#future casting

February 10, 1993 a Wednesday

A day of magic. A day when I woke up and realized that the only person I need to entice out of the cold closet of hatred and of contempt is me. 

DMX came into my life today and although WFMT had to step aside to make way it is an incredible revolution in home entertainment. I can see now an easy jump away from radio as we know it to this cheap non commercial format. Soon, probably, there will be cable videos…just push a button and they play. Video stores which now proliferate will disappear, as will CDs and records, all will be cabled in. Dad , tonight, said TV phones are coming. A call comes in and the caller pops up on your TV screen. 

Dear Phone,

I know you aren’t on my personal inventory or related to my framing story but this seems very relevant to me at the moment. We spend way too much time together, and I think we need some time apart. I am on you all the time, on various social medias and you really distract me from doing things that actually matter. Spending all this time on social media is negatively affecting my mental health and although you're not the sole cause of its rapid decline this semester, I can’t help but feel like I’d be slightly better without you.

You make me too connected and so very disconnected all at once and frankly, it’s confusing me. You have me wishing I had people’s lives that I don’t even know and comparing myself to every person I see on my instagram feed. You’ve got me using apps to deliver food and spending more and more money on it for no reason except that it’s tempting (and the  fact that sometimes it’s hard for me to leave my room). You have me online shopping and obsessing over things I probably will never have the luxury to own, it’s honestly starting to seem like a joke to me. You have me waiting for people to text me back and you give me alerts on the latest way the world is falling apart and I really can’t take it anymore.

I feel disconnected, lazy, obsessive, ignorant, and upset from all the things I see when I unlock you. I sleep with you charging right next me and checking you is the first thing I do when I wake up and the last thing I do when I go to sleep. That has to be rotting my brain somehow. You are next to me during class and when I’m trying to do my homework and when I’m trying to finally take some time alone to read or draw or do something else that helps me feel a little happier.

In some ways, however, I need to thank you and acknowledge the good things that come from this (slightly toxic) relationship, so here's a quick list. You keep me on time, you allow me to see and talk to my family and my bestfriend - who are so so far away, you allow me to be more aware of things that are going on all over the world, you get me from place to place. Thank you for all of those things, but we gotta spend some time apart.

Respectfully,

Screw you.

What Does Your Mystic Predict?

Although by general personal rule I don’t seek out fortune tellers—preferring to draw upon my own inner Mystic Ally, as I invite you also to consult—I do know quite unequivocally that seership or fortune telling can be quite accurate and valid. I know this from my own prophetic dreams but also because of an event that occurred 22 years ago.

In 1993 I completed my PhD at Arizona State University.…