You Take The Weight Off The Heavy Notion, I'll Take The Wave From Coast To Ocean, That's Why The Ride Is Light, It's Alright, It's Alright

--"I Got Time", Letters To Cleo

I was watching the Stargate: SG-1 episode where time keeps looping over itself, a la Groundhog Day, the other day. For the most part it's the funniest episode they've ever produced, giving the original material from the classic film a run for its money. I think the funniest bit has to be when they use the stargate itself, a device capable of opening a wormhole connecting to another point in space hundreds of billions of miles away, to hit golf balls into.

"Where is PX3471 again?"

"About forty-seven billion millions away."

"That's got to be a record."

Every science fiction show has done an episode like this. From Star Trek to Quantum Leap, people are infinitely fascinated with the idea of being able to relive a day from their life again to see how things may have turned out had they done things differently. Mostly, the notion that human beings are fallible and make mistakes without any means to correct them, save atoning for them, makes us wish for ways to manipulate time. Every time we do something to hurt ourselves or others we long for some way to take it back. I certainly would appreciate the ability to change history sometimes, even if it is only one day that I could relive until I got it right.

I used to take these drives along Pacific Coast Highway from Santa Monica to Oxnard, a trip of about 30-35 miles, whenever I got stressed out. Not possessing a cel phone or any other pager, beeper, or other means to get in touch with me, it used to be a freeing feeling to just get away from it all. I even used to think that by taking those drives that when I got back everything would be all better. The time away from my phone and away from whomever or whatever caused me to want to get away in the first place I used to think of as my time. That time was the time where I could be alone with my thoughts and where I thought the world around me could reset itself to how it was before. I don't know--maybe it was just that during that time the angry parties being allowed to cool off or the time allowing for me to forget what kind of pickle I had gotten myself into, but I always came back feeling a lot better off than when I left.

The trip only took about three hours in total, including the time it used to take me to drive back from the ocean, but the immense change in my situation was always measurable. I always came back ready to talk where before there only had been harsh words exchanged. I always came back ready to tackle the situation, whatever it may have been, afresh.


i got time, i got time

Maybe it wasn't exactly getting to do the day over, but it was the closest I came to getting things right.

Yours Swimmingly,
mojo shivers