Manic March #19: nightmare! nightmare! nightmare!

March 19, 2022

Manic March - nightmare! nightmare! nightmare! (hjelfman gothic)

  • you’ve been in this coffeeshop for two hours. you look at the clock. it’s been ten minutes. you look at the clock. its been ten hours. your lab report is finished. you don’t remember finishing it. the shop is about to close
  • you’re in class. you covered this material. you get water from the fountain. we’ve never covered this material before.
  • you go to the bathroom. you go to the bathroom. you go to the bathroom. you go to the bathroom. you go to the bathroom. you go to the bathroom. it’s been an hour.
  • you leave for a thirty-minute walk. you find yourself on the other side of lady bird lake. you are seven miles from your apartment.
  • you can’t find your hard drive. you look under your bed. its organized; you don’t remember organizing it. nothing is where you left it. the barista from the coffeeshop emails you two months later that they found your hard drive.
  • you know how to code. you sit down at your computer. it takes you five minutes to import a library.
  • you can’t remember march 2020-march 2021.
  • someone asks what you did for vacation. you can’t think of anything. it’s been two days. where were you? only your photos app knows
  • you have a migraine. you can’t move. there’s an aura in your vision that you can’t bear to look at.
  • there’s static in your vision. there’s always been static in your vision. somehow, you never get used to it.
  • you don’t have tinnitus. someone asks you if you have tinnitus. you have tinnitus.
  • you remember driving through texas in 2020 for two weeks with your partner. what did you do?
  • you remember the first time you remembered something after spring 2020. you’re older now.
  • you’re in the mirror. is that you? it moves when you do.
  • someone tells you their name. you talk to them. what was their name?
  • is that you in the mirror? it doesn’t look right.
  • did you take your vitamins this morning? did you take your vitamins this morning? you have to count the pills in all your bottles to find out.
  • you worked for the texas government last summer. why weren’t you working in engineering?
  • you wake up. what’s your name? who are you? your phone gives you no hints?
  • it’s 6 am. you’re awake. it’s midnight. you’re awake.
  • why are you tired?
  • someone mentions 1960s politics. you know what they’re talking about. what happened in 2020?
  • you find a journal from 2020. you don’t remember any of it.
  • there’s a picture of you in high school. who were they in the picture?
  • someone references a conversation you had last week. you don’t remember it, but you know their social security number.
  • your goodreads account has books you don’t remember reading.
  • people are mad at someone. you can’t remember why.
  • you don’t dream. you’re not entirely convinced that other people do.
  • you look at your resume. did you really work at all those places?
  • you don’t remember?

What is Manic March?

On February 27, 2022, I thought it would be a great idea to create some sort of content - writing, art, coding, etc. - every day of the next month. Luckily, the alliteration worked out. This should be the nineteenth post in the series.