The thought for this post came about during a conversation I had with a saleswoman today.
Every establishment has those "frequent shopper cards" nowadays and, should you forget them, they'll ask you for your phone number to make certain you get points or discounts or whatever the offer may be.
She entered my number into the system and it didn't register. However, she realized she'd skipped one.
Saleswoman: "Oh, I hit the wrong button and it took me back to the beginning."
Me: "I wish I had a button I could push to take me back to the beginning."
Saleswoman (laughing): "Like this morning with the snooze alarm."
Me: "I was thinking much further back than that."
Suffice it to say that I let that part of the conversation die right there. One, she looked somewhat perplexed and two, I didn't have the time nor the inclination to delve into my lifelong fascination with time travel.
From 1979's excellent (but dated) Time After Time (with Malcolm McDowell and David Warner) through the late 80s/early 90s run of Quantum Leap to more recent fare like Donnie Darko, Lost and even Life On Mars, I've always been drawn to content that dealt with time travel.
I think it's because that's something we haven't quite mastered yet and, as a result, it's one of the few things still left out there in the realm of the fantastic--in other words, true science fiction.
In fact, if you ever want an interesting read, try Ken Grimwood's book, Replay...
I'm not revealing anything astonishing by telling you that the main character dies within the first few pages of the book because that's where the fun starts. He awakens in his own body at age 18 and, with his memories intact, has to live his life over...and over...and over...each time with a shortened life span.
The most interesting point is how he alters his life slightly each time and the consequences that occur as a result.
So I suppose I have two questions for my faithful readers...
If you could press a button and go back, at what point would you start over and live your life differently knowing what you know now? Or would you even want to go back?
And, what are you fascinated with in terms of the unknown? Is it ghosts...the afterlife...the human psyche...or why dogs enjoy the wind blowing in their faces when they stick their heads out of a car window but get irritated when you blow in their face?
Talk to me...because I keep feeling fascination with all of you too!
9 comments:
Ohhhhhhhh a thinker … k …
1. Would I go back? I don’t know. I have two very importing things in my life I’d be worried about not having now. I doubt I could risk that, so no, I probably wouldn’t go back … the butterfly effect scares me. There are things I wished I’d done differently, but honestly, I am more likely to regret chances I didn’t take, than the ones I did. Every experience has brought me to this point. Is it exactly where I want to be? No, but it’s where I am and it’s leading me to where I’m going. I even cherish some of my mistakes, for the lessons they’ve taught me.
2. I’m fascinated with a lot of things. I believe there are things beyond our ability to understand them. Whether that’s God/Goddess, ghosts, afterlife, Karma and Dharma … I don’t know. I don’t think that when we die, that’s it, the lights go out and it all ends. There’s GOT to be more than that … there’s too many unexplained stories.
What I’d like to do most right now is to curl up on the couch with a mocha and someone special and discuss this at greater length ….
:-)
~K
wow skitch, deepness. i like it :)
so is it weird that i wouldn't want to go back? i think time travel is fascinating, but i think i have a problem with change. and picturing my life any other way totally makes me nautious and sweaty.
donnie darko was so good that i still don't inderstand it, although that means my hopes aren't too high for the sequal about his sister, samantha darko.
ghosts scare the abosolute crap out of me, i fully believe in them and that they exist only if they're malicious (sp?).
i am thoroughly intruiged by language development. i mean really, babies go from knowing nothing to speaking sentences in two years! why can't/haven't animals evovled in that way?
and as you know from my toying with firewalking, the notions and theories behind existentialism are forever captivating to me.
there's always more, but i think i'll stop blogging on your blog :)
*GASP!* How COULD you forget Back to the Future?????? I can't believe you didn't mention it.
I'm not sure I would go back in time, I'm me because of the experiences I've had. Bad things have led to good and made me all the wiser for having experienced them. Yes there are things I'd rather not have gone through but that can't be helped. As they say "what doesn't kill you makes you stronger".
Samantha Darko? Uhohhhh
I came up with a theory on time once when I was wasted, drinking with friends, and that is that time, as we know it and measure it, is more powerful than God (if there is one) simply because God can't control time.
Here's what I mean.
You're sitting there, reading this. In your head, say the words 'one second.' Those words took approximately one second for you to think them. That one second interval is gone now. Sure, it's already been replaced by other increments, but that SPECIFIC interval will always be there but will never occur again.
Even if you traveled back in time to the exact moment that that specific interval started, and you were able to snap your fingers and freeze time...there would STILL be the IDEA of a one second interval from the time that you STOPPED time.
LOL...well, it makes sense to me.
I guess my idea is that time IS God.
Ok....since I rarely get such an opportunity to put forth my favorite theory involving time travel....
Premise: UFOs and the like are not visitors from other planets, but humans making field trips and engaging in a bit of tourism from the future.
The VERY quick idea:
Haven't you ever wondered why only rednecks in remote areas ever have close encounters? Wouldn't an alien species be more interested in meeting people with a bit more diplomatic sophistication and influence? And why do they run away from any approach by fighter planes and old people with cameras? It is clear that they desperately want to keep a VERY low profile, right? As if they want to have no appreciable impact on people or events, yes?
The answer? It is the Grandfather Paradox of time travel! If you alter the past you may change your own present. So you have to be VERY careful. Almost invisible. A watcher only.
UFOs even look like human technology: more-or-less aerodynamic shapes made of some silvery/gray metal.
Aliens generally are described as having a human-like form...perhaps slightly evolved and/or distorted in appearance from the effects of time travel.
And if you read the theoretical physics on time travel vs space travel, the former has a lot more going for it.
I could go on and on....but I won't. In fact, I'm just going to shut up now. :)
(Go ahead and breath a sigh of relief.)
Mark
*waves to Mark*
Interesting theory Mark, however I refuse to believe that we are the only life out there in the universe and beyond. I very firmly believe that there is life out there and they have been to see us...maybe even live among us.
Interesting responses from everyone! Thanks!
I'd love to address each and every one of the responses but this topic is one that can go on for hours and posts and infinity (oh my!).
For me, it's difficult to say if I'd go back. I'd almost want to be able to see where the differences would be prior to committing living out a different life. In a way, I'd want to view it as if it were a Sliding Doors type of thing.
However, that gets just as time consuming since one minor decision could send you spiraling toward a multitude of conclusions.
In the end, can't life just be summed up as a very long and, in many cases a somewhat interesting "Choose Your Own Adventure" book?
Of course I even used to cheat with those as I'd tend to hold the page and see where I ended up. Lol. If I didn't like the outcome, I'd just go back...
Which brings us back to my fascination with time travel...
Maybe it's all just a loop!
Either that or I'm loopy...and a good argument can be made for that one too! ;)
Well that's simple enough 1)just address my posts, and 2) it isn't a loop, you're loopy.
There, everything is cleared up *dusts off hands*
The 'aliens are really just us from the future' theory makes sense to me.
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