Thoughts of a dead brain

[pasithea]

Being a zombie was interesting. There were a number of aspects to it that I feel like writing about.

First off, I think the concept of this mob was great because you didn't have to neccisarily bring anything. If you were someone that easily suffers from Stage Fright, all you really needed to do was wait until you saw the mob and flash them the sign and they did the rest. After that, you're all covered in gore and in the mob so what's to lose? Mob mentality takes over and you aren't afraid to crawl weirdly up the stairs in the Apple store.

Second, being dead really does give you a new outlook on life in many different ways. There were a lot of people that were like, 'Woah! What's that! Zombies! OMFG ZOMBIES!!!!' and there were a lot of people that were like, 'AWSOME!!!!' grabbed a camera. So many photos. Then, much like Shaun of the Dead there were a lot of people that were even more zombified than the zombies. They didn't notice the zombies until they were surrounded by a shuffling mob of moaning undead. Then there were the digified people who tried not to notice, and last and least, the few whingy late teen boys that were like, 'Du. that's so stupid! These people are so lame.' Though they were a small but vocal minority, they gave me the most pause for thought. 1) As a member of a group that I had no emotional attachment to whatsoever, I was able to look at their responses with complete detachment and not feel defensive or angry at them but instead feel completely sorry for them that they couldn't enjoy what literally thousands of other people (not even counting the zombies) were getting such a total charge out of. 2) I felt a bit sorry for my younger self because I recognize a time in my life when I might have been one of them. Particularly towards people like queenofstripes and xydexx. The last thing I learned about people is that even in character as a zombie I seem to be a lot more alert than most of the mainstream. Being a zombie gave me some insights into what it must be like to be 'normal'. Just shuffling along with the flow and never really doing anything else. I may never make anything of myself but I spend every day on fire.

Speaking of zombies, Stacey and I did the first part of our packing today, everything was running like clockwork until we hit 101 which just HAD TO have some major slowdown. This resulted in us being about 10 minutes late getting to the apartment complex. The manager had already left, and I spent about another 10 minutes floundering around in broken spanish while I found out where her apartment was (because naturally the asistant manager we'd talked to before that was cool was out of town) Anyhow, find her and get told in short that she's off duty and therefore cannot spend 10 minutes to give us our key and do a walk through of the place. Needless to say, I was rather upset. We'd disassembled our freezer and had all of our fridge stuff in ice chests. This is what the majority of people in the world are like. Fat, lazy, and not willing to spend 10 minutes helping another human being. They're fucking zombies.

Fortunetely, we have the truck for another day anyhow and it's only about half loaded so we can put a lot more stuff in it while it's cool tonight and go over bright and early tomorrow and work in the cool of the morning. As for the frozen stuff... Neither the dehydrator or the smoker is packed away yet and I'd been hoping to convince Stacey to go with me to being full vegetarian again, so we'll smoke and dry anything that looks unfrozen and it'll keep just fine. I was outraged with the manager but I suppose I can admit we cut time too close and it's angry-making because I feel stupid about it but in the grand scheme of things, it hasn't really hurt us any, just shifted the order we're doing things in. As for the manager, I can feel vaguely sorry for someone who's old and fat and will probably die in less than five years anyhow without ever having been anything more than the manager of a slummy apartment complex. If I'm really still feeling petty about it after a nap, I can incorporate her likeness into some unflattering art or animation at a later date but I'd really like to think I'm better than that.

The last few interesting things about being a zombie really came after being a zombie. The weird looks I got in the women's room were hilarious. When people stared I just said, "Tragic Lipstick Accident." (I was covered in red) And finally, after I put on normal clothes again (haha! Jon and I stripped in a parking garage! There's something I'd not have done 5 years ago) I was walking around for about half an hour expecting surprised expressions on people's faces when they looked at me because I'd gotten used to being something people slackjawed at.

Anyhow.. Zombiness was good. Chinese food was good. Hanging out with Jon without our whole entourage was the best.

Now I'm going to take that nap.

Comments

[doctorpinkerton.livejournal.com]

Wow, Zombies! Excellent! A friend of mine had turned me on to this article on your recent experience:

http://www.boingboing.net/2005/07/30/things_to_do_in_sf_w.html

I've got zombies in my pilot script for the new C.O.G. TV show (we're shooting the zombie/crowd/concert/kung fu/lazer battle scenes on the 18th, wish me luck!)

[paka.livejournal.com]

The organizer types - you can recognize some of them in the picture - were great guys, really attentive to peoples' boundaries. Having ravening zombies tear someone's clothes up, squirt them with paint, and then march into an Apple store, all without getting a lawsuit, takes a certain amount of thoughtfulness and skill. These guys rock.