Hey Nostradamus! By Douglas Coupland (P.92-146)

In this second half This lengthy chapter the first significant happening is that Jason's father, Reg, has fallen down in his kitchen and has broken a few ribbs, and could have a fractured cardio. He requests to the nurse to contact Jason, and bring a few personal belongings from the apartment. Jason complies, but only out of curiousity. He concludes that Reg's apartment is similair to his, in a sense of depression. After visiting his father at the hospital he learns that his father believed that Jason had a perfect soul before murdering Mitchell, one of the gunman; and all Reg wanted was the kingdom of heaven for Jason, and now he believes that Jasons fate in the afterlife is on the fence. After that when Jason is reflecting he mentions to us the aftermath of the massacre and how he was first demonized by the "Aliver!s" and then after he had been proven non-guilty they tried to help him, but by then it was too late. They were traders and unreliable like the rest of the majority of the town that crucified him from a sense of moral image. After this Jason reveals that he recieved 3 letters from each of the anways; Cheryl's family. One from Cheryls mother, Linda, another from Mr. Anway and the last one from Chris; Cheryl's brother. They mostly detailed apoligies for not being there for him in the time when he needed people the most. Mr. Anways letter in addition to the similair apoligies of Linda and Chris included details of the funeral for Cheryl. He say's how the "Youth Alive!" decided to take the funeral into their own hands and tagg signatures and other writings on the pearly white cascette of Cheryl inappropriately and inconsiderately. Then this letter was followed by another from Chris Anway, Cheryls brother; whom detailed the negative actions and influences of the "alive!rs" on his parents and their view of Jason. The letter also talks about how the Alive!rs went on to influence the entire towns oppinions about Jason, and talks about how he was smoking out with his buddy during the time he heard the first few rounds of the gunshots from the massacre, and by the end of the letter we find that Chris loves Jason like a brother and was always by his side through thick and thin and wishes to live with Jason and to be away from the town. Afterwards when Jason and his boss, Les; meet up for a beer they run into Jerry, a shady man; after a few drinks they decide to go for a ride on Jerry's boat which gets sunk after a quarrely with a beastly chinese man. After the boat sinks Jerry calls a man named Yorgo, a Russian Mobster boss whom plunges the 3 boys into a different world with drugs and mobster activity, and throughout the process Jason was going to be killed by Yorgo but once Jason is given an opportunity to kill the evil intending man, after he slips and breaks his leg on a rock on the hike to Jason's death he decides not to kill Yorgo. He actually decides to call for help and go home. Help denies Yorgo. After this Jason is relieved of his depression and feels an altitude change in his mentality from the experiences he went through. He concludes this longer half of the chapter with the last bit of writing to his nephews and in this letter we learn that Jason is actually the father of Barb's twins. Barb wanted to have Jason's kids because they were identical to what Kent's kids would have looked like since they were brothers. We learn that during this time under Jason's conditions, they flew to Los Vegas and got married at the same chapel and stayed at the same place Jason had done a decade ago with Cheryl.

This chapter was very revealing of all the characters and insightful, i enjoyed it and learned much about morality and influence. I believe that part of the reason Jason didn't kill Yorgo when he had the chance was because he wasn't a bad person, just given the circumstances he had to act on an impulse to save his own life while also in attempt to save Cheryls during the time he had first murdered one of the gunmen during the high school massacre. I also learned much about Reg and how he loved Jason and wanted nothing but the best for him through his twisted and illogical mentality. I guess I was wrong about him resorting to religion based on some unmentioned significant happening early in life. We actually come to learn that Reg had a chemical unbalance in his brain regarding his seretonin level, and that if Jason's mom would have dosed Reg with Wellbutrin or other relevant drugs it would have kept him normal(P.120). But after she decided not to, he started to go crazy with religion. I guess he fixed the mental issues he had through the perspective of religion. It's funny how our psychological state can affect our health. I know for a fact that people who are depressed are more likely to get sick because their immune system doesn't properly function. I learned from this that only part of individuality is brought through experiences but not the whole of it. I guess some people just are the way they are without influence. Either way in his perspective he was doing good but in everybody elses he was doing wrong. So if one has good intentions but bad actions and bad expressions, does that make them a bad person? I think it makes a very nice person, but at the same time a very crazy one that shouldn't be taken seriously.