October 13, 2005
the implex part one
been struggling how to tell the story about what happened at the implex yesterday. the implex is a spherical structure on the edge of the colony, they have a five dollar cover charge to get in. and you can't wear white shoes. that's a rule. there's a truth-field generator in the center of the place, so it's basically a fiction-free environment. some folks like it, some folks don't. Sparky likes to take visitors there without telling them about the truth-field generator, things can get pretty funny -- or uncomfortable as the case may be. He also tries to do all his business negotiation there -- he's impervious to it's effects, but I'm the only one who knows that besides Sparky, and he doesn't know I know. So, mum is the word, ok?
it's a part of the university's light-gravity experimentation, the one-sixth gravity here makes the physics possible that run the generator.
what's interesting is how clear your thinking gets in there, how easy it is to sort things out, to slip the chains of illusion, be free from the bondage of impossible dreams, and see the beauty of what is. i mean, it's fun to hear people lay it on the line with each other in the way they grew up learning not to do, it's funny to watch couples try to hook up in there, you can imagine. on the other hand, it's so wonderful now and then when some honest magic happens between two people, and they both have the confidence that it's real, that it's fundamental. maybe that's what keeps some of them coming back. i'd say about three-quarters of the people who have been there have been there only once, the rest go there pretty regularly, once a week or so.
more, later...
posted by matthew at 08:22 PM
I've been there! And it was beautiful! And I found some of that "honest magic" you spoke of!
Except I briefly eluded the truth-field generator regarding something rather essential (I kept walking around the edges of the room ... THAT'S the secret to avoiding the fiction-free zone!!), and it got pretty ugly for a while.
(I long to return ... but now I'm having issues with the "no white shoes" regulation.)
posted by: Di on October 13, 2005 11:51 PM
of course, I LOVE this one. More!
posted by: k on October 14, 2005 10:18 AM
Here's a true story: a long time ago, when I was dirt poor and married I had a dog named Sparky. Blue tic coon hound. He was a great dog, loved to dig, and he dug and dug and dug a million holes in our backyard. The landlord said Sparky Must Go and my husband said Sparky Must Go and I didn't think far enough to realize I could grab my dog and baby and get the hell out. So I gave my dog away. And the next day, as I filled hole after hole with new soil, I found a diamond ring, a very old one, from the 1920s. I could have used that ring to do so many things, but I gave it to my husband. He drank it away. That's when I knew we somehow lived in different worlds. All Sparkys must have that ability to distill a situation to its bare essentials, the deep things you know but keep filled, keep hidden.
posted by: Birdie on October 14, 2005 02:15 PM
Is that an AMC implex? Regal? Phoenix? It doesn't come up at movietickets.com.
posted by: Jack on October 14, 2005 06:43 PM