simcity3000

Posted by lemiffe in Literature, Short Stories on Mar 28th, 2010 | 0 comments

simcity3000

Sonny,

How have you been? I hope you are feeling alright. I know things have been tough for you, but try to hold on. I’ve been remembering things lately, like your mother for example.

I also remember back then the goverment would treat us like dogs. They would tread on us. I knew how it was, not because of my age, but because of the stories I had read. Knowledge was banned, except for the knowledge that came built into us.

I had my chip removed a while back and since then I had ceased to remember most of the pertaining things of history. It cost me great effort to evolve a mind of my own again, and then to start piecing the bits and bobs of my memory back together again.

So, Gregory told me the other day that he was falling apart. It seems we are all falling apart nowadays. I haven’t been able to find a new book to read in years, and Gregory is feeling more depressed every day with the news. He really hates when the chemical injections start to kick in when he’s feeling down. It’s really annoying, you start feeling bad and the chip injects you, you’re feeling too good and it injects you again, you’re feeling like a rebel and it injects you, you’re feeling unusual and it injects you. Gregory was on the verge of killing himself yesterday but the chip altered his mood yet again, stopping him from committing such action. Not that I would care that much anyway, I mean, he is my best friend but he no longer thinks by himself.

It is ridiculously dangerous to even attempt removing the chip as when it is removed it sends out a GPS alert immediately. I had to cut my arm off, throw the whole thing in a bin several kilometres away, and run like mad. Even so, I’ve been hiding for several years now, I’m surely being searched for, you know, my arm had my DNA and stuff. It’s obvious they are looking for me. Not that they need to really look anyway, they’ve just got these readers everywhere.

I once read up on these ‘license plate’ readers they installed back at the start of the previous millennium. That was only the beginning of many changes to come. Nowadays everything seems peaceful, there are no wars, there is no crime, and the world is at peace, at the cost of the freedom of millions of people.

I wish I could go back to the old world. I mean, it’s great not seeing murder, death, suicide and violence on the TV every day. It’s great not fearing getting knifed outside your apartment in London. It’s great not losing loved ones to wars like the great Iran war in 2015, or the 3rd or 4th world war. It’s great not having to worry about the news, about the weather, about car accidents. But then again, that randomness in life was what made it particularly interesting. Now they care for everything for us, I mean, for those who have the chips. The weather is always standard, the population numbers are always the same, the amount of energy input/output is always the same, the distribution of people across planets is equivalent, it’s all bloody perfect in the end.

I wish I could get a drink of whiskey, you know, one of those Glen… Glen… oh god, I forgot the name years ago, never-mind. Maybe a Chivas would do the trick, if there only was any.

So Gregory said he’ll be stopping by today to bring me a little “fresh” milk and cheese. I better be going now son, I hope you are having a great time, don’t try to find me (not that you’d be able to leave you’re place with that intention anyway), and think not of me as a prisoner, but a free man. I hope this letter gets to you and overpowers the will imposed on you by the machine. I hope one day you acquire the power to liberate yourself. Until then, take care.

Regards,

David Paterson

Weekly Highlights (28/03/2010)

Posted by lemiffe in Photography, Weekly Highlights on Mar 28th, 2010 | 0 comments

This is a random picture I took at the Edinburgh Airport at the beginning of the week. No, I haven’t been flying, I went to say goodbye.

After that I caught a terribly bad cold/cough, hence the fact I have no more photos to show this week. It’s bad in a way, you know, breaking the habit. Having at least those 3 photos every week gives me a reminder of time, and when it becomes something consistent you know you can always go back 2 weeks, 5 months, a year, and see what you were doing on a precise week.

So I’m starting to recover at last, Sunday, and I have a heavy working week ahead of me. I hope to be in a good enough condition to be able to concentrate adequately on my work. At least the rain and grey skies have cleared for a couple of days, I hope it lasts a bit longer.

Robert Johnson

Posted by lemiffe in Literature, Random Poetry on Mar 28th, 2010 | 0 comments

A fearless, cold, impenetrably inhumane character, with a warm heart deep inside, and a tortured psyche.

He figured out a way to escaped his ravaged city. This Robert Johnson, a man I speak about.

People thought he was going crazy, you know, walking out from his house. He left 2 children behind, little ones, one of the 2 years old.

How was his wife going to cope with it?

He barely earned enough to pay for food, and his wife couldn’t work. Disease had distraught her back in 91′.

Nonetheless, Robert left for newfoundland, searching for newfoundglory. He must have walked for weeks or years. Poor Robert, dying of pneumonia on christmas eve, on a faraway doorstep, in the middle of nowhere, where time was timeless and space was spaceless.

Weekly Highlights (21/03/2010)

Posted by lemiffe in Photography, Sightseeing, Weekly Highlights on Mar 22nd, 2010 | 0 comments

Better late than never, here is my photoset for last week’s events. It was a bit of a hectic one, lots of moving about, lots of work, however, I had enough time at the weekend to go and visit a few museums, and take a few photos around the city.

The photo above was taken on George Street. Right now there are a few roadworks going on, but this particular section is beautiful, specially after 7pm when the lights are turned on in all these Victorian-style buildings.

This is a beautiful fountain located just outside the People’s Palace and Winter Gardens. I had the opportunity to visit this on Saturday, what a nice place indeed… Well worth visiting.

This photo was taken inside the Winter Gardens. It was bloody hot inside, and there were a few plants you would not expect to find in Scotland, all made possible by this massive greenhouse. This fountain/sculpture is in the centre of the gardens which also have a really nice café/diner.

Weekly Highlights (14/03/2010)

Posted by lemiffe in Photography, Sightseeing, Weekly Highlights on Mar 15th, 2010 | 0 comments

So this week was a fantastic one! Lots of stuff going on… But most of the stuff took place between Saturday and Sunday. I took a tour around Glasgow for the sake of it. The first day I caught a glimpse of the protest pictured above. A march for refugees… I don’t know the complete story behind it so there is no point in me speculating about it.

Along the tour I took a few pictures of the SECC in Glasgow. Remarkably similar to the opera house in Australia. Some people along the tour said it looks like a squashed version of it.

The last stop was the Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum. Wonderful time I had here, lots of stuff to see, lots of stuff to do. Everything from Egyptian expositions, Scottish art, lots of stuffed animals, and plenty of things to look at. One good point to mention was the organ player at the entrance. Quite a crowd had gathered at the cafe below to watch him:

So in general I would say it was a successful week. If only every week was as entertaining. How was your week?