Home From Mars...

Dear Juliet

I fear I'm dancing in the dark. I'm not even quite sure if you're really out there. Pretty sure, but not quite.

So I'm going to have faith.

Faith that it's you, and that you're listening.

I don't know if you went to Long Beach and saw the Queen Mary, although I hope you did, and while I think I understand your situation I also know I may be wrong.

But I do know Monsterpalooza is soon, so I thought of three things:

Yeah, I'd have a word with James Marsters behind the scenes, and take Aqaba.

Then my subconscious decided to have its say, and this scene from The Martian popped into my head. Mark Watney's talking to a class after he escaped the virtual certainty of death on Mars, and that's what he says. That at some point, everything's going to go south and you're going to say: this is it. This is how I end.

Now you can either accept that, or you can get to work. That's all it is. You just begin. You do the math. You solve one problem, then you solve the next. And if you solve enough problems, you get to come home.

That's not an exact quote, but it's near enough. My subconscious also tossed out one terse sentence, and this is it:

Admitting there's a problem is the first step towards solving it.

I'd say there's several steps you need to take, and I'm afraid they must be taken. Then you just do the math.

Actually, I've done most of it for you but I'm dancing in the dark, asking myself if this is really happening. I might not have got it right.

And I wonder what you might say at Monsterpalooza, and this phrase just occurred to me:

That the truth will set you free.

I think that's all I'd better say today.

Love,

James