The will to power.

You know, I haven't completely ruled out the possibility of time travel.

Sometimes I think that if I close my eyes tight enough and think really really hard about travelling in time, it will just happen.

As if I can possibly will the impossible to become the possible.

Keep in mind, that I also try to will television channels to change on their own, great dinners to appear on the table, and weight to magically melt while I sleep.

No luck as of yet.

Basically my willing technique could be subtitled an "illustration of laziness."

But back to time travel. For the past couple days -- since the Back to the Future post -- I've been re-examining my time travel priorities.

Now, as you know, I love Back to the Future. But, as a time-travel model, it's a bit too stressful. Throughout the entire trilogy, Marty has to worry about the "future" ramifications of his "past" actions. He's not supposed to talk to people, he can't gamble and he spends most of his time trying to fix the problems he's caused.

He just can't enjoy the ride.

Peggy Sue, in Peggy Sue Got Married (which, incidentally, was filmed in Petaluma) has it a lot better. She gets to travel to a time in her own life, openly visit with younger versions of her family and friends and re-address the priorities and choices in her life.

If I were to travel to another period of my own life, I would have to pick early elementary school -- but only if I could travel with mind as it is today.

Basically I want to be a twenty-four year old in the body of a seven year old.

Talk about precocious.

Talk about a kid with priorities.

Talk about one creepy child.

I want to use my wit o' steel to set all those silly little fools in my class straight -- let them know how life really works and most of all, I need to regulate.

It's all about me convincing the kids that I'm actually quite cool.

You're probably saying, "Mena, I think it's time to get over past wrongs -- after all, eighteen years is a long time to hold a grudge."

And I'd say, that you're probably right. But going back to elementary school and being really cool is some sort of geek fantasy of mine.

Those seven years gave me a lot of excess baggage.

But, I suppose, that travelling back in time with all my current issues would sort of defeat the point of trying to alleviate my problems at their root.

I'd probably disrupt some sort of space/time continiuum and manage to screw my mind and self-image up just a bit more.

Time travel? I think I'll pick Regency England from now on.

Comments

[Mena]

And I just have to say that Peggy Sue Got Married happens to be another favorite of mine. In fact, I found myself actually crying while reading a copy of its script the other day.

The tears start flowing the moment Peggy hears her grandmother on the phone and usually end during the closing credits. Even Helen Hunt as Peggy's daughter doesn't ruin the film for me.

It makes me think that instead of saying "oh, I wish I could go back to this year or that year," I should instead focus on how you'll look back to the present from the future one day.

So, I should say, "remember when I wrote that blog entry about Peggy Sue Got Married?" Those were some good times.

[andrea]

Reading that made me think of Never Been Kissed. Not that I saw the movie, but it's the same premise, isn't it, sort of?

[kismet]

ack, while I had a lot of issues with kids in elementary school, I certainly would not want to go do it again, regardless.

[Ed]

Read Bester's creepy yet brilliant story, "Hobson's Choice," and you might just change your mind. To quote:

"Through the vistas of the years every age but our own seems glamorous and golden. We yearn for the yesterdays and tomorrows, never realizing that we are faced with Hobson's Choice...that today, bitter or sweet, anxious or calm, is the only day for us. The dream of time is the traitor, and we are all accomplices to the betrayal of ourselves."

[bri]

While I have also often pondered the subject of "if I could go back to, well, back then..." these thoughts have usually revolved around whether or not I would do anything differently. I've never really thought about travelling back with my present knowledge intact, but it seems to me this would have the unpleasant effect of being too burdensome:The older I get, the more I look back upon my elementary school days with affection. Back then I hated school, but it certainly had it's moments.I think a lot of those moments happend precisely through the naivete of being a child, and I look fondly upon those times now, precisely *because* I didn't know then what I do now. I think going back "fully equipped" experientially, so to speak, would ruin it for my future self looking back on those times...

[Brennan]

I've been thinking a lot lately about that type of time travel. I think I'd rather just deal with myself as a younger person than try to replace my younger self, though, and I'd be more likely to want to contact myself at high-school age than elementary school. I certainly hope I'd do more cutting away some of the excess baggage I had back then (which seems so unimportant now) than dumping my current baggage on a 16-year-old.

There's a half-written letter on my PDA to my younger self; I'd hoped to turn it into a blog entry on my birthday (a week ago) but never finished it to my satisfaction. I still feel like I should finish it as a way to work out some of my issues, even if I never post it.

It'll probably end up sounding like that "wear sunscreen" thing that was making the rounds a few years ago, though.

[slack]

I think Willy Wonka said it best. (though I'm sure this quote didn't come from Rauld Dahl)

"Where is fancy bread? In the heart or in the head?"

[Shelley]

Wow. It does frighten/console me sometimes to discover that others have the same crazy thoughts (read: hang ups/pyschosis/etc) as me. I also dwell in the past a bit too much, and relive very painful moments when, like George Costanza, I wish I could go back in time, and give my perfect comeback line, or act entirely differently, and not care that some snotty little sixth grader 'didn't like me'. Hee! Yep, I am sure that would have changed my whole life. (Yeah, well the jerk store just called, and they they're running out of you!) Brilliant.

[Owen]

The trouble with going back in time to make yourself the cool kid is that most of us never *did* learn breakdancing.

[Brett]

Wow, I find it strange that other people think about crazy things like me. Besides making a million dollars buying stocks…I would like to sing in my elementary talent show-singing a popular song of today - and call it my own. I would like everyone to think of me as a child prodigy for a while. My only problem is – What song would I sing? Sing a lovely, deep, heartwarming love song, or a crazy, insane song (i.e. – by Linkin Park)?

[John]

When I was a kid, I wanted to build a time machine. I was just seven or eight, and I wanted one so I could go and see a dinosaur, or watch the earth form, or see how the pyramids were built. Now I would build one just so I could, in my best John Cusack-ish way, tell my high school sweetheart what she really meant to me. It wouldn't change anything, and I wouldn't want it to. But when you're 17, you never have the right words. Can't we all have an 80s movie moment?

Now where can I find a flux capacitor at this hour?

[LarryB]

Your wished for method of time travel reminds me of one of my favorite films, "Somewhere in Time". Maybe you should dress in old clothes while laying in bed; it worked for Christopher Reeve.

[George Allison]

I,somewhat like you,would like to travel back to 1st to 4th grade to straighten out the white haired old biddies that were close to retirement and didn't want to be there.Sure made an impression on my informative years.Now I occasionally reflect on my life in 10 year chapters.Gee I learned so much the first 10 years I figured I could just about coast the rest of the way.Sound familiar?Then 10to 20yrs.Wow I guess I had a lot to learn.O K 20 years old,young adult,the rest is a breeze ! ? Yeah I'm 58 this year and finally have to admit I still have a lot to learn.Good luck to the sarcastic wits of the world and God bless the humble people with empathy

[R.]

The older me inhabiting my younger self is a longstanding fantasy -- only, full truth, and not to get too Our Town about it, but mostly I'd just revel in being smarter and more mature. I'd cherish all the things, places and people I was too young or petty or distracted to properly appreciate the first go-round; and, yeah, sure, I'd put a few people in their places -- particularly, as someone else noted, various maladjusted teacher types; but mostly I'd just try to be wiser and more settled. I'd live more, love more, and hopefully understand more.

This thread reminds me of something George Orwell once said in his essay "Why I Write." It doesn't really correspond, but certain sentiments overlap -- and I can seldom pass up an opportunity to quote Orwell, so here goes:

I was the middle child of three, but there was a gap of five years on either side, and I barely saw my father before I was eight. For this and other reasons I was somewhat lonely, and I soon developed disagreeable mannerisms which made me unpopular throughout my schooldays. I had the lonely child's habit of making up stories and holding conversations with imaginary persons, and I think from the very start my literary ambitions were mixed up with the feeling of being isolated and undervalued. I knew that I had a facility with words and a power of facing unpleasant facts, and I felt that this created a sort of private world in which I could get my own back for my failure in everyday life.