I used to do this one for years. Then it went away. I think my mind got stuck in a scenario that would work for me and I grew bored with it. Just remember the all-important Sorel boots.
I know what you mean about creeping yourself out. When I was 18, and had just started college, Vynce had barely turned 12. But, with my dubious consent my parents updated their will just after I turned 18 and wanted ME to have custody of him if they died rather than the aunt they’d asked to be our guardian before if need be. Guess what I found myself morbidly planning for now and then all the way until he turned 18 himself? It felt bad to think of them dying, but also important to think about how I’d handle the situation if God forbid I had to.
I fantasize about what would happen (assuming I survived) if a huge killer asteroid or something similar slammed into Earth.
When I enter a room, I always immediately look for entrance and exit strategies to use if “something” happened. That something is always kinda vague - say, if armed gunmen burst into the room, which window would I bail out of, that kinda thing.
Lately, with my current obsession with all things zombie, I have started to not only look for entrance and exit strategies but also survival strategies that involve the building I’m in at the time.
It’s annoying, but I’m just going with it for now. My brain will latch on something else dumb eventually.
I do the same thing. In fact, as a small child, I remember giving these lectures in front of the bathroom mirror, like an infomercial.
I also think about being a shape-shifter . . . able to have total control over my body’s shape and functioning.
And I have repeating narratives of some of the major events of my life . . . and a few minor ones as well.
And I also give “guided tours” to historical figures, showing them the kind of world that will exist in their future. (Abraham Lincoln gets a big kick out of turning lights on and off.) A variation of this is escorting a 3rd-world person through one of our supermarkets or drugstores.
I am an artist, and so were both of my parents, who are deceased. I imagine showing them my recent artwork to get their opinion of it (they are very impressed).
And of course I talk to myself a lot.
I often think about what would happen if I was transported back in time, and I was trying to explain to someone like Alexander the Great just how badly his armies would get destroyed by any modern army.
Assuming that translation wasn’t an issue, it would be kinda hard to tell an Alexander or Genghis that his entire world-conquering army would be dead within about 20 seconds of the start of a battle with modern military forces.
“Well, you might see something like a cirrus cloud before the earth itself started exploding around the massed ranks of your troops, and within seconds every one of your phalanxes would have been reduced to bits of bloody flesh. And if we were actually angry with you then we would have used nukes, which is a whole 'nother level of obliteration.”
Every time some horrible tragedy or big story hits the news, I start thinking about how I would have reacted when I first found out that it was happening. Not reacting to the whole situation, just what it would have taken for me to understand what was happening and what would I have done first? It’s less grim than it sounds!
Some of the other posts remind me of this. When I was a kid, I was a terrible insomniac and I started playing what I call the Blizzard Game. I would kick off all blankets and shut my eyes and imagine that I was outdoors during a horrible blizzard and it was cold and I could feel the wind and the snow, etc. I’d see how long I could go before I pulled the covers back on and, usually, this was enough to make me fall asleep. It still works, when I think to try it. And I’ve had a lifelong fear and fascination with being really really cold and/or freezing to death and I’ve invented whole worlds in my head that are arctic-like and involve people having to demonstrate their stoicism in the cold. It’s also less grim than it sounds! Really!
And then Alexander would proceed to explain what kinds of interesting noises you will provide for the entertainment of his dinner guests as you roast alive within the “brazen bull.”
I would always watch trailers/movies/shows which I am familiar with and try to imagine how someone watching it the first time would feel.
Every morning when I put my makeup on, I do a little tutorial speech in my head, explaining why I’ve chosen these products and how I apply them. The really dumb part is that I wear the same makeup every day, and every day I go through the same tutorial. That’s about 20 minutes I’m wasting every day thinking the same thoughts in the same order, for no reason at all – I could be having a daily 20 minutes of new and enlightening mental conversation instead! Think of all the problems I could have solved by now!
I do a similar mental tutorial whenever I cook, as though I’m hosting a cooking show.
What Kolga said reminded me that I do something similar, but instead of looking for entrances and exits, I look for hiding spaces. I have several hiding spaces planned out in my office should a gunman ever come through here.
I read two comic strips online that I have a love-hate relationship with. I love to read them because they arouse such contempt. Each time I seek them out, I sing in my head a degrading little song I composed for each one.
I did the infomercial thing too. And I give the guided tours, but mine are usually for the Ingalls family. I have always loved the Little House books, and read them until the binding fell apart, and ever since i was a kid I would imagine that they somehow were transported here and now. I imagine all the awesome things I would show them (Pa loved the technology of his time; I think he would really dig cars and computers), but I worry about upsetting them with some of our modern things. So, I come up with ways to explain to Pa and Ma that Little Carrie can’t watch this show because it shows (gasp!) sex. Also, I explain that Mary is supposed to go blind, but I still haven’t decided if I help her avoid that. If I save her sight, Laura won’t write the books! But how can I let Mary go blind if I know I can save her!!
I occasionally play around with the question (and ask others too):
“If you were Marty McFly from Back to the Future and had three songs to play in front of a 1955 prom crowd, what three songs would you play? (Yes, assume that you and your backup band have the chops - it’s a movie/fantasy, after all!)”
That seems like a great thread starter to me.
You know, I could have sworn that I did do this thread… but I can’t find it.
If you (or anybody else) don’t beat me to it, I’ll start it in CS in the next day or so…
My problem is that when I’m done drying - and there’s only one way to do it - the towel has the little label on the end near the floor, so I have to turn it over before folding it in thirds, tucking the label in, and hanging it back up the way it’s supposed to go… What, hang it backwards? Or cut off the label? Or dry in some other order? I can’t do That! I’ve got a System!
With my head on the pillow - one ear covered, one open to the room - I hear jazz music, or people talking at a party, or easy listening music, or any of a number of other things that I try to discern.
I love to drive, so it’s difficult when I’m on a bus or I’m the passenger in the car. I’ll look at the scenery and immediately imagine myself running alongside at speed. Often with a cape. I can feel it. I’ll have to leap over the barricade as the road narrows. Leap back down if I’ve taken the ramp. Bound (or somersault) over cars. Etc. I’ve actually felt my heart rate increasing as I try to keep up the pace!
When I’m in a Really Good Mood, I’ll walk down the hall at work and feel a cape hanging from my shoulders and waving in the breeze as I walk. If it’s a boss’ emergency task and I feel confident about completing it quickly, I’ll hum the Mission Impossible Theme in my head - dum, dum - dum, [sup]di[/sup], dum, dum - [sub][sub]dum[/sub], di[/sub], dum dum…
I’ve put serious thought into what I would do if I won the lottery.
I’ve also planned out a PhD curriculum in folklore that I won’t ever use.
After watching “Green Card” (and having gone through the same thing), I used to wonder whether I could answer the questions the INS would pose to me, to confirm that my wife and I have a ‘real’ relationship (such as one about what brand of makeup she uses).
No. No I couldn’t.
Me too. My mother wrote her will when my father died giving me custody of my little two sisters. I was married and could have easily handled the task, but being without children yet when the will was first written, I had a lot of fantasies about whether or not people would believe they were my own children, etc. I thought about raising them for years. And when they turned 18, then graduated from college, etc., and were out on their own, I would get a feeling of vague disappointment … until “geez what am I thinking???” would kick in!
I had that one going on with my nieces. One just shipped off to college this year. The other one is only a few years behind. I’m disappointed and relieved.