Census

Do humans value human life? If humans were proud of human life and considered it valuable, they would be more aware of their numbers. Does anyone actually know the number of humans alive in their country, let alone the world? Google says there are 323.1 million people in the USA; 7.6 billion on Earth. Does the number round up or down? Humans without form springing into existence when the digit reaches point-five; currently living humans ceasing to exist when it is four or less, lives suddenly deemed an error of rounding.

It is too difficult to keep track of these things in real-time.

The same is said of bacteria on a microscope slide.

My Little Monster

Magikano

Fallen Angels

Fragments

He wasn't happy in high school and he didn't speak to people often. When he did, he spoke of angels.

or

By the time the company decided to offer a large salary to retain the employee, he had already turned to a mist, cascading backwards, exiting between the atoms of the walls.

Kyoukai no Kanata

Wittgenstein's Habit

Life is more enjoyed with risk. People sky dive and use strange drugs, for something different and the uncertainty of what may happen next. Other sorts of risks can be taken that are as dangerous but without action. Some people, dependents, or things inadvertently anchor you. Loosening anchors in order to experience a disengage from reality bears risk. Slowly letting the string run between your fingers, you kite upward into the atmosphere, gliding and hovering. Below, one small anchor holds down the end of the string, this thin filament that is the only way back. The ecotone between fugue and non-fugue states. It's the sky diver just before pulling the chute cord; it's the drug beginning a road trip on the body's interstate.

Ashes of Time Redux

Tale of the Phone Scammer

Under dim lights, the scam artist absentmindedly dialed the next phone number on a wrinkled piece of paper. It rang and went silent.

"Hello? Are you the homeowner? Am I speaking to the homeowner," he asked.

The phone was silent for a moment before a quiet, short-breathed whimpering came through the receiver.

"Nothing is real nothing is real nothing is real nothing is real..."

The scammer pulled the phone from his ear and looked down on it ("Nothing is real nothing is real nothing..."). He slowly looked around the room filled with dim light, which made the night coming in from the window seem even darker. He raised the phone back to his ear, and heard silence.

"AYEEEE! HAH-HA-HA-HAH-HA!"

A cackling laughter, followed by a click and a dial tone.

The scam artist called the number a few times over a period of years. There was always a busy signal.

More Things Seen & Felt

Nothing feels real here
besides the sky
like wandering onto a movie set
outlines of things propped by boards
nothing behind them
facades dyed red-blue by a volcanic sky

Chungking Express

Musaigen no Phantom World

Work (Fragment)

I work between hallucinations; alternating between ecstasy and anguish.

The Shell

The boy saw the violin on the table. He knew what it was and what it does, and he also knew he could not make it do it. He sought to understand it in his own way. So he picked it up close to his face and looked at the planes of wood; he tilted it and looked at the thin width that made up the perimeter of the F-hole. He could not see any tree rings. Holding it away from himself, he tried again. He saw the sleek curvature of the wood and the spines that were the tuning pegs and the darkness of the F-hole. He brought the violin to his ear and found he understood. He heard the sound of the forest.



*** Note: While very high, I was reading a psychology book that mentioned a test where an image is shown and the patient must make up a story about the image. The example mentioned was a boy and a violin. This is the story I made up.

Dogs of New York

Dogs of New York

Nisekoi

Mushishi: Belldrops

Dogs of New York

Images of Love