Rattled Mind

I don’t remember what phase of flight training it was, or the instructor, but he said something that stuck with me through all these years.

“No amount of technology can be implemented into these aircraft to make them idiot proof.” Meaning that training was paramount. That being said, the constant push to make vehicles idiot proof isn’t working. Now, lets toss in the recent explosion of AI, and we get “Trucks.”

This story is a spin-off of Box Elder which you can find here on Spotify. I took inspiration for this story partially from watching the construction of the Mall of America. That combined with what the place would be like post-apocalyptic led to Castle All-O-Rica.

This story was inspired so many years ago. I always thought it would be cool if the horns on the Vikings helmet were real, tore at flesh when tackling.

The workings of a young mind.

The inspiration for this story comes from a long line of poor decisions throughout my life. I was lamenting as to whether a parent can make you a better decision maker, then I remembered the Magic Eight Ball.

I mulled the concept for this short story over in my ahem, rattled mind for a long time until I came up with a setting. I am really not sure what the original inspiration was. Maybe it was my own experience with circuses as a kid. Real circuses, with animals, clowns, and yes, even lions. Not sure such a thing even exists anymore.

The inspiration for this story comes from the current human condition. Yes, this story was published to my website in the spring of 2019, but not much has changed since then. We are becoming more reliant on technology, delivery services, social media, and the health care system to sustain us, entertain us, and act as our social interaction. And this was written before the whole COVID thing.

If you have read the bible, the Old Testament, not the New Testament stuff your church makes you read, people lived to be hundreds of years old. That is, until one of our ancestors pissed off God and he took that away from us, along with adding pain to childbirth. Special shout out to our ancestors for effing shit up. Somewhere in the strange workings of my mind, I connected this concept with water. What if the one thing we cannot live without was poisonous?

I am not sure if the inspiration for this short was inspired by me telling my wife, “If you run off, I will never date again.” Or, if it was an old 80’s bad science fiction movie called Cherry 2000. Look it up, it’s worth a laugh, to bad 2017 came and went. Maybe both those things were a combined inspiration. That along with the fact that I have lost love that could never be replaced.

Hope you enjoy So Close

Alternative Universe is about…well, alternative universes. And how they might be used to live dual lives, experiencing a life you wished you had not let go, or a path you wished you’d chosen. What would be the consequences of using such a place?

Hope you enjoy.

I published this story on my website about five years ago, so the inspiration is a bit fuzzy. As a person who lives with a mountain of regret, the do-over was likely the inspiration. That, combined with my belief system, or lack thereof.