RKNet Blog... Thing

I think I’ve been listening to too much Röyksopp lately. For context, I’ve found myself highly enamored of a certain track off their album The Understanding called “What Else Is There?“. It features vocals provided by Karin Dreijer Andersson from an electronica duo called The Knife (whose album Silent Shout has also been on repeat a lot for me) and I have fallen in love with her unique and expressive voice.

That being said, on the with the description. I was in this housing area, all cheap houses, run down and small. Looking on from a short distance, I saw a huge explosion rip through 3 or 4 of the buildings, seemingly at random. I looked to my companions (who defy description right now, just some people, I can’t remember) and ran towards the damage. I’ve dreamt almost this same thing before, I know it. Sudden fire in run down houses, or an explosion followed by fire. It was chewing up the old, dry buildings.

Then it all reset. Same place, no explosion, none of that. I rode in the mind of someone sneaking through these projects, tiptoeing by back doors and noticing as they all swung open by themselves. Screen doors, all, and cats of different kinds peering out from kitchens or living rooms. Sometimes there were people within, all walking away, not noticing that the door was open. The creeping person was a thief and although no entry was made into any of these houses, the big black bag s/he carried filled up. A small rip showed a blue and white striped piece of terry cloth sticking out. Perhaps the dishes wrapped in the towel to prevent noise? Who knows?

Finally coming to an unremarkable house near the end of the rows, the thief enters and discovers an old man and a fluffy white cat. There’s a moment of mutual surprise, then the cat makes a mad dash for the open door, and the thief follows, trying to track it down through these houses while still remaining silent and unseen, still carrying the full bag. The cat dashes under buildings built off the ground, and finally the thief is able to cut it off at an awkward turn near a wall and snatches the beast up, dragging it back to its master.

There’s a short conversation after that, and the old man says he’s not going to rat out the thief. The thief cautions that there may be some dangerous activity.

Cut to a group of about five or six people. Storm clouds are high, thready, and getting darker, turning the sky to a psilocybin vision of broadly patterned marble. The people are holding onto what appears to be the female end of extention cords, which are all tangled together and tied to a central location, looking to be pipes coming out of one of the houses. They stretch the cords into the road, fanning out in an uneven manner over about a 180° area. A stroke of lightning comes down slowly, almost like a weighted streamer: straight down, but wavering in the air. It is viewed from the eyes of one of the group before it hits them. The power goes through the cords and infuses the others. One by one they begin shouting, calling down the lightning on themselves, despite the presence of others on the scene insisting they stop (but too afraid to act).

There was only one left, hesitant, stupid, afraid of the lightning. The others had disappeared, disintegrated or wandered off or something. The one left walked away. It may have come back to the explosion at that point but I don’t recall.

Other points which are unclear to me now:

• Pulling a large revolver on someone who wanted to come into a house where I lived. It was large and dull and akward.
• Yelling and throwing things at a group of young, grinning hooligans who heaped things in the middle of the yard and doused it in gasoline, intending to set fire to the whole property
• Counciling a very angry young man, sharing tales with him. We were both in Civil War era dress. I slowly went from persuading him to stay, to comforting, to seducing. Anything to distract him from this blind fury.
• A master/husband type figure appearing during the “seduction” phase, unperturbed by the scenario.

Also, for your convenience here are the lyrics to “What Else Is There?”

It was me on that road
But you couldn’t see me
Too many lights out, but nowhere near here

It was me on that road
Still you couldn’t see me
And then flashlights and explosions

Roads end getting nearer
We cover distance but not together

I am the storm I an the wonder
And the flashlights nightmares
And sudden explosions

I don’t know what more to ask for
I was given just one wish

It’s about you and the sun
A morning run
The story of my maker
What I have and what I ache for

I’ve got a golden ear
I cut and I spear
And what else is there

Roads and getting nearer
We cover distance still not together

If I am the storm if I am the wonder
Will I have a flashlights nightmares
And sudden explosions

There’s no room where I can go and
You?ve got secrets too

I don’t know what more to ask for
I was given just one wish

Note: These are just what I found online, I know there is a verse or two missing and maybe a few lines wrong. Care to help me flesh that out?

A clear and flagrant disrespect for all things was extruded from the two young men chatting back and forth on the mostly empty train car and left the air palpably unclean. Crisp suits, slick and greasy hair, shifty bright eyes, and utter animal stupidity were readily apparent upon a quick glance. Typical upper-class white boys with no sense of purpose beyond where their dicks will be by the end of the night or who they can roll under the bus to get the next raise. No love except the long-since-abandoned love for mother, and a lust for money and the status associated with it that they assume is love.
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No, not the abandonment issues you the gentle readers feel when I neglect to update. Nor the abadonment issues my shoutcast listeners recently developed due to my foolish desire to pull the plug on that project.

The abandonment in question is a series of really engrossing photos on buildings and areas in the former Soviet Union. There’s a fortress, a prison, and even an entire city - all unfinished or simply left behind due to various conflicts or changes to the Soviet political landscape.

Weburbanist has links to several other abandoned building photosets at the bottom of that article, which I’d recommend taking a peek at also.

Last night I dreamt I was touched by lightning, and harassed by boys that are in love with me.

The lightning dream was really cool. I was in some living room with huge windows. The sky was nearly black with clouds, but not raining. Then these MASSIVE (think 3-4x as wide as normal lightning you’ve seen) bolts of lightning start slamming down from the sky, over and over again, in a sort of pattern, moving closer. Others in the room were nervous, but I was fascinated. So I leaned over to watch stuff that was off to the right, and was just in time to see lightning hit the house next to the one I was in. (They were stacked nearly on top of each other, inner city style.) Rather than obliterate the house, all that electric power instead dispersed outward along the homes and rushed into where I and the other people were. I noted that both myself and the girl across from me (whoever it was) glowed/crackled briefly with electricity. It made me tingle and it felt strange, but it wasn’t like getting electrocuted; That hurts, I know, I’ve done it. Edit for Mogrothir’s sake: I have not, in fact, been electrocuted. I have however gotten some nasty electric shocks before. XD and those do definitely hurt.

Don’t remember much about the boys dream, other than I was running around a campus of sorts (lots of buildings intercut with park-like areas) and some guy who barely spoke english kept after me with something akin to “why you no love me?” That was just weird. XD

Okay. Gotta make today an early day! Hopefully I get to go out frame shopping with Ian’s mum later, for the sexy-ass art prints I have in my possession. Mmm… art. But this means I gotta hustle to work. I actualy woke up at a reasonable hour and didn’t immediately wanna pass back out forever and ever! YAY! *zooms* ciao lovelies!

I am enjoying my vacation well enough thus far. This from the girl who is wretched at taking vacations (as some of you may well know). Still, let me outline some of the more memorable notes before I vent about the horrible nightmares I had last night.

Pros and Cons of Delta Song flight 2047 from Boston to Las Vegas
Con - Plane was an hour late in bording, an hour and a half late in arriving, meaning I didn’t get to Vegas (did I mention I was going to Vegas by the way?) until about midnight.
Pro - I got a Cosmo (of sorts) some really nice fruit and cheese, and got to watch Adult Swim during the flight.
Con - I was in the middle seat, poor Ian is too tall to fly in anything but first class, and there was a guy in the window seat. Result: I was one squished little passenger.
Pro - For 5$ I got to play Bookworm for most of the flight. 5$ is way too much for a shockwave game on a touch screen that doesn’t work very well, I know, but for me it was totally worth it.
Con - I didn’t have room to take my jacket off and it was hotter than blazes as a result. (Finally managed to divest myself of it before the end of the flight, thank god.)
Pro - There was a way to monitor the progress of the flight via a series of general flight data and satelite mapping. It was pretty cool.

The airport itself in Vegas was a little unimpressive, although mum was right about the slot machines right in the terminal. That was just nuts. The cab ride was pretty standard, and I overpaid the guy because it was really frigging late by my standards. Although I did groggily note that I had offically seen a palm tree in person for the first time. Unless I saw one when I was in Florida and just spaced it off. Okay, so it was the first palm tree I ever remember seeing, how’s that? Blah.

The hotel couldn’t find our reservation, at all. Still, the night crew managed to get us into a room and up we went, to the 12th floor and our nicely appointed hotel (timeshare) room. Is it a suite or a condo if it’s got a full kitchen? Either way I’ve got lots of pictures to upload and I’ll be posting them separately.
The drama continued into what felt like the following day but was really the same day. After lots and lots of phone calls, and still more phone calls (mostly on the part of Ashley I’m sure, I <3 you!!) it was finally all straightened out.
I had some of the best mexican food I’ve ever had - that is not just the 2 strawberry margaritas I had talking - at this restuarant in the casino next door to the hotel called Baja Miguel’s. If you ever find yourself in the vicinity of the South Coast casino/hotel, I strongly recommend paying them a visit.
Anyway, aside from some general stress that was all RCI’s fault, I am really enjoying the Grandview. The staff has been really helpful, the room is really pretty, the view is pretty cool, & I look forward to hitting the pool and the gym at least once while I’m here. I do have to remark that the bed has the expected “unattractive hotel bedspread”. Still, I can’t complain when there’s a freaking jacuzzi bathtub not 20 feet away from where I’m writing. Haven’t fired that up yet, but I so totally will.

I think today we’re going to hit the Strip and see all the huge pretty buildings. Unless I mis-read the flyer, the Natural History Museum is there, and I freaking love those kinds of things. So does he, so it’s a really good idea we pay the place a visit. I’m pretty excited about the whole thing.

Now it’s time to get cleaned up, wake the boy-o, and as my google talk sub-title states get “my freaking vacation on”.
Peace!