now turned into winter, years later.  So much later, that she is still waiting with shorter hair, a parka coat, and a glimmering smile…

The tear falls and lands… Time snaps back into sync and you’re back in reality; until the next one falls… 

Sometimes I sit and shake my head during the torture this curse of my offers.  Sometimes I stare into the distance, and I see my beautiful relentless stalker.  The one with razor blade eyes, and a racoon’s smile.

Ghosts.
All Ghosts.


15
Sep 09

Stars.

I hear the echoes of the dead haunting me. A recurring pattern of my mind that tells me that I’m weak.  I’m just one of the fallen: broken, damaged and fucked up…  Too paralyzed to comprehend the truth.

My heart is just feeling lonely.  Lost, stolen and broken apart.

…And then I saw her stars.
I saw them rain over me.
I watched them come down, and watch over me.
So I’m here, right now.
This cloud absorbs the cacophony.
Rain down, and surround me with your poison, Ivy.
With your poison, Ivy.

I woke up and jotted these words down, and the image of the star which shot across the ether of my mind.  Later that day I came across this star, and her name was Ivy.  Was it deja vu, or was it time to blame it on the alcohol that this gorgeous bartender was generously serving me?

As with anything that scares me, I ran.  Ran away from Ivy’s smile, and deep black eyes.  I ran home and wept.  I knew it wasn’t deja-vu, it was another unraveled thread from my nicely knitted sweater from the designer label: destiny.

What is really left of me?  My reality is becoming more blurred and vacant as each day ticks by.  The merge of time is coming closer.  No matter how fast or far I run, it’s going to happen.

It’s going to happen.

—-

She thinks she missed the train to Mars, she’s out back counting stars.
I thought she’d be there holding daisies, she always waits for me.
She thinks she missed the train to Mars, she’s out back counting stars.

(Hum — Stars)

 I’m sorry Ivy.  Maybe in another timeline we’ll count those stars together.


12
Sep 09

Misanthropic musings.

Question: Since when did whiskey become a dessert wine? 

Answer:  Since the day I was disassembled, left for dead, then reborn confused, absent and disappointed.

I saw her piercing razor blade eyes across a sea of pedestrians today.  The eyes that I fear, but I’m secretly in love with, were watching me.  I felt my dissection from across the boardwalk, just making me burn and itch in discomfort.  Moments later, she was gone again; with her vagrant, devilish smile still clawing at my heart.

It triggered those white flashes. The flashes that makes the air taste stale, and my body start to shiver.  Through the smoke I saw we had children together, and she was a neurotic fucking mess, but efficient as hell…  Then I began to choke.  This always happens when I come to.  A little hyperventilation like a panic attack, followed by silly Hollywood melodramatics of checking my back pocket for my wallet.

Shit.

I’m not even a thief, and I would definitely go for a freaked out loon’s wallet, at the apex of his future trip.

Regardless, we’ve never met, but I know her.  I feel her when she’s hunting me masquerading behind the shadows of people, in broad daylight.

But the reality of it all, I’m still stuck here.  Seeing and moving between the future and the present, or not; I’m still stuck here.  Stuck here, peddling my misanthropic musings of a delusional cock-sucker. (That’s me).  I still return to this cramped pad with a less than ambitious lover staring me in the face asking:  What’s for Dinner?

I breathe the air to see if it’s stale, and then I realize that this is all real, and not a forecast of fair weather for Meriwether.  When I close my eyes though, I see the threads of fate which guide us all.  Mine are not hard to miss, they are the ones illuminated with a path paved with sadness and gold.

… I  just dozed off. And I kept fighting a field of white.  I don’t want to see anything else; unless it’s my freedom.


11
Sep 09

Daylight.

It’s cramped in my little hole in the wall apartment.  When it rains, it is rather cozy though. 

I still don’t know what’s really going on.   Going on with my life, anything.  Each day just becomes a gaussian blur of the previous, and so on.  I’m Robert Saul Jack.  I’m a weapon. Now I’m a writer.

Some would say that I’m a little batty in the head, suffering from some sort of dementia.  They are probably correct.  When you’re designed like I am, you’re bound to have a flaw of having a screw or two loose.  It’s what makes things work.

The thing that works when I blackout; the thing that humors me when I come to, reading notes like fucking Memento scrawled in my journal.  Anyone can blackout with enough booze, drugs, sex and rock-n-roll, then scrawl thier prophesies in a book.  The problem is, mine come true.

The worse is when I do this in broad, bright walking, waking daylight. I don’t just predict I feel, adapt and become a part of whomever is my target.  Sometimes it’s intentional; but the majority is by reflex.  This is what makes me a weapon.  I blend, I befriend, and I leave.  I was trained to exploit my natural abilities.  Now all I see are pieces of time, rendered out of sequence, haunting me while eat, shit and breathe.

I’m so scared to rest.  I don’t want to see what happens next.