The next morning I woke up with my mind on fire.  The old lady never showed back up, but now i understand what she meant when she promised me magic.  I'm seeing the world in a whole different way.  I can feel, hear, taste time itself, and I'm more certain than ever that i have a home to get back to because my time is different than everything else's. It's the wrong... color?  flavor? no idea how to quantify it yet but I'll fucking well find out. 
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It's been a few days and I'm playing with this new energy.  I'm trying not to rave like the madman I've been labeled anymore, but after digging around online I'm finding that at least here there's a lot proven beyond the boundaries of mundane science.  I'm reading, I'm learning, and I'm experimenting.  Let's see where this goes.
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Okay, breakthrough of some kind. I've found some meditative techniques, mental exercises that let me push on this new force.  It's clumsy, but if I strain I can, well not so much move them through time as move time through them. It's weird, but the only way I'll grasp it is to approach it logically, experimentally. for now, at least if something like that lava monster comes at me maybe I have a defense...

Now this, I know how to do.  This magic stuff might seem weird, but deep reading and research is in my wheelhouse. Looking for ways to make manipulating time easier, I'm getting into the value of symbology as a shorthand for the mind.  Seems it reduces the strain of holding magic in your head.  but the symbol needs meaning, either to you personally or to the magic you are trying to perform.  In my case, timepieces should suffice.

I need another job though, something to give me that inspiration back.  I can work on refining this, sure but I'm never going to get anywhere real without another hit of whatever it is these jobs give me.  So next time, I have to push the envelope.  Get over this cowardice and press forward.  To get home i might have to break some eggs or even some skulls and make sure I get mine.