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Writer's pictureThad McKraken

Routine Surgery at the Aquatic Alien Server Farm



5/30/2024 -


I’m at a party hanging out with my dad and he leaves to go play poker. Not long after, my wife comes over and says she isn’t feeling well. My wife has continual health issues so I’m pretty whatever about it as it seems pretty standard. I leave to mingle, then eventually circle back to my wife. She’s feeling worse but trying to deal with it to the best of her abilities. I look at her face though and like nope. She is quite clearly not OK. Her face is turning blue. Then it starts to turn green. She’s just going to tough it out but I’m all: No way, you need help immediately. I desperately run back to where my dad (who’s a former physician) is playing poker. He takes one look at her and springs into action. That’s where the scene cuts out.


In the next sitch I’m sitting at dinner at yet another family gathering and my little bro for unknown reasons wants me to play a game on his portable Turbografx 16. I’m reluctant but agree. The next thing I know my consciousness is warped into this side scrolling hyper color retro spaceship video game that I’m playing with my mind.



I’m quite easily navigating through the first level but then I get to the level boss and lose. I just don’t know the pattern and honestly, am not even intrigued enough to play again and figure it out.


“I hate boss battles in video games.”


I tell my little bro. This is entirely true.


Then another adventure in the high-rise situation. This is very long and involves a Super Bowl gathering I’m having. It feels like we watch an entire game and all I remember is that there’s a controversial call at the end. After the game, we head downstairs and go to what seems like some sort of a concert festival.


Eventually we head back to the elevated condo. A few people including Giannis Antetokounmpo and my ex-girlfriend who’s wearing a midriff baring hippie outfit are now hanging out with us. They want to smoke cigarettes but they need to head down to the street outside. I agree to head with them while my other friend excuses himself. He’s gotta head home but bitches about the controversial Super Bowl call as he’s walking out the door. After hanging on the city streets for quite a while, we’re now heading back in. Giannis is intrigued by the architecture of the building I’m living in and wants to get a better look.


I totally understand this and wow. It is quite a spectacle. What an odd, surreal design. Old school brick on the bottom and black modern glass for the top 2/3rds. Such weird angles. Something that certainly couldn’t exist in the waking world. As we walk around to take in the spectacle at night, Giannis keeps skulking around in the shadows. I have absolutely no idea why he’s doing this but I think it’s odd to say the least.  


5/31/2024 –


Psi vignettes:


This is only a vignette because I can only remember the end of the extended sequence. I’m at work and I’m supposed to be learning a new kind of skill. I’m semi-excited about this I suppose. Again, this goes on for a while and my recollection sort of starts when the training beings. I’m being trained by this I’d say 30’s looking woman in a lab coat who honestly looks a lot like a shorter Ezi Magbegor.


As we’re walking over to the shore of a sandy beach I’m realizing that the task is performing surgery on these unbelievably strange aquatic animals. The best way I could describe them would be large round spotted slugs with no features whatsoever. No faces but shaped like large round rocks. While I’m realizing that this is the task, I’m obviously thinking to myself:


“Uhhh, performing surgery on aquatic seemingly alien creatures is maybe a bit beyond my depth (sea pun intended).”


But then she’s getting into it and it all seem very routine. She opens one up and is like:


“So the first thing I do is take this dangly neuron looking goop tentril and staple it into this little hole on the other side of the interior of its skin here.”


You know. She’s got directions. There only seems to be 5 or 6 steps. I think I can handle this and I’m really contemplating how I have to do it myself rather than just watching her as that’s how I learn. The more I thought about it, the more these things seemed like living server farms.

 



It’s ridiculous that it’ll take me a sec to even explain this premise of this one. You see, at Bumbershoot (which is a large music/arts festival in Seattle) they often have big name comedians but it’s the dumbest format imaginable as you have to pay for tickets to the fest, but getting into the comedy shows is first come first serve. Because of that you have to show up early. I did this once more than 20 years ago and we waited for more than an hour and barely got in.


Like, we were roughly 5 people away from not getting into the show and if we didn’t it was going to be another like hour and a half. Obviously I’ve never done it since and I don’t even know if it still works this way. That’s the premise though, I’ve showed up for one of these things and after we’ve waited in line, right before it’s about to start the performers are all:


“Yeah, you know? There was no guarantee this was actually gonna be comedy if you read the fine print. We just thought we’d throw that out there.”


And I’m sitting there sort of annoyed like:


“But I just stood around for over an hour expecting comedy?”


I don’t know what to think of this because on the other hand, when a country’s descending into fascism, maybe shit just ain’t funny, you know?

 




I’m in a situation where I’m being asked to pay for something that I was assuming was going to be free and I’m pretty irritated about the situation. Then I’m handed the invoice and it’s like the blandest plain white invoice in the universe asking me for 10 cents. I’m still sort of annoyed but whatever. That’s how they get you though, isn’t it? Literally dimed rather than nickeled in this vision.

 



Now I’m CD shopping at what almost seems like a thrift store or something and there’s a memory that I already bought a bunch of CD’s the day prior. It feels like I’m on vacation or something and I’m just scanning through again to see if I can catch anything else as it seems like I had quite the haul already. I know I’m stretching it though. I’m scanning through this fairly small bin of discs this one shop has and I think I’ve found this thing I want for only $8.99 but my brother comes over and is all:


“That’s not what you think it is. It’s actually like a 9 disc box set of Peter Gabriel’s early albums.”


I open the thing up and he’s right. This isn’t what I thought it was but the art on all these discs is freaking amazing. As mentioned, there’s like 9 of them in this one white box. They’re all different colors and they look they do look choice though, no cap. I’m wondering if the art design is the original album art or a re-release for this particular box set, because it certainly looks coordinated. He has in fact successfully talked me out of buying it though. It wasn’t what I thought it was.

 



I’ve become living melting ice cream art. Just a swirl of deliciously decadent extraordinarily vibrant psychedelic living spectacle and art. As if I’m living something that’s supposed to be viewed in a flat 2 dimensional context from the outside of my experience. A painting framed on the wall of a gallery. While this is happening I think to myself, I’m sort of like the Dandelion Gum album cover by Black Moth Super Rainbow, aren’t I? Definitely those kind of vibes but you know, alive and far more strangely radiant.

 



6/1/2024 –


More psi vignettes:



This is more a mostly forgotten dream than a vignette. Typical thing where I’m at some sort of family gathering and I’m bored but everyone else seems to be having a good time. We’re supposed to be leaving but everyone’s just hanging out and doesn’t seem to be going anywhere. I end up having a discussion about whether or not the Celtic’s front line is going to be able to handle the Mavs in the finals with an unidentified athletic looking black woman who seems like she plays ball.


Now we’re hanging out next to a gym where some other peeps are playing on the full court. This old taller looking out of shape guy with floppy white hair and a thick white mustache who kind of looks like Wilford Brimley cuts to the hole. The much younger short Latino point guard kid hits him at the rim and he drills the layup. Dude’s got a huge beer gut and pasty little chicken legs, looks like he’s in his 70’s at least, and I gotta confess. I’m impressed. Still hoopin’ after all these years. You go sir.

 



Now a vision of this Indiana Jones like adventurer in a light tan full body adventurer get up replete with an action fedora. He’s all ready to seek out the unknown by heading through this portal void but an invisible hand grabs him and pulls him back in front of a stack of electrified instruments. Explorer bro’s still got jams he needs to kick out before he can embark into the mystery.

 





I’m this living open world Legend of Zelda type video game. Very much intentionally pixelating retro vibes but also with a like Lego sheen on all of the graphics.  A future pixelated retro Lego art open world. Also, I’m playing as walking mushroom. That is in fact my character and I’ve wandered from the outer area I was from into this crystal castle in the middle of a lake sitch. Except that I’ve just completed whatever task that was assigned in the lake castle, grabbed the mystical power object or what have you.


Now I’m headed back up the hills on a mountain path to get back to the prior region and complete the quest. God, this is a slog, isn’t it? It seemed quicker when I didn’t know what was at the end and it was downhill. It is quite a ways until I even get to the next loading screen to the prior area of the map. There’s gotta be a fast travel feature, doesn’t there? Doesn’t there?

 




I’m driving in my neighborhood and this guy’s set up a lumber yard business out of his very modest looking residential house. My initial thought is: how on earth could he actually make that work? But also, you know, there did used to be several mom and pop hardware stores around here and they’re all gone now for various reasons that mostly have to do with ruthless capitalism. Maybe the dude’s onto something.







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