3.01 - Equilibrium
It was a bright Friday. The sun dappled Carlisle in a mix of light and shade, the azure sky stretched out far beyond the horizon, and the sky was mottled by tufts of white. It was too cold to really be spring and I found myself enjoying the scene from the back deck, half invested in a Robert Parker novel, half considering the latest developments in the world of Art “The Brain”.
Here are the uncontested facts about me. I’m 18, single, 140 lbs of American male in a 5’11” frame. I have brown hair, which is most often gelled to acquire the “messy” look, with arguable results. My eyes are brown, nearly black. If I were asked to rate my appearance on a scale one to ten, I wouldn’t. I’m a high school senior living in the small Pennsylvania town of Carlisle. Next fall I’ll be attending Allegheny College in Meadville, PA, something that consumes a fair amount of my energy.
I lead a decent life in Carlisle. I have friends, hobbies, enough money to make it to graduation, and an ever inquiring mind to sustain me. Since early January, I’ve been working on a series of queries into my past, finding the answers to questions that have plagued me for years. It was only during a trip in March that I got the final details out of the way. Now I am back in Carlisle and gearing up for the end of a notable high school career.
One of the less pertinent details about my life is that I’m a retired super-villain. This means that while I am “The Brain”, I’m not on active duty and have a free reign on my underworld activities. Currently, my focus is on my Endgame, the last in a series of maneuvers that will both honor and end my career as a teenage villain. It’s somewhat more abstract than other plots I’ve seen in the past, but I like to be original, so it’s satisfying.
I was actively engaged in Mock Trial and Model UN for the past several months, both ended in March and have left me with ample excess time to just do nothing. The Mock Trial team made it to the state finals, with a vestigial structure leeching off of the polished defense team. We call them prosecution, liberally applied phrase. They lost both matches, it was only defense’s masterful performance that carried the team to the semi-finals, the top four teams in state competing, which the prosecution lost. I don’t blame them. Much. Model UN was a much more enlightening experience. I was a commissioner on the International Law Commission and had an experience with a nearly transcendent level of intellectualism attached. I dealt with a few of the pretentious characters and came to figure out the sort of people who are out there. Two-faced people. People I don’t like at all. I came away changed in a minor way. It wasn’t enough, it was just all I could bear at the time.
Since I’ve been back, I’ve been doing a lot of thinking. It’s not easy though. The entire community is beginning to suffer the effects of the “Mad Season”. This being the time of year when emotions are running high, tempers are short, and people, generally speaking, start to go slightly mad. I like watching this, especially since I know what I’m looking for. The Mad Season usually lasts until late-April, and until then, just about anything can happen.
I’ve been corresponding with Allegheny about the fall semester. More accurately, they’ve inundated me with forms, fliers, and packets of information that I’m doing my best to learn, but it’s hard with a constant wave coming over me like a tsunami. My love life seems to be perking with the thaw of winter as well. I’m getting solicited by a few people, the callous sort who try to draw you out by flirting capriciously and loading conversation with innuendo and sarcastic sexual references. They try to make it seem nonchalant, but it comes off desperate. I like the attention. But I’ve been single for too long and I’ve learned to be cautious. So, it’ll be fun to watch where this goes.
I got a call today from a woman who works at Mandy’s, the local Bohemian coffee shop, telling me about a possible part-time job. I’m to call her on Monday and set up an interview. A super-villain with a day job? Seems sort of bourgeois to me.
All in all, life is hanging at a precarious equilibrium and so I am resolved to work at keeping it there. There’s always the possibility of feeling too much versus being numb, letting it all in versus keeping everything out. I’m doing my best, occasionally I slide to one end or the other. Final notes about the world at large boil down to the simple and wonderful fact that Mountain Dew Livewire is back on the market for Summer 2004. All I have to say is “Yippie!”
Respectfully Submitted,
Art “The Brain”
Here are the uncontested facts about me. I’m 18, single, 140 lbs of American male in a 5’11” frame. I have brown hair, which is most often gelled to acquire the “messy” look, with arguable results. My eyes are brown, nearly black. If I were asked to rate my appearance on a scale one to ten, I wouldn’t. I’m a high school senior living in the small Pennsylvania town of Carlisle. Next fall I’ll be attending Allegheny College in Meadville, PA, something that consumes a fair amount of my energy.
I lead a decent life in Carlisle. I have friends, hobbies, enough money to make it to graduation, and an ever inquiring mind to sustain me. Since early January, I’ve been working on a series of queries into my past, finding the answers to questions that have plagued me for years. It was only during a trip in March that I got the final details out of the way. Now I am back in Carlisle and gearing up for the end of a notable high school career.
One of the less pertinent details about my life is that I’m a retired super-villain. This means that while I am “The Brain”, I’m not on active duty and have a free reign on my underworld activities. Currently, my focus is on my Endgame, the last in a series of maneuvers that will both honor and end my career as a teenage villain. It’s somewhat more abstract than other plots I’ve seen in the past, but I like to be original, so it’s satisfying.
I was actively engaged in Mock Trial and Model UN for the past several months, both ended in March and have left me with ample excess time to just do nothing. The Mock Trial team made it to the state finals, with a vestigial structure leeching off of the polished defense team. We call them prosecution, liberally applied phrase. They lost both matches, it was only defense’s masterful performance that carried the team to the semi-finals, the top four teams in state competing, which the prosecution lost. I don’t blame them. Much. Model UN was a much more enlightening experience. I was a commissioner on the International Law Commission and had an experience with a nearly transcendent level of intellectualism attached. I dealt with a few of the pretentious characters and came to figure out the sort of people who are out there. Two-faced people. People I don’t like at all. I came away changed in a minor way. It wasn’t enough, it was just all I could bear at the time.
Since I’ve been back, I’ve been doing a lot of thinking. It’s not easy though. The entire community is beginning to suffer the effects of the “Mad Season”. This being the time of year when emotions are running high, tempers are short, and people, generally speaking, start to go slightly mad. I like watching this, especially since I know what I’m looking for. The Mad Season usually lasts until late-April, and until then, just about anything can happen.
I’ve been corresponding with Allegheny about the fall semester. More accurately, they’ve inundated me with forms, fliers, and packets of information that I’m doing my best to learn, but it’s hard with a constant wave coming over me like a tsunami. My love life seems to be perking with the thaw of winter as well. I’m getting solicited by a few people, the callous sort who try to draw you out by flirting capriciously and loading conversation with innuendo and sarcastic sexual references. They try to make it seem nonchalant, but it comes off desperate. I like the attention. But I’ve been single for too long and I’ve learned to be cautious. So, it’ll be fun to watch where this goes.
I got a call today from a woman who works at Mandy’s, the local Bohemian coffee shop, telling me about a possible part-time job. I’m to call her on Monday and set up an interview. A super-villain with a day job? Seems sort of bourgeois to me.
All in all, life is hanging at a precarious equilibrium and so I am resolved to work at keeping it there. There’s always the possibility of feeling too much versus being numb, letting it all in versus keeping everything out. I’m doing my best, occasionally I slide to one end or the other. Final notes about the world at large boil down to the simple and wonderful fact that Mountain Dew Livewire is back on the market for Summer 2004. All I have to say is “Yippie!”
Respectfully Submitted,
Art “The Brain”