There is an old short story (“That Hellbound Train” by Robert Bloch, a Hugo award winner) about a man who traded his soul for stopwatch he could click and stop himself there forever, make his bestest time eternal. What a deal! The devil/conductor will never get his soul because he’ll stop the clock and never die. The first twist is predictable enough: he always thinks what’s coming up next in life will be better until it gets worse and then keeps hoping to turn things around until the devil’s train shows up to collect him, with the devil informing him that he’s kept reusing that same stopwatch over and over again. The next kicker is when the man gets on the train, sees a whole bunch of doomed souls like him partying on their way to Hell, drinking and playing cards, and says something like “Well this as good a time as any.” Click.
Longwinded preamble to ask - have you had the time that you would have clicked the stopwatch? What age, what stage of life, doing what?
I had a great career, we were in a good place financially (two incomes). Kiddo was just getting ready to start school. We had lots of couple friends with kids the same age. It was so much fun.
I had just arrived in NYC, with $17 in my pocket and no job or contacts, and not much of a resume. I got a job the second day . . . not much pay, but a springboard to my ultimate career. I was living in the Y, but that was soon to change.
This was a fun mental exercise. After careful consideration I discovered that there were many times in my life that I would like to visit again but none that I would wish to remain at.
My top contender though is to be 19, stupid and good looking one more time. I say stupid because the charm in that part of my life stemmed from the fact that I was learning and enjoying so many things about girls, women, freedom, music etc and it was my naive state which made that experience so enjoyable.
Yep. But for me it’s 26–after 2 months of Army Basic Training gave me Tarzan’s body.
Funny how ‘fitness’ is such an important factor when the “good times” don’t seem to coincide with being in great shape. Since the pattern really seems to be “fat & happy,” I wonder why we think we’d be happier without the fat part?
I’d take my hair, eyesight, and teeth from age 22, and my physique from now (age 40 - best shape of my life). If I had to lock in at one point only, I’d take 22 across the board, because I was pretty fit then too.
This is my first post by the way - I didn’t see an “introduce yourself” spot. This seems to be an interesting forum, I hope to participate in some fun thought provoking threads.
Yeah, I have to second that. There are plenty of times I remember fondly, but it’s not like my “clock” stopped when I was 19 or 25 or even 35.
And really any time would suck if that had to be eternity.
I would enjoy going back to how things were when I was around 24. I was in good shape and I was having a lot of fun in my life both professionally and personally. I knew at the time that things were going well for me and I think if I could have, I would have easily chosen to make those good times last. I went through a pretty bad time in my life just a couple years later, but thankfully now things are better again. I’d probably be pretty content to stop time right where I’m at now, too.
Right now - while my life is far from perfect, I’m still young (27) but old enough to have learned a lot, in by far the best health I have ever enjoyed, I’m in good shape, I look great, and there’s nothing holding me back from doing whatever I please, except minor credit card debt.
