n'est pas

The Pocket Travel Guide to Misguided Philosophy
Part 2: Vacationing in the Waiting Room

Enter you, upon seeing another: "I guess we got the same directions." "You don't know?" "I know my directions led here." "You know the directions because you wrote them." "I did? I can't recall, exactly." "Don't blame you. It was buried in the subtext. Remember the forms?" "There are always forms." "Are you going to sit?" "I'm easily distracted. It might take a second." "It's the patterns. Blue chair. Orange chair. Blue chair. Orange and again." "Which should I sit in?" "They are all the same." "Genetically speaking , of course." "No they're really all the same. Every time, everywhere. The color repetition. It's easier on everyone." "That explains the deja vu." "Where did you sit last time? The reason for the deja vu, there must have been a last time." "Blue." "There you go." "How long have you been here?" "I either forgot that long ago or recently. It's unclear." "I have to be back at a set time." "Yeah, I did once." "How long ago?" "You lose track." "Derailed?" "I got comfortable." "It happens." "It's the patterns. One two one two, chairs, tiles, pretty soon you hear patterns in the ac ducts, even in time passing." "Nobody wants a shock." "My paradigms are rigid from inactivity." "I should write it on my hand." "You can try." "Do you have a pen?" "Here, take mine." "It's how I keep track." "I used to make mental notes." "This pen doesn't work." "The consonants and vowels just started separating." "It doesn't matter, I dropped it." "That's when I started counting." "I was wondering about the tiles." "Forwards, backwards. Then I started adding. I subtracted. I multiplied. Then I discovered division." "Percentiles." "Exactly, with a slightly modified mathematical symbol." "I remember." "I'm currently searching for infinity." "How brave." "Uncharted territory. Someone should plant a flag." "But there aren't enough tiles." "How many numbers can you place right of the decimal point?" "However many you can stand, I guess." "And each time the number gets smaller but never completely diminishes." "Infinity is nothing?" "No, it's the process of getting to nothing." "That's an important endeavor." "I have a grant. You never told me why you are here." "I was trying to go somewhere else, but the directions kept leading here. The directions can't be wrong." "That would mean..." " I know, let's not think about it." (pause, thinking about something else) "You'll never reach infinity, you know." "That's exactly what I'm proving." "Goals are really what makes it all worthwhile. That's what they say." "We must keep the same company." Curtain. Repeat, as needed.