Episode 1: Infiltration

I know what some of you are thinking.

You're confused. I know. Still, this is a new chapter in my life since my self-insertion into the sprawl of Night City, NJ. I still can't wrap my head around the fact that I'm here. It still seems so foreign to me.

Right now, Misty's cooking and we'll both be sitting down to a dinner of teriyaki steak and tri-color Tortellini. I can't wait.

Maggie and Jessy, her two cats, are still getting adjusted to having Daddy around. I still miss Izzy. I wonder where he is, what he's doing, why he didn't want to come with me. He was like my kid. It's hard to let your kids go. It's what I had to do. I had no choice in that matter. I loved waking up next to him. I'd wake up, his paws would be on my shirt. He'd start kneading and attempting to eat my shirt. I'd smooth the fur on his head. I never stopped loving him. He was my little buddy and I'll forever miss him. I still don't understand how it came to this. One day, he was passing out on my shoulder, draping himself over me and sleeping peacefully. He'd lay in my arms like a baby and I'd smooth the fur out on his body. The next day, he didn't want to be around me. I still don't know what changed. I wanted him to come with me to our new home but he'd decided that something changed. I think Maggie senses my sense of loss. She's very affectionate and loves the attention that I once gave Izzy. Izzy, if you're still out there, I still love you little buddy. Nothing will ever change that.

Things have been going increasingly good for me. The job hunting isn't totally petering out. There are actually plenty of jobs and one of the applications landed me a job the very next day. It was AMP Marketing in Philadelphia. I cruised over to Philly and spoke with them. Aggressive, fast-paced marketing. Sounded like my kind of thing. I'm not waiting on them to call me back, though Joel said he loved my first impression, because there are lots of other things out there that I can do and I'm applying for them all.

I think I've worn a tie more here than I ever have when I was in Louisiana. Here, people seem to like my sense of style and I'm not always stuck in the house because there's nothing to do. Oh no, there's plenty out there to do and see, the thing is, I just want to hang back for now. No knee-jerk movements yet.

So here we are, Episode One in this series of chronicles. The new chapter to open the new book. It's time to access the files, let the chips fall where they may.

On Friday, all I did was apply, apply, apply. When I was job hunting ten years ago, my hand cramped from all the applications there were to fill out manually. Now, everything is done in cyberspace. Bankers Life and Casualty emailed me, I went to that interview/questionnaire fill-out/presentation. They called me back. Interview number two for this one. Looks as though things are going to look up for this job. Many of the "applicants" who were invited did not bother expressing interest in returning. I've got a couple of questions for them when I get there because, let's face it, I'm sick of being unemployed. It was a great vacation but it must end at some point. It can't last forever.

Once I get the infiltration set up and done then it's time to bide my time and just get myself locked in and then...the fun begins.

So far, Night City has been something really interesting. I've gotten lost more times than I care to count. I seem to have already made one enemy in the squatter in Zone Two. Seems I was coming back from the Corporate Sprawl when I noticed something rattling in the truck. The problem was that it stopped once the speed reached 20 but slowing down or stopping...well, it got louder.

Last night, Misty's Bro-In-Law and fellow geek, Darrin was looking at it. He's learned a lot from mechanics and wanted to see if he couldn't figure it out before I did something stupid like waste some mechanoid mercenary's time with it. It sounded to me like it was coming from the rear passenger side but it wasn't. It was coming from the passenger front side. We couldn't find anything loose in there until we opened up what serves as a hubcap in the center of my rim only to find that two of the six lug nuts were off the lugs and happily frolicking in my goddamned hubcap.

Of course! Why wouldn't it be? I only pulled shit like that in high school to people I didn't like. I'd pry a hubcap, drop a couple of marbles, ball bearings, rocks or whatever in there and pop it back in place. Those idiots would be worried all weekend until they started to get wise that someone was fucking with their shit but never, ever would I loosen someone's lug nuts.

"Would someone have done this to you?" Darrin asked.

"I've only been here two and a half weeks, D," I said, "That's not really long enough to make enemies."

We both dismissed it until Misty brought it up again. Again, I made my same appeal as we were tightening the nuts.

"You've been parking in Zone Two's Port," she said.

Oh shit, that's right. Zone Two's squatter lost his space when the super allowed me to park there due to an eviction on his part. Squatter had come in, run the woman who lived there out and then neglected the rent for two months. Now, Squatter's transport's front end is shit due to an accident he had. It is pretty conceivable that he could have popped the cap with a big screwdriver, loosened the two nuts and then let nature take its unholy course with me. Still, it's speculation. If I do catch Squatter fucking with Pearl (again?) he's going to find himself in a very nasty surprise forced eviction with immediate accomodations he won't like.

He'll probably return to find the locks changed. A service I'll happily lend for free complete with note that reads, "What did five fingers...say to the face?! SLAP!"

So now that I'm here and I'm settled in and looking, I have decided to go ahead and start downloading more podcasts from Coast To Coast AM. All I have to say is that it's about damn time they made it mass-downloadable from iTunes. Geez, trying to catch up by downloading four individual hours from each show for four months was fucking tedious. Diving into cyberspace has never been more fun for me.

God, What A Trip...

One more thing before I jack out of this beautiful place. If you have an iPhone and you play iKnights, iMob or iVampires, add me (Friend code 139622997) and watch cross promotion on iVampires because of two users (named bs kenshin and samurai757) who are apparently a couple of emo kids with a god complex stuck on Edward from Twilight. Maybe they have a thing for him, who knows?

Anyway, add me and let's have some fun with these assholes.

Episode 129: The Night City Chronicles Begins...

Location: Night City, New Jersey

A new life has begun. There's a fresh start for me now.

I guess it all started back just before I left. St. Patrick's Day was a real clusterfuck at work. I ended up not only hyperextending everydamnthing in my hand but I also wrecked my middle finger breaking up a fight.

The finger was bruised to shit and the joint at the digital tip hurt like hell. Now, it's getting much better. Still, that's not why I write. I started packing the second week I was off. The first was all planning. What I would take with me, what I wouldn't...it was all planned but it seemed like the more packing I did, the more throwing shit out that I did, the more boxes it required. In the end, I had to leave some stuff with a friend of mine. The weight would just be too much for me to pack. Not to mention, half the shit I'd ended up pawning off onto other friends and the occasional passerby who stopped to root through the massive amounts of crap I'd thrown out because I either couldn't take it with me or didn't want or need it.

Why did that have to happen? Well the roomies who were supposed to take over the place didn't. Now, my old residence has nothing but the ghosts that haunt it. The ghosts of past times, old memories, and a lot of pain involved. I'll spare you that story but know that, when I found out, it meant more work for me to have to do. Needless to say, I was irritated slightly.

I was supposed to leave on Monday, April 6. I ended up leaving on April 7th. I was a day behind and hurting like hell, physically. Since all of the utilities had been shut down on the 6th, I ended up having to stay one more night in that toilet of a town but I did it in relative comfort. I stayed in my old bedroom at my parents' place. It was a fitting way to end my time there. No more nights in a drafty house that was falling apart. Though I called that place home for ten years, I had mixed emotions about leaving. Part of me screamed that I didn't want to go but the other part of me screamed even louder to pull up anchor and run like hell.

I'd loaded the truck and saw that driving with that load would be tricky as hell. I couldn't get anything properly tarped and getting things firmly strapped down was going to be a feat. As much finagling as had been done, I still ended up losing a small garbage bag load of laundry that had been in the back of the truck. On three separate occasions, I stopped to reconfigure and resecure the load. By the third stop, I decided it was time to lighten the load. I ditched some stuff and that was probably one of the most painful things I'd ever done. I didn't want to leave some of it but I didn't have a choice. The truck was too loaded down for me to continue on as I had done.

Finally, I picked up and hauled off again. I drove and drove and drove. My start was already late but now, it would be even more late. I knew that, at some point, I'd have to find lodging for the night but now wasn't the time to think about it. I had to put as much distance between myself and Louisiana as possible and so I kept driving. I knew that, most likely, I'd be stopping in Alabama but I'd just hoped, as exhausted as I'd make myself working the past few days, that I'd make it as far through Alabama and through the first leg of my drive as possible.

As night fell, I'd keep driving. I was loathe to stop. I wanted to lay the hammer down on this trip.

I'd done this one time before. Back then, I had a girl who decided to stop as the truck in which we were travelling only dropped to three quarters of a tank. It was a constant irritation I didn't want to deal with. This trip, I let it drop to almost a quarter tank before I'd pull over. I barely ate or drank anything and with each destination reached, I'd survey my constitution and tell myself the old chorus of that Falco song I love so much, "Push, Push, Push a little further."

Push I did...until my goddamned iPhone ran outta battery. It was then that I decided to find a motel. I didn't want to at first. My mom's paranoia about my stuff getting jacked was starting to play hell on me. Now, it was a necessity. I'd get a shower, charge the phone, use the bathroom and check out once the phone was charged.

No dice, though...place was closed. I hit the road again and found a rest stop a mere mile away and pulled in...right there at the end of Tennessee. I opened and fired up the laptop and plugged the phone into that. The laptop would charge the phone for me as long as the battery would hold out. I could also use the bathroom and get a little something to eat and drink from the vending machines...unless the Pepsis I bought about half a state back were still cool.

I snacked on a small package of donuts and chased them with the last of my Pepsis. I was using them to wake up. Not that I needed to. I just didn't want to sleep. I'd come this far, why not push, push, push a little bit more?

I stood there, chatting with the attendant that early in the morning. When he told me how far I was from my destination, I was elated. He quoted me a mere seven hours. The entire trip was 22 hours long. My heart danced with joy. I'd packed up my entire world into the back of my truck and sped off back in Louisiana. I heard my brain singing to me.

Eastbound and down
Packed on up and truckin'
I'm gonna do what they say
can't be done

I've got a long way to go
and a short, short time to get there
and I hear those voices singin'
"Run on, Damien, Run!"

Ever the wordsmith, my brain can be at times. I decided to retire to the truck and have a look at the progress. Nearly half full. I still had a little way to go with the charging. I decided to sit back and close my eyes. I went out like a light. I slept for about 30 minutes before waking up, finding the laptop battery dead, the phone charged up about four fifths of it's capacity. I plotted the rest of my course...9 hours. At the rate of travel I was looking, I'd be in Night City, New Jersey by Mid-to-late afternoon. I'd be home to my baby. I would never have to worry about people getting bent out of shape at me over something on my t-shirt or whatever other excuse that some drunk, backwater type would suddenly become a soldier for Christ.

I plowed on through the day and at about four thirty in the afternoon, I was home.

The battery on the phone died as I reached my new home and once we got things set up, I know now that there's no other place on earth I'd rather be.

I've been up and down this state and, after getting lost several times, I know that I'll eventually figure this place out.

I will say one thing...some of the drivers here are nuts but there were nuttier drivers in Virginia than there are here. Washington D.C.'s roads suuuuuuuuuuuck ass. I know that from accidentally ending up on them but, look, if you decide you're coming up for a visit, let me know and take a plane.