3. The Vessel: Write about a ship or other vehicle that can take you somewhere different from where you are now.

this vessel that takes me some place "different..." well, first of all, where would some place different be? because, in my present cynical perspective, anywhere you are is precisely the same, because you are there. it would almost have to be different in the sense of being someone else. and not just someone else, but someone who is liberated from this current state of being. i know, i'm sounding buddhistic, but i've lived long enough to understand the feeling of being pursued by- i'm not sure what to call it- desperation? despair? unhappiness? and it is that which i have sought to escape all my life. different places, different times, different people- yes, in some small way, they have made a difference... but in truth, the circumstance of entrapment is always the same.

i would say that a "different place" (i.e. the place i would want to be) would involve a narrative where there was a progressive march towards a definite, desired destiny... although, maybe that sounds a bit too "fixed." actually, i sort of like destruction's escape: to always go up and out... and nowhere in particular. that sounds intriguing. maybe i would want to carry a door with me wherever i went, so that i could just walk through to the place i wanted to be. not just places i'd already been to, but places where i wanted to be. i guess like a teleportation door... and perhaps it could not just go anywhere in space, but also to places in time...

but in all places, i would travel as a sort of mendicant. i would learn everything i could about the world. i would stay in one place long enough to understand it, and then move on... there is a secret yearning in my heart, and i would follow it to each successive interest.

where would i go first? well, because i have a thing against pure escapism, i think i would use this door to help me to gain information on this whole hate movement in this country, and in this world, and attempt to undermine it, humiliate it, embarrass it, destroy it... and then, once that were done, then i would try to find other ways to help the world.

so... going back to the vessel... for me, it wouldn't be a "ship," it would just have enough room for me to pass through, a portable door.