Japanese Talk Show Interview
Upon receiving news that I am wanted on a Japanese talk show I become very excited. Not waiting for any details I quickly buy a ticket and fly to Japan. I arrive on the set without incident. It is a simple set with no other furniture but a simple green table in the center. The low table means we sit on mats as we talk. The other three guests are already sitting around the table and greet me as I sit at the obvious opening. As the show begins my inability to speak Japanese quickly becomes a hindrance. I try to ham it up and get by with as little talking as possible. Fortunately their English is better than my Japanese and I am able to get across a few simple ideas. The idea is bandied about for me to take a job here in Japan teaching English. Regretfully I explain how my current responsibilities prevent me from taking any job. disappointedly but understanding, the show cuts to a commercial break.
I utilize this break to stand from the table and approach the off camera director. The plane ticket here was paid for out of my pocket and I want to take care of reimbursement as quickly as possible. Startled by the idea that I expect reimbursement the director relates that this is a volunteer talk show. They do not have the money to reimburse or even pay the guests. The other guests are here just for the opportunity to be on television. The idea startles me and depresses me. I was so confident that I would be repaid for flying here to Japan. That is close to a thousand dollars gone for a short segment on a television show that I don't even really understand. The director apologizes and states they did not know I currently live in the United States when they extended the invitation.
The despair however quickly lifts. The lack of information I had before I flew. Traveling all this way just to talk on a Japanese talk show. None of it makes much sense. It is all to unreal. I realize that it can't be very real. If this lack of continuity can pass so easily then time travel must not be that far out of my grasp. I will simply rewind to when I got the invitation while still keeping my memory of what happened. Armed with this knowledge I will not be so foolish as to buy a plane ticket without guarantee of reimbursement. This idea is great but it needs to be more fully thought through. I will do so after I buy a plane ticket home.
As I am flying home I contemplate and work through all the details for my planned trip unraveling the past events. While I am doing so I realize that if realities laws are so fragile as to allow me to travel back in time then practically anything else is possible as well. Sitting in my coach seat with the plane in mid flight I decide to rid myself from the shackles of gravity. Casting them off only requires the wish to do so. Soon I float out of my seat and pass through the top of the plane as if it were so much mist.
Passing through the top of the plane does not place my in the sky above the plane however. It seems to transport me to some type of null dimension. Where nothing is or was. The unreality only registers as empty black. Empty like an unused slate. Understanding that my consciousness will quickly resolve into unenlightenment in this state I formulate a plan. I could spin. This seems unpromising so I quickly dismiss it. I could try to create a world from this nothingness. This seems the best approach though the size of it is intimidating. Not sure where to start my lucidity falters.
. . .
As a ninja I am supposed to live in the shadows revealing myself only to strike. Exposed as I am in day light in a crowded outdoor public square, most likely in a downtown commercial district of some kind, I become exposed and vulnerable. A hostile agent seeks to apprehend me. In an instant I see a plush circular red chair untenanted at the corner of the court yard. Near this chair is a low overhang for an entrance to a building. It is only about 15 yards up. Unaided the type of jump would almost certainly be fruitless but if I use the chair as a trampoline I might be able to make it. I run to the chair and jump. It does not have as much spring as I hoped and I fall well short of the overhang I was aiming for. Instead I painfully fall flat on to the cement near the chair. Indulging me the agent sets up a chair much taller than my current one next to my original trampoline. Understanding his idea I jump from the first chair to the second one to the overhang. From this vantage point I can jump to other nooks and overhangs climbing quickly to the top of the urban jungle. Now the chase is on.
With an environment so demanding of speed, agility, and balance non-ninjas don't stand a chance of catching me. Quickly working my way up the building I soon reach the top where a helicopter is ready for the agents to pursue me in. Thinking to play with them I secure myself to the landing struts just before it takes off. Now they are carrying me through the sky oblivious that their target is just beneath their noses. Once they are airborne for a while I untangle myself and silently infiltrate through the open door of the helicopter. Quickly disposing of those inside I take control of the helicopter. Unfortunately this also alerts my pursuers to my location. Undaunted I quickly teach myself how to fly.
Flying all over the sky I am not too concerned. As I am over the ocean a plummet should be survivable. The sun glints off ocean as far as the eye can see. As I flit about the sky I dart dangerously close to the top of the tall ocean waves. Skimming the crests with the struts I manage to balance it out and gain a couple yards of air. A down draft catches the helicopter and I just barely skim through a wave. As if the water caught my strut the helicopter suddenly noses down and plummets completely into the ocean.
I utilize this break to stand from the table and approach the off camera director. The plane ticket here was paid for out of my pocket and I want to take care of reimbursement as quickly as possible. Startled by the idea that I expect reimbursement the director relates that this is a volunteer talk show. They do not have the money to reimburse or even pay the guests. The other guests are here just for the opportunity to be on television. The idea startles me and depresses me. I was so confident that I would be repaid for flying here to Japan. That is close to a thousand dollars gone for a short segment on a television show that I don't even really understand. The director apologizes and states they did not know I currently live in the United States when they extended the invitation.
The despair however quickly lifts. The lack of information I had before I flew. Traveling all this way just to talk on a Japanese talk show. None of it makes much sense. It is all to unreal. I realize that it can't be very real. If this lack of continuity can pass so easily then time travel must not be that far out of my grasp. I will simply rewind to when I got the invitation while still keeping my memory of what happened. Armed with this knowledge I will not be so foolish as to buy a plane ticket without guarantee of reimbursement. This idea is great but it needs to be more fully thought through. I will do so after I buy a plane ticket home.
As I am flying home I contemplate and work through all the details for my planned trip unraveling the past events. While I am doing so I realize that if realities laws are so fragile as to allow me to travel back in time then practically anything else is possible as well. Sitting in my coach seat with the plane in mid flight I decide to rid myself from the shackles of gravity. Casting them off only requires the wish to do so. Soon I float out of my seat and pass through the top of the plane as if it were so much mist.
Passing through the top of the plane does not place my in the sky above the plane however. It seems to transport me to some type of null dimension. Where nothing is or was. The unreality only registers as empty black. Empty like an unused slate. Understanding that my consciousness will quickly resolve into unenlightenment in this state I formulate a plan. I could spin. This seems unpromising so I quickly dismiss it. I could try to create a world from this nothingness. This seems the best approach though the size of it is intimidating. Not sure where to start my lucidity falters.
. . .
As a ninja I am supposed to live in the shadows revealing myself only to strike. Exposed as I am in day light in a crowded outdoor public square, most likely in a downtown commercial district of some kind, I become exposed and vulnerable. A hostile agent seeks to apprehend me. In an instant I see a plush circular red chair untenanted at the corner of the court yard. Near this chair is a low overhang for an entrance to a building. It is only about 15 yards up. Unaided the type of jump would almost certainly be fruitless but if I use the chair as a trampoline I might be able to make it. I run to the chair and jump. It does not have as much spring as I hoped and I fall well short of the overhang I was aiming for. Instead I painfully fall flat on to the cement near the chair. Indulging me the agent sets up a chair much taller than my current one next to my original trampoline. Understanding his idea I jump from the first chair to the second one to the overhang. From this vantage point I can jump to other nooks and overhangs climbing quickly to the top of the urban jungle. Now the chase is on.
With an environment so demanding of speed, agility, and balance non-ninjas don't stand a chance of catching me. Quickly working my way up the building I soon reach the top where a helicopter is ready for the agents to pursue me in. Thinking to play with them I secure myself to the landing struts just before it takes off. Now they are carrying me through the sky oblivious that their target is just beneath their noses. Once they are airborne for a while I untangle myself and silently infiltrate through the open door of the helicopter. Quickly disposing of those inside I take control of the helicopter. Unfortunately this also alerts my pursuers to my location. Undaunted I quickly teach myself how to fly.
Flying all over the sky I am not too concerned. As I am over the ocean a plummet should be survivable. The sun glints off ocean as far as the eye can see. As I flit about the sky I dart dangerously close to the top of the tall ocean waves. Skimming the crests with the struts I manage to balance it out and gain a couple yards of air. A down draft catches the helicopter and I just barely skim through a wave. As if the water caught my strut the helicopter suddenly noses down and plummets completely into the ocean.
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