Impressions

Is this a graduation party? Wow, it's in a pool. Everyone crowd onto this boat, it's time to go.

Enter: green, murky, shallow swamp. What's this, a wagon train of canoes? Where are we going? Oh look, a snake. How cute. No, don't get out to catch it. Oh well, at least the water's not that deep. Holy shit, get back in the boat! THAT one's humongous! Look!... wow ... look how it swims in a spiral... I'm pretty sure snakes that big don't grow well in water this shallow.

Ah, back at port. Hey, look, another group of people. Wait - that's - that's us! No, no, stay back. Look, they're going in the buiding. We can watch them from this overhang here. Damn, we're trapped in some sort of time flux. How do we get out? No, we can't ask our past selves! That'd completely screw up the space-time continuum! What are you thinking?



Wow, this place is really kind of dark. But look at all these fish and reptiles and such! No, sorry, I don't work here. Hey, Kevin, nice store. Boy, it sure is dank.



Maybe if... if I angle my way across the lawn here they won't notice I'm gone... no, they're telling me to get back in line. Dang, college campuses are too open. These people seem nice enough, but I can tell they've got something nasty planned for us.

What? I'm a finalist in some stupid talent competition? Fine. I don't know about the rest of you, but my goal is to not win. Oh? My turn? Well, I was already up here. I can't really turn back now.
What is a ball to a puppy?
Is this some sort of analogy test? No, wait. That's simple... a toy. That's right, I'm supposed to be trying to win. Now maybe if I kneel down amidst these small children and look introspective I can gain get some of the audience to like me. Let me study this book. Here.

Well, now that that's over with I can- wait, what? we have to go to kyra's musical? Dang it, I thought I was finally free to do what I wanted. What, we're ALL in it? Um, okay. Let's get in this capsule-shaped thing and drive there.

Okay, I guess I'll get in costume and pretend I know what I'm doing. I hope Mrs. L.H. isn't mad at me for not coming to any rehearsals. Kellen seems to have a decent idea of what's going on, I'll follow her. Whew. This is ridiculous, but it's not that bad.







I like this house. Some of you should stay outside.

It's got to be here, it absolutely has to be here... I'm sure I left it here in the other dimension... quick, the wind is picking up, we have to find it before the universe collapses. Try turning on and off all the lights and here, hold this. Shit. Electricity's gone out.
No, no, I know it was here... goddamnit!
I know this is where I left it!
I know, I know, it's time to go,
running out of time
but
I know it's here

It was a perfect day

The temperature is just right, the air is clear, and the light is not too bright. Looking east to the Sound, the tide is out, and I feel perfect as I am. I wish I could go down to the water, but I have obligations, so I call Alex and tell him he needs to take a break and go down there.

-

I try to go to McCarty to pick up a key to my new home, but since I got there from my dorm, in a building a minute and a half to the southwest, I cannot obtain the key, because I don't live in that dorm anymore, I live in Fremont. I have to go somewhere else to pick up the key because the person I an trying to pick up the key from would only live in McCarty if I lived in the other dorm. I try and figure out where the person with the key lives now that I live in Fremont, or if they might be in a different place altogether since I am about to move.
I lose track of my thoughts when I run into a cluster of people standing in the way of the exit. Trying to go around them, I realize it is actually a line of people, extending down the hallway and all the way up the wide wooden stair. Actually, down every hallyway and up every staircase. A rythmic flashing catches my eye, and I understand that the building is filled with students standing in line for copy machines. Each one holds about three hundred pages, and must make copies of them before going to class.
I finally find my way out of the solid maze of students and out to a parking lot. On my way out I notice that one of the boys I am walking next to looks like Vinh from my tea class, but I can't tell for sure because I don't want to interrupt his conversation. Eventually I am almost sure it is Vinh, but he is ignoring me because I never got back to him about getting chai. He gets into a sportscar in the parking lot an I walk down the line of cars, looking for Kathryn's van. When I think I've found it I hesitate, debating whether it's really white now, but Kathryn's dad rolls down the window and sticks his head out. The other doors open and Kellen and Anna get out. Then Devin and Kathryn come over from a nearby car. Kathryn's dad says they've been waiting for me to start the summer programming class. They do this every summer in this parking lot, because it's too expensive to get a classroom. This makes me really nervous, because as much as I would like to take a class with everyone, I haven't taken math in two years, and Devin is already talking about algorithms.

I go back to my dormitory, which actually looks like my Fremont Studio (no wonder I was confused), and lay on the floor, looking through the bookcase. I pick out a book titled "SURPRISES!", thinking that maybe it's full of ideas for giving people really cool surprise parties. Instead, I am disappointed to see that it includes 10-12 illustrated summaries of historically surprising engineering feats.