Missing Out On Baltimore, Getting Ready For The Run-Up, And The Alter-World Bleed

"You know what they say. All roads lead to New York."

"I thought it was Rome?"


"No. Here it's New York. You've got to get over all that European bullshit."


"That's right. I forgot. America is the center of the universe. The whole world revolves around America."


"Oh, I see you've been studying our foreign policy."
~

So I decided last minute yesterday to plan a weekend trip to Baltimore for the Baltimore Comic-Con. It's one of the smaller cons (doesn't rival San Diego or New York) but it had a lot of big names and I've heard good things lately. The thought of going really hadn't crossed my mind though until Friday night. Things have just been so busy here at work. I was starting to feel like I'd hit a bit of a wall, so I figured why not take the weekend off. Jere and House said they were in, so off we went...or not.

We were aiming to leave by 7 A.M. that way we could get down to Baltimore between 10 and 11 for the opening of the show. At 6:10 this morning Jeremiah texted me to tell me he wasn't going to make it. Not a big deal I figured, House and I would still go. So I called House up. No answer. So I called again. No answer. Third time I left a message and figured I'd wait an hour and then head out. So an hour turns into two and no reply. I give up and am getting ready to head out when I start to run the math. It's 9 A.M., if I leave now I probably don't get there till almost 1 P.M. By the time I find a hotel and parking and get to the Con it's 2 P.M. That gives me 3 good hours before they start to close up and then I have all night to burn by myself in a city I'm not at all familiar with that I hear isn't all too friendly. There is zero chance of that ending well for me. So instead of going to Baltimore I went back to sleep. The old man won't be too happy when he hears I skipped work for absolutely nothing. Not too happy at all.
~
"It's like the tail end of a great bender. At some point you've just got to slow down, otherwise you're not going to last long enough to look back on it and laugh."
~

So last night Antioch started to start again. It wasn't a real meeting, those won't start for another month, it was more of a warm-up. It was really good to see everyone again. Really good. We didn't accomplish much, but it's sort of like shaking off the rust and getting back to business. It just feels good. I'm really going to miss it when it's all over.
~

"Do you think..."

"If you're going to ask me again if I think she knows I may just have to shoot you."

"But..."

"No buts."

"It doesn't matter. I'd wake up every morning just to see that smile."

"You are the most pathetic creature I have ever met in my life."

"Well at least I'm not just an overdeveloped sense of self realization or a chimerical manifestation of years of psychosomatic rage or a... figment of my imagination."

"Wow. That last one...really hurt."
~

And last night I had the strangest dream I've had in awhile (which is saying quite a bit). We were in the Alter-World, but it was mixing a little with my other dreams and maybe a bit with the real world. It was like there were tears in fabric of the universe and things were bleeding over into the other worlds. It was a bit scary. There were a ton of us, friends I've known forever, kids from church, my siblings, and some people I've met along the way mixed in for good measure. We got off a bus (at some point in the trip it was a train, but it changed to a bus before we got where we were going.) We all got off at what should have been Dave & Buster's up in Palisades, but instead was some kind of resort. We all had suitcases I don't remember us starting with. Some people were complaining because they thought we were going to Baltimore (see the bleed?) and wanted to know where the hell we were. The people in this place seemed to know me, or at least be familiar with me. They took our bags away and we started to split up. This was the point where I noticed that at least four of the girls we were with were pregnant. I found this odd because I knew for a fact that none of these girls were pregnant (more bleed, I don't usually focus on discrepancies while I'm in the Alter-World, even if I notice them, I just know they're not a problem. This concerned me at the time however.) Several of us sat down in the middle of the floor at a corner in a wood paneled corridor. While we sat there the corridor turned into an elevated walkway, one side dropping off into infinite darkness, the other side still seeming to be an interior wall. There was a chute in the wall (similar to the old vacuum tube message systems) I tossed some money into the tube and food dropped out of the ceiling onto a blanket on the floor. There were videogames on we could play on the walls. I yelled up the tube, "Thanks a lot boss." And a gruff voice shouted back, "No problem Chris." I replied, "Tell the missus I said hello." Although I couldn't think for the life of me who I was talking to. While we at the people I was eating with changed several times. I'll spare you the details of who they were and who they changed into. At some point Stormtroopers from Star Wars showed up and we fought them off which what I originally thought were really big chop-sticks but turned out to be lightsabers. When we were done we went for drinks. While we drank I brought up the conundrum of the pregnant girls (more bleed) no one else found it odd. Apparently these girls were always pregnant (though only I seemed to be bothered by the fact that they had no children, and at least two were really children themselves.) Next we all went for a hike in the woods. For some reason I was moving faster than everyone else, but kept blipping back behind them so they'd have to keep waiting for me. This frustrated everyone, people were really getting mad at me. I wanted water something awful but people kept handing me golfballs and chewing gum instead.

We retired for the night. I had my own room. It was huge. It wasn't really a hotel room. It was more like a conference room. I won't say who was in the room next to me, but they were fucking...loudly. I couldn't sleep. So I took to the halls. It was dark, and very quiet, and suddenly I was moving entirely too quickly even though I had no idea where I was going. I was bounding silently through the halls and found myself coming up the stairs to and ending up near the door of the room of this girl I know. The door was slatted, and through the slats I could see that she was naked. This bothered me (bleed), but I was curious. I knew it was a dream, but I still felt badly for being there. But I couldn't move, or blip away. I was beginning to think the Alter-World was fucking with me. A moment later I could feel myself being pulled further along the hallway. It was like I was being dragged away, I was heading the long way back to my room. When I got close I could hear the fucking couple in the room next door. The force through me back into my room. But there was another girl there, and she was naked. Apparently this was her room now. I apologized and left. I was moving of my own free will again, but I still didn't know where I was going. I passed a window and realized that we were no longer in the resort, but on some sort of space ship. I instantly knew that no one else knew, I had to tell them. There was a guard of some sort coming towards me. (Don't ask me when the fucking guards showed up, but it all seemed to fit.) He recognized me, and offered me a cigarette before telling me I had to leave. I said of course, but headed further into the restricted area. He seemed confused. I looked up and realized there was an entire patrol of guards coming towards me. I ducked into a conveniently placed pile of large mannequins (they all seemed to look like my Demonbat bust.) The leader of the patrol stopped mere inches from me. He was looking right at me, and I was staring back. I knew he saw me and I remember thinking "Thank god this is a dream or I'd really be fucked." I couldn't stop myself from looking back at him, so I closed my eyes. I know, fucking stupid. But in the Alter-World apparently closing your eyes makes you invisible. I'm beginning to think that whoever is in charge there is a five year old. As soon as he looked away I burst out of the pile knocking the entire patrol over and went bounding up the stairs again, zooming through all the hallways. Apparently we were now back in the resort. No idea where the spaceship went. I found myself again standing outside the room with the slatted doors. I was dark in there now but I could hear the girl breathing again, she whispered "Hello?" And I took off running back to my room, which was somehow now my room again.

The next morning we were having breakfast (in the bar oddly enough) and a stranger was sitting there being all crazy. While we sat there he ripped in half and became two people, one of whom apologized politely for his other half's behavior while at the same time flashing a smile that made all the girls swoon. My brother was there and I asked him if he'd heard the commotion coming from the room next to mine. But then he said he'd been in the room next to mine and didn't know what I was talking about, this confused me again. The girl who I had seen through the door was there, and she clearly knew I'd seen her, but didn't seem offended or upset or anything. In fact she was very friendly. At this point the Alter-World started to slip into my other dreams and I didnt fight my way back until we were in a room getting ready to play laser tag, but instead of the door opening into the laser tag course it opened out onto a dirt road. We were going for a hike again. Everyone was complaining they'd have to wait for me. It was hot and dusty. There was a convenience store/gift shop right there selling the resort's brand of bottled water but everyone was already moving so I couldn't stop. This time were climibing a hill and I couldn't keep up. But suddenly there were these guys playing the bagpipes and I was carrying everyone on my back (and I mean everyone). Next thing I remember I woke up back in the bar. Everyone was drinking and laughing and having fun. The pregnant girls were still there, but before I could mention it to anyone...I woke up.
~

"You have got to be the most random motherfucker I have ever met."

"You think?"

~
And finally...another entertaining night that involved me spending too much money and drinking more then I should have (three drinks...let's not get any silly ideas about me here.) And here I am sitting at my desk at 4 A.M. on a Sunday wondering what the fuck I'm doing...and what the fuck I'm doing next.