Life (512 hits)
Category: NoneRating: 1.57 on 18 reviews (Rate this item) (V)
Submitted by orph (View user info) at 2007-10-30 13:07:57 EDT
When was the last time you did this, or that, or anything that was worthwhile?
This question always made him wake up.
Peter's day was turning out to be the same as any other of his days. Of course he didn't own the day, but only his experience of it, so his day, the bit that was his, unfolded as per the others that he'd lived through.
The morning ritual as usual, involved the cleaning of his body, the brushing of his teeth and hair, using a different brush for each, and the clothing of said body with fabric. His nakedness covered, he could now set out and impose his existence on the rest of the world. Of course, only after he'd fuelled himself with food and drink, or perhaps, if he selected cereal with milk, a pleasant mixture of the two.
Whilst he spooned the slowly congealing substance into his face, his eyes and ears gorged themselves on the images and sounds blared out by his television - he owned it, paid for with money that was transiently his for the time between withdrawing it from the bank, and handing it over to the television store employee.
The employee, who took but couldn't keep the cash, handed it on to the store owner, and then the store owner gave it back to the bank. Later on, Peter would probably go and get that money back, but even if the actual notes and coins were the same one's he'd bought his television with, it would not be the same money that he had previously.
The television, well all televisions, not just the one Peter owned, were wonderful devices, with the ability to transfer electronic signals into words and pictures, and moving pictures at that! However, the content of those same signals left a lot to be desired. He wondered when the disconnect had originally occurred; the point in time when the wonderful invention had been hobbled by the lack of anything really important enough to be broadcast?
His ears sucked in the noises and turned them into other signals that his brain, his self, could understand. That too was amazing, but he took it for granted, and was not alone in doing so. His eyes did the same, but with the pictures, and were similarly never given the credit they deserved.
The bowl became empty, with the contents now resting as an unidentifiable mass within Peter. He felt sensations that registered the fact that he was now 'full', just like a car with a sloshing belly of petrol. However, there was no gauge on Peter that read 'F' - he just knew that he was.
Being full was the signal to leave home, and go outside, then go inside, then outside again, and then finally back inside. This sequence was better known as the trip to work. It involved a mundane walk to the train station, the boarding of a train, exiting the train at the appropriate stop, walking to his office building, and going inside the office building. Of course, the spectrum of possibilities that could take place whilst Peter was undertaking this daily quest was endless, yet the same occurrences reared their heads with a mind-numbing regularity.
Not once had a fire breathing, armour scaled drake swooped down from above to make off with some of his commuting companions. He'd also never found himself in an alternate reality, where he was king whose sole task was to service an abundant supply of nubile young princesses. It was possible, yet not entirely probable.
Instead, it usually rained on Peter during the winter months, and his skin would get cold as well, then hot again when he got on the train. Some days he would sweat, and his skin would then get wet, and then dry again as it soaked into his clothes. On the rare occasion, someone would trip over, scattering the possessions they were carrying at the time, and then get back up. The excitement on those mornings was palpable.
The train never crashed, got blown up, or missed the stations. However, it was often late, yet this was not exciting.
The people inside the same building that Peter worked at would pay him for his time and efforts. Well, not exactly the very people in the building, but they knew people, who knew other people, and the people they knew had money, and would give out tiny amounts of it regularly if you kept coming to the same place for five days every week, and do what they told you to do.
Peter, although he had feelings of hatred and barely repressed contempt and frustration towards the building and the people who told him what to do, kept on coming to the place where he worked. He did the things he was told, and was graded on what he did, almost like school, but without....without the...; well it was actually exactly like school.
He was allowed to stop doing what they told him to, and eat, but this time not cereal. Usually, he would purchase slices of bread, and in between this bread had been stuffed and spread other foods. Almost everyone ate these creations. Once he had finished eating, he often sat still whilst his ears and eyes hooked into the television again.
Before it got too late in the day, Peter was permitted to leave the building in which he worked, although usually, it was too late to do anything else. So he would take the reverse of the morning trip to work, and initiate the travel back home sequence.
Television and food conspired together when he arrived at his apartment building, enslaving him on the sitting room chair, until the hour of the day was very late. He would then ready himself for occupying the bed.
Thus far, nothing worthwhile had happened.
When was the last time you did this, or that, or anything that was worthwhile?
This question would always send him to sleep.
![hm_commuters[1].jpg (28 kB)](http://stuff.ubersite.com/119376407768368940/1/hm_commuters[1].jpg)
User Reviews
Submitted by monkeyswithguns (user info) at 2007-10-31 22:05:24 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Finally got around to it. Great read, makes me think of a few things...
1) The way you described his routine, with watching the television, and how he paid for it with his money reminded me of the processes that things must go through from raw materials to completed product and all the hands that touch it along the way, and all the thinking and planning that goes into it, and everyone involved with it from start to finish.
It's the kind of thing that keeps me awake at night, endless chains of thoughts, tightly or loosely related, extending into the infinite.
2 Where you ended it with how he repeats it every day, ad infinitum, it reminded me that 10 years ago, I would have a thought like this in the car on the drive to work, or school, and suddenly I'd have driven past my destination, and just continue until I found something new or interesting.
I discovered tons of hidden parks in the VA/NC border area this way. I also got lost quite often, but either way, it all seemed much more worthwhile, much more important, than my original destination.
I like these thoughts. Please continue.
Submitted by orphelia (user info) at 2007-10-31 06:20:52 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
You are my hero. This is fantastic.
Submitted by DrogoRoch (user info) at 2007-10-31 05:41:51 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Submitted by Merlina (user info) at 2007-10-30 13:41:25 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
I love your posts
--
Always good Orph, always good.
I am also ashamed to have to admit that I saw the same clip that Sico saw regarding the female, not lady, having it with the ear of corn. * Shiver *
Submitted by beer-turtle (user info) at 2007-10-30 20:53:46 EDT (#)
Ranking: 1
Almost captured the ennui of the commuter whose life is his/her job.
Submitted by monkeyswithguns (user info) at 2007-10-30 20:18:16 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Submitted by monkeyswithguns (user info) at 2007-10-30 19:58:49 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Submitted by kaos-king (user info) at 2007-10-30 07:56:15 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Didn't read.
+2 on good faith.
---bookmarked
Submitted by FlakMonkey (user info) at 2007-10-30 15:22:56 EDT (#)
Ranking: 1
not bad not great.
~Brdn_Nkd
Submitted by shadow (user info) at 2007-10-30 15:12:46 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
not bad at all.
Submitted by triangle_man (user info) at 2007-10-30 14:35:05 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
dude needs uber
Submitted by TheUniter (user info) at 2007-10-30 14:23:59 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Submitted by inion_de_trua (user info) at 2007-10-30 13:53:50 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by ConorJS (user info) at 2007-10-30 13:50:12 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
+2 filename.
In reality, I thought this was okay, and maybe worth reading. It just wasn't anything I haven't heard countless times before.
Submitted by Merlina (user info) at 2007-10-30 13:41:25 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
I love your posts
Submitted by sicosemen (user info) at 2007-10-30 13:36:28 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Repetition sucks. That's why I fucked my asshole with an ear of corn last night...unshucked! I did stumble upon a you porn entry the other night whilst paddling my pierogie and was fascinated by some German broad who was fucking herself with an ear of corn.
Submitted by ShimishSmortion (user info) at 2007-10-30 13:19:07 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
IDK
Submitted by orph (user info) at 2007-10-30 13:14:31 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Cheers Sico, I'm glad I can trigger auto-bowel purging...
Submitted by orph (user info) at 2007-10-30 13:14:01 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
'Last night I banged Method's Mom. Of wait, you said worthwhile....'
This should be 'Or wait' or even 'Oh wait'.
Submitted by Quint (user info) at 2007-10-30 13:10:46 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
"When was the last time you did this, or that, or anything that was worthwhile? "
Last night I banged Method's Mom. Of wait, you said worthwhile....
Submitted by sicosemen (user info) at 2007-10-30 13:10:12 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
I swear I just pooed myself at the sheer thought of being able to read one of your posts. Now, to read it...