Day: November 10, 2023

Picking up from this starter here…

Thin on creds, Echo wasn’t looking to drink too much. He was looking to celebrate, be among people, feel like he was part of something again. It wasn’t that life was all that hard for him. He kept a roof over his head most nights. His tongue stayed wet. There was a trideo in his doss loaded with the best programs and newest games. It was that he felt like outdated hardware. Hell, he was–at least he had been until the surgery last week.

Tonight wasn’t all fun though. The bartender slid a shot glass towards him, filled with whisky developed from chemicals supposedly identical to those that arrived at the end of the distillery process. He took it, wistfully eyeing the bottle of the real stuff staring out at him from behind the bar. Maybe if the meet went right he’d get himself a proper shot. That surgery dropped his credit account back to the three digit mark. It’d move to two if he ordered like he wanted to.

“Man’s been sitting back there for ten minutes.” The bartender, a gruff Orc named Paulie, nodded his head towards a lonely table far from the edge of the dancefloor. A man in a crumpled gray suit sat there fidgeting with his commlink. Echo nodded to Paulie and walked over.

Back on the farm and life is instantly more chill here.

There is so much in Arizona that feels like stagnation that any sense of being away from it is freeing. Here I am in touch with nature. Here I feel like everyone is pulling weight and in the same direction. Here I feel free to write, so long as I’ve done enough on the chore front. All of this is reflective of living in an environment where people are creating and building and above all else have a sense of purpose and community. I don’t feel that at home. I have two boys whose community is largely each other. I have another boy who is a community unto himself and yet another whose community exists on his phone and outside the home. None of them help out unless they are forced. None of them are working in the same direction. I could go on about the negatives of the environment, but it is enough to say that life is better here. I don’t feel like I need to hide or feel pulled in a dozen directions or feel like someone is thanklessly demanding my support (which is what a lot of parenting is any way). I get satisfaction from the chores here when I don’t at home. I feel calm and at peace and can find healthy silence when at home I cannot.

Soon my partner and I plan to spend some time at the house without the kids. It will be the first extended (read longer than a few hours) period of time we’ve had the house to ourselves ever. I’m excited to see what the space becomes when it is truly ours for a while. It won’t be like it is out here, because out here is a different world (A wonderful one depending on the season), but it will be something. I’m looking forward to exploring what that something will be.

Some Thoughts:

1. USC looked at my kid for football. They’re saying no right now because of a bad 100m dash time, which is not actually real. His posted score is about a second off what he actually ran. In other words, they gave him someone else’s score. tough break, because that is considered official and it is the only time he’s ever run that event. Some minor investigation would show that his 100 time is markedly slower than his 110 hurdle, meaning it isn’t his time. Sadly, it doesn’t matter in the end. If they want to offer the kid he needs to show a better 100m and soon enough to get the offer.