February 19th, 2018

Hal said last night was torture. Torture in that he was bored as hell while he and Tim waited in a parked car near the intersection with the tree. Tim never did tell Hal what he was hoping to see, and they never did see it. So Hal wasn't sure what the purpose was, other than possibly to test his patience.

Needless to say, he was happy to have my company tonight. Though it was spent working on his homework. I think I'm starting to get a hang of the things he's been working on, I even managed to ask a few questions he couldn't immediately answer. I think this next week while I've got leave, I'll take him up on sitting in on a few classes. Should be fun.

Speaking of leave though, I got a message from HR today asking me to postpone my leave or have it cancelled outright. So during my last break I stopped by to ask them when exactly it'd be convenient to them for me to prevent a stroke? Not in those words exactly, obviously, I would like to keep my job. It wasn't Helene in the office today though, she'd have been so much better to talk to. Instead it was another lady whose name I've never managed to catch. I don't often deal with her, and it's almost never pleasant when I do. She seemed to think this operation was cosmetic in nature. I had to explain to her, three times, that I was going to get a stent implanted in my brain to prevent a stroke.

It took her calling her manager to come out to talk to me before I finally was able to get an "Ohh, that's what this is for." He still asked if I could do it another time. "Sorry, no," I said, "the operation is already scheduled."

So they "allowed" me to have the leave so requested.

I love working at the museum, I really do. But I have to wonder if HR is like this everywhere, or if it's just here.

Anyway, Hal brought me home to find a letter from Efe, which I've just finished reading. He said he got together with some of the guys in his squad, and they were able to see the lunar eclipse. He hoped I had gotten the chance to as well, but he had heard how bad the cloud coverage was. He says he's got some leave coming up, and he'll be able to take pictures and let me know where he is at that time. But it won't last long. So I might get another letter from him before he receives mine. Good think I've got pictures printed off. Which was the other thing Hal and I were able to do before he got me home.

So I'll write a bit more responding to what Efe wrote, though actually I covered a few things he was asking about already. And then I'm going to need to get to bed. I should be able to send this out tomorrow though.

February 10th, 2018

Let's start at the beginning so I can keep my thoughts in order.

Hal still hasn't gotten back into his apartment, Simon's moving out starting today since it's the weekend. While he didn't have class, he still wasn't able to get here early enough to take me to the gym this morning. But he did catch up to me at the gym and was able to give me a ride to work. He had to come in anyway for a follow up with housing since his arrangements were changing. Current roommate to no roommate at least. Mostly they wanted to make sure he understood that they would be trying to fill the other room and that he shouldn't spread out and take advantage of having the place to himself. But there was also some paperwork to be signed concerning our report. And then while he's been out, leaving Simon alone, they wanted him to be able to check on his stuff while Simon was away just to make sure.

So Hal watched from a distance while Simon packed up his truck, and while he was away Hal went into the apartment to check on things. He got me my coat back, including all my things. Nothing missing, nor was any of Hal's things missing. That's one good thing at least. Though Hal did say there was a new hole in one of the walls that he reported to housing. They'll fix it, and Simon will be charged.

When Hal brought me my stuff at lunch, he also reported very excitedly that he'd bumped into Melia Floros on campus. She had a booth set up in the quad where she was handing out more information packets and had a camera man recording her interviewing students on their views. Hal said he could feel Tim breathing down his neck, and he had to force himself to put Tim out of his mind before he could finally approach Melia's booth. Once he did though, he said he did get a chance to talk to her for a bit. He asked that his conversation not be recorded, which Melia was okay with. I guess it's not uncommon for people to request that.

Anyway, Hal must've made an impression. He said he was interviewing her as much as she him and she ended up giving him her email address and said she'd like to be able to continue their conversation. So Hal was thrilled that he could report that back to Tim, and after I went back to work he must've called Tim right up.

And Tim was so impressed that he kept Hal for the rest of the day. I got a text from Hal while I was counting down my till. He apologized many times, saying he wouldn't be able to pick me up from work and that he probably wouldn't be able to make dinner. That was the last I heard from him until until I got home when he started apologizing again and asked how the night went. So I've been catching him up on our side of things, which wasn't much. He said since Tim had him all day today he'll be free tomorrow and he wants to make it up to me then.

But since I was finished with work and now without Hal, I texted Sam and Max to let them know what was going on. I figured I'd just take the bus home, but Max said she was heading my direction anyway and would pick me up. She suggested we meet up anyway, just not to have a conspiracy dinner. We could just have a night out with friends. Sam liked that idea and asked if he could invite Candace if we weren't going to talk conspiracy.

So with plans changing slightly, we had a little time. Max got that look in her eyes and said, "Let's go to the mall." She didn't wait for an answer, we were already headed that way. It was a quick shopping trip. Not as quick as I would have liked, but long enough to notice the decorations and be reminded that Valentine's was right around the corner.

Valentine's was never a holiday I particularly cared for. But that's 'cause I was always single. Max on the other hand loves Valentine's. What she really enjoys is dressing up, and since I have a boyfriend now she figured I should dress up too. So she dragged me into Victoria's Secret.

Sitting in a little bag bundled up into my spare coat, is a very little outfit. Were anyone to find said outfit, I think I might die of embarrassment. And yet, I can't deny the anticipation of Hal's face when he sees me wearing it. That was also probably the biggest expense I've made in two years, not including medical bills. Max said she'd buy me dinner to make up for it.

Moving along, we did meet up at the Mexican place since that was what we were planning on anyway. Sam and Candace beat us there, and were waiting patiently for us. And we had a great night. Max lamented being able to have only one margarita since she'd have to drive home. I got one too... Non-alcoholic of course. They're sweet and limey, and I like em as far as they go. But since I've never had alcohol, I don't know how that changes things. Can't say I feel like I'm missing anything, I've also never understood what was so fun about having everyone else laugh at your expense.

It was while we were waiting for dessert that someone turned the TV's to the news station. A knock down drag out fight, down Colfax. Again, no one knows exactly what started it, but the vigilante was involved. Whatever was going on, it almost seemed like a fight between two rival gangs with the vigilante in the middle. They were all attacking him, but they were attacking each other too. By the time we were seeing the live feed from the traffic 'copter, the police were arriving in force. They parked cruisers on opposite sides of the block and tried to surround the area as best they could. Fortunately the people in the area had cleared out, but there were just so many involved in the fighting.

The vigilante was overwhelmed, he gave as good as he got, but he couldn't focus on anyone without someone else taking advantage. They had bats, knives, crowbars, I'm honestly surprised I didn't see or hear about any guns. They didn't seem to respond to the police at first, as if they couldn't hear the orders over their own shouts. But one officer started using his cruisers megaphone or loudspeaker, whatever they're called and that got people's attention. Some dropped and complied immediately, others fled and most were caught one way or another. The vigilante climbed up one of the buildings and huffed it out of there jumping from rooftop to rooftop.

The police and new 'copters both tried to follow him, and they did for a ways. Once he got outside the block the police had surrounded, he jumped back down to the street and ran. He sprinted really, and kept it up impressively. Police units started catching up to him just as he was reaching the intersection with I-25. He jumped over the railings where it passes over the interstate and climbed down underneath the bridge. The helicopters couldn't follow him, the police couldn't follow him, and they couldn't get units to pass down I-25 fast enough. Noone knows where he went from there.

Max teased Sam saying, well now we know you're definitely not the vigilante. At first he seemed shocked, almost like she'd figured something out, but before he could respond Candace was already laughing. It was such an infectious laugh too, it wasn't long before we were all laughing.

We didn't stay much longer after that, it was getting late anyway. For all of us.

And like I said, after I'd gotten home Hal started texting to apologize and ask about our night. I guess once the news came on, that pretty well cancelled what he and Tim were doing and so Hal headed home and texted me as soon as he could.

Alright, I've got it down. Now I need to get to bed.

February 4th, 2018

Work was so busy today that my day flew by and I didn't have the chance to stop and think about things. Which considering everything we went over yesterday is probably a good thing. Even since getting home, I've been avoiding the news for fear of what I'll hear next.

What it means though is that I don't have a whole lot to write about today. I did have Hal's company this morning and at lunch. He seemed a bit stressed, but it was about homework rather than Tim. I think that's good at least, but if Tim wasn't so gun ho about training him tonight though he could have spent the time working on homework. I don't know, even if these guys are the real deal, I sure hope they're paying Hal well to put up with this crap. Considering Hal was talking about getting his own place though, I suspect he is getting paid well.

Tomorrow's Monday, so it shouldn't be as busy. I'll find out then what I missed.

February 3rd, 2018

Hal just dropped me off after our conspiracy dinner, and the shit has hit the fan. This morning we all woke to the news stations finally starting to report on the disappearances as being more than isolated incidents. Of course, this was triggered by the most recent disappearances. Sometime in the last two days the towns population of Albany, Wyoming disappeared. The entire population, all gone. And the reason we're not sure when this happened is because it wasn't discovered until out of town relatives were having a hard time contacting those that lived there. They called, left messages. When they weren't getting any response, they called known work numbers and left more messages. Still didn't hear any response. So they finally started calling local officials, then county and state officials. Those officials also started calling locals without response. They finally sent someone to physically check out the town this morning and that's when they discovered the town was empty.

Given what evidence they can find, they suspect the people disappeared by the morning of the 31st. Vehicles were parked at home rather than at work with bedside alarms still going off. Local businesses hadn't updated dates for the new month, and there were no time card punch in or outs for the 31st or later. There's also no evidence of the people walking away. One official is quoted as saying they may as well have disappeared in their own beds.

As if that wasn't stunning enough, Sam finally brought something to the table as well. He said a buddy of his had mentioned that hunting this year wasn't going so well. So he started looking into wildlife reports. What he found was that agencies all around the four corners were reporting significantly lower game populations than expected. But there's also been a reduced number of wildlife encounters, and almost no reports of wildlife in settled areas. It's as if people aren't the only ones disappearing, and the wildlife seem to have been disappearing in greater numbers. Considering how the estimates are based, officials have been looking for corpses and at first suspected poachers. But the numbers are too high to be so explained, and there have been no corpses or any other evidence that would confirm those suspicions.

Which, considering the earliest disappearances were individuals or small parties out in the wilderness, that makes sense. But for an entire town to disappear? And granted, it's an out of the way town with a listed population of maybe 60 people. But compared to two people out hiking in the woods, that's huge. And it more than doubles the number of missing individuals altogether.

But the news media is also reporting a shocking number of people being found. Most have no legal identity, don't speak any recognizable language, and all wearing basic fiber clothing. As opposed to modern cotton weaves. And considering those traits, that is a hell of a coincidence. A lot of these found persons weren't listed in news media as much as they were listed in police and hospital reports. Which is how we missed them. It does make me wonder about Jane though, she's similar to the others in that there's no record of her existence and she had similar clothing on when found. But she does speak English, with an accent that I don't recognize. Are all the rest of these people amnesic? Would that have anything to do with crossing the ohvau? That'd make Hal all the more lucky that he didn't get amnesia. I just wish I could've brought these points to their attention. I wouldn't have, I did promise Sam and Candace, even if Sam wasn't there.

That said, some of these people who are being found are like the girl who was found in Dinosaur National Monument, Amy Shaun. Former missing persons, most who had been missing for years, are showing up all around the country. Now granted, I'm talking about maybe ten people, so they aren't showing up in anywhere near the same numbers as those who're disappearing. Even the numbers of unknown persons who are showing up doesn't compete. So on the whole we're losing population. As if a balance would make things better.

So while all this has been going on, Max brought to our attention an incident involving our deer headed vigilante. This time it was an altercation with a bike gang, and video was captured showing him lifting one of the bikes (a Harley) and throwing it across the street. A couple of the bikers were beaten pretty severely, but they managed to chase him off with gun fire. Reports can't seem to confirm whether he was hit, but again there's been no reports of anyone checking into a hospital with a gun wound. This happened just last night. There's also no clear cause for the incident.

Those were all talked about after Sam got there. Before he had arrived, Max and Hal were asking how I was doing and wanting to know more about what I'd seen. For some reason I still haven't admitted to them that the lady was there all the way up till when Sam found me back outside. I don't know why Sam hadn't mentioned that, and I haven't had the chance to ask him. But it's also made it easy to fail to mention that I'd talked with her.

Though Max did coax out of me that she was practically naked. Hal was good enough to keep his mouth shut.

Trying to divert attention away from me, I asked Max if she'd heard about Melia interviewing college students. She said she had, so they started making plans on trying to get Hal and her together so Hal could finally report success to Tim. It was while they were talking about that when Sam showed up with barbecue. I've tried barbecue chicken before, but I've never had the pleasure of actual barbecue from an actual barbecue joint. I couldn't believe how good it was, and here Sam and Hal were both saying it was "alright." If this was "alright" I'm curious what they would call good.

Though I was amused when both of them warned about the spicy sauce. They've never tried my Dad's jungle curry.

I'll leave off on the food so it seems like I had a good night. In all reality though, I'm scared. If a small town is going missing, what's next?

January 26th, 2018

What a day. Everything gets put on pause while I take care of myself for a change, and when I get back it's like everyone wants to go crazy.

Well okay, I'm being dramatic. At work this morning a couple of guys came by my counter that I recognized from before. I had first noticed them back in December when the Nephmesu exhibit was brand new, it was an older white gentleman in tweed accompanied by a younger Hispanic guy in a suit. Just looked, it was December 11th that I'd noticed them.

Anyway, as memorable as they were then, today they came by my counter to by tickets. Just over hearing them talk, the older guy was called Professor, though I didn't hear a name. And I'm pretty sure I heard him call the younger Santiago? It was on the busy side at the time, so I didn't have time to try and engage them more. But I was struck again how much Santiago reminded me of the Winchesters when they're playing FBI. Probably helped by re-watching the first season with Hal.

That's not the dramatic part, though they seemed to be a part of it. A few parties after they gone through, a rather aromatic homeless guy comes up to me and asks with a very think accent if he can get in. As politely as I could I let him know the ticket price and asked how he would like to pay. The thing was, as I was trying to work with him, he kept looking into the museum. Now I can't be sure what he was looking at, but it really felt like he was paying a lot of attention to the professor and Santiago.

After I'd asked for the second time how he'd like to pay, he placed a coin on the counter that didn't look at all familiar to me. Uncle Krikor once in a while sends mail our way, and he almost always includes a coin for me. Thanks to him I've got a collection of coins from all over the world. It's not exhaustive by any means, but the coin this homeless guy placed on my counter wasn't like any of the coins I've got at home. It was well made, but it looked hand made rather than machine pressed like most currency. And I've seen more than a few coins that use a band of different metal around the outside. But I've never seen any coin that incorporated a gem in the middle like this one.

Once I realized he had intended to use it to buy his ticket, I immediately started saying "I'm sorry, I can't accept that." My mouth was moving faster than my brain, cause I would have liked to have gotten a closer look. But as soon as I said "I can't," the guy grabbed the coin off the counter. He seemed incredulous asking, "You won't take a sin?"

I tried apologizing again, but he cut me off saying he just wanted to take a look around. I explained that admittance required a ticket. The whole time he had kept looking toward the professor and Santiago. But at some point they must have finally gotten out of sight, because by that point the homeless guy became very animated, very loud, and altogether unpleasant. I'm sure based on his appearance security had already made their way down, because they were on him in seconds. He struggled for a bit before finally allowing them to escort him out.

I didn't see him again for the rest of the day, or smell him for that matter. But he did cause quite the disturbance. It was a little unnerving and I don't think I calmed down until Hal sat down with me at lunch.

But that's the other thing. After I'd finished telling Hal what had happened, he had a story of his own. As soon as he brought up Tim I was expecting more drama over getting Hal to spy on Melia. But no, through some grapevine, Tim had heard that a coo-she was spotted in the area. I'm sure I'm spelling that wrong. Hal wasn't sure what that meant any more than I was, only that Tim said it was a fairy dog? And something about them being very dangerous and that Hal should avoid it if at all possible. It was important enough that Tim called Hal directly to warn him.

Hal said he'd tried to get more information, asking what they looked like so he'd know to turn the wrong direction, that sort of thing. Tim finally said he'd have to go over it later. So at the moment we've got some beast to avoid, but no idea how it might be any different from other dogs to know what to avoid. I guess I'll just have to be wary of any dog not on a leash.

Hal did ask how my appointment went yesterday, I told him what I knew. Doc said I looked good, but the results would have to be studied and we wouldn't know for a while. So then we talked about what to do for dinner tomorrow. Which reminded me to text Max and Sam. Max said she'd do some Mac and Cheese, which sounded good enough.

Hal picked me up after work and we went back to his place. His roommate had made some sort of tuna potato chip casserole and said we were welcome to have some. It was actually pretty good, it had peas, and cream of mushroom soup in it. Not sure what else, but tasty for being potato chips and tuna.

I helped Hal as poorly as I could with his homework. And then we watched another episode of Supernatural before he brought me home.

So work again tomorrow, hopefully no more homeless guys. And then our weekly conspiracy dinner. With as much as Hal and I have to share, I'm curious what Max'll have.

January 22nd, 2018

I have an appointment with Dr. Laurie on Thursday at 1:30. Depending on how things go, I can still catch up with Candace afterward. Depending on what happens, I may not want to catch up with Candace afterward. So I've been texting her today to let her know. She's supportive and understanding. She asked if there was anything she could do, I offered that she could be my shoulder to cry on for a change. She said "anytime, with hot chocolate."

Hal on the other hand, is busy trying to find an explanation that doesn't involve my tumor. Which is sweet of him, but it's like when Christians find out about my tumor. Their idea of comfort is to say God's got a plan for everything. Apparently his plan is to kill me before I'm forty. Thanks. And it's not like they don't mean well, but some times shit happens. There's no need for an explanation. I've known about this tumor for a long time now, two thirds of my life in fact. And for years now I've known that I might start hallucinating. It's starting.

Hal went and asked Tim as much as he could without telling him what I'd seen. Turns out that fairies can choose whether or not people see them. And it's not an all or nothing either. They can be selective, say for instance I can see them while no one else can. This sounds to me like a recipe for them to be able to drive us insane.

So yea, Hal's explanation is that the fairies were there, and I did see them. But only because they wanted me to see them. They weren't paying any attention to me, or anyone else there. In fact they seemed so caught up with what they were doing that I doubt they'd be wanting anyone to see them, or were thinking of not being seen. It's hard for me to believe they'd be wanting to fuck with me.

And if they did, well fuck them.

No, it's nice for Hal to be trying to justify what I'd seen. But I think he's seeing how concerned about this I am, and he's just trying to make me feel better. Or it's dawning on him how serious this is, and he's scared too. I don't blame him, fear makes people do stupid things. But right now, I need him to man up.

I asked him to bring me home, told him when my appointment was. He said he'd skip class if I needed him, I thanked him but Mom'll be there. I don't want him feeling like I'm rejecting him or putting him at a distance, so I hugged him tightly and asked if we could do something Wednesday after he got out of class. "It's a date."

January 14th, 2018

Hal did text me this morning apologizing that he wasn't able to respond last night. He did say he'd talk to me about it later, but he'd have to miss lunch today.

After work he picked me up and offered me a flower in apology. I didn't feel he needed to apologize for anything, but the flower was pretty. He said it was a hyacinth, and it was a beautiful blue color that matched his eyes.

Anyway, we made our way to the store and grabbed some things to make a stir fry. Hal insisted on making that, so I let him be. He did a good job to. Kinda left my hands empty though, so I tidied up his place just to keep busy.

We talked, sounds like Tim has really latched on to Melia Floros as being someone they need to know more about. He's putting even more pressure on Hal to find out about her, which is frustrating for Hal because all it's not like they're showing him how to do any of this stuff. I asked if Hal had said anything along those lines, and he said he'd asked Tim what to do. Tim must have finally realized that he was neglecting Hal's training. They spent the rest of the night going over a lot of things that make Hal sound like some sort of secret agent.

Which, I guess if this is the Illuminati, that's to be expected. What's worrisome is that it sounds like Hal enjoyed it. That was part of the reason Hal felt he needed to apologize though. Not just because he screwed everything up last night, but because starting this next Sunday, every Sunday Tim's going to be showing Hal the ropes. Hal said Tim wanted to do it on Saturdays, but he convinced Tim to do it on Sundays so we could still have our conspiracy dinners. But this also means that if he's got homework to do, he might have to miss lunch once in a while.

I'm still not entirely sure how I feel about it. I am worried, I've already mentioned, but in a way Hal's excitement is rubbing off too I think. I just thought that they'd wanted him to be a scholar, that he wouldn't be doing the cloak and dagger bit. So I'm a little confused, and I don't think Hal's realized that change in priority. He's too excited at the thought of being a spy. Not in those same words, but what else am I supposed to call it?

So I brought up the missing girl that I'd found about yesterday. I was hoping that might remind him of the nature of what's going on. He was appropriately saddened, and it did slow down his momentum a bit. But then he reminded me that the worlds are merging, and that she'd be found again soon. He got home again. "It'll all work out, she'll be fine, you'll see."

I do hope he's right, I hope she's found soon. But what if she's not? What if it's someone else, and they're not? We've had a lot of people go missing these last many months, and I don't remember many articles about them being found. I'm not sure Hal realizes how fortunate he was.

January 13th, 2018

So tonight was supposed to be our conspiracy dinner. Hal did show up for lunch, but he was on the phone with Tim as he was walking in and wasn't able to put the phone down until halfway through our lunch. According to Hal, Tim is on the warpath about Melia and is insisting that Hal drop everything and all but walk up to her demanding to know who she is. I was only able to hear half the conversation. Hal spent a lot of time confirming that his schooling was actually his primary goal and that Melia is something he'll do when he has the time. And then they were going over his schedule and how much homework he was expected to have.

By the time Hal hung up, he was apologizing that he'd have to cancel diner tonight. I asked if we should just put it on standby in case Tim cancels again, but Hal said even if Tim did he'd neglect letting Hal know until it was way too late to get everyone together anyway. Besides, from the sound of things, this was one meeting that was going to happen whether Hal liked it or not.

So, I texted Sam and Max immediately and let them know what was going on. Both responded, Max seemed disappointed, Sam just said thanks for the heads up. And that was that. After work, I took the bus home. Mom and Dad were happy to have me "over for dinner" as they put it. And it was nice having an evening with the folks, don't get me wrong. It just sucks for plans to fall through like that.

That said, since it was my normal pattern to go over those things, I sat down at my computer and spent some time looking around just to see what I could find. Despite the winter weather, I have found that people are still disappearing. There was one just this last week up in Pennsylvania of a couple who were out cross country skiing. The guy came home alone and frantic because his fiance had disappeared over a hill. Her tracks just came to a stop and nothing. Search and rescue were called in, but as of yesterdays news they still haven't found anything.

This is not the time of year to get lost in the middle of nowhere, I just hope the lady is able to find shelter and supplies. If we're right, she'll be returned to her future groom soon enough, I just hope soon enough isn't too long.

I've found a couple of other similar reports, and now I'm feeling bad that we'd all allowed ourselves to get distracted by what's been going on here. It's all important, but people going missing is heartbreaking. And not that we're responsible, or that we could do anything about it, but it's like we're not even paying attention to it.

I don't know.

Max had asked if Sam and I still wanted to get together, but Sam mentioned having a lot of work to do at the shop and might have cancelled himself anyway. Since Sam was out too, Max said she should work on homework anyway.

I tried looking for more information on Jane Doe too, but didn't find anything. It seems a donation page was set up to help her with medical expenses and other immediate general needs, but there's nothing about how to get in contact with her. I was tempted to try and say something on the site itself, but felt awkward about doing so. There were a lot of well wishers, and even others that were asking to meet or inviting her to join them for various events. But there were no responses, only a note at the top saying that while the site was set up to help Jane, Jane herself didn't have anything to do with the site. That made me a little skeptical about what the money was actually going toward. Granted, if they were going to lie about it, they'd probably lie about who they were, so I hope this is going toward Jane. Still, not the place for me to try and make contact.

So back to square one. Hal was texting for a while, but I haven't heard from him in about three hours now. Awful long time to be meeting with Tim. I hope they're not getting in to trouble.

Nothing else I can do, so I'm going to go to bed.

January 10th, 2018

How awesome would it be to have a job in which your boss leaves you alone, cancels appointments, and you still get paid? I mean, I know it'd be frustrating to make plans and then at the last minute have those plans cancelled. But to end up doing nothing and still be paid for it, wouldn't that be nice?

Hal doesn't seem to think so. He picked me up this morning and we grabbed Candace on the way to the gym. He spent the whole time complaining about a dreaded meeting with Tim this afternoon, which was why he was saying he wouldn't be able to get together with me tonight. But I guess Tim's been even more distracted of late. Hal said he hasn't even been going to visit the tree like normal. Hal has no clue what Tim's been up to, all he knows is that Tim's not been doing anything at all.

And I get it, it'd have been nice to have some heads up for tonight 'cause then he could've gotten me and we could've gone to a movie or something. Hal had gotten all his homework done so that he could meet with Tim. So his evening was open. But Tim didn't call until an hour after he was supposed to show up and by then I was already eating with the folks.

Anyway, after our workout, Hal dropped Candace and I off at the store so we could run our chores and he went to class. And yea, I did say our chores. Candace seems to be trying to take a more active role in taking care of herself now. She's still using Sam's card, but I guess if she doesn't have any other income anyway...

So we did some grocery shopping. She seemed overly perplexed by the selection of foods, the way they were priced, what difference there was between brands and on and on. I didn't have any good answers for her, which didn't satisfy her at all. So she just went on and on about it. Maybe that's why Sam does the shopping?

She wanted to buy everything, but I told her she'd have to carry everything she bought. She finally trimmed it down to two bags. I felt so bad for the carry out's that'd have to return the items.

Fortunately I didn't have many more stops to make, and nothing was frozen. The only other stop Candace wanted to make was to get a couple pairs of gloves. She's still trying to work in her garden, so gloves for her and me. When we got back to Candace's place she used some of what she'd grabbed to make a fruity sweet bread that was better than donuts. They were fantastic. I helped and I still couldn't say how she did it. Fantastic treat though.

But I couldn't stay at her place, I had laundry to do and will be back tomorrow anyway. And it appears I'll have to dress warm if we're going to be working in Candace's garden. I thought we'd be working on Eli's rooms a bit more. I don't know.

Today though was Efe's birthday, and we didn't get a call from him. Don't know what's going on, but he's not always able to call. So hopefully everything's alright and we hear from him soon. I wonder if he's gotten his package yet?

December 30th, 2017

I spent all morning racking my brain about what to have for dinner. I got so desperate I texted Max and started asking her what we should do. I forgot, she's also a college student, so her suggestions ranged from ramen noodles to mac and cheese. Which okay, cheep, which saves money like I wanted, but just seems so lacking. Although, it would be a good chance to show of Hal's ability to doctor up his noodles and... yea, that wouldn't be a great way to show him off.

So when Hal joined me for lunch today I asked again what we should do for dinner. And again he suggests ordering pizza. Is there no happy medium between ramen noodles and going out? Since Max and I were already texting on the subject, I let her know. In a moment of brilliance Max suggests we make our own pizzas. Someone'd have to stop by the store and make sure we have pizza crusts, but then have each of us bring our own toppings and we can make put em together at Hal's.

I've never made pizza before, the only one's I've ever had were ordered out anyway or eaten at the pizza parlor. And generally not at home. So I wasn't sure what to do, but Max reminded me of that pizza joint that offered mashed potatoes as a topping and said I couldn't go wrong. I still wasn't sure, so while I could get away with it I did some research on my own and decided to grab an onion, eggplant, garlic, and some herbs and spices.

When Hal picked me up after work I let him know what we were about. So we stopped by the grocery store and picked up ready made pizza crusts. Max had said she'd get the sauce so we didn't worry about that. I grabbed the items I wanted, and Hal grabbed Canadian bacon and pineapple. It seemed odd to me, and he was amused to find out I'd never had a Hawaiian pizza before.

Dinner turned out really well, we each did half a pizza our own way, and then the other half mixing ingredients. That way we basically had six different half pizzas. Max had grabbed Italian sausage and mushrooms as her toppings, and then in addition to the marinara sauce, she brought an alfredo sauce and shredded cheese mix for pizzas. I have to admit, Hal's Hawaiian pizza was surprisingly good. And I liked the eggplant, but the other two shied away from it. They dutifully tried, but that was all they had. More for me.

Anyway, while we were making the pizzas Max dove right into our conspiracy talk. She mentioned an item she'd come across that didn't make the news. Instead, it was making the circles in the conspiracy communities that she keeps up with. What caught her attention about it is that it actually seems to be genuine. A photographer was out at Commons Park trying to photograph the tree and caught something about a block away. Normally when someone 'catches' something they turn up with blurry pictures, which Max finds to be a telling sign. Most cameras these days are high speed enough that even while moving they can take fairly clear photos. She then brought up the images she'd grabbed, which clearly show a very short person standing next to a car. I say very short because he's not much taller than the tire. And while he could, probably easily, pass as a child, his body is in adult proportions. Which actually makes this even more strange, usually people who have some form of grown stunt, "short people," their bodies seem out of proportion to their height. Their arms and legs look relatively bulky, as though they were meant to be bigger, but the person never grew. This particular person looks every bit in proportion to how small he is.

Max, every the skeptical one, did point out that with tricks the photo could be made to happen with a full size person to look as though they were only so tall. But she was sure the photo itself hadn't been manipulated. That left perceptual visual effects, like having the guy stand far enough away from the car to have his picture taken looking like he's only so tall. But there'd be visual identifiers showing the distortion, and she didn't find any. A zoom lens could make it happen, but would have a smaller field of view. The picture in question looks like it was taken with a much larger field of view, suggesting it was taken closer to the vehicle with no clear zoom. This makes the persons short stature impossible to miss.

Even more importantly, there are other people in the photo, all standing around and looking at the little guy. Max said trying to coordinate an illusion like that would be a nightmare without after effects used on the picture, which as she said she found no evidence of.

The story included with the photo tells how the photographer heard some shouting, and saw a flash of light. Next thing he knew there was this little guy picking himself up off the ground right next to the car in the background, he actually used the tire to help stand up. The photographer had to move to get a clear picture of the little guy and only had time to get one such shot. He had taken other pictures, which he shared, but none of them show as clearly the little guy that had everyone's attentions. And this more than anything is what convinced Max. One image, cleverly done, could be made to give the illusion of extreme lack of height. And any of the other photos in which the short guy isn't apparent would be something she'd expect to be submitted. But together, they paint a picture that this did happen.

The photographer reports that shortly after taking the one picture, while he was trying to get another shot, the little guy just disappeared. Which caused no small amount of panic among the crowd. Max had tracked down the date of when this happened, Dec. 23rd, and matched it up with some police reports indicating a small incident happening about a block from the tree.

Of course, as soon as he heard the date, Hal checked that against his own notes and reminded both of us of the attack I'd had that same day. But my attack, as he had recorded, was at 2pm. This happened later in the day during sunset. Hal admitted we had a point, but I can tell he won't let it go.

As we pulled the last pizza out of the oven, Hal's Hawaiian, he brought up his frustrations with Tim. Tim's really his only contact with the illuminati, and his training had been left up to Tim. But according to Hal, Tim's been so focused on the growth on the tree that Hal feels he's been completely ignored. Except for the occasional request to find out more about Melia Floros. But he's been keeping up with Melia's social network, and the website that airs her interviews. Hal's not finding anything about her that might suggest she's more than just a passionate conservationist. The only thing he's happy about is that it's given him freedom to spend time with family and go tubing with us.

Speaking of tubing, his black eye looks so much better. It still looks pretty nasty, but it's been healing well.

But since he was talking about the illuminati, and I didn't have anything to add, I asked him about the Jane Doe story he'd picked up on. He filled Max in on what he'd told me while we were at the hotel, but he said there hadn't been anything new since. Like Hal, Max doesn't know about Candace, so they both shrugged and called it interesting.

With nothing else to go on, and since we'd been eating the whole time. Max took off early. I did make sure to walk her to her car, and gently asked if everything was okay. Max admitted that the reason Robert was so pissed the other day was because she'd called out Sam's name while they were in coitus. She'd had a few days to let the shame ware off, and made me swear never to tell Sam. But her and Robert are done, which was just as well. She had been looking and sounding much better all night, so I'm glad for her.

Still, it made me more than a little self conscious about what I was doing as I spent the next few hours properly thanking Hal and tending to his black eye.

December 9th, 2017

Today started out with a dizzy spell while I was waiting at the bus stop. Fortunately I could sit down and hold on and no one would notice. It didn't last very long, to be honest it's the most normal attack I think I've had since August. Not they're ever normal, but especially with that last one being so bad, it was nice to just be dizzy for a moment and be done with it.

It wasn't as busy at work as it was yesterday, but one could hardly tell. People are excited about the new exhibit, and that's great. Makes me sad that I missed it on Thursday when they walked the employee's through. Makes me look forward to seeing it next Thursday with Candace that much more.

Speaking of Candace, she's been trying out texting. I can't tell though if she's already picked up the internet lingo that quickly, or if she's just a really bad speller. I can make a guess, considering her seeming inability to use technology, but I don't want to be unfair to her. She does want to get out again and has asked to go back to the gym. But she's still a little nervous about using Public Transportation and wants me to be there with her. Which is fine, take her a few more times to get comfortable with it, and then I'll start to insist that she meet me at the gym.

Anyway, after work I met up with Hal and while he drove I made contact with Max so we could make it all to the same restaurant. Max was hoping for pizza, so we hit up Hops & Pie. Hal was more interested in trying some of their beers, but Max and I found some of their offered toppings to be a source of curiosity. Mashed potatoes on pizza? We ended up trying and it was actually pretty good.

First order of business though was to compare notes. Unfortunately since both Max and Hal were working on final projects and studying for finals, they hadn't had time to really pay attention to anything else. Even The Illuminati was giving Hal space to study, but then his schooling was now kinda his job. That left me to fill them in on what I'd found, which wasn't much. I told about the research I'd done on Melia the other day, and about looking into DIA. Hal said Tim was so concerned with the tree that he wasn't sure Tim even remembered the airport.

With so little else to mention, I just moved on to asking Max if she wanted to see Star Wars next week. She was thrilled, even said she'd met a cute guy recently and it'd be perfect to do a double date. That made Hal and I feel better. I at least know what it's like to be the fifth wheel, so I was worried Max wouldn't want to come.

So conversation devolved into talking about Max's new friend, and taking Candace to the gym the other day. Both Max and Hal had to laugh at Candace's crack about Sam lifting a bus, but we all had to agree, he just about looks like he could. I also mentioned bringing Candace to see the new exhibit on Thursday and asked if Max had some free time during the day to join us. She was certainly interested, but she wasn't sure she could swing it. Hal will be there, but he'll also be working. I was hoping if we went mid day Hal might be able to swing lunch with us and Max'd have a lunch break she could use. Hal we can catch, but probably not Max, not with finals going on.

Max had to cut things short, said something about trying to get some studying in with her new friend. With her taking off, it gave Hal and I a chance to chat. So I asked him about seeing the Botanic Gardens sometime in the next month or so. It didn't take much convincing, he's never been anyway, but I did remind him that Melia worked there. Maybe we can bump into her.

December 6th, 2017

It's strange, today was the first day in a long while I've felt like nothing was happening. I spent the day doing chores, so it's not like I had nothing to do. It's more like, everything with the tree, and at work getting ready for Nephmesu, there's just been so much going on in the world around me. But today, at least for me, it was just a nice calm day.

That said, Nephmesu was supposed to arrive today. But since it was my day off, that really didn't affect me. If I were at work, I'm sure I'd have been stressed and sick. If stress were a trigger for my attacks, I'd probably have had one today. As for the tree, the standoff continues. It's an unease peace, but peace nonetheless.

I actually spent some time doing some searches on Melia to see if there'd been any more news about her or her attempts to save the tree. There's been some more video's of her meeting with various people. I get the feeling she's acting more like a politician than anything else, but maybe that's what she needs to do. She is trying to influence public opinion and policy, so maybe that'st he route she needs to take. Her own site goes into more detail about either creating a roundabout around the tree, or to extend the park to include the tree and move the intersection all together. Even the site admits that the later option is unlikely. They seem like reasonable options, I don't know why people are so adamant to kill the tree. They don't just want it moved even though the city did entertain that option, they want it destroyed.

I did go looking into the progress at DIA, out of curiosity about what had happened there. Progress reports seem uneventful, things are generally in order and on time. I was just hoping that there might be more investigation into what had happened in the first place. But it seems now that there's an explanation, even if it doesn't actually fit the video's that we had seen, people are happy to accept it. I'm going to have to ask Hal if The Illuminati has said anything more about it to him. It's a long shot, Tim doesn't seem to tell Hal anything unless he's complaining about what's going on. The rest of the time it's all study this, and read that, and research Melia.

Speaking of which, maybe I can use Hal's assignment to my advantage and we could go visit the gardens sometime. I usually go during the summer, but I hear that visiting in the winter can be pretty spectacular too. I'm kinda curious myself about Melia, but I'm also remembering what I had seen the last time I was there. I know we've got the tubing trip coming up, so I might have to hold off on visiting the gardens till next month. I'll have to suggest that to Hal next time we get together. That may be too late for Tim's liking though. I don't know, but I can ask.

Speaking of Hal. I was hoping that after he got off work, he'd be able to catch up with me and we could do something and I could get a ride home from him. Forgot he had class after work today... So I was out later than usual and wasn't able to catch my usual bus home.

That said, when I did finally get home, Dad was watching the news as usual. There was an interesting story about a Kids MMA event going on this weekend. I know they've got a lot of kids martial arts groups and the like, but mixed martial arts? How does that work? I would've thought it'd take years to master one martial art much less multiple. That doesn't strike me as something kids would have had the time to do. It does look like it'd be fun though. I had always wanted to try martial arts and at least learn some self defense.

Now that I'm thinking about it though, I think the gym offers self defense classes. Good for a workout as well. I'll have to look into when they offer classes next time I'm down there. Won't be tomorrow though, I get to check in on Candace then. Maybe I could mention it to her, it'd be another good excuse to get out. Especially now with Winter on, she doesn't even have her garden to work in. I wonder how Sam would react to that idea?

I guess tomorrow we find out.

December 5th, 2017

Tomorrow's the big day, and we're all feeling it at the museum. We're not sure exactly when Nephmesu will arrive, but when he does everything is going to be put on high alert. The Egypt exhibit will have to be closed off for the rest of the evening. While we haven't publicized Nephmesu's arrival as much as when his exhibit will be opened, we've been getting a lot of people hoping to catch a glimpse of his arrival. Even today they were loitering around the Egypt display and making the guards nervous. In one of John's better ideas, he invited some of the scientists out to give talks and educate those that seemed interested. It worked out great, the loiterers either left or joined in on the lesson.

Hal was looking pretty stressed at lunch today. He said finals were rearing their ugly heads, and with the stress here at work and with Tim, he's feeling the pressure. I asked what was up with Tim, and Hal explained that mostly he was being inconsiderate with the responsibilities he already had. Tim was really pushing him to look into Melia Floros, and seemed all too interested in the growth on the side of the tree. He even wanted Hal to go to the Botanic Gardens and do some snooping there. I echo'd Hal's exasperation by asking when he had the time?

Hal apologized for being a downer, and then again that he'd be distracted over the next few weeks. Between studying for finals, getting projects completed, and staying on top of his work here he's not going to have a lot of spare time. Though it does sound like once Nephmesu gets here some of Hal's workload will be relived.

I offered the wistful thought that if only I had a weekend off, we could take a break for a day and let him rest and recover. He asked what we would do, and I brought up that I still hadn't seen the last season of Supernatural. I couldn't believe Hal had never seen Supernatural. He was at least aware of it, but between school and work, he doesn't have a lot of time. And when he does, he likes being outside. So I asked about his interests in fiction and books and shows. He's a fan of Tolkien, in fact he said when he's out hiking he likes to pretend he's in Middle-Earth. I don't think anything has ever encouraged me to get out and hike more!

Of course, we couldn't talk for much longer since our lunch break was quickly coming to an end. And for all his reasons I didn't see him after work. So I haven't been able to follow up on what he enjoys. I know he likes comics, he'd grown up with them. He enjoys all the movies that have been made and are planned 'cause he loves seeing the comics brought to life on the big screen. But outside the comics, I now only know that he likes The Lord of the Rings. I think he'd like Supernatural, and I did suggest we find time to watch it. I had made a similar suggestion to Candace too. I wonder if we're going to have to do a binge group. I know Max'd be up for it. It might have to wait till the summer though when they're out of school.

With everything that's going on, I have to admit that I'm glad I'll be off tomorrow. But when I get back on Friday, Grand Opening! I'm excited, and terrified.

I need to remember on Thursday when I see Candace, to ask her about coming to the museum. Probably not this week, but maybe next. I know I'd like to be able to see the new exhibit as a guest for a change, and she's been very curious about the museum and what we do.

Speaking of what to remember, I made sure to check the calendar just to look ahead. I hadn't added our tubing trip, so it's on there now. And besides the holidays the only thing I have this month is my dentist appointment next week. I also noticed it's been a week since my last dizzy spell, which means on average I should be having another attack soon. I'll have to take things carefully tomorrow while I'm out running chores.