It's About Time

Sometimes when I go to bed, I have trouble falling asleep. Oh, my body is tired...but my brain is still running on all cylinders. In order to 'quiet' myself, I've developed a little trick.

I relax my body and breathe calmly and then try to focus on one thought. Now, this thought is to be nothing important...just a dream or a fantasy. Almost like forcing a dream.

My most recent focused thought has been time travel. I imagine myself owning a time machine. Where would I go? Who/what would I see and do? I should point out here that in my 'dream', my time machine is more Doctor Who than H.G. Wells.

It all works very well and eventually I drift off and am snoring my head off. But the other night I started to think seriously about this 'dream'. What if it became a reality? Where would I go?

After careful thought (and remembering from all good Star Trek, Doctor Who, Superman, and Ray Bradbury stories that one is to NEVER interfere with history and one should merely observe...perhaps one could bring a small camera or other recording device?), I decided that these would be my first (in chronological order) 4 trips:

1. London, 1888. I would like to solve the mystery of the identity of Jack the Ripper. Who was he really? I would have to do some research beforehand and procure some sort of night-vision camera and a good hiding spot...but this would be an interesting adventure. Of course, unfortunately due to the 'never interfering with history' routine, I would probably end up witnessing at least one of his murders and I'm not sure my stomach could handle that. Still...everybody and their brother has a theory. It would be cool to have the final answer.

2. San Francisco, 18 April 1906. Yes, the day of the great earthquake. Why? I'm not sure. I just read a book about it (San Francisco Is Burning by Dennis Smith) and found it fascinating. A real historical moment in my mind. What was this city like in the early 1900s? Smith reports that the majority of the damage to the city came not from the earthquake, but the dozens of fires that happened afterward. What an experience to be there at that very moment. Frightening, to be sure...but I think a little exhilarating as well. Yes, I would probably try to rescue anyone in danger, help to put out fires, etc. Screw causality.

3. Major U.S. City, June 1938 through Winter 1940-41. No, not every trip would be dark and depressing. This one would be, um, to fuel the needs of avarice. The city destination is not that important, but I would probably try Minneapolis first. The goal would be to obtain a copy (well, okay, at least 2 of each) of Action Comics #1, Detective Comics #27, and All-Star Comics #3. These 3 comics represent important milestones in comic history (follow the links). The first copy of each would be for myself, of course. The second I would bring back to the present day and then sell for whatever exorbitant amount I could get. Comic shows, eBay, wherever. I have to finance this time travel hobby somehow, you know! Jer would probably want to be in on this one, so I would pick him up and take him along.

4. Bluff Creek, Six Rivers National Forest, Northern California, 20 October 1967. If you are a regular reader of this blog, you can probably make an educated guess what happened here. This is the location and date of the famous (infamous?) Paterson-Gimlin Bigfoot film. Was it a hoax or the real deal? Debates have raged on both sides...and I could settle it with one time trip. Here I would certainly adhere to the 'non-interference' rule. I'd arrive early and find a suitable hiding place, my own video camera ready to roll. This film scared the screaming mimis out of me as a child and today stills creeps me out a bit. Hoax or not, I would love to know the truth (and yes, I will admit it right here and now: I would hope for the real deal). I would know if Patterson was just having us on or maybe, just maybe, he's out there.

Home to do laundry and then...where to next?