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A Geek's Eye  Jun 13, 12:01 AM CST Eccentric comet pays Earth second visit By MORANA WINTER  Comet GR-Z taken towards the end of its last pass on June 13th, 2007. "Retrograde motion has been observed in comets, before," asserts NASA researcher Dr. Li Vidya, "but that is the result of Earth's motion. This is the first time we have observed a comet having apparently changed course." While there is no danger of GR-Z impacting the Earth, scientists are mystified by the celestial body's eccentric path. "It may have encountered Venus, further in," hypothesized Dr. Faruq Teivel, an astrophysicist with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, "but if so, it would be the rarest of events." According to Teivel and his colleagues, the gravity of the Earth-sized Venus may have briefly altered the orbit of GR-Z and sent it hurtling back out into the solar system along a path bringing it close to Earth. Other theories range from an asteroid collision to, on the lunatic fringe, intelligent intervention. "No matter the cause," Dr. Vidya stated, "it is a rare opportunity for both science and the general public. GR-Z will be visible to the naked eye wherever weather conditions permit." Starting shortly after midnight in each time zone across the world, the comet will come within 250,000 miles of the Earth for approximately 46 hours. ( ... ) Yours, Sylvan (Dave) BLITEOTW Current mood:  tired.Current music: "The Magick" - Alchemy VII. Up late ... again. Honestly, I've had enough of these bouts of insomnia; it's been about two months, now! While the problem has been on and off during that time, I think I've traced it to the meds I've been taking. The doctor put me on a muscle relaxant called "Cyclobenzaprine" after my back injury and, yeah, he said it would help me sleep. My psychiatrist also suggested I take Melatonin to help me drop off. Turns out that between the two of them, I've been sleeping the sleep of the dead. Why is this coming up in a post about insomnia? Let me tell you... I take the damn "Cyclobenziwhatever" pill (along with the Melatonin) just before bed and it knocks me out for the next 16 hours! I manage to get up, but only barely. I stagger through my day, half-blind and am probably a danger on the 40-minute commute in to work. Then, on top of it all, not only am I nearly falling asleep at the office but when I finally snap out of it, I stay up for hours. Why on Earth didn't I figure this out before today? So, yeah, here I am decidedly NOT taking my bedtime pills. I'm up and stuck with the current situation. Hopefully recognizing the cycle of pills and sleep problems will help me break out of this nasty habit. I've watched the latest episode of "Doctor Who" again as well as flipped channels to check out MSNBC. Science news was on so I'm guessing the politicians must either be asleep or dead: that's the only way the mainstream media covers anything cool like asteroids or extra-solar planetary systems. (See previous post.) So, anyway, gonna go in to work in the morning after forcing myself to wake up on time and -tired or not- get through the whole day before going to bed ON TIME! I'll be damned if I let my sleep schedule get fucked up like this again. At least I was able to stay wide awake for the weekly "Furry Night Dinner" with the local furries. The only down-side? We chose to go to "The Black Forest Inn" on Nicollet Avenue. Sure, it's had great German food in the past but -tonight- everything was under-seasoned, over-cooked, hard-as-a-rock, and past-it's-prime. They didn't even have Blutwurst; something I was hoping to try. (I wussed out and got their "House Plate" of Polish Sausage, over-cooked pork chop, and Bratwurst, instead.) Service was poor and -frankly- I'm not in the mood to go back there any time soon. I feel bad for my friend sorien; he couldn't come tonight even though its his favorite restaurant. Then again, maybe he'd thank me. The place has really gone downhill since last time I ate there and I think it would break his heart to see it that way.Gah. Random trains of thought. That means its time for bed. ------ Some teens seem to be hanging out in the small playground across the street. I know that when we moved in here three years ago a woman drove by and told us to "watch out for the loitering teens" but -frankly- I never took her seriously. In my mind's eye, I'm still that young despite -chronologically- being 40. Now, looking out at them, I gotta wonder how much I really have in common with today's youth. They're just sort of shambling around, aimlessly. Gods, I hope they're not stoned; I've put too much work into my garden to have it uprooted by hooligans. As I type this, they seem to have started wandering up towards 40th; maybe they'll go rob the gas station up on University. It's about time; I don't think it's been robbed this month, yet... Damn kids! Git offa my lawn! Anyway, as I said before, time for bed... Come morning, I'll be off to work no matter how dead I feel. ( ... ) Yours, Sylvan (Dave) BLITEOTW Current mood: exhausted.Current music: "Eyes of a Child" - Alchemy VII. ARGH! Overslept again; gonna be late in to work and will have to work extra late to make up for it... Damn it! No time to read LJ or the news; gotta eat, fast, while iPod downloads latest podcasts and then dash for the car. I'll catch up over lunch. Ok, running out the door, now; I'm just hoping the highways are clear. ( ... ) Yours, Sylvan (Dave) BLITEOTW Current mood: tired.Current music: none. If any of my friends or family reads this: my employer's place of work is fortified and defendable. Join me. A sunny, perfect morning is not how I'd envisioned the end of the world. I'm safe; let me start off by saying that. I made it down to Eden Prairie despite the miles of choked highways, crowds of shambling corpses, and para-military nuts with guns. Even if I were outdoors, right now, I'm far enough away that I can't really see the fires of downtown Minneapolis any more. From this distance, the smoke on that pretty, blue sky is just about the only sign that my hometown is now a ravaged battlefield rapidly becoming a cemetary. I wasn't blind to the catastrophe, only its scope and extent. I should assure ataramos that she was right: the little gas station on the corner of University and 40th has been reduced to a burned-out husk. Only Google Maps exists, now, with a reminder of that little hole in the wall.I slept through the sirens, it seems, because I didn't see any flames nor was I awakened by any disturbance. But it wasn't "those damn kids"; at least I don't think they can be called "kids" anymore. When I pulled on to University, I was shocked by how empty the street was. The trees along the edges of the gas station were burned and there was a fire truck still in the soaking-wet parking lot. While there was some hazard tape up, I couldn't see anyone: no staff, no firefighters, no cops. It was completely abandoned. I probably should have turned around and gone back home but, being late, I decided to rush on. Also, I really didn't have any inkling of the scope of what was happening. I skipped McDonalds and munched, instead, on an EnviroKids bar en-route. 694 was also curiously devoid of traffic going Westbound. East was gridlock and right at University there was a traffic snarl. I saw people milling about and what looked like a fight: a guy, covered in blood, banging on a spiderwebbed car window to the protests of the woman inside. I almost stopped but, again, pragmatism won out and I didn't want to get involved. When I reached 100 Southbound and found the traffic going North to be equally roadblocked, with more fights breaking out, that's when I realized this was bigger than a few accidents and a burned-out gas station. I turned off the latest episode of Pseudopod and put on my radio instead. "Undead Apocalypse" just about covers it. The question was whether to head home and ride it out there or keep going. Given all the blocked traffic in the other direction and the few people spilling over the medians trying to escape an advancing wall of cadavers, I elected to press on. Our offices -especially the room where I work- are secured and low on windows. The windows that are here, those out in Customer Service, are being covered with movable lockers and cubicles. There's very little staff here save for those who manned the third shift. I'm the only Site Designer in, right now, and I have to wonder if Chris just decided not to come in around 3am because of the tragedy or if something got to him, first. I doubt there will be many others. I'll keep posting, here, via WiFi as I uncover more about what's going on. But right now, I have a well-fortified place to hide, quite a few vending machines with food and water in them, and plenty of space. I've tried phoning Mom and my siblings but the lines are doing that rapid-beeping "busy" signal thing that they do when the circuits are overloaded. As far as I can see, this is going world-wide... Stay safe, stay indoors, aim for the head. ( ... ) Yours, Sylvan (Dave) BLITEOTW Current mood:  scared.Current music: none. I don't know beguine personally but a useful LiveJournal post just turned up earlier this morning with more information about the Dead, outside. I'm skeptical about some of it but it's the most complete information I've found so far. But why would a walking corpse be stopped by affixing something through its heart?Then again, why should the same hold true for its brain? Either way, I'm not about to put that advice to the test if I can avoid it. That the synopsis comes from a guy jokingly called "Mulder", I'm not keeping my hopes too high. There are more paramilitary forces out there than I'd seen on the roads coming in this morning. The circuits are still busy and I'm wishing, now, that I owned a cell phone. We lost the barricades on the front of the DR building about an hour ago. It wasn't due to the cadavers, however: it was an assault-rifle toting idiot shooting at them from the outside! According to my co-workers, he was all dressed in camo and roared up in his sports car as he started firing. Honestly, who drives around in a convertible with the top down during the Apocalypse? The idiot's ammo ripped through our cubicle barricades, taking down both Thom and Cassie from the Fraud department. Seven others were injured while the corpses just didn't seem to care. More than half of them ignored their body wounds and staggered towards "Rambo" while the other three peeled themselves off the bloody front of the building and started trying to get in through the newly-formed holes where windows and cubicles used to be. I missed the first part of the fight. I was deep in the Site Design area where I've been holding up and searching the Web for signs of help or instructions on what to do. When I heard sounds of fighting, I ran out with one of those IKEA umbrellas my boss bought us and started using it like a club. Not the best weapon but it's five feet long and can be used as a poking stick to keep the things at arm's length. The rest of the office staff did more than me, but between all our efforts, we got the creatures back outside and boarded up the hole "Rambo" created. They told me all about him, even though I couldn't see any sign of our would-be "savior". His car was still there -swarming with undead like maggots on ...well... on a corpse- but there was no sign of him. I don't normally wish people dead but I do hope his idiocy gets him killed before any more innocents have to suffer for his bravado. Reading up on other bloggers' description of the reanimation process, we put Thom and Cassie's bodies outside the back security door; no one felt comfortable dismembering them. I made a quip about "If you love something set it free; if it returns, it was meant to be ... if it doesn't, your brains won't get eaten." No one else thought it was funny. There are 21 of us left, including myself, and I'm starting to feel like I may have found a good, defensible location but at the cost of being too far away from those I love. astor_apatosaur reports that there are "riots" near him in Philadelphia. He has plenty of guns (he's the good kind of "gun nut") but he's low on ammo. Wish him luck, people...In the meantime, I'm keeping the bloody umbrella. EDIT: Oh, great: the lights just flickered on and off again. We've had three power outages this spring, so far, and the generator always kicks on shortly thereafter. Luckily, we still have power, though, and I'm hoping we can hold out for longer before having to deal with rationing electricity. When active, the generator sounds like a jet engine taking off and I'm not convinced that the noise won't summon more corpses if it starts up. ( ... ) Yours, Sylvan (Dave) BLITEOTW Current mood:  restless.Current music: none. thorninthefoot may have an interesting thought: as I sit here and eat my leftover stirfry (still in the workfridge from yesterday) I reflect on the salmonella scare regarding those tomatoes. Maybe this is some kind of biological thing? It certainly seems more likely than arcane ... and I say that as a Witch.Still, it's hard to say. The only other person -so far- reporting in from my region is ginmar; a female Vet. The thing is, she may be dead already. If so, it's a horrible loss. We have far too few competant fighters on US Soil right now and, frankly, facing an uprising by the dead, we need all we can get.She was in the middle of accounting her story while in a cab (I think) heading down towards a "Zombie Walk" in downtown Saint Paul. I don't think it ended well. I think, soon, people will start realizing that this is far less "Improv Everywhere" and far more "World War Z". I listened to the rest of this morning's Pseudopod podcast and was blown away by how prescient it was. It also makes me wonder if any of those shambling dead out there have minds ... feelings? I'm not willing to find out. So far, everyone who crosses their paths gets ripped to shreds: not much in the way of "feeling", there. More than that, however, I'm wondering if I should try making a break for it and head home. The lights keep flickering and I expect the kerosine-powered generator to fire up any time, now. My car has a mostly-full tank of gas but I worry that the northern-bound highways may be clogged with both cars and bodies. I may be safer where I am. ( ... ) Yours, Sylvan (Dave) BLITEOTW Current mood: restless.Current music: none. Power's gone. The generator has roared to life, outside. Taking a quick look out the back was difficult. There are no windows facing the rear, enclosed-on-three-sides parking lot, and all the doors are heavy security doors. There has been quite a bit of construction lately, too, so I'm a bit leery of going exploring only to find that workmen left a door unlatched. Still, heading back towards the workout room I was able to get into the loading docks. It was dark as Hell. Standing on that precipice, staring into the dark and straining to hear any sounds of shuffling or moans, I must have waited at least fifteen minutes before taking a risk. I know this probably loses me a few "macho points" but I figure I'm already gay; how many more can I lose? I tripped over some cords while trying to find the light switch and, failing that, eventually felt my way via the wall to the loading dock entrance. There were some lights on in there, still powered by the generator. It was also ear-bleedingly loud thanks to the proximity of the machinery. Prying open the back door, I scoped out the lot. Cassie was there, about twenty feet away, straining and pulling at the chainlink fence that surrounds the machine powering the company. Thom was banging on the fence with his dead fists. Worse than seeing collegues as shambling corpses was the fact that they were not alone. The noise had drawn about a dozen of the things. They were everywhere (probably still are) and trying to get at the generator. My car is out there and is about thirty or forty feet from the cadavers. The closest I can get is from the side door near the new construction area. If I'm fast (and I'm not) I could clear the distance to my car in under a minute. The zombies move at a fast walk. I can beat a fast walk. My co-workers are arguing amongst themselves, now, and I fear it is only a matter of time before things deteriorate even further. I've checked the traffic cams on the Web and know a few routes I can take off the main highways. Home is not as defensible but at least I'd be closer to people I love and trust. Haven't heard from foeclan or either of our renters, today, so I can only hope they're allright.Just in case, I'm going to break into the vending machine and take the sandwiches and bottled water. Without refrigeration they'll probably only last 3-4 days but that's better than nothing. I'm pretty sure my co-workers won't like it, so I'll have to do it quickly. I'm sorry for the asshole I'm becoming but I really need to get home! I've got my Co-Op shopping bag to fill with food so carrying everything won't be hard. My trusty umbrella is close at hand and... UPDATE: Well, I've now seen "Rambo" again. Part of him, at any rate. He's not a member of the Undead Horde but two corpses are near the edge of the parking lot fighting over what looks like a camo-wearing torso with no arms or head. Ok, here goes. It may take me half the day to get home, but I'm gonna make a run for it... ( ... ) Yours, Sylvan (Dave) BLITEOTW Current mood:  anxious.Current music: none. I've seen it! Look at the sky! It's not blue; IT'S NOT EVEN;alkj;....sf ( ... ) Yours, Sylvan (Dave) BLITEOTW Current mood: scared.Current music: none. I'm in one piece and at home. No sign of anyone else but there's damage to both the front door and the yard's gates. I definitely should explain why it took me nearly five hours to drive to Columbia Heights from Eden Prairie. Yes, I know: "undead carnivores"; but there's more to that. Have you looked at the sky, lately? deadshrimpblues has and she's gotten a much better view of it from where she is, across the Atlantic. It's Lovecraftian at times; I swear. The sky...The sky is bleeding. From the right angles, caught against the clouds as rain starts moving in, you can see it: a shredding of ... everything, rotting and dripping from the edges. When you look directly at it, it's not quite there but upon turning your head away -just occasionally- you can see the visceral hole ripped in the body of Creation. Overseas, I hear, it's visible, directly. My thoughts are with those in the United Kingdom, right now. I nearly drove off the road by Fort Snelling after catching a glimpse of that. Yes, "Fort Snelling". Build where the Minnesota and Mississippi Rivers converge, this old fortress is still one of the oldest structures in the state. I ended up there by trying to take back-roads from Eden Prairie up north towards my home. I should have known I wouldn't get lucky on this. Highways are jammed. I caught a glimpse of a military helicopter cutting in towards Spaghetti Junction and thought I heard explosions but it was hard to tell. There are a lot of explosions around town, today. As I followed back streets, dodging both the living and the dead, I found myself pulled southwards. I thought about trying to see if my friends kajicarter and sceptre1067 were Ok but just getting home became top on my mind as the pieces started to come together.I kept my laptop next to me on the passenger seat, open to try and catch stray WiFi signals. There were plenty, but rarely for long. I was getting like an addict: needing to look online to see the state of the world even though I was out there in it. I could see it all. I found myself coming out near Snelling Avenue and a small cluster of strip malls in Saint Paul. I recognized where I was and realized how far off-course I'd gotten. My car, having been so full of gas previously, was now down below the 1/8th point. I had to find gas. The streets were eerie quiet in the suburbs and, occasionally, I would see quick movement behind a shuttered or curtained window. I could guess what they were thinking: "Come save us! You have a car; help!" I didn't dare. But I did have to find fuel. There was an SA down that way and despite some carnage and blocked cars, I managed to get out, grab my gas can and bring back about eight gallons in four trips. I kept seeing movement out of the corner of my eyes and was like a rabbit being hunted by a wolf. That's when I saw the sky. I dashed to my car, finished filling it, got in, locked the doors, and found a WiFi spot. That's when I tried to get everyone to look up. I'll admit, I was stunned; not thinking clearly. I got out just a short bit before the rear window shattered and one of those damn things attacked, trying to get in. I admit, I panicked. I floored the gas but put the car in reverse. I backed over that thing and felt it go squish under my tires. A part of me thought that it said something as it stopped moving. Are walking undead capable of thought? Feelings? Gods, I hope not. I saw sights confirmed by a Saint Paul blogger that something was wrong with the confluence of rivers down by Fort Snelling. I managed to get heading back North and, eventually, to my Columbia Heights home. It's Hell out there and, as a Pagan, I don't use that term loosely. And that's the final piece: I think I've figured out something about this. Have you noticed how some people claim this happened before and others say it's the first time? Think about it: the hole in the sky ... the discordant, divergent accounts: we're seeing the overlapping of different worlds! One one, the zombies showed up a year ago; on another, this year. Gods only know how many there are but I could have sworn I even saw a walking corpse that looked like me! I'm staying indoors for a short while and then going to see if I can find my friends and family. Don't look too long at the sky; I don't know how I know this or what it means that I do, but it not only strengthens them it also fractures us! ( ... ) Yours, Sylvan (Dave) BLITEOTW Current mood:  indescribable.Current music: none. This is a call for unity. I repeat: UNITY! I've seen too much, today; far, far too much. The dead have risen, the sky is bleeding like an ulcerated wound, and -now- night is falling. The shadows are getting longer, here, in the Upper Midwest and I can only imagine that will make matters worse ... much worse. These shambling cadavers only seem to use their eyes and ears peripherally, which makes sense considering they're dead. In fact, I'm somewhat surprised that they can use those sensory organs at all, considering how rotten and befouled many of them are. I'm guessing that whatever supernatural force drives these creatures, they don't need eyes to see or ears to hear. They act like it, but they don't. That said, what will nightfall mean? With power out across 60% of the United States and Canada, we'll be facing a foe that can sense us as clearly as if we were strolling out in the middle of a field during broad daylight! When night falls, again, we're going to be massacred! This is it, then: humanity's last hurrah. I've seen too much. But one thing, and it's the barest, tiniest of things to offer hope, is this: there are more of us. The world is colliding with other worlds; perhaps all other worlds. I've seen grim visions of fighters striking out at the shambling corpses with seemingly a dozen years under their belt. I've met others who have never seen this kind of brutality outside of a Hammer Horror flick. Worlds are merging and the corpses are at the center of it. I'm heading out, now, to join in the fight. I have to. Pacificst or not ... 100 pounds overweight or not ... I can't sit idly by. I've tried hiding and all it's gotten me is stress. We have to come together: those of us who remember this war from a year ago, ten years ago, or even some time in the distant future. Regardless of our memories, it's the dead versus the living and those of us with a pulse need to get our shit together, fast. I ... I know I'm going to die, tonight; there's no two ways about it. I'm too out of shape, too slow, and don't have enough allies. I also saw something that shook me to the core. Perhaps these other Earths, bleeding through from other nightmare realms, are all in my mind. I could be cracking up, with my feeble guesses the final symptom of a nervous breakdown, long over-due. But I could swear I saw him ... I swear I saw myself shambling down a street, looking for prey. I lost sight of him -of me- for only a second but then he was gone. I'm arming myself with the axe from the garage and my trusty IKEA umbrella. I'll try to get to a gun shop, although I'm probably woefully late to that party. My dear friend ataramos is somewhere in the Great Plains, heading West while the house of sorien......I saved his cats. They're safe, for now. But I have little left to keep me from diving into the fray. Whether what I saw, before, was really me from another reality, a premonition of my own fate, or a sliver of psychosis left lodged in my mind's eye, I don't know... ...But I am going out there. Good luck, everyone. ( ... ) Yours, Sylvan (Dave) BLITEOTW Current mood:  exanimate.Current music: "Ballroom Blitz" - Krokus. |
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