Damn, I must've slipped into a parallel universe... again!

[Half Man Half Wit]

(Somewhat inspired by the 'Is reality consistent? (http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=517413)'-thread.)

So, lately, I've experienced a curious increase in what I sometimes call 'parallel universe incidences'. A parallel universe incident is something like when you are absolutely convinced in your expectation of some aspect of your surroundings -- where things are located, how they look, their colours, etc. --, just to find that expectation suddenly subverted by the realization that things are not where or how they are supposed to be, leaving you with a curious and only slowly subsiding feeling of dissociation and bewilderment.

The latest such incident I clearly remember has to do with my girlfriend's doorbell. I've rang that doorbell quite a couple of times, enough for the act of reaching for and pressing it to be wholly committed to muscle memory. I don't have to think about where the doorbell is located; I don't have to look for it. I just ring it, my mind wholly preoccupied with other things. Except, a week or so ago, instead of making the expected contact with the little knob that makes the bell go ring, my extended index finger hits wood. Thinking I may have missed by some fraction of an inch, I look, and there's nothing there. No doorbell at all where I was expecting it. Looking around, I find it on the outer side of the door frame, while I could have sworn it was located on the inside! I even actually asked my girlfriend, who fortunately has a saintly patience and is accustomed to such things, if the doorbell had always been at that spot, which she claimed it had been; but then, she's probably just from the parallel universe.

So! Did you have any parallel universe incidents lately? Share 'em!

[Iamametalrobot]

Have you seen any dirigibles lately? Those are always a sign that you have entered a parallel universe.

[Half Man Half Wit]

Have you seen any dirigibles lately? Those are always a sign that you have entered a parallel universe.
Actually, I'd been wondering where all the dirigibles went, the skies used to be full of them... Goatees seem to have suddenly gone out of style, too.

[Floppy Joe]

I'm completely convinced that I have died on three separate occasions. I'm also completely convinced that at the moment of each of my deaths, the time-line split from that point. In one time-line I'm dead, and the other I survived.

[shiftless]

Don't be ridiculous. You can't explain this with your whacky "parallel universe" theory. Sure, some primitive peoples believe that this is due to shifting between universes but this is the 21st century. We now know that there are whole groups of people who purposely move and change things to make some of us FEEL like we are crazy. Don't let them get to you and please, please don't let them know that I am on to them.

If you meet someone who endures your confusion with "saintly patience" then that person is no-doubt in on the whole thing. That little smile they do when you bring up the subject is their enjoyment of a little trick working as planned.

I bought some paint for a project recently. A few days later it disappeared. Nobody in my family had any idea where it went and nobody had ever seen any paint. So I bought some more - same thing again! "What paint, I haven't seen any paint." Third time the paint never left my sight until I used it. Next day ..... The other paint appears in my kitchen and once again, nobody knows nothing. I'm beginning to think my wife is in on it.

[Chimera]

Every so often I hear about someone doing something, or dying, and I am absolutely convinced that I remember them dying several years previously. At that point I definitely start thinking "did I slide into a parallel universe here?"

That's where I usually hit that feeling.

[Elendil's Heir]

Did you swallow the red pill?

[Wargamer]

That happened to me the other week. I heard a radio ad for an Arlo Guthrie concert, and I thought to myself that Arlo had passed away at LEAST 10 years ago. (And I definitely remember it as Arlo dying, not Woodie). Anyway, I just checked and in this universe Arlo is alive and kicking, and that makes me happy!

[Maus Magill]

Don't be ridiculous. You can't explain this with your whacky "parallel universe" theory. Sure, some primitive peoples believe that this is due to shifting between universes but this is the 21st century. We now know that there are whole groups of people who purposely move and change things to make some of us FEEL like we are crazy. Don't let them get to you and please, please don't let them know that I am on to them.

If you meet someone who endures your confusion with "saintly patience" then that person is no-doubt in on the whole thing. That little smile they do when you bring up the subject is their enjoyment of a little trick working as planned.

I bought some paint for a project recently. A few days later it disappeared. Nobody in my family had any idea where it went and nobody had ever seen any paint. So I bought some more - same thing again! "What paint, I haven't seen any paint." Third time the paint never left my sight until I used it. Next day ..... The other paint appears in my kitchen and once again, nobody knows nothing. I'm beginning to think my wife is in on it.
Tell me. Have you noticed the gas lights dimming at odd times when your wife is "out"?

[Half Man Half Wit]

If you meet someone who endures your confusion with "saintly patience" then that person is no-doubt in on the whole thing. That little smile they do when you bring up the subject is their enjoyment of a little trick working as planned.
Hmm. I had been thinking for a while that she might be in cohorts with the shape-shifting lizard people... or perhaps, she is one herself (her reaction to cold weather certainly doesn't seem entirely mammalian). :eek:

[KRC]

Shiftless, the same thing that happened with your paint happened to me twice with my antidepressants. I just blamed ghosts and figured the afterlife must be rather dreary.

[Kobal2]

Don't be ridiculous. You can't explain this with your whacky "parallel universe" theory. Sure, some primitive peoples believe that this is due to shifting between universes but this is the 21st century. We now know that there are whole groups of people who purposely move and change things to make some of us FEEL like we are crazy. Don't let them get to you and please, please don't let them know that I am on to them.

If you meet someone who endures your confusion with "saintly patience" then that person is no-doubt in on the whole thing. That little smile they do when you bring up the subject is their enjoyment of a little trick working as planned.

I bought some paint for a project recently. A few days later it disappeared. Nobody in my family had any idea where it went and nobody had ever seen any paint. So I bought some more - same thing again! "What paint, I haven't seen any paint." Third time the paint never left my sight until I used it. Next day ..... The other paint appears in my kitchen and once again, nobody knows nothing. I'm beginning to think my wife is in on it.

Korrigans and goblins, man. They're in league with the Sock-Eating Monster. All of 'em are subcontracted by Eris and the Discordians. The rabbit hole goes deep, my friend.

[Lanzy]

Not to me but I have a friend who was absolutely convinced I had ALWAYS put mayo on my peanut butter sandwich. ME?!? MAYO on peanut butter? Absolutely insane idea, but he was going on and on about how I was lying just to drive him crazy.

[shiftless]

Hmm. I had been thinking for a while that she might be in cohorts with the shape-shifting lizard people... or perhaps, she is one herself (her reaction to cold weather certainly doesn't seem entirely mammalian). :eek:

You know, my wife does tend to dislike the cold weather. I assure you, I've checked her carefully for any sort of disguise but the lizard people are nothing if not clever. And she does keep a lot of strange jars and impliments in the bathroom. And she doesn't like the Three Stooges or fart jokes.... oh, my God! There can only be one explanation!

Korrigans and goblins, man. They're in league with the Sock-Eating Monster. All of 'em are subcontracted by Eris and the Discordians. The rabbit hole goes deep, my friend.

I am backing away from this thread...slowly...This can all be explained as simple slipping from parallel universe to parallel universe. Yeah, that's all that's going on here. No need to mention any of this to my wife.

[PoorYorick]

Deleted

[Half Man Half Wit]

Deleted
So, did THEY get to you or did you just post this to the wrong parallel universe? :p

[PoorYorick]

I was trying to make a play on the name Shiftless ("shifting universes," get it?), but gave it up as a bad job.

But in another universe, you guys are laughing your asses off right now, believe me.

[jayjay]

Every so often I hear about someone doing something, or dying, and I am absolutely convinced that I remember them dying several years previously. At that point I definitely start thinking "did I slide into a parallel universe here?"

That's where I usually hit that feeling.

It's a little-known fact that the parallel universes are classified by the date that Abe Vigoda died. Our current universe is U-0, meaning he hasn't died yet (the degree of surprise which people feel upon learning that is a way of determining which parallel universe they came from...another little-known fact).

[NurseCarmen]

It's a simple programming error. A 1 where a zero was supposed to be. When you consider that massive amounts of code required to run Half Man Half Wit v.3.0, you'd be amazed that we don't accidentally put tires on top of cars, asses on faces, and duck bills on platypuses. So ignore the occasional doorbell inversion, sit back in you liquid filled pod, and enjoy the simulation.

[jayjay]

asses on faces

I've known a few people who slipped by quality control.

[Bosda Di'Chi of Tricor]

Did you swallow the red pill?

I was offered the choice between the red & blue pills.

I took both, & wound up here on the SDMB.

[Sunspace]

It's a little-known fact that the parallel universes are classified by the date that Abe Vigoda died. Our current universe is U-0, meaning he hasn't died yet (the degree of surprise which people feel upon learning that is a way of determining which parallel universe they came from...another little-known fact).Who is Abe Vigoda? My references turn up nothing.

[jayjay]

Who is Abe Vigoda? My references turn up nothing.

Seriously, or are you whooshing me?

Abe Vigoda (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abe_Vigoda)...played Sgt. Fish on Barney Miller and his own spin-off sitcom, called Fish. He's one of those perennially-mentioned people when conversation turns to "Is that person dead?"

[Sunspace]

Seriously, or are you whooshing me?

Abe Vigoda (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abe_Vigoda)...played Sgt. Fish on Barney Miller and his own spin-off sitcom, called Fish. He's one of those perennially-mentioned people when conversation turns to "Is that person dead?"Me? Whoosh? :D

Okay, I vaguely remember him; I used to watch Barney Miller occasionally.

I'm not sure that the death date of any one person is a good single criterion for classifying alternate universes though; what about the different universes where M. Vigoda never had his own show, or was Ambassador to Venezuela for a time, or returned to his old job after Barney Miller ended, but in none of which he has died yet?

[j666]

So! Did you have any parallel universe incidents lately? Share 'em!
Don't be stupid; we're never aware of parallel universes.

Small metallic objects do travel through time, however. That is the only possible explanation for why my keys regularly show up in a place I've already checked three times.

... unless I left my keys there in a parallel universe ...

[BellRungBookShut-CandleSnuffed]

I was offered the choice between the red & blue pills.

I took both, & wound up here on the SDMB.

That's because you didn't crush them and snort them. Then you would have ended up on XKCD (http://xkcd.com/566/).

[Dallas Jones]

(Somewhat inspired by the 'Is reality consistent? (http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=517413)'-thread.)

So, lately, I've experienced a curious increase in what I sometimes call 'parallel universe incidences'. A parallel universe incident is something like when you are absolutely convinced in your expectation of some aspect of your surroundings -- where things are located, how they look, their colours, etc. --, just to find that expectation suddenly subverted by the realization that things are not where or how they are supposed to be, leaving you with a curious and only slowly subsiding feeling of dissociation and bewilderment.

The latest such incident I clearly remember has to do with my girlfriend's doorbell. I've rang that doorbell quite a couple of times, enough for the act of reaching for and pressing it to be wholly committed to muscle memory. I don't have to think about where the doorbell is located; I don't have to look for it. I just ring it, my mind wholly preoccupied with other things. Except, a week or so ago, instead of making the expected contact with the little knob that makes the bell go ring, my extended index finger hits wood. Thinking I may have missed by some fraction of an inch, I look, and there's nothing there. No doorbell at all where I was expecting it. Looking around, I find it on the outer side of the door frame, while I could have sworn it was located on the inside! I even actually asked my girlfriend, who fortunately has a saintly patience and is accustomed to such things, if the doorbell had always been at that spot, which she claimed it had been; but then, she's probably just from the parallel universe.

So! Did you have any parallel universe incidents lately? Share 'em!

Actually your particular universe is quite small, not infinite as you have been led to believe. We sometimes tear down areas after you have left and use the materials to construct the next place you are going.

On the day of the doorbell incident you were not expected at your girlfriends place and we had to hastily throw the thing together. One of the new guys put the damn doorbell in the wrong spot. He has been reprimanded by the foreman (your 'girlfriend').

You should get used to the new location in short order. We are sorry for the inconvenience.

Management.

[EvilTOJ]

I remember when I was a teenager seeing on the news that Scott Weiland had died of a heroin overdose. It wasn't just a blurb, it was from several news sources and talked about for weeks.

Except he's not dead. WTF?? No one believes me!

[Rack-a-Bones]

I remember when I was a teenager seeing on the news that Scott Weiland had died of a heroin overdose. It wasn't just a blurb, it was from several news sources and talked about for weeks.

Except he's not dead. WTF?? No one believes me!

I remember that. It was his brother Michael that died but a few places got it mixed up.

[Paul in Qatar]

I just check the color of the frogships.

[Jamicat]

What about instances of total WTF?

Who moved the city of Ft. Lauderdale, well obviously no one did, but as a kid I distinctly remember it being on the Gulf coast, I liked maps when I was a kid...:dubious:

Another would be, when The Patriots won the Super Bowl, I found my self looking for New England on a map, cause I was curious of where that state was...:smack:

oh believe me there's more :D

[Chimera]

I was offered the choice between the red & blue pills.

I took both, & wound up here on the SDMB.

The same thing happened to ME!

[Rack-a-Bones]

What about instances of total WTF?

Who moved the city of Ft. Lauderdale, well obviously no one did, but as a kid I distinctly remember it being on the Gulf coast, I liked maps when I was a kid...:dubious:

Another would be, when The Patriots won the Super Bowl, I found my self looking for New England on a map, cause I was curious of where that state was...:smack:

oh believe me there's more :D

When I moved to Seattle it was years before I realized that strange shape on the freeway signs was a picture of George Washington which puzzled me. When I asked someone I was granted with a look of sheer WTF are you talking about. Um, yeah, the state is named after George Washington. :smack::smack:

[Uncle Brother Walker]

The first time I arrived in the state, I drove north through Oregon along I-5. Normal highway signs.

Upon entering Washington, I wondered why all the highway signs had their numbers within pictures of mushroom clouds.

This was when I was in the army, and was being stationed there to blow stuff up, so I thought it was a common occurrance and just something the state gov't did to let locals deal with the constant destruction and explosions all the time.

It did take me a few weeks to finally realize this. :smack:

[Green Bean]

Every so often I hear about someone doing something, or dying, and I am absolutely convinced that I remember them dying several years previously. At that point I definitely start thinking "did I slide into a parallel universe here?"

That's where I usually hit that feeling.

It's a little-known fact that the parallel universes are classified by the date that Abe Vigoda died. Our current universe is U-0, meaning he hasn't died yet (the degree of surprise which people feel upon learning that is a way of determining which parallel universe they came from...another little-known fact).
:D In between reading these two posts, I went to the IMDB to see whether Abe Vigoda had died yet!

You just know he's gonna live to be 105 just to mess with our heads.

[jayjay]

:D In between reading these two posts, I went to the IMDB to see whether Abe Vigoda had died yet!

You just know he's gonna live to be 105 just to mess with our heads.

Which is appropriate, since he's LOOKED 105 since 1973...

[Amp]

When I first moved to Tampa the local mall I would go to had stop signs all over the parking lot. Then one day it didn't. I remarked to the person I was with that they have taken all the stop signs out. She looked at me funny and said there were never any stop signs at this mall. One day about a year later the stop signs reappeared. I told the same friend that I must have seen a vision of the future when I imagined the stop signs at that mall. She again looked at me funny and said the mall has always had stop signs in the parking lot.

Near as I can figure I must have slipped through a crack in reality that took me to a parallel universe in which the only difference was that that mall didn't have stop signs in the parking lot. After about a year some omnipotent beauraucrat realized its mistake and put me back in the correct universe.

[Elendil's Heir]

I lived for awhile in a universe in which Shatner had directed a fifth Star Trek movie and George W. Bush was President, but thank God I escaped.

[BellRungBookShut-CandleSnuffed]

i lived for awhile in a universe in which shatner had directed a fifth star trek movie and george w. Bush was president, but thank god i escaped.

KAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAaAHN!!!!!!!!!

[Bosda Di'Chi of Tricor]

Cheeee-neeeyyy!!

[Carl Corey]

I just check the color of the frogships.

Ditto. Still gun-metal green.

[Half Man Half Wit]

Actually your particular universe is quite small, not infinite as you have been led to believe. We sometimes tear down areas after you have left and use the materials to construct the next place you are going.

On the day of the doorbell incident you were not expected at your girlfriends place and we had to hastily throw the thing together. One of the new guys put the damn doorbell in the wrong spot. He has been reprimanded by the foreman (your 'girlfriend').

You should get used to the new location in short order. We are sorry for the inconvenience.

Management.
So, who do I slip a tenner to fix the broken foglight on my car when you next reassemble it? I promise I'll act as if I hadn't noticed anything.

[Zebra]

It could be a tumor.

[BACI]

It's nudda toomurr

[Mr. Duality]

I went on an Alaska cruise last week, during which I read Heinlein's "Job: a Comedy of Justice" (one of his best!). Two days after my return I was in a car with my sister in law, a Catholic nun visiting from the the Philippines. The conversation somehow turned to the number of stars on the US flag. I said there are 50, but she was dead certain the number was 54. She was even willing to bet on it (a Catholic nun!)

I was having some doubts about reality until I consulted Wikipedia. Of course another shift may have happened during the intervening time.

This volitional hopes the gods never take a serious interest in him.

[maladroit]

I had a false memory of meeting my daughter's boyfriend. Turns out he didn't come with her however many years ago that visit was. I've just been reading about him in her letters and seeing pictures of him for ten years. On the other hand, she doesn't remember that trip and says she hasn't been here since she was 15. I have pictures of the visit but there's no date on the prints like they used to do.