Category: 02. All Shook Up

The Shakes

Dear Planet Earth,

It’s been about a week since the non-stop shaking began. These used to be called “earthquakes,” but this word no longer has meaning to me. This normal word from this normal language implied that there were a set of immutable guidelines that had to be followed by nature or God. These are “shakes” — constant, unyielding movements that slowly rock us back and forth out of our once comfortable reality.

The biggest fear comes from the isolation, from not knowing what the hell is going on out there in the world. Or if there is a world left. A couple of sites have popped back online, but none of them have any useful information.

Escape from “Escape from New York-New York”

Dear Planet Earth,

The more I look at the picture I took yesterday, the less real it seems. I’ve seen plenty of crazy invasion movies, and each time I see the Statue of Liberty (the original Statue of Liberty) discarded on the ground like nothing more than the one hundred fifty-one foot monument that it actually is, the image loses a little bit more of its symbolism.

I keep telling myself, “This isn’t a movie, this isn’t a game,” and then I take another shot or drag of Jack or Mary to convince myself again that none of this is really real. The laxatives entered the picture a few hours ago.

It’s safe to say that I’m literally scared shitless.

Escape from New York-New York

Dear Planet Earth,

You are looking at the one of the first images of the New York-New York Hotel & Casino as it now appears on the Las Vegas Strip. At 2:20 PM, we felt one of the strongest tremors yet, and as you can see, the results were devastating.

I headed out into the city once I heard what happened at New York-New York to see if I could help out, or at the very least, get a better idea of what the hell is going on. I’ve never seen myself as a heroic or selfless person, but I’ve never really been in a situation to test that. This afternoon, I failed that test.

There was dust everywhere. It caked my skin and clothes with each new step I took. I felt like I just walked into the middle of Baghdad or Tripoli or some other place I’d never be able to point out on a map. I could hear screaming and car alarms and the ever-rumbling sound of these constant tremors, but I had no way of knowing whether these sounds were two feet or two miles away. As more and more dust filled my lungs, I began to understand the very real concept of my own mortality. And I ran. I took a quick picture on my crummy camera phone and I ran.

And I don’t know if I can stop.

Words

Dear Planet Earth,

It’s now day three of the (presumed) worldwide media blackout. Today also saw the beginning of small tremors along the Clark County basin. We’re no strangers to earthquakes here in Sin City, but this definitely does not feel like any earthquake we’ve experienced before.

Of course, the most recent cataclysm in Uganda is still fresh in our collective, bewildered minds. Whereas yesterday the buzzwords were “terrorism,” “hackers,” and “communists,” today the feeling on the tip of everyone’s tongue is “invasion.” We’re scared and confused — not because of the chaos that has already spread, but because for once in all of our shared lives, we don’t know what will come next.

Though I have lived for seventeen years believing I knew the true definition of the word, today I can say that I truly understand what “fear” means.

The Other Message

Dear Planet Earth,

I’m not sure if anyone can actually read this or not.  Every major website is still offline since the cyber attack on Sunday.  I was only able to access my blog after one of my friends showed me an easy way to hack in.  The coding is apparently a lot more simple than most “real” news sites.

You can imagine my surprise when I found this message on my blog and every other page on the Internet.  Like the last mysterious message that dominated cyberspace, this one is written with foreign characters (Korean), but it’s just one long string of nonsense.  I assume that this message was likewise meant to be typed on a different keyboard layout.

The biggest news, of course, is the fact that there is no news.  Every television and radio station is still broadcasting nothing but static and every GSM cell phone is now just a paperweight.  It’s hard to tell if we’re in a state of emergency or not with so many spam messages going around.  How/Could the government communicate to people in a situation like this?  Are we in real danger or are we just not able to communicate the way we did twenty years ago?

소ㅑ냐누ㅐㅅㅁㅅㄷㄴㅅ

ㅛㅐㅕㅊ뭉 ㄴㄷㄷ솜ㅅ ㅈㄷ ㅊ무ㅜㅐ슏ㄴ새ㅔㅔㄷㅇ. ㅕㅎㅁ웅먄 ㅓㅕㄴㅅ 소듇ㅎ햐ㅜㅑㅜㅎ. ㅈㄷ쟈ㅣㅣ채ㅜ볃ㄱㅁㄹ걏ㅁ소둠냠 소두뎌개ㅔ뭉소두ㅛㅐㅕ겍ㄷ챠ㅐㅕ녀ㅜㅑㅅㄷㅇㄴㅅㅁㅅㄷ낼믇걏ㅁ. 미ㅣ쟈ㅣㅣㅠㄷㄱㄷㅍㄷ믿ㅇ. 미ㅣ쟈ㅣㅣㅠㅕ구. ㅛㅐㅕㅊ무ㅜㅐㅅㄴ새ㅔ ㅕ뇨ㅐㅕㅊ무ㅜㅐㅅㄱㄷ냐냣. ㅛㅐㅕ겜솓샻,ㅔㅑ샤려ㅣ갸호ㅜㅐㅍㄷㄱ솓ㅊ견샨ㅁㅅ무둥. 솓샤ㅡ댈소드ㅐㅣ데대ㅔㅣ댜녀ㅔㅐㅜㅛㅐㅕ.쇈ㄷ좨녀ㅠㅡㅑㅅ쟈ㅣㅣ랴ㅜㅇ소댜기ㅑㅍㄷ냐ㅜㅅㅁㅊㅅ.쇈ㄷ좩ㄷ냔ㅅ쟈ㅣㅣㅠㄷㄷㅌ샤ㅜ혀ㅑ녿ㅇ.쵀ㅐㄴㄷㅇ쟌디ㅛㅕㅔ재깅ㄷㄱㄴ.쵀ㅐㄴㄷ쟌디ㅛ. ㅛㅐㅕ쟈ㅣㅣㅠㄷㅅㄷㄴㅅㄷ이ㅑㅏ둗ㅍㄷ귣랙댜ㅜ솓채ㅡㅑㅜㅎㅇ묜. ㅜㅐㅐㅜㄷㅊ문ㅁㅍ됴ㅐㅕ.ㅜㅐㅐㅜㄷㅊ문ㄴ새ㅔㅕㄴ.ㅈㄷㅁㄱㄷ소둗ㅈ겨ㅣㄷㄱ내레ㅣ묻ㅅㄷㅁㄱ소. ㅔㄱ묘새좀ㅅㄷㅍㄷㄱ행뇨ㅐㅕ게ㅕㅜㅛㅡㅑㅜㅇ뉴디ㅑㄷㅍㄷ ㅑㅜ,ㅑㅅ쟈ㅣㅣ애ㅛㅐㅕㅜㅐ해ㅐㅇ. ㅈㄷ애ㅜㅅ래ㅣㅣㅐㅈ솓겨ㅣㄷ내렏ㅅ쇼ㅔㅁㅎ무ㅑ느.