Octopus Shoes

Hot date tonight! Octopus shoes. Retract the suckers if we dance. Movie definitely, dancing maybe. Dinner, I assume. I’ll skip the portable forks this time, and let the restaurant decide. Maybe the pickle place? Or the one with telephone plates? That would be fun, if they still have them. So many changes all the time. Gotta move fast in these fast days. In the old days I wouldn’t have asked her out so soon. Now I’ve gotta do it before she turns blue or grows feathers or something. Most people stay the same, but you never know.

Alright, let’s dress top down. No hat, of course. Never again after that time with the chicken-fish and the strobe lights. Though I do plan one day to learn the ‘hat in the hand, hat on the head’ trick. Anyway... A good shirt. This one’s not too ripe, I think. Smells good, too. Some of the others are congealed already. Hope there are enough buttons. Beautiful little things. Shirt feels good. Just ripe enough.

Maybe a tie. Might look too formal, but might make me stand out. Make her remember me. Look different. Gotta try something. Everything so different these days that it all looks the same. Well, not really, but who can remember anything? Here’s a good tie, though maybe it’s too wet. For a nighttime date, at least. Better on a sunny day. Maybe the red one, if it will stay that way. I might have to make an effort. Remind myself.

Still not used to all this, but I think I understand the ideas. Interaction with the object. Make reality what you will. Think change to make change. So they say. Mind over matter, but it’s always somebody else’s mind. Never mine. Almost never. Sometimes. Wonder what determines it - stronger willpower maybe? Most people would say luck. Chance. Probably why they put it in their name.

Interchance. Assuming they’re the ones who started all this. I think so, but so many other theories. Mind viruses, chemical fumes, cosmic rays, alien microbes, biofoods, acts of God. One guy blamed the Internet. Lots of people felt it was inevitable, somehow, with so much proliferation and fragmentation of culture, so little agreement on what’s right or wrong or good or normal anymore. Then there are those who claim it’s all just a bunch of illusions and nothing has really changed.

Sure feels changed to me. "Change Everything" is the Interchance slogan. Looks like they got what they wanted. Two years now, assuming time is still reliable. And no changing back, apparently. I’m still not used to it. Maybe not supposed to be. I suppose it’s better this way, more exciting. Of course, some things have gone wrong. The carnivorous televisions probably were the worst (what was it, five hundred viewers dead or something?). Then there was that ant loop problem in those schools in the Midwest. Then there was that senator who changed his name to an aroma and used a personal perfume to announce himself. Fine for a while, but big problems with his scratch-and-sniff signatures.

Actually, seems there are a lot of problems this way... but hey, what do I know? I’m just a simple administrator trying to do his job, keep the bank as stable as possible, or at least in tune with whatever national changes come next. Money’s still money. Interesting how the workplace has changed, though. I think we all work a bit slower and easier these days. At any time, there could be a policy change, or a place change, or - heck - any kind of change. And we might have to change what we do. Don’t want all your effort to go to waste. What’s the point of trying so hard if everything could flip-flop in an hour?