Walking the Edge of Reality

[ Log In ]

Walking the Edge of Reality

A look behind the curtain to my world...

Join Me For Dinner?
Saturday, August 16, 2008 8:18 PM

I didn't realize until now that the write-ups we made for Superstruct were posted on the IFTF site.

Since it's there for the world to see, I figured I'd link to and re-post my submission (page 5).

Enjoy...

The grungy old man across the aisle has been staring at me during the entire trip. He, like I, has been riding this thing for years now, and never has he said a word. He's always the same, sitting there, staring blankly at my meal, watching every move I make like some mangy dog looking through a butcher shop window. If I wasn't on this train surrounded by people, he'd probably beat me with a stick to get it.

Today is "Mystery Meat Friday" again, as the cycle starts over for another week. At the beginning of the week things look pretty clear - chicken looks like chicken, steak looks like steak, etc... - but since we now only buy a few days worth of food it turns from gourmet meals to leftovers that were prepped days before. "Here's what I've been able to cram in to a Tupperware, dear." At least my sons get their proper meals on a daily basis, but we can't afford to eat like a king and queen anymore ourselves.

Well, at least I lost ten pounds in the last three months. Maybe one of these days I'll actually be able to buy a shirt that doesn't feel like I'm wearing a parachute.

The lady in front of me keeps swinging a bag of restaurant leftovers in my face... You can tell she's well off - nice business suit, fancy jewelry, snazzy phone - and yet here you are, riding the commuter train with the rest of us cattle. Bet that BMW looks really stylish parked in your garage.

Going out to dinner... what a concept. We use to do it all the time. But considering I spend more time on the train than I do actually working, that's an unlikely thing to happen during the week. And on weekends all I can think of is resting; I ain't going anywhere then.

With the drying up of the software development industry in Florida (damn cheap foreign labor), and me being forced to take what I can get, there's not a penny left for anything. We're already paying as much in electric as I paid in rent a decade ago; luxuries go out the window in exchange for power and a hot shower every now and then - Tuesdays and Fridays, between 8am and 10am, thanks to water restrictions.

It would be so much easier to eat... whatever this is... without having to down a gallon of water in the process. A bottle of water now costs more than the rest of the meal because it all has to be imported from a foreign country. Ever since Lake Okeechobee ran dry three years ago, the only drinkable water has to come from countries that name the bottles with too many vowels and goofy accent marks. You know, countries with actual mountains in them. And their natural sources, becoming more and more scarce over time, are replaced by automated processing plants; you'd think that automating the process would lower the price, but they found a way to do the complete opposite.

We're in the only state in the union surrounded by ocean, yet half the state's ablaze and we're force to drink water from Switzerland at six bucks a bottle. Well, either that or drink tap water that's cloudy and, on a good day, might have chunks in it; all the water filters in the world won't make me drink that stuff.

Anyway, end of the line is coming. Time to switch trains. Only two more counties to go in this daily jaunt...

Superstruct begins September 2008.

Posted by David "Nighthawk" Flor on Saturday, August 16, 2008 8:18 PM

0 comments [ View Comments ]

There are no comments.

Post a comment:

Name:
Email Address:
	(Email address is not public information)
Website URL:
	(Website is public information and will make your name a link)
Comment:
	(HTML is NOT supported in comments)

[ <- Previous ] [ Next -> ]

David "Nighthawk" Flor

View Complete Profile

My Image Gallery

2009
January
2008
December
November
October
September
August
July
June
May
April

Links:
Darklight Interactive
Brain Clouds
Darklight Forums
Partners in Crime:
Icarus' Labyrinth
Iriarte Files
Christy Dena
Avant Game
Resources:
unFiction
unfiction Forums
Despoiler
ARGNet
ARGology
IGDA ARG SIG
Active Campaigns:
The White Island
48 Hours in Purgatory
Online Comics:
Penny Arcade
Save Hiatus
Order Of the Stick
XKCD
Odd Fish
HijiNKS Ensue
Questionable Content
Punch an' Pie
Goblins
Shortpacked!