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to see the Provincial Archeologist

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Written by: Rod Boyle

Category: Dreams

Published: 02 December 2012

Hits: 1501

It's evening, fallr, snowing wet outside, I'm digging in the back of the house. I'm finding curious things - a small childs rag-doll, a teddy bear in a hoody, and I'm thinking I've excavated a grave from someones childhood, the teddy bear looks a bit like one my son used to have, and I wonder if once I lived here before only I've forgotten...

I find an ironstone concretion, small - child or infants - human skull embedded in it, this is interesting, and I'm thinking further upon the grave theory when I realize it's all gravel, Alluvial deposits, anything could have left this here...

I call the provincial Archeologists, "Bring it in" they say "good timing...we'll have to examine it before..." ...apparently the laws are changing and it's good I found it now ...

At the University, walking though the halls with my father, we run into a group of my "friends". Not friends really, merely artists and people upon the periphery of my acquaintance, large, rubber features, oversized, but they're behaving as if we're the best and oldest of chums, there's a sausage shaped brunette in a tight red latex dress, another tall plain-horse-faced sandy brown haired woman, together they're attempting to maul me, groping, it's awkward with my father there, there's Michael ______, local Calgary theatre director....

My dad ironically notes how much they resemble others of my friends.

We excuse ourselves, leave them and find stairs (ancient halls, lined with wood), come to the outside of the library, Dad takes the skull into the library to find the Archeologist...

...in the meantime I'm looking at a large electronic brain, transistors, resistors, capacitors, a translucent plastic sheet that billows and contracts, small  lights beneath to show the firing of neurons and thoughts, elaborate, pulsing...

Dad returns, he has 2 skulls in the bag, fossilized, big jaws with embedded teeth, a horn on the head of one, they are not what I found and he's explaining..."They aren't what we thought they were but the Archeologist says they're important..."

Now I'm on my way into the library to hear what he has to say, past the university lounge, there are 5 small groups of young slender women sitting about tables, they're having tea and staging a bondage & S&M/BDSM show, one of the girls, brunette, in a tight fitting black crocheted dress, nothing underneath, large bush of pubic hair, another is bound and gagged and forced to watch while another slave is put through her paces...I have a girlfriend with me who's keenly watching and admiring the shapes of the participants, and I find myself thinking that this is all a bit racy for a university show...

***

Now through a large, a huge, gymnasium, partitioned off with tarps, one half is filled with sand dunes, camels, Bedouins have set up their encampment, it's evening and they're leading their camels from the daylight to the camp, outside it's cold and snowing, people in Bikini's are playing beach volleyball, I'm thinking that only in Canada would we go to such lengths to make visitors feel welcome...

***

(one and a half hour nap after work on Saturday, first in 2 weeks, completely out, utterly exhausted, waking up was like falling onto pavement from 1000 feet in the air, quick notes to unravel, capture the bizarre dreams...)

$150K Planter

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Written by: Rod Boyle

Category: Found

Published: 29 November 2012

Hits: 1745

In which a routine visit to appraise some possessions yields the discovery of an ancient Roman Sarcophagus being used as a planter, later sold at auction for a hundred and fifty thousand pounds...

Link: http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/sideshow/coffin-used-flower-planter-sold-150k-141219997.html 

Exams, Work, Miscellany...

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Written by: Rod Boyle

Category: Miscellany

Published: 29 November 2012

Hits: 2127

The "Moocher" has disappeared following his first paycheck from the company.

Funny, the foreman predicted it in his hiring of us, said he didn't want us disappearing upon our first check, bad experience with previous temps, we assured him no, not us. 

And he stuck it out, until the check was in the bank, on his final Monday exchanged phone numbers with me in case anything ever happened - 8 weeks now I'd been giving him a ride, took care to take his gloves from the car, and then disappeared upon the dropoff. 

He's not called, no word, merely another temp to perm got paid and left on a drinking binge..

I'm relieved, my duty is done and I'm not longer guilty by association, or responsible for his safe delivery and drop off or cigarettes. Despite his many vague offers of remuneration - "I owe you a case of scotch, a carton of cigarettes and 3 cheap hookers....", later moderated to "...a bottle of scotch at least..." he's coughed up nothing but phlegm, there's a frozen dribble down the passenger side of the car as proof...

***

The site grows - and changes, daily, the same route you walk into the pit is a completely different route by the time you leave. And the hours increase, 5:30 AM starts, 8:00 PM departures, day after day, learning to work on 6 hours sleep, it's not a job that demands much of one's wits...

***

Today, a brief respite from the cold, course on propane safety and handling, a few other workers from other sites are there, open-book, basic, an hours lecture followed by a quiz and a quick hands on. My foreman keeps me awake with frequent jabs in the back, I find myself otherwise falling asleep, the schedule is killing me...The quiz, easy, given the tools and lecture I'd expect my child to score 100%. But nobody does, some score as low as 50%, serious issues with remedial literacy....

Now to bed, tomorrow another 5:30 start and the weather is freezing...