Still on my way to L.A., I got stuck in a traffic jam. From what I gather, there was a police-chase, that ended deadly, at several places, all over the freeway. After what I've seen before in Miami, why doesn't that surprise me?
Anyway, I found a laptop in the car I was driving, so I decided to use it to look at the files I was given. At last I found out who Hana is. Her last name's Gitelman, she has a military background, is of Israeli descend,... but the most interesting bit is when I read that she was last seen re-entering Earth's orbit, when working on some communication satellite. I'm no expert, but doesn't that usually kill people? So if Hana is dead, how could she possibly be talking to me? The same thing I ran into when I read about an associate of hers, called Warren Trask. He used to work for some software company, called Ubient Software, which is bankrupt by now. He was a computer-programmer for that company. But again, according to what I read, he's dead, died of a stroke, simply put (the stroke merely made him weak, somebody just pulled the plug on the machines that kept him alive). The rest of the files made no sense either. They described programs, one of which was called Gridman, another one was Tron. There even was some guy, Asian judging from his name, but to make things simpler I'll just use his nickname, Izzy. So this is her group of people? Two programs, one Asian kid (not meant realistically, if you remember I explained the political situation between the East and the West already) and two people who are presumed dead. Even if this somehow makes sense, it still doesn't explain what brings them together, or what they do.
I decided to not spend too much time trying to figure that out. The laptop had a wireless internet-connection, so I could use it to check my mails (should've done that long ago already, but the situations never allowed it). Since I didn't know how long I'd be in this jam, I assumed I'd have enough time to read ALL of Erica's mails. I know what this sounds like. It's not that I don't like her staying in touch, but does she really need to send four to five mails every day? Then again, I guess this would mean that she really does miss me, so I should see that as a compliment. For obvious reasons, I couldn't tell her about my current situation, even if it wasn't Hana but one of her friends that contacted me, so I only told her that I nearly ended up in a riot with... some of the 4400 and 4400-esque people, that I met with a mad man with a chainsaw, a masked and caped duck,... and no, I don't expect her to believe me at all, but then I don't want to lie to her either. She, on the other hand, mentioned that she's won the semi-finals and is very excited about the last game. How I wish I could be there. She also mentioned having been in mortal peril, but then she was saved by some Hancock guy. I've heard that name before, but I had to see a picture of him to know who it is. And yes, she did make a picture, of a man flying away. I could be mistaking, but he looked a whole lot like that one black cop in Miami. If that cop is secretly a superhero, he's not doing much to hide his identity. But it was this one picture she's sent me that had me worried. While still in Milwaukee, she saw a wanted-notice. On it's own, that was nothing, but then Erica realized how much the person on that picture (or rather an artist's sketch) looked like her. She thought it was funny, so she made a picture and sent it to me. Other than "WANTED", it mentioned that the mayor of Seattle, Farrel or something (which again sounded familiar), was looking for this one. But that wasn't what disturbed me. I've seen this person before, as she appeared in my dream when I was in Twin Peaks. I'm certain of that, how could I possibly forget the sight of that: someone who looked like somebody I love, except all hairy, with sharper teeth and ears. Again, I'm beginning to wonder what that dream meant, provided it was a dream.
On a side note, Jess send me some interesting things as well. She managed to send someone to a world other than that one where machines are the boss. Okay, she didn't actually say that she send him somewhere else, she just described how somebody started telling people that he's been in another world. When that someone returned, all he could say was that he saw dragons, like the ones that you see in movies. He meant Dinosaurs, but he wouldn't say it for whatever reason. Even stranger, to him, was that these Dinosaurs could talk, and that the humans there had these weird markings on their eyes. I don't know what that meant, but he was clearly upset about what he saw. In reply, I asked whether she couldn't do other things with the Necronomicon, besides sending them to other worlds (by asking her if things other than these strange transportations would happen). In another message, she send me a picture she saw in the Museum of Natural History, of which she believed that I may be interested. It was an old one, from around the turn of the century (19th to 20th, that is). It showed a group of people, who were fighting... I have no idea of what it is they were fighting, it looked like it had long legs, which were the only things visible of "it". The people in question, there was one cowboy on a white horse, one cowgirl with two guns, one guy dressed in black clothes with black hat, cape and mask, another guy wielding bigger guns than the girl, wearing a long coat, and finally a guy with a pale face, of which I could swear he didn't have legs and was somehow floating in mid-air. But that wasn't the only thing that disturbed me. That guy with the big guns and the long coat, haven't I seen him somewhere before? He reminded me of some older man I remember to have seen. If those two are one and the same, I doubt that man would still be alive today, so I must have seen him some many years ago. Still... I'm under the impression I've seen him not that long ago. Another thing to add to either my weird life, trip, or to the list of this world's many oddities.
Saturday, July 26th 2008:
Had to get on a boat to get there, but I finally made it into L.A. I hoped I'd have enough time to visit the Happy Kingdom, but I've already lost too much time by now, so I'll have to skip that. Also, I've found a missing-notice, that was about some guy named Jack Bauer. Looking at his picture, I recognized him immediately. He's that sniper-caller from Indianapolis. Now I know that man's name. So anyway, I did what anyone else would do and phoned the number, to say where I've seen him. But that's all. I didn't give them my name or anything.
I must say, despite that earthquake that happened in the year 2000, the area is still flourishing. Well, maybe for the rich people, as I noticed a lot of poor ones. Still, it was weird just walking around here. For one, I couldn't be standing here nor there, without risking to be in a movie-set. I might as well not move at all, just for safety precautions.
I saw the hill that has "HOLLYWOOD" in huge letters written on it. It's nothing I haven't seen before, still... to actually see it with my own eyes instead of on a picture, I could have but an idea as to how big those letters are.
Being here also gave me something of a preview as to what movies are to be released soon. One of them is entitled "Friday the 13th" and subtitled "The True Story of Jason Voorhees". I'm sure, they'll make him look much more of a monster than anything. They did the same with every movie that was ever made about what happened back in late 19th century London, whether it be because of Jack the Ripper or Dracula. There's also a 13th "Jaws" movie to be released. Honestly, these Hollywood people do not know when to stop, do they?! I mean, "Jaws" supposedly tells the tale of how an island was attacked by a shark. That's something that happened only once in reality, but they feel they have to make so many movies out of it, suggesting it happened over and over again. This is just like the time they wanted to make a third "Stab" movie, although unlike the first two movies, this one was entirely made up, nothing happened that had the director think he needed to make a third movie. Luckily, that third movie was never finished (as that same director killed the entire cast and crew, I'm not kidding). When walking into a video-store, to see whether they have any movies that aren't released back home, I noticed there are more movies based on real events. Unless I'm mistaking, there are eight that tell of Michael Myers (one of them a re-telling of the first), ten that talk about Jason Voorhees and his mother (some of which even made fun of him by suggesting he'd go into outer space or straight to hell),... these people really have no limits. There are only a few who'd rather make a movie, though based on a real guy, just change a few names (much like that one Leatherface movie with Jessica Biel) rather than using the names of those who were actually involved. I suppose they were afraid of how the people would react to it. If you ask me making movies based on true events, once, maybe a second time, I don't think there's anything wrong with it, but what I see here is just ridiculous.
Oh, by the way, I passed by this one house, a small hospital by the looks of it. There was a notice, which said that "survivors" could gather here to talk about their experiences. By survivors, they meant people who met with a maniac who tried to kill them. In my case, I would have to take my pick. I suppose I could go here, tonight, just to hear what others have to say.