I'll tell you a secret... one of the reasons I'm good at keeping secrets is because once when I was about 17 years old I found out a secret about someone who had been guarding it for years and a friend and I were just dying to know what it was and by happenstance of being in the right place at the right time a complete stranger told me the secret and I told my other friend on the condition of keeping it a complete secret... I bet you can guess where this is going... I should have kept the secret because most people just can't wait to spread news about other people... I think it's the reason gossip columnists were popular in the day and why magazines like People and US are still popular--- to back up a bit; the person who was trying to keep the secret was subsequently so hurt by the issue being revealed and talked about that I vowed then and there I would never repeat sensitive information like that again (and I haven't)--- I'll tell you another secret I'm fascinated by stories, movies and television programs that involve time travel. Not so much that I want to go back and change the past to rearrange the present or the future but I would love to right the wrong about telling the secret and maybe a few others too--- but would changing the one small detail about telling a secret years ago have a direct impact on the years that followed and the years to come? Well for one thing this person and I would have likely remained friends and I would not have had to hear about deaths in the family much after the fact on the internet while doing an unrelated search... but I'll get back to this later.
I think it all started for me like with so many others I have talked to with...
The Time Machine
1960 film
7.6/10·IMDb
77%·Rotten Tomatoes
Scientist H. George Wells (Rod Taylor) builds a time machine, and despite the warning from his friend David (Alan Young) against "tempting the laws of providence," decides to visit the future. Jumping ahead 14 years, he observes changes in women's fashion. Jumping ahead 40, he meets David's son (also Young) amid a terrible war. Finally, he travels thousands of years ahead to discover a post-apocalyptic world inhabited by humanoid Eloi and the monstrous Morlocks that feed on them.
And then in the years that followed many stores, movies and television show entertained me and allowed my imagination to play along (I've always been very reality based in the here and now and facts vs. fantasy and this genre is one of the few that I've allowed myself a flight of fancy--- I'm a sucker for a happy ending too) Here are a few that really stick out in my mind...
Millennium
1989 film
5.7/10·IMDb
11%·Rotten Tomatoes
Two jetliners collide, and Bill Smith (Kris Kristofferson) is put in charge of investigating the accident. But something isn't adding up about the crash -- from the strange comments on the flight recorder to the unidentifiable object found in the wreckage. What Smith doesn't know is that time travelers have taken the ill-fated passengers to repopulate the future. To ensure their mission's success, they send a gorgeous operative, Louise (Cheryl Ladd), to the past to hamper Smith's work.
Quantum Leap
American television series
8.1/10·IMDb
8.9/10·TV.com
Former scientist Sam Beckett finds himself trapped in time due to an experiment gone awry, leaping into the body of a different person each week. Al Calavicci, at first known only as The Observer, is Sam's holographic adviser -- he provides Sam with some details about his new identity and gives him guidance on how to help the people affected by his presence. But with little memory to help guide him, our hero is forced to bluff his way through many a wacky situation.
I think of all of them Quantum Leap is my favorite mostly because with anything Donald Bellisario creates there is going to be a happy ending and he always adds a light hearted humorous touch to the details even when dealing with sensitive topics (something I do myself even if it's under my breath or just in my thoughts)... but mostly I appreciated the scripts because the point was to go back and right a wrong or fix something that should never have happened and did.
Someone once asked me if I had the chance to time travel would I rather go the the past or the future?--- and honestly I would rather go to the future to see what is happening there because I already know what happened in the past and frankly I would probably make the same choices and mistakes all over again because it's brought me to who I am now and the life I have because of it. I wrote previously in Summer Souvenirs I'm sorry about the time I've wasted but I also have some regrets about a few people I lost along the way--- but as I said in the post Kiss Me Googbye Sometimes it's important to remember that some people are part of our lives for a specific and finite period of time with specific limits and boundaries and we are meant to take the life lessons and and learn from the experiences and move on. For me those lost (but for the most part not forgotten) friendships meant sometimes moving thousands of miles apart and a couple of times two oceans away. (If I had a wish it would be that we had the technology we have now when I was younger because it's a lot easier to keep in touch with people now) It used to be a dollar a minute to call the mainland from Hawaii and overseas calls to and from Europe were truly a luxury... I think one of the reasons it's difficult to reconnect with people after nearly a lifetime is partly from not sharing the important milestones in each others lives and from that we don't have that connectivity sharing those milestones bring and the day to day experiences that might have brought us together in the first place and partly because with time brings change (some good and some not so good) but for the most part I'm better for the wear and experience that life has given me... Don't even get me started on class reunions... because I'm going out of my way to never be in another photo like this one again... Because sometimes you just should not go back--- but that's a personal choice for everyone to make themselves.
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| I'm not in this photo (but one very similar)... mine was burned and set free in the wind! |
So for the people in and out of my life to the best of my knowledge I've only hurt one of you by sharing that secret... if our lives taking different roads hurt you and you are angry because I've never called or written... I have a little news flash for you... my phone accepts telephone calls too and unlike most people I return all my calls within 24 hours.--- OK now I'm really on the horns of a dilemma... I found the address and phone number (I've been on a few unrelated internet searches this week) of an old friend who I think of quite often and remember clearly two years of our wandering exuberant youth and my absolute favorite 4th July of all time... I'm reluctant to reach out because of the hand full of all the people I've tried to reconnect with after many years the only person who has wanted to forge a friendship again is my friend I'll call her Kym here... because that's her name... and I'm forever grateful that we were both brave enough to give each other another chance... but I'll be honest I've missed a couple really important milestones with her since we reconnected; but maybe with real friends it does not matter and we can always pick up were we left off and fill in the blanks.
I guess besides being more mindful of friendship If I could change one more thing in the past it would be to say what was really on my mind and not sugar coat issues and stand up for myself... on second thought I might not have made some of those friendships in the first place if I had and I needed those other lessons to get where I am now... I suppose I would take the chance and the consequences of altering the past if I could save one persons life from ending too soon... Sometimes when I can't sleep I consider those consequences very thoughtfully... and I've realized that somewhere between the shadows of thoughts and sleep it could have been me just as easily and from everything and everybody before or since that night I'm very grateful and lucky. Do I want a rewind or a re-do?... no but sometimes it's a good idea to review to see what you did right the first time and what you should do to improve the future... by turning back to the pages of the past you can't start a new beginning... but you can work on creating a new ending if you don't like where things are headed.
Next week I'm probably going to continue my series on travel but I'm not sure where to take you... While I consider the possibilities I've whipped up a batch of Hokey Pokey to put on some vanilla ice cream... I love New Zealand and it's the first time I ever tasted Hokey Pokey Ice Cream...
So... if you want to make your own all you need is good vanilla ice cream because Hokey Pokey is really easy to make...
Hokey Pokey
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup dark corn syrup
3 teaspoons baking soda (have it pre-meausred in a small dish)
Put the sugar and syrup into a saucepan and stir together to mix... but don't stir it again on the stove top...except when you get it started on the stove scrape down the sides of the pan with a spatula.
Put the saucepan on the stove on medium heat and let the mixture melt and then and then come to a boil until the color is like dark caramel or maple syrup - about 3-5 minutes Then give the pan a shake or two to make sure everything is dissolved in the mixture.
Remove from heat and whisk in the baking soda but be careful as it will give a little whoosh but not nearly as volatile as other hard candies or toffee but it's still quite hot so be careful. Turn this immediately onto a silicon baking sheet or greased foil.
Let it set for about 10 minutes or so and when it's cool enough to touch (it should be slightly pliable) flip it over and let completely cool for about a half hour or so and then break it into pieces--- Temper a mixture of dark and milk chocolate in a double boiler and let cool slightly and dip the pieces of Hokey Pokey into the chocolate and let set on parchment or wax paper.--- Serve on vanilla ice cream but it's equally delicious as a snack. Store in an airtight container.
In the UK the candy part is called honeycomb and the chocolate is what makes it Hokey Pokey... I just like the word and it reminds me of the dance The Hokey Pokey... that was called the Hokey Cokey in the UK and the Hokey Tokey in New Zealand but the Hokey Pokey in the US, Canada, Ireland and Australia...
OK now.. put your right foot in
Your right foot out
Right foot in
Then you shake it all about
And then you do the hokey pokey
Turn yourself around
That's what it's all about... (I know you want to do the whole dance all the way throuh so go ahead and induldge)
See you next week!
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