Tag Archives: The Twilight Zone

A Loving Reality

7 Jan

I had a medical procedure that required going under anesthesia. Before all of the action took place, I was looking out the window. Cars and trucks were going down the interstate. Flags were flying in the wind. The world was moving as I sat with tube and wires hooked to me.

Then, a scenario formulated in my mind. What if someone was put under anesthesia and they woke up in an alternate reality. Not one of those realities where the world is turned upside down. I mean an alternate reality with changes that are not immediately noticeable.Flag

A flag with 53 stars.

20-wheelers instead of 18-wheelers.

As the person goes along for a few days, they begin to notice these slight differences and realize that they add up to one big alternate reality. I am sure there are Twilight Zone and Star Trek episodes that deal with such things.

May years ago, I started writing a story about a guy who had a wreck and ended up in a coma. When he woke up, his life was completely different from the one he remembered. He was totally confused and had to figure out what was going on. Was this his real life? Was he still in a coma? Were the memories he thought were real only figments of his broken imagination?

I never finished that story. Other things in life gobbled up the time, and I put it away for a while. You know how it is when that happens. The thing you put away is lost forever.

There was a time in my life when I wished I could transfer to an alternate reality. I was lost in a lot of ways and was in psychological shambles. I no longer wish for alternate realities because this reality is the one I want.

When I woke up, they called my wife into the room, and she was by my side when the doctor came in for his consultation. She has spent the rest of the day taking care of me.

I am happy with this reality because I am loved, and there is nothing more real than that.

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This Blog Has Evolved, But The Imbeciles Have Not

7 Feb

As you can probably tell from the title, this blog began as a place for biting commentary on the condition of humanity. It was a place to rail against the people and things that I found ridiculous about the world. I realize that was an arrogant mission, but I saw this as a place to vent without hurting anyone.

However, the blog has evolved. Now, I write about travel, music, movies, and funny things that happen. It is mostly light-hearted stuff about the things that I enjoy.

This change has come about for a couple of reasons.

First, I have changed. I found the love of my life, and that changed my view of the world.

Second, people I know started reading the blog, and I do not want to air my grievances out for everyone. It is one thing to write for people around the world and another to write for people down the street.

With all of that being said, I have found myself in a dark mood for the past several days. I have witnessed people acting like imbeciles, and that makes me want to divert back to my old writing ways. It also makes me wish that the real world was like the world we see on the screen.

Remember the kid that Billy Mumy played on The Twilight Zone? He was the one who could make anything happen just by thinking it. People were afraid to cross him because he could make them disappear or turn them into some kind of freakish toy.Billy Mumy

When someone does something completely ignorant, I imagine that I have that power.

Remember Josey Wales? When someone got in his way, he shot them and spit on their forehead. Lone Watie, his traveling companion, said, “I notice when you get to dislikin’ someone they ain’t around for long.” Captain Terrill, Josey’s enemy, said, “Not a hard man to track. Leaves dead men wherever he goes.”Josey Wales

When someone does something completely ignorant, I imagine that I have been dropped into the world of Josey Wales.

Obviously, these are things that are not done in polite society and are things that I would not do if I had the opportunity. However, that does not make me any less angry that I imagine the kid or Josey were supposed to be.

I used to be selfish in the fact that I would get angry when I felt someone had done something stupid that affected me. That was when I was a bachelor who lived alone. Now, I get angry when I feel that someone has done something stupid that affects my wife, my stepdaughter or the rest of my family.

I cannot be the kid on The Twilight Zone, and I cannot be Josey Wales. However, I can do everything in my power to protect them from the craziness. From the people who do not act before they think. From the people who only think of themselves. From the people who refuse to take responsibility for anything.

I am not perfect, and I have done some bad things in my life. I have hurt people. I have hurt myself. However, I always knew that many of the things were my fault. If I was the kid on The Twilight Zone or Josey Wales, then those are the people I would go after first – the ones who leave carnage in their wake and do not know who is causing it. They are the true imbeciles who surround us.

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Is Rod Serling as Frustrated as Me?

27 Apr

Why are builders called contractors? Their job involves construction, not contraction. It seems to me that they should be called constructors.

That’s the kind of crap that’s running through my mind. I had this great post playing in my brain about last night’s B.B. King concert, but that one is going to be put on hold. This has been a frustrating evening, and the things that frustrated me have affected the B.B. King post in a couple of ways. First, it got my mind off track. Second, it made me start typing too late to give the subject justice.

Instead, we have a post about frustration. The other day, I bought Fort Apache on Blu-Ray. It’s the John Ford movie starring John Wayne, Henry Fonda, Shirley Temple and John Agar, who ended up being her real life husband.Fort Apache Two

It’s a fictional portrayal of George Custer and the defeat that he suffered. I’ve always thought it was weird that they placed a fictional cavalry against the Apache when they could have portrayed a real cavalry against the people they really fought.

The portrayal of a fictional story instead of a historical one is not what frustrated me. That came from the Blu-Ray player that suddenly froze up. My parents have a movie room that is designed to provide a great movie watching experience. Tonight, it provided a frustrating time of trying to figure out what was wrong with it. My dad had me call the guy that put the room together for them. On a Friday night. During his time off.

Finally, I texted my nephew who can fix anything. He sent back a simple reply – unplug it. That did the trick. Then, I was frustrated because I didn’t think of that.

We watched the movie, and I went home to get some work done. Part of that work involved emailing some pictures to my insurance agent. I won’t bore you with the details of insurance, but I will bore you with the details of my frustration. My school account would not email the images. I tried over and over. It’s a Gmail account, so I figured it could do anything. Apparently, it can’t.

That’s when I swapped over to my personal email. Hell, it wouldn’t even download the pictures. After that, I went back to my work email to send the pictures one at a time. Each email took forever. At the top of the screen it said:

Sending…

Still Working…

I don’t know how long it took each email to go through because I finally walked off. When I got back, they had been sent. Well, I guess they had been sent. They could be in The Twilight Zone for all I know.Twilight Zone

Sometimes, I think the world is becoming one big Twilight Zone. Look at the crazy things that happen. Some of it is serious, and some of it is downright ridiculous. Through it all, Rod Serling is standing out of sight talking about the signpost up ahead.

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