Dead Cell

November 8th, 2007
9:52 PM

     Okay, so after a long time of thinking I've finally decided to buy a journal for myself. I don't exactly know why but I just seemed drawn to the idea of having one. Maybe to organize my thoughts or write plans in it, I still don't know what I'm gonna do with it. I guess I'll just keep it as a sort of diary to look back on in the future and remember what my life was like now.
     I'll start by giving information a little bit of information about myself. My name is Ian Reiter. I'm 22 years old and I am a stocker for a hospital. I bring the supplies inside from receiving and take them to wherever they are needed. It's a pretty good job and it brings in the money. I live in a small city in Northern California and I'm currently trying to get my grades up to get into a better college to someday become a doctor. I live in an apartment with my friend Jason, but he's hardly ever here so I have the place to myself a lot of the time. Whenever I'm not working or in school I like to kick back and relax, but if I get a small vacation from work when school's not in, I'll occasionally go camping or hiking in the mountains a few miles away. I really love leaving for a few days and just roughing it. I feel like it brings me closer to nature and the whole bit of survivalism really appeals to me. I'm getting ready to leave for a five day hike with my friend Steve in a few days as a matter of fact. He lives in the apartment a few doors down from mine. I just have a few more things to stock up on before I head out but I've already gotten the days off from work.
     Anyways I'm starting to rant on about the hike. I'm looking forward to it a lot if you can't tell. My family is nice but we don't see each other very often. My parents live together on the complete opposite coast, up in Maine. It rains a lot there and it's very green so I like visiting them. My sister Denise lives in New York, and she's trying to get into the fashion industry. She's 19 years old and in college.
     My buddy Mike just got here because we're gonna go out tonight to the pool hall downtown and have a few drinks. I'll write in this journal when I have the chance. I may not get to it every day but I will write in it when I can.

November 9th, 2007
11:20 PM

     I just got home from work. It was extremely hectic today. We had to unload a bunch of large boxes containing some clear bottles with some kind of brownish liquid inside of them. Weird thing about the boxes though was that they didn't have a return address on them as they usually do. I don't know if it's mandatory or not to have an address on the incoming freight but I suppose that's the hospital's business. They know who shipped it and that's all that really matters. It was a bitch to make all the trips though. The hospital I work at is six floors and we had to stock at least twenty rooms on each floor. Thank god for elevators and dollies to make the job easier. It's possible they are getting ready for flu season or something. It's starting to get a lot colder but since it's kind of rainy here there's the possibility of it snowing more than anything else. I'll ask my friend Michelle tomorrow if she knows anything. She works as a nurse part-time so she may know.
     Jason just came home with some girl. I can hear them whispering and giggling in the entryway. That's the second girl this week he's come back with. I haven't gone out with a girl in three weeks. I've been way too busy with work and school to bother with that sort of thing right now. I just saw the two of them walk past my door laughing quietly to themselves and heard his door close. His room is right across the hall from me, but his door is a little bit further towards the end of the hall. The bathroom is near the start of the hall next to the kitchen. We have a pretty good sized apartment and the living room has a nice comfy couch and television there. I think I'm gonna go watch a movie and then go to sleep. I've got school in the morning and work afterward so I should go to sleep now but I'm not tired at all.

November 10th, 2007
11:18 PM

     Today was an interesting day. My classes were good and when I came home from school I turned on the news for a bit while getting ready for work. The news anchor was talking about some terrorist attack outside of a government research facility in Arizona. It didn't mention much about the incident except that the terrorists were all killed or taken into custody. There aren't many terrorist attacks in our country of that scale, but I'm glad all the terrorists were stopped. Shows our country can handle business at home. Good turn around since the World Trade Center attacks. That incident snapped us back into an awareness we can be attacked, and our country has definitely stepped up security.
     Anyways that wasn't the most interesting part. I spoke to Michelle a moment today at work and she said that a private antibiotics industry has created an immunity booster that they have tested to positively counteract a winter virus that is expected to hit soon. I'm sure they will start advertising the shots soon as more hospitals begin receiving the antibiotics.
     Tomorrow I don't have to go to school or work so I'm going to buy the last of the items I need for my hiking trip. Clothing-wise I already have boots, plenty of socks, warm waterproof clothing, a thick hooded jacket, a beanie and gloves. In addition to that I have a hiking pack, warm sleeping bag, hatchet, knife, map and compass, flashlight, a waterproof container for holding all my small items, first aid kit, matches and flint. I have plenty of food and water bottles I've always had stocked for hiking trips. I'll be needing my radios since I'm going with Steve so I might as well mention those. When I wake up I need to leave and get some extra matches and batteries, snow goggles, and a mask to cover my mouth and nose. The news said the weather is supposed to snow on the mountain when we leave. It's been getting towards that time of year and looks like it is going to rain. Cars left outside on the street are all frosty in the mornings, and it takes a few minutes for them to warm up. You should have seen Steve's car the other day. It must have taken him a good twenty minutes to warm up his old truck. I myself have a pretty nice sedan to get around town and carry my equipment. It gets great gas mileage too so I can save money from my paycheck.
     I'm getting to sleep now as it's late and I have no reason to stay up.

November 11th, 2007
8:45 PM

     Came home from shopping about twenty minutes ago. I needed to check out at least four different places before I found everything I was looking for. In the end I got everything I needed though. I can't wait to go camping day after tomorrow. I just have to make it through work tomorrow and afterward I'm going to pick up Steve on the way back home. That way it'll allow him to spend the night and get ready for hiking early the next morning. I'm incredibly stoked for the trip. It started drizzling a while today and by tonight it should be raining harder. I don't believe it's cold enough to snow yet but the temperature is getting very chilly. I have the thermostat running to keep the apartment heated.
     I just placed all my equipment in my hiking pack and all my clothes are lain out on my dresser. Everything is ready to pack in the car, save the water and food. We'll have to grab that from the pantry right before we head out. Knowing Steve he's already done the same thing and can't wait to leave on our hike. I predict this is definitely going to be one of our best hikes we've ever had.
     I turned on the television for a bit to relax and think about the hike and I see there are some riots going on. The news is reporting an estimated dozen casualties from assailants and four injured police officers. One of the riot officers are in critical condition and all of them were sent to nearby hospitals. The news speculates the riots were caused by poor negotiations with a big business type, but they don't know for sure. All they are reporting on is the riot and injured police officers. I guess those are the only real facts they have.
     Today is Memorial Day so I'll hopefully find an interesting movie on TV or I can just watch one of the ones i own. Maybe there will be a good war film I can watch. Either that or action or horror. Those genres are my absolute favorite. I'm gonna go search the guide to see all the movies that are playing. I have a morning shift tomorrow so I'll just try to write in the journal when I get home with Steve. 

November 12th, 2007
8:52 AM

WHAT IN THE HELL IS GOING ON?!