Archive for the ‘decisions’ Category

In Response to Rape and Other Unsolicited Violations

Wednesday, December 23rd, 2009

Dearest landlord,

As you said, and as is typical, it is customary for a renter to give his landlord 30 days notice before moving out. In this same vein, it is customary for a landlord to give at least 24 hours notice before subjecting the tenant’s apartment to a “routine checkup.” I’ve never received notice before any of your “routine checkups.” Additionally, in order for you to have checked up on the apartment, you had to first scan the driveway for my car, knock to see if I was in and then let yourself in if it turned out I wasn’t. As it was, all of the aforementioned criteria were met, and early this morning you let yourself into my apartment for a “routine checkup.” What you found, undoubtedly, were many packed boxes, scattered laundry, cleaning supplies, garbage bags, and a trail of leaving all throughout the place. This, as you might’ve guessed, was not rightfully yours to see. It could very well have been my very personal belongings thought to be safely guarded in my own personal space. As you’ve proven, this space is anything but. And is it also turns out, these were my personal items. But you weren’t so wrong in asserting that I’m moving out. I might, however, deem it more of an escape.

I should’ve been alarmed when we first met. When, though kindly, but with a touch of creepiness, you, a 60 year-old gay man, told me I was the cutest person who’d come to see the apartment. I was flattered as much as an open-minded straight man ought to be flattered. I took it, one might say, with a bit of pride and mocked it up to your gentle outgoing persona. I should’ve been further alarmed when you told me I was welcome to use the hot tub with you if I so pleased, and nude, we should fairly mention. But I was naïve and took it as an extension of compassion, the outstretched arm of a gracious older man. What I failed to notice is that this was anything but an outstretched arm. This offer was merely a figurative penis in my figurative mind, figuratively raping my all too accepting disposition. When, two or three times, I accidentally stumbled upon your naked hot tub gatherings, I was less alarmed than I ought to have been. More than once it was with other naked men. You also offered me, instead of the mother-in-law apartment above the garage, to move into a room directly inside your home.

I wish I’d taken the advice of my dearest friends closer to heart. The dearest of the dearest told me one evening, “He wants your body.” I laughed it off, though accepting that it contained a considerable amount of truth. She’s told me this many times. I’ve laughed it off many times. I’m not laughing anymore. My figurative anus is gaping from many a nights’ torturous rape à grâce de votre figurative penis. And it’s not-so-figuratively ethical. I recall when I would encounter you in the middle of your nude baths, “Hey, boy,” you’d say to me. Looking back, that’s fucking creepy. I suppose what I’m getting at is why haven’t you ever just properly asked me to bed with you? I would, respectfully, decline. But even so, you would move from creeper status to the much more respectable “acknowledged pervert.” Instead, you remain somewhere between; the advantageous homosexual with figurative raping tendencies. And you told me once that you used to be a counselor. You have a degree in psychology, in fact. What. The. Fuck’s. Up. With. That?

When I first came to view the apartment, you showed me the master suite in your “dream home,” the home which has a room for massage therapy, which you showed me too. In retrospect, I find it flamboyantly creepy that you showed it to me, and further creepy that you proclaimed your massage techniques above those of other mortal men. In this master suite you showed me, lied a bottle of lube in a rather phallically shaped bottle. I have often wondered since if this had been strategically placed; if you were silently asking me to a feisty bout of gay sex. I looked at it, looked away. Made mention of it to my dearest of dear friends, to which they responded, “No way. Daniel, he wants you. Watch your back.” I laughed it off. But…I’m not laughing anymore. Nothing’s funny. My asshole’s aching. I’ve had too much. You also have a shop in the basement with many power tools; a basement where you devise many machines for horrible uses. Your house’s worth is practically invaluable. It’s a recently built craftsman home. Thousands upon thousands upon thousands upon thousands of dollars line the insides of its walls. And you bake, you told me once. “So be not surprised, boy,” you said, “if you find fresh brownies upon your doorstep.” “I shant,” I replied warmly. And they did appear. But then a couple of days later, from within the fridge of my locked apartment, appeared a nicely packaged homemade container of barbecued meatballs. My personal space had been for the first time, but certainly not the last, violated by your balls. Then it was lasagna. And finally more cookies. Then you offered me clothes. And when I would come upon you doing the laundry in our shared space, or collide with you inevitably in the hall, you’d swipe your hand down my back and act as if it was a gesture of fatherly kindness. But fathers ought not have erections during such gestures, nor eyes that unbutton shirts and pants.

No, I may not give you 30 days notice, but please do understand why I have not. In this letter you’ll find, I’m sure, many valid reasons why I’ve felt violated and scandalized many times in your presence. And maybe I’ve completely misinterpreted your demeanor. Perhaps your disposition is one uncontrollably covered in false perversion. I cannot discern with absolute certainty your intent. I can, however, realize when for the benefit of my own health, I must escape a situation in which I feel uncomfortably exposed. I should not, I think, feel that I’m naked before your eyes when in reality I’m dressed in many layers of clothes bound tightly by a tie around my neck and a belt about my waist. So please do understand why I didn’t give notice, and why you may never hear from me again. Also, it would be good for you to learn from this, if possible, that humans prefer to be treated as such. An innocent person should not, in my opinion, feel imprisoned in an uncharacteristically perverted house controlled by alarm systems and micromanaged methods by which you may determine my exact location at any time of the day. My discomfort is clear, I need not persist; your position is not so clear, and in this lies the evident chaos of our current debate. I hope, sincerely, that you find someone who can live within the confines of your densely polluted world.

Sincerely,

Your Violated Tenant in the Room Above the Garage in the House Surrounded With Perversion. (Who’s Leaving Pronto.)

The Atomic Teleporter

Wednesday, December 9th, 2009

We skipped autumn and went straight to winter. This isn’t an uncommon leap for Washington, but it is a harsh reality. It’s so cold that an iced mocha spilled on the cement becomes a death trap in less than a minute. Scarves transform to masks and gloves are as much a part of our bodies as skin. The sun itself glitters behind a layer of glazed ice. It’s merely a reminder of the warmth it once held; beautiful nonetheless. I find that in these frozen months relief, comfort, and immediate gratification are much more easily found. I can throw on a wool coat, scarf, and thermals to gain these rarely satisfied pleasures.

During my early promenade to lecture this morning, I fished two quarters and a penny out of my front pocket. As I walked, my boots clacked step by step, echoing through the frosted rose bushes and atop the surface of the gargantuan frozen fountain. I slipped my right glove off and grasped a quarter between my thumb and pointer finger. I pulled my arm back and lobbed the coin up at the sun. It gleamed against the rays like a star during the day and came down spinning in more perfect form than a figure skater. It met the ice of the fountain with a tinny clank and bounced a couple of times. The sound was so satisfying that I did it again with another coin. And again. The bouncing, frozen wishes were somehow legitimized by the cold. What normally would’ve been a vacant, meaningless action became a real wish. I’m not superstitious but this ice, this abrupt winter freeze, has somehow made me believe in the unbelievable. That was the best 51 cents I’ve spent since I could buy Double Bubble for that price.

As if to defy the way of the world, I’m blossoming in these winter months. My petals are extending their reach and requesting the gentle nourishment of the bumblebee. I’m giving and receiving, coming out of a dense hibernation. I’m learning to love and be loved, and not to give too much. I’m learning that the cold is not a time to solidify, but a time to use the ice as a lubricant for progress. As much as Pam hates ice skating, I’m afraid there’s a time when everyone must lace up their skates and take advantage of this opportunity to skate over our lakes of trouble. The ice may crack, but taking that risk in return for the effortlessness and grace of the skate is something I’m willing to do. During the summer we’re forced to swim and fight the waters, the winter offers a less common way of overcoming adversity. But build a safety net. It’s okay to fall through the ice so long as someone sees it happen. They’ll call up a team of expert-trained firefighters to pull your curdling blood up from the dark waters.

I recently walked into a store, “The Greenwood Space Travel Supply Company.” If you cannot identify my intrigue, I can offer you no more evidence of it. I stepped in with Pam after a pleasant bite at Mr. Gyros. Once in the door, I froze. I looked up, down, left, and right. Tiny metallic objects, books, freeze-dried food, canisters with chemical labels, pens, pencils, robots all lined the walls.
Atomic TelporterAt the counter was a woman. “What do I do now?” I asked her. As if the question was one she receives often, she replied without hesitation. “You find any and all of your space travel supply needs.” “What if I don’t have space travel supply needs?” “Well…we’re actually a front for a non-profit youth writing and tutoring center.” It all began to make sense. The atomic teleporter at the back of the store wasn’t actually a teleporter, it was an elaborately designed door that led to a classroom where tutoring sessions were held. All of these products weren’t really for space travel, they fund an organization with more valiant of a cause than NASA could ever hold claim to. Pam looked at me with the eyes of knowing. Her gaze said, “Danl, you need to volunteer for this shit immediately.” It’s the culmination of recent revelations. Of my need to help others, of my need for purpose, of my need to write, of my need to impart encouragement and support to a group so troubled by the aspects of growing up.

As the quarter wraps up, December closes in, and the winter grows harsher I intend to do just the opposite. I’m going to volunteer at either 826seattle.org (The Greenwood Space Travel Supply Co.) or some like-minded non-profit place that involves both the upbringing of youth and a culmination of the arts.

From Dropout to Double Major

Wednesday, December 9th, 2009

I’ve rarely done things with a conventional rhythm. From songwriting to handwriting, my way has always differed from others. I remember being taken to a small, dimly lit room in the basement of my elementary school for special instruction on writing my letters. When I wrote my E’s I started from the wrong end, and my K’s were rather problematic. But it wasn’t for lack of intelligence, I just didn’t like their way. The most comfortable temperature for me when driving in the car is one that allows my breath to be visible in front of me. I spent an entire year refusing to buy anything that wasn’t Adidas brand. I’ve rarely done things with any sort of conventional rhythm. Sometimes I come so dreadfully near to failure that, rather than accepting it, I turn completely around and shoot for the other end of the spectrum all together. Such has been the story as of late.

A mountain of personal and emotional problems came so close to destroying me that I was forced to retaliate with equal force. When life takes away your lemons, make apple juice. (Lemonade sucks anyways.) The University of Washington has around 45,000 students in attendance, of which, I am one. Such a looming ratio can make one feel quite insignificant. When you add in the factor of prescribed realities—the eerie orange bottles of medicinal benefit—the ratio heightens. On top of this, a history of familial fuck-up, repression, unhealthy relationships, and too much Dr. Pepper equates to, at least, the weight of the world—if not the known universe.

I cannot carry both my books and the weight of the known universe with me to class every morning. When the ability to move is revoked, when the desire to pull one’s legs from the sheets in the morning is nonexistent, when you have, for lack of a better term, become a zombie; something must change. And so feeling someone must either blow my brains out or find a cure for this undead disease, I sought first the cure. After a few thorough sessions with my team of life strategists, not enough sleep, some Belizean rum, and a number of other uncounted outside influences, I deduced that my current academic load was holding down a life that could barely stand on two legs without it. Was I wrong in this assertion? Not at all. Was I going to admit defeat? I considered it, briefly.
Shari's disclaimer
Instead, I gathered up that team of strategists, still not nearly enough sleep, no Belizean rum this time, and, again, a number of uncounted outside influences, and decided that rather than get slapped in the face by the bitch that is life I, Daniel Robert Spendlove, doctor, philosopher, writer—pimp—smacked that bitch and said, “You listen here, whore, you give me my money or else.” Then I gave her a very resentful look and spit on her strappy shoes. She turned her story around real quick and gave me back my lemons. One by one I threw the lemons back, all the while screaming, “You do that to me again and see what happens!” She’s been behaving like a dog with a shock collar ever since.

If you’ve been reading with as much astuteness as I now hold you responsible, you’ll have deduced that rather than dropout of the University of Washington I decided to double major in Creative Writing and Early Childhood and Family Studies, and maybe a minor in Philosophy. Some people have to fall off the horse and get back on. Others have to come so close to killing the horse that in nursing it back to health they take the opportunity to reform what was once merely field grazer into a steed of resounding brilliance.

With a glass of apple juice in hand, life at my knees, a wallet devoid of green but brimming with possibility, I now embark on an adventure to be twice the man I once was and five times the man I ever expected to be. This, friends, is a new set of tires, a sharpened blade, a pair of newly polished shoes, a bed with fresh sheets. This is a light burnt out, and me choosing the fancy new energy efficient bulb that lasts 70 times as long rather than replacing it with the same. old. shit.

The Skin Magician

Saturday, December 5th, 2009

Summer. The sun strong, but the Washington shade cold like autumn. The scene: a family-friendly park in Shoreline. Unsuspecting. Safe, supposedly. But something in the air is wrong. Something touches my skin and tells me, You should not be here.

I had fallen asleep, vulnerable, shirtless, shoeless, half naked, unguarded beneath the shade of a large tree, the green grass keeping my back cool as the sun crept up shirtless, vulnerable close to my toes and threatened to burn my dermis. I was unaware I had fallen asleep. Suddenly, as if thunder from the clouds, I heard the jolting voice of the Skin Magician.

“Aren’t you cold?” it boomed.

“What?! Huh, uhhh, uhh, no no no, I’m not cold…” I jumped up as quickly as if I were trying to walk across a bed of fiery coals.

“Were you asleep?”

“No, I was just relaxing.” I rubbed my eyes and opened them wide as if to prove I hadn’t even been close to sleep. The Skin Magician smiled. Creepy.

“Well it sure is a nice day out here, huh?” His conversation was brimming with all the awkwardness of a cold pot of water forced to boil against its will.

“Yeah, pretty remarkable for Washington,” I said.

“Ahhhh, yes. Mmmmmmmmmm.”

About this point I began to question his motives. My drowsiness was vacating quickly, my senses coming to me. I looked at him with heightened suspicion and he returned my gaze with wondrous eyes like stars. Creepy. And the noises, the incessant grumbling and moaning noises. When he had no words he simply grabbed the handrail he stood next to and turned his head to the left and up, staring into the sky, moving the clouds about it with his magic eyes. Silence ensued for seconds. Seconds longer than minutes.

“Mmmmmm. Wow. Yes.”

I lay in uncomfortable silence, unsure whether to bolt or experience whatever was happening, as awkward as it may be. But mostly, I was unsure what to do. I was about 90% sure the Skin Magician was hitting on me, 10% of me still thought it possible he simply sought pleasant conversation.

The Skin Magician wore no cap, no gloves, no cape, no tuxedo. A t-shirt, jeans, tennis shoes, a bald and shining head; a very unassuming outfit for a magician of such caliber.

“Wow, do you see that?” he asked me inquisitively, with tremendous conviction. He could obviously make the silliest things glow with interest. “Watch this pole,” he said, shaking the railing he held tightly in his grip. The railing stretched out for at least a hundred feet, all the way down a long cement walkway through the park. “When I shake this bit here you can see it still shaking all the way down to the end.” He dropped his head very close to the rail, cheek almost against it, and continued to make it quiver beneath him.

I was in awe. I was now 100% sure that he was hitting on me. If it is ever unclear whether a man is hitting on you, ask yourself this question: Does he direct your attention to a phallic symbol and proceed to manhandle said symbol as if it is the body of another human? If you answer yes to this question, you, friends are being hit on by, perhaps even, the Skin Magician himself.

“That’s crazy,” I replied. Anyone who knows me would’ve known my interest was completely feigned. What rested in me was merely fear. Fear alone. I reached for my socks and began to pull them on slowly.

“So, you like to ride bikes, huh?” he asked me, nodding his head toward my bicycle. Shit, yes I do, I thought. I’m riding a bike and he most certainly drove his car here. How ever will I escape if the Skin Magician decides not only to turn me gay, but cut me in half and have two parts of me to do as he pleases? I know his assistant would not be some lovely lady either, no, the manssistant would be wearing a Speedo tuxedo and bunny ears. I’m fucked, though I wish I weren’t.

“Yeah, I like to ride. Especially on days like this, you’ve really got to take advantage of the weather.”

“Absolutely,” he said, too smoothly.

I pulled my shoes slowly over my feet, being cautious not to make it deathly apparent I was clothing myself. The Skin Magician, rest assured, would pull his wand from his back pocket and force the clothes high up into the trees. I must move as a snake through the underbrush and make no sudden movements, only stealthy, boneless ones. The Skin Magician, no doubt, knew only of sudden, bone-full ones. He was moving the clouds about the sky once more with his eyes. My heart beat a pitter patter that could rival any Led Zeppelin jam. Terror does not describe what the Skin Magician had strapped me with. A more appropriate likening would be chains and leather straps, whips lined up on the walls. Weird shaped tools, strange circular objects, many things laid out on table which had no obvious utility but would very clearly become obvious once near any of my body’s few orifices. I reached down and grabbed my shirt. This would be difficult to do stealthily.

“So, what do you do?” he asked. “Are you a student?”

“Yeah, I go to the University of Washington.”

“Oh very nice. What are you studying?”

“English. Creative writing.”

“Ahh, a fellow artist. I studied the visual arts. Painting and acting, mostly. Yes, yes, I’m definitely an artist too. Very cool to run into another.” No no no, we are fellow NOTHINGS, Skin Magician, your life is one complete illusion. Free me, NOW!

My shirt was a tight fitting orange v-neck. I carefully unrolled it from its balled up shape. One hand in the bottom, up, slowly to the right arm of the shirt; the other arm in the other side up, slowly, to the left arm; my head bowed down and slipped into the bottom hole. Everything goes black. My shirt covers my vision as I try to slip it on quickly, but never quick enough, and my fear grows. Inside my shirt I can see nothing. I know not where the Skin Magician is, nor what he’s doing. My heart. Pound. Pound. Pounding.

In my mind I pictured the Skin Magician dancing in dubious circles around me, waving his wand in wild motions, smiling up to his ears and jumping five feet in the air, somehow silently. He was casting the wickedest of all his spells and all because I tried to get dressed, to cover up this skin of mine. All because I wanted to remain a straight, woman-loving, man. I wanted nothing more than to be anywhere but in the middle of the Skin Magician’s wicked dance. I pulled my shirt down and there he stood, not dancing in circles, but closer than before. He was on the grass now, not holding the railing. Only five feet from me, maybe. I stood up.

“Well, I really should get going,” I said nervously.

“Where do you live?” he asked. I felt five again. Do not talk to strangers. Do not talk to Skin Magicians.

“Oh, you know, just over by 145th, kind of near Central Market.”

“Ahh, really? I was just about to do some grocery shopping there, maybe we’ll run into each other.” He smiled the smile I had imagined moments earlier, except he was not dancing, only figuratively. It was so far from an evil smile that it was worse than evil.

“Yeah, so I should get going,” I said, grabbing my bike and standing it up. I was mostly clothed now, the only skin showing being my arms, my face, and my shins beneath my rolled up brown corduroy pants and still, I felt acutely exposed. Even if he did not come near to touching me, his eyes, his disposition, his magic, was molesting me with every moment his presence persisted.

“Haha, maybe,” I forced, trying to be cordial. Do not let your captors know you suspect their evil. If anything, convince them you have succumb to Stockholm Syndrome and when they least expect it, run. Run for your fucking life. For the health of your body’s orifices. I straddled my bike between my legs. He walked closer, right next to me.

“My name is Dana, by the way,” he said, offering his hand. I quivered inside, contemplated my next move.

“Daniel,” I said, offering mine. We shook hands. I imagined him shaking that pole in his hands. My brain gagged.

“Oh, funny,” he said. “Both D names. That’s very funny. People used to make fun of me for mine. But very funny we’re both D’s.” Shut. The. Fuck. Up. And free me, Skin Magician. Stop this horrible torture. “Do you email?” he asked.

“Yeah, sure,” I replied. “I don’t have one of my cards on me though,” I lied.

“Oh, me neither,” he said to me. “But here, I’ll just tell you. It’s,” he began to speak very very slowly, and very very surely, “‘Skin Magician’.” He enunciated each letter carefully. My blood curdled, my veins twisted, my eyes twitched, I got a pilo-erection and froze.

“Spelt as it sounds?” I asked stupidly.

“Yes, except with an underscore between ‘Skin’ and ‘Magician,’ at yahoo dot com.”

“Okay, very neat,” I said. I slipped my foot into one pedal of my bike, then the other. Mounted it, barely moving, standing still on the pedals as if frozen in time; he was holding me there, still as stone with his eyes. I could almost make out the wand in his eyes. Then, with a sudden second of mercy, he freed me. He gave me a moment to run, and I capitalized.

I pushed my legs as hard as they would go, already out of breath before I’d even begun, I hit a stone and nearly crashed the bike, but pedaled with excessive ferocity. Down the hill, to the left, away, far far

away from

The

skin_magician@yahoo dot com.

My Life as a Criminal Must End

Thursday, December 3rd, 2009

I live in a prison. I break in nightly, but never out. It’s a craftsmen prison with white trim and blue siding. The windows are old-fashioned, the inside is a dream-prison. It was built in 2006. Last night, as I was breaking in, I set off the alarm. It was a reasonable 33 degrees outside. The water vapor from my mouth solidified into crystals before me as I stumbled into the backdoor. I unlocked the door with haste and listened, listened for the steady chirping to alert me that the prison’s alarm system had been set. It began a second after I opened the door. Every second a sharp and steady beep…beep. I had on brown leather gloves to ward off the cold, but when breaking into a prison whose alarm system has tiny buttons all lined up close to each other, leather gloves are a terrible decision. After the first beep¸ my panic ensued. I stumbled straight into the dark mud room with only a dim nightlight near the floor and the terrifying chirp of the alarm system to guide me. There’s roughly 10 alarm panels throughout the house, each one chirps wildly when you try to break in late at night, one of which is on the wall of the landlord’s room and, without fail, wakes him whenever it starts to sing its lullaby. In my panic I fumbled many times on the pad. I pushed the buttons too fast, pushed the wrong ones, finally began just pressing them without even attempting to hit the correct combination. After 20 seconds the pad alerted me that it had locked and I must find another pad to disengage the alarm system. 11:30, the neighborhood’s asleep and the alarm is warning me that if I do not disarm it within 40 seconds the neighborhood will no longer be so. BurglarI dashed up the stairs in a frantic run, found the pad at the top and, finally, pushed the correct combination, but all too late. As my finger came to rest upon the final number in the combination (my gloves now removed) the alarm alerted me that I was too-fucking-late. A scream not unlike a police siren erupted throughout the prison.

For miles, squirrels, humans, crows, and insects alike were awoken and began to foster a lifelong hate for me and my follies.

Sweat on my brow and panic in my underpants, I typed the combination once more and the prison fell silent. 3 seconds passed and one final beep echoed through the dark but awake halls of the craftsmen prison. My heart made one last thump and I stood at the top of the staircase, waiting. I felt like a child awaiting my punishment. I had my gloves in my left hand, my coat unzipped with a scarf flopping about my neck. Shock was printed on my face and I stood silently with a complete stillness, listening for the footsteps of the landlord.

They did not come. And I did not argue.

I got what I came for and dashed out the way I’d come.

As if I needed anymore persuasion, I’ve decided to end my time as a criminal and move to a nice, suburban, humble abode. One, hopefully, without a totally impenetrable alarm system. The problem with these systems is that they make the house one lives in feel almost entirely inhospitable. And unlike most prisons, college is not free here.

Plus, I could use cheaper rent. Anyone looking for a couch?