The Drabblecast

It's All in the Knowing by Mikal Trimm



Kelly Lester, a soft-spoken, unassuming young girl, with lovely sparkling green eyes and a smile that seemed fresh-born each time she used it. I fell in love with her the day she started here, and I convinced myself she'd never have anything to do with me the day after.

Drabble- Tax Form Zero-G by Sony Traylor
Zombie Ants
Mikal Trimm
Music by Pierre Bensusan

Drabblenews: Mind-controlled zombie fire-ants. If that isn't cool (in a nightmarish insectiod zombiepocalyptic fashion) I don't know what is.

Drabble: End of the world stories seem to becoming something of a hackneyed drabble theme, but hey, who wouldn't prefer the end of the world to a visit from the IRS.

"It's all about the knowing:" This story impressed me in a pretty deep and synchronistic fashion. In 1992 I underwent a very similiar epiphany. (Put another way, I was diagnosed with bipolar schizo-affective disorder.) The descriptions and mental thought processes of the protagonist are so eerily similiar to the experiences I underwent, particularly in the first 10 years post-dx, that I should probably talk it over with my doc and make sure my med levels are right. But I digress. When discussing my state with my doctor, my family, my friends, I've often used the phrase "Being omniscient + $3.95 will buy you a cup of starbucks..." (I live in Oregon, no sales tax... must account for the $1.05 discrepancy...)

What really touched me about the story was the incredibly life-affirming denouement. Much like the protaganist I have been fighting a long battle between living in the fantastic whirl of thought and immersion in universal totality and being able to engage in the real-world of life, love, family, and friendship. It's hard to relate to those around you when you are in such a state of perceived omniscience. His decision to "grab hold of his little piece of eternity" and live a life nearly brought tears to my eyes.

One of the main symptoms I've battled was the feeling that the world was filled with stories, movies, comics, newspaper articles that were directly aimed at me. It used to really freak me out.

That feeling was there again in spades with this story, however this time it made me feel comfortable and a little less alone. Clearly I'm not the only person in reality that has trod these particularly bizarre pathways.

So, with that, I'm gonna go give my wife Kelly a kiss and drag her off to bed.

Synchronicity ftw. (edit: my wife's last name differs from the Kelly in the story by 2 letters in the middle and is nearly phonetically identical...)

Weird

This was fun, it reminded me of the problems with prescience that Paul-Muad'Dib suffered in the Dune series.

Well written, human character with inhuman power, I liked it

Reminds me of DC #45, The Fine Point, about the discovery that God used little "dittoes" for the sake of creative economy.
ROU's post reminds me of that stories' narrator, who was so freaked by the discovery that he terminates the guy who points it out to him. His discovery of a Doppelganger in Mikal Trimm is almost as interesting as the story itself, and the two will be linked in my mind. The observation that Omniscience doesn't make you God is an interesting response to Mr.-Know-it-Alls everywhere. And I like the apparent tie to the Heisenberg Principle, that a particle cannot be directly observed without changing it, so that even Omniscience is limited by a horizon of probabilities. (See Seldon, Harry. Psychohistory 101)
I was a little put off by the story's simple two-dimensional expository narrative, and I'm grateful to ROU for a post that inflates "Knowing" into the realm of 3D.

Weird, indeed.

ROU Killing Time wrote:One of the main symptoms I've battled was the feeling that the world was filled with stories, movies, comics, newspaper articles that were directly aimed at me. It used to really freak me out.

That feeling was there again in spades with this story, however this time it made me feel comfortable and a little less alone. Clearly I'm not the only person in reality that has trod these particularly bizarre pathways.

In my past dealings with heavy-duty panic attacks, the Drabblecast has done me a lot of good, because it was clear I was not the only one who dealt with issues. Instead of long teary stories extolling peoples' battles with such problems, it puts such experiences in an "everyday" context and reminds you "hey- you're not alone, you're not even that special."

tbaker2500 wrote:[
In my past dealings with heavy-duty panic attacks, the Drabblecast has done me a lot of good, because it was clear I was not the only one who dealt with issues. Instead of long teary stories extolling peoples' battles with such problems, it puts such experiences in an "everyday" context and reminds you "hey- you're not alone, you're not even that special."

Or put another way "Ok, even if I am special, apparently everyone else is too..."
btw: I posted a Drabble in the Drabble forum touching on the topic of books that seemed to be directed at me called "Crazy Eights: A True Story"
I'm interested in any comments people might have about that.

ROU Killing Time wrote:Or put another way "Ok, even if I am special, apparently everyone else is too..."

Yea, it's kinda deflating and reassuring at the same time.

Aaaaaaand Norm has a hilarious Bill Cosby impression... why am I not surprised?

I loved this story, mushiness and romance have been long overdue on the Drabblecast. Cool ideas, as far as the paradoxes and changing futures, which ended up not getting in the way of the real meat of the story. The protagonist's affection toward Kelly and conflictedness (is that not a word? spellcheck doesn't like it, hmm, anyways) really came across as authentic and touching, IMHO.

I was thrown by the fact that the protagonist doesn't go to the sub shop though. In fact, that just dropped completely from the story. The sequence of scenes at the end was a little unclear to me. He freaks her out, she runs away, presumably he leaves work to go sit on a bench for the rest of the afternoon, presumably she went back to work at some point, at the end of the work day she gets chewed out by the boss (who ends up not keeling over in the office in front of her like the protagonist said he would) and then the protagonist catches her when she leaves.
Maybe I'm missing something or got the details wrong? Are the sub-shop-droppidge and the stoppidge-of-mean-boss-ploppidge because of changing future outcomes or his inability to read the future accurately?

Last thing: I got a chill down my spine with the line that said "And then I see deaths...a turn in the destiny of mankind, a loss of focus that might destroy the world..."

North Korea anyone?

Beth Peters wrote:Aaaaaaand Norm has a hilarious Bill Cosby impression... why am I not surprised?

Wow, 7 posts to finally bring up the Cosby impersonation? Really DC Forum? I'm going to use a little bit of "hilarious" internet slang and write: FAIL. C'mon folks.

ROU Killing Time, thanks for sharing. But, you know what the music means... (Dr. Katz anyone?)

If anyone is wondering where Norm's inspiration for that Cosby voice came from, be sure to check out the short-lived, but wonderful cartoon, House of Cosby. You can find it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w3a52kemJcY A must-see in the DC community.

tastycakes wrote:If anyone is wondering where Norm's inspiration for that Cosby voice came from, be sure to check out the short-lived, but wonderful cartoon, House of Cosby. You can find it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w3a52kemJcY A must-see in the DC community.

Seems like a version of when Calvin cloned himself. At least he turned them all into worms, so they'd be happy.

tastycakes wrote:ROU Killing Time, thanks for sharing. But, you know what the music means... (Dr. Katz anyone?)

"but I'm feeling much better now..."
(John Astin as Buddy Ryan)

ROU, thanks for sharing that. You have a unique perspective on it, and it was enlightening to read.

My thoughts:

the drabble: haha, rad. Everything a drabble should be. Dramatic and grandiose before taking a sudden turn for the silly. The style of humor involved rather reminds me of Douglas Adams (the master of absurd twists to momentous events!).

The main story was quite a fun concept, well executed, I thought. I too was glad of the upbeat note at the end.

Overall certainly proves the adage there is such a thing as knowing too much. Can't say I'm sorry I'm not omnicient.

I liked the feeling of 'muddling through' that the character does:

knowing everything clearly means knowing *about* everything but doesn't include what to do with that knowledge.

One nitpick I'd have to.....ur.... pick is the time issue - at the start of the story, he 'knows' what will happen with his car, the traffic jams, his boss's heart attack but, later on, he has to choose between endless different timelines.

It helped the story along though, so it' only a small pick.
or do I mean 'nit'?

Interesting drabble. I'm always up for personal stories of the apocalypse!

The feature story had me in the first few lines, and while I would have found it unlikely that the main character could have so much maturity about knowing everything, I suppose the pseudo-timelines kept him in check. The ending seemed a bit sappy, but overall it was good.

Personally, if I suddenly knew everything, I'd probably try to teach people higher physics. All of it. Then I'd fix the economy and make a bundle on the stock market. Finally, I'd use the money build a giant steampunk robot fueled by the sorrow of orphans and reign terror on anyone who ever displeased me...

I am reminded, however, that there is actually a limit to the amount of knowledge a human brain can store, and I'd imagine that knowing everything would completely destroy your mind... Ah well. The story was still very, very good.

This story was a nice change of pace, with some romance - which is nice.

Praxis wrote:I
One nitpick I'd have to.....ur.... pick is the time issue - at the start of the story, he 'knows' what will happen with his car, the traffic jams, his boss's heart attack but, later on, he has to choose between endless different timelines.

I would also have to pick this nit; it was somewhat inconsistent in-so-much as future events were initially pre-determined (the car would die in 31.5 miles), but later stem from a probabilistic array of timelines. I guess that the first concept is easier for the 'reader' to grasp and so is the best place to start.

I also agree with LajesticVantrashellofLob that our puny biological minds are probably incapable of comprehending the entirety of anything (I struggle with SMS on my phone, etc).

You see, Theo, It's a fun way to start a story: "I woke up this morning knowing everything".

You almost inevitably set yourself up for some sort of science holes or nitpicks this way, and a few were here as well, but it didn't distract me from the story, which I thought was great.
Ultimately, yah, if you knew everything, maybe the only way to stay sane and keep going would be to just try to live the simplest: find someone to love who loves you back.

Also, I feel bad for zombie ants.

Richmazzer wrote:Also, I feel bad for zombie ants.

I feel bad for the regular ants left standing after the zombie ant apocalypse. Where are they going to find a shopping mall that small that stocks rifles that tiny (requiring bullets that are truly miniscule) that will be required to deliver the head-shots that are so necessary to survival?

ROU Killing Time wrote:

Richmazzer wrote:Also, I feel bad for zombie ants.

I feel bad for the regular ants left standing after the zombie ant apocalypse. Where are they going to find a shopping mall that small that stocks rifles that tiny (requiring bullets that are truly miniscule) that will be required to deliver the head-shots that are so necessary to survival?

that reminds me,
Anyone seen this in the news?
http://www.cnn.com/2009/SHOWBIZ/Movies/ ... index.html

Indy film getting a lot of buzz because it was produced on a budget of 70 bucks, and because its got the "twist" of being told from a zombie's perspective (ahem, Synesthesia, cough cough). Here's the trailer, it does actually look kind of interesting.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oQ8DectLkRQ

Methinks the Hollywood type producers are smelling some "Blair Witch" in the air...

normsherman wrote:

ROU Killing Time wrote:

Richmazzer wrote:Also, I feel bad for zombie ants.

I feel bad for the regular ants left standing after the zombie ant apocalypse. Where are they going to find a shopping mall that small that stocks rifles that tiny (requiring bullets that are truly miniscule) that will be required to deliver the head-shots that are so necessary to survival?

that reminds me,
Anyone seen this in the news?
http://www.cnn.com/2009/SHOWBIZ/Movies/ ... index.html

Indy film getting a lot of buzz because it was produced on a budget of 70 bucks, and because its got the "twist" of being told from a zombie's perspective (ahem, Synesthesia, cough cough). Here's the trailer, it does actually look kind of interesting.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oQ8DectLkRQ

When Norm said Mikal lives in a small town outside of Austin I got curious and did a google. Evidently he lives in Lockhart, same as me.