Monday, March 28, 2011

Ghost in the Bathroom

I dreamed that I was on some road trip, stopped off at an old hotel to take a wizz. I followed the signs to the lobby bathroom, which took me into an old wing which used to a hospital. The lights were out. I flicked them on and saw some old florescence trickle on down one side of a long room, with old beds and gurneys. I hustled to the far end where a trough ran the wall. I unzipped, yet was startled by my periphery - an old man in a hospital gown stood at the end of his bed, smoking a cigarillo. We made eye contact. His eyes were a deep black. I shivered from a wave of chills that over took me. I had no doubt that he was a phantom as he appeared out of nowhere. I could no longer pee in such conditions. I took off sprinting down the left side of the room, between the wall and a long curtain. I peeked out at one point, about where the old man phantom would be, and he had moved in closer, about to reach for me through the curtain...

I awoke at this point, chilled out of my mind. My girlfriend informed me that I had been whimpering moments before in my sleep. Damn ghosts.

Tuesday, March 22, 2011

Drippy Mornin'

This morning had that tinge of apocalyptic ambiance. Very dark this morning, with the clouds and the rain, and still catching up to the daily savings time shift which puts us at an orbit making the bright and early, black sky and early. Had a troublesome time awaking this morning, I was still in the half dreaming state as I was leaving the house for work. Still dark. Because of the clouds. And the coming rain.

The bus I was riding scraped the shit out of a stop sign while making a turn. At every stop, panicked latecomers charged at the doors as they were about to closing. Cruising through an intersection we were nearly side swiped by a screaming fire engine.

I've started carrying around an old pocket watch, as sort of a good luck charm. I like the feel of it in my pocket. The battery has long since burned out. I suppose I could get a new battery inserted. But I'm not really interested in its ability to tell me the time of day. I just like the feel of it. I like fiddling with it. And I appreciate that it gives me subtle permission to dismiss the tyranny of ticking time. Time seems to slip, slip so quickly these days. Anxiety seems to show up and linger as the end of each week, the end of each month zooms along. This time-still pocket watch reminds me to chill the fuck out.

Sunday, March 6, 2011

ITB 6

We put up a new episode of Inside the Barrel last week. We had some fun conversations with Ted Tremper, a comedian, and winner of a Vimeo Award for his webseries "Breakups." We also have a short sketch on there I wrote called "Bikers and Cars" which plays with the seeming rivalry between hipsters who bike about town and the people who drive. Definitely something I see both sides of, and I do applaud anyone who rides their bike, I know I'd like to ride mine more about town, but I've encounter much too many bikers who believe they are above any rules of the road. So this piece was inspired by that. I also wrote and we recorded a sketch called "Furrocious" about a father/son hunting trip, and the son reveals he's a "furry." It felt funny as we recorded it but editing found it didn't work as a comedic piece the way it played out, so I'm back to the writing table with that one.