New game guys.

I've got this great book called "The Book of Questions" and it has no answers, just heaps of questions designed to make you think about yourself and how you'd react to different situations. There are some great ones like 'Can you urinate in front of another person?' (an interesting question, actually, but let's not get into that today) The one I want you to think about first is:

If you could spend one year in perfect happiness but afterward would remember nothing of the experience, would you do so? If not, why not?






And if you want to follow that with a related question:
Which is more important, actual experiences, or the memories that remain when the experiences are over?

Louise, you're going to make my brain explode!!!
what if would have to be THE most dangerous question in the world, it gives you half an answer and more questions..... so here goes

I don't know whether you'd want to remember it, psychologically there's two ways you could go if you did. You'd be depressed all the time because nothing would ever measure up, the moment you push the boundaries, it's hard to accept something less.(try thinking life without running water or electricity) Either that or you would spend your whole life trying to achieve that state again or better.

However to fully appreciate perfect happiness ( emphasis on perfect) wouldn't you have to have experienced perfect sadness, and if that's the case if you didn't remember the year afterwards would that not so pleasant experience continue to pull your life out of equilibrium??
I don't think that made any sense, and now I have a head-ache, think I'll stay out of this game and go throw cream pies instead

Too easy for me, memories definitely!

Eg. during my wedding I remember telling myself to pay attention to every word and every expression, to really take every moment in. But no what an amazing day I had, without the photos and the times I have sat down with my family and reminisced it would not be the same. I reckon a quarter of the fun is in the expectation, a quarter in the happening and half in reliving the memory with all the the missing pieces and misremembered portions that come with it. And think how boring we would all be without any funny stories to tell at dinner parties.

Perfect happiness, schmerfect schmappiness I say! I totally agree with the whole ying and yang, you can't appreciate have perfect happiness without experiencing perfect misery.

This is fun! Next question!

Helen, you really approached it from quite a different angle from the one I thought off - interesting mind you have. I was right there with Alyson, remembering my wedding, the birth of my children particularly. Taking that memory away from me would be worse than cutting ten years off my life.

I guess the question made me ask myself what 'perfect' happiness meant anyway. We talk about it a lot, particularly in fiction as if it's an achievable state. Can't say as how it's ever happened to me, even for a minute, let alone a year! I guess I always imagine that this world doesn't contain any 'perfect' anythings. Maybe the next world...?

So, Alyson, you like the book? Maybe I should toss a question into the pot each week and we could discuss it. What do you think? Or if someone else can think of a question they've always struggled with?

Yes, please! More questions.

Talking of memory watched two movies last night which really touched on the subject - 'Memento' and 'Nurse Betty'. Both really quite good in very different ways.

And about 'perfection' I don't know that I believe in it, or want it frankly! Imperfections are so wonderful and are what make people and places so fascinating and surprising. For example: I argue with my husband all the time about umpires in football matches. He thinks footy should have video umpires because he hates nothing more than when his team loses because of bad reffing decisions. But I think the human error is all of the fun in a match. Without bad decisions from the refs you would have no-one to yell at and football would be so sterile! So here's to impferction and the surprises and let downs and funny moments that come with it.

what if a perfect stranger threw a pie at you in the street?????

I would be looking for a camera, Helen. Surely it would be my rotten luck to have it all captured on film and played to the whole world.

deb

lol
:):):):)

lol

I agree with Deb - I would be looking for the candid camera!

I tried to visualise this, picturing the worst possible place, the Queen Street Mall packed with lunch time pedestrian traffic. It hits me right in the face and bits of it splatter onto Rachel who's walking beside me. Then it plops onto the ground at my feet. I look around and see a girl with sensible eyes and brown plaits, maybe a uni student, just watching me to see what I'll do.

Hmmm, what will I do? Her hands are empty now so I figure that's the end of the attack. I can't just walk away - I mean, can you walk around the Queen Street Mall covered in cream pie? I don't think so. And besides, I feel like I can't just walk away. Can't turn my back on her? Not sure. But I have this strong urge to approach her. To find out what the HELL is going on. Not angry at this point, just have to know. Even though I don't know what she'll do next, I don't seem to be able to walk away.

Interesting. I wonder if I would feel differently about that if it was a man throwing the cream pies?

I liked that one Helen. Okay, here's another one for you:

"If there was a public execution on television would you watch it?"

I can't even watch people get hit in the ...knees by cricket bats on 'Australia's Funniest Home Videos' so a public execution may be out of my league!

But I sometimes do try to test myself with watching hard things. I have been watching 'Six Feet Under' which I find very confronting. And I did love the film 'The Green Mile' though those particular scenes send me to tears every time. (Though the real thing would be very different of course.)

But I like being innocent and ignorant about some things. I would prefer to not have those particular images floating through the transiums of my mind - I have to leave room for pictures of such things as sunny skies and chocolate cake.

But I do believe in free speech. I don't think TV should realy be censored. If other people want to watch then they can go for their life. Parents should be able to sensor TV for their kids not program directors.

Then you see things like JFK's murder, and the young boy being shot in the head in Vietnam over and over again. You become desensitised so easily and I would much rather remain sensitive to things like that.

Alyson is right, I dont think i could watch a scene where someone is losing his/her life because a group of people said he/she should. Even if he/she did something terrible, i dont think it's up to us to decide to end their life. What a waste!!
Lock them up in the middle of the desert!!!

P.S. Sorry for turning into a debate about capital punishment

I am a person with a certain amount of morbid curiosity, so I might turn on the tv to have a peek, but then when it came down to actually viewing the 'real thing' I would have to turn my back and walk away. I would certainly have to justify the person's death before I could watch it.
I get very upset when I see people victimised or hear of children hurt, raped or murdered. I still feel like my guts have been reefed through my throat when I think of little James Bolger in England being killed by those two older children on the railway tracks. I can superimpose one of my children into the picture and it breaks my heart to think of them crying for mummy and they still keep killing him.

Maybe I could watch or even press the button though, if it was the execution of the murderer or rapist etc of one of my children. That is if I could beat my husband to the button. He would probable press it over and over just to make sure.

deb

It is a little squeaming-making, isn't it. But, like Deb, I think I have a morbid curiosity which has fuelled quite a few ideas in my writing. You also raised some interesting points, Deb about violence and revenge that I've been exploring lately as well. Men are so very different to women in the way they think about a range of things, and I often wonder whether to protect their families they could be frighteningly brutal - more so than we would anticipate no matter how well we thought we knew them. I know as a mother I feel fairly confident that I could kill someone to protect one of my children if they were being threatened or hurt. That might sound shocking, but I've given it quite a bit of thought. I guess that's the thing when you're a writer, you fantasise a lot, and not always about happy things!

Still, finding out these things about yourself and about other people are really vital ingredients in helping to come up with believable characters on the page.

On the subject of death, here's another question to think about:

"You are given the power to kill people simply by thinking of their deaths and twice repeating the word 'goodbye'. People would die a natural death and no one would suspect you. Are there any situations in which you would use this power?"

It is a little squeaming-making, isn't it. But, like Deb, I think I have a morbid curiosity which has fuelled quite a few ideas in my writing. You also raised some interesting points, Deb about violence and revenge that I've been exploring lately as well. Men are so very different to women in the way they think about a range of things, and I often wonder whether to protect their families they could be frighteningly brutal - more so than we would anticipate no matter how well we thought we knew them. I know as a mother I feel fairly confident that I could kill someone to protect one of my children if they were being threatened or hurt. That might sound shocking, but I've given it quite a bit of thought. I guess that's the thing when you're a writer, you fantasise a lot, and not always about happy things!

Still, finding out these things about yourself and about other people are really vital ingredients in helping to come up with believable characters on the page.

On the subject of death, here's another question to think about:

"You are given the power to kill people simply by thinking of their deaths and twice repeating the word 'goodbye'. People would die a natural death and no one would suspect you. Are there any situations in which you would use this power?"

can't we have some NICE questions!!!
killing people with a thought, although I have difficulty getting on with people I wouldn't wish them dead...what would you do if you killed them in the heat of the moment - you can't wish them back. People would drop like flies, and even though only you would know, I think the guilt would get most people, could they kill themselves?? I bet I would.
On the upside, with all those people dead, it'd probably relieve some of the pressure that mankind puts on the environment

i'm not playing this game anymore

Have you all seen 'Beetlejuice'. Since that film (where the main characters say 'Beetlejuice' 3 times and a horrible demon appears) I have been quite freaked out by that very thought. I still can't say ... the above word three times - something inside me stops me, just in case.

Any circumstances under which I would do it? I hope not. Imagine the guilt, doing something so very on purpose and not being able to take it back. I would not trust myself. Maybe I would be hormonal and do it in a fit of rage (I have Irish blood and can have quite a temper). How awful. No thanks, maybe I could have another superpower. X-ray vision, or be able to fly? That sounds better!

Sorry guys, some times my morbid curiosity does get the better of me. A nice question:

"If a crystal ball would tell you the truth about any one thing you wished to know concerning yourself, life, the future, or anything else, what would you want to know?"

This can be quite personal, so don't feel you have to reply here, but it is an interesting question that helps you see what your priorities are/should be.

That is a nice question. Sat back and thought for a while and realised how certain and comfortable I am with my life. Certain in my husband's and my family's love. Uncertain about where I will be living in a year's time, but I like it that way.

And I don't know if I really want to know the truth about the future. One of my favourite pasttimes is getting together with friends and having boisterous conversations about life, the universe and everything. If I knew the reality of it all, where would I find wonderment that I love so much.

Imagine if you were to ask the crystal ball about your publishing future. It it was good news you would lose the excitement and nerves and anticipation. If it was abd news why would you bother to try anymore. And without trying you lose all of those years of trying and creating and the joy that comes with that.

Gosh, these questions have certainly made me realise alot about my thought processes and about how I feel about my current situation. Five years ago I would have had a million questions I wanted the answer to now! But I am a happy chappy right now, to be sure!!! Is that too boring a response?

It's funny (or perhaps not) that you'd mention publishing, Alyson. Because for years I wouldn't go to a psychic because I dreaded that they'd say "You'll never be published" and I knew that I was past the point of stopping, so I'd have these visions of me at seventy, posting away a manuscript or opening up yet another rejection letter. It was TOO horrible to consider. But then I got more confidence and I did in fact see a psychic two years before Destiny was accepted and she told me that not only would I sell 'some' books (which I took later to be the trilogy) but that my books would eventually sell into the US, so not to worry about money. And so I don't. It's lovely to have that quiet confidence. I just wish my husband could be as patient. He wants to retire now!

I wanted to respond to this post yesterday, but my computer/internet line kept dropping out. Only managed one before I got cranky and turned the whole thing off.
I was thinking the exact smae thing as both of you, Louise and Alyson. I would hate to have a crystal ball or pscychic - however its spelt - tell me I was setting myself up for a life of disapointment. Writing, writng and rejection after rejection.

But I would still write I think, even after I was told. It just needs to come out, like the words come into me, fill me up and bubble over. If I didn't write I would be like a volcano. And a cranky one too.

deb

Went to a psychic once a few years ago and she was amazing. She said that whatever I really wanted to do with my life I was not doing at that time and that I hadn't shared with anyone my real ambitions. She said to follow them and I would not start achieving real success in my dream field in my early thirties.

At the time I knew I wanted to write and was loving keeping the secret desire to myself whilst I was beginning to give it a go. Even though I am quite sceptic what she said gave me a real boost to just throw myself into the deep end and go for it. And since I am not even thirty yet I feel the same quiet confidence you mentioned Louise. Like I am practising and learning and writing and submitting but not worrying just yet.

Louise,

I don't think that I would want to know anything about my life. I think that my questions would be about the people in my life that I love!!!! Will my husband get that new motorbike he wants so much? Will Alia and Aislinn compete in the 2010 Winter Olympics at Smiggins Holes? Is there anything I can do to better prepare my children for the road ahead of them?

I haven't been around for a while to read everyone's posts or join in on the chats on Sundays - but I look forward to getting back into it. I love this thread - it is great!!!!!!

That was an interesting question. Funny the things you can be scared about. Karen, you're so unselfish, using your questions to ask about your family! I'd be scared to ask about my kids because I have a dread fear of being one of those mothers that push their kids into things. So I go in the opposite direction and just say "Whatever you want to do is fine by me". Lucky for me both my kids are self-motivated or I'd really be in trouble.

Now, to our new question:

"Given the ability to project yourself into the future but not return, would you do so? If not, would you change your mind if you could take someone along? How far forward would you go?"

I'm more of a past fan - the future is all a big big and wild and unknown for me. I adore history. I'd love to live in The Godfather movies - great clothes, lots of money, tragedy, intrigue, handsome Italians. Hmmm... Or maybe Swing Shift, in the 1940s in America, the height of World War 2, working in a man's job, dancing up a storm, meeting a handsome soldier. (No matter what I picture my hubby as the Italian or the handsome soldier so without a doubt I would have to take him wherever - or whenever - I went)

Or maybe in the 1600s in England - the poetry and plays and original Shakespeare and good ole Queen Bess - maybe I could be a courtier, or one of her handmaidens someone in the know anyhow. Aah, my head is spinning!

The future is a bit scary, isn't it? I always wanted to go into space, so as a child I would fantasise about jumping into a future where I could fly to the moon for holidays on the colony there - thinking it would only be about twenty years ahead. Never imagining that NASA would be strangled for funds and the moon missions would stop. Sigh...

Still, I don't think there's anyway I'd want to go back in time - at least not too far back. Apart from the fact that I can't live without a shower every day, I don't know of too many places throughout history where women weren't oppressed, whether they had money or not. And I don't think I could bear having men or even older women telling me what to do. I'm too used to having my own way!

Now I would love to travel back into medieaval times...but as a safe and independant observer. I would't want to actually live like they did. Well not for more than 24 hours anyway. I want the sanitary version...sort of a fly on the fall visit.
I don't want to use their garderobes, or eat their rancid meat at the end of a hard winter.

I wouldn't want to say the wrong thing, as I often do and get dragged off by the inquisition as a witch or heretic - though I think that was after the time I want to visit.

I like the idea of wearing some fancy dress to swish around in, (as long as I am not suffocated in a corset )

I would like to float along the dirt tracks (not wade through mud and slush) to a peasant village and satisfy my morbid curiosity about how they really lived...not how they smelled though!!! PHew!

So I suppose my visit would only be the glossy tourists version. Maybe I would also watch a tourney or a grisly battle then come on home for a hot coffee, a hot shower and some Star Trek on the tellie!

deb

Deb, you are such a hoot. I laughed when I read that. It's exactly the way I'd want to experience it too. How could we do without our Star Trek?

by the way, how is everyone enjoying Enterprise?

Last week's Enterprise was gorgeous! Where Trip became pregnant. It was sweet and funny the best so far by far!

So Louise, where's our next what if? I love this thread, you can really get your teeth stuck into it.

I got out of bed to tape Enterprise last Wednesday and five minutes before the show was to air, the power went off for the second time that night. It didn't come back on until about 1:30 am. I was so cheesed off! So obviously I missed that episode.

deb

Deb, that must have driven you mad. And it was such a good episode too (sorry, that just makes it worse). Really looking forward to tonight's episode.

Okay, new question. Here goes:

"If you had the choice of one intimate soulmate and no other close friends, or of no such soulmate and many friends and acquaintances, which would you choose?"

Easy peasy! I've always been a soulmate kind of gal.

And then I met my Mark. It was easy for me to move to Melbourne with my hubby even though we knew no-one down here. All I needed was him. We have close friends and are very close to our families but as long as I have my Mark I'm happy. He's definitely my soul mate and my guardian angel. I would happily be cut off from everything so long as I knew he'd be there forever.

I had one best friend through my whole childhood. We finished each others sentences and everyone thought we were sisters. Though it tok me fifteen years to realise she was not going to be a 'friend for a lifetime' but a 'friend for a season' type friend. So maybe that kind of soulmate can become unhealthy when you know only one type of friend and are cut off from how good and supportive real friendships can be.

Answered this on the wrong thread! Please read Project Muse for the gripping Readers Digest version answer.
HA HA HA!
I am zinging here! Nervous energy just ripping through my brain and I love it. Writing again and look what it does to me....

deb

Deb, you are zinging! Very sad to hear about your girlfriend who let you down, Alyson. Any sort of experience that teaches you not to trust people is bad. I guess I've been blessed to have really strong, positive friendships in my life. My closest girlfriend lived at the back of our house when we were growing up so I've known her for over thirty years and even though she doesn't write, she's my 'muse' because she fills my head with all this fascinating esoteric stuff. Another group of three girls were part of my 'tribe' when I was a teenager and we all still keep in touch. Then I have a few close writing friends I've met in the last decade who have proved to be the 'lifetime' sort. Surrounded by that network of support and inspiration, I think I'd be hard put to swap it for one person (eggs in the same basket theory) in case the soulmate died - then where would I be?

Having said that, if someone said, your husband or your friends, I'd pick my husband I guess that just goes to show you that when it comes to the crunch, love over-rules logic every time.

It is terrible when people you consider good friends turn around and crush you. I have had that happen to me a couple of times and I was devistated! I could not believe they could do it to me when I trusted them so much.
We had been such good friends in all instances. They were there for a reason all right...to teach me that I should place responsiblity for their misdeeds and problems in the right place and that is not on my shoulders.
I had been there for them, helped them when they were sick, brought them little gifts when they were down, listened to their problems...and boom they throw it all back in my face. Wierd! Another of life's lessons.

deb

I wonder what lesson it is, Deb? Not to trust people.

A lady I know has just had her best and only close friend steal her husband right out from under her nose (well, those are her words but I don't personally believe husbands can be 'stolen' unless they want to be - still, this 'friend' was apparently the instigator of the affair). Both women have three children, both marriages are wrecked. God knows how long the new relationship will last and then what? This poor woman is really thinking she can't trust anyone at this stage and I don't blame her. Very sad.

Never mind. Enough gloom and doom. I wanted to ask another 'what if':

If you could have dinner and conversation (and that's all - hands on the table girls, so forget the Antonio Sabato Jnr answers!) with anyone who has ever lived, who would you choose and why?

Now there are many I would have loved to have talked to. So it could be quite a list.

A very intersting man to have spoken with I think, would have been Oscar Wild(e) Does it have an 'E' on it???
There would be no worries about hands on tables because I don't think we would appeal to each other at all in that sense!
But he was so ahead of his era. He was clever and witty though very dry. He lived a life that was absolutley abhored by society and yet they still were drawn to him. I think he would have been fascinating.

Martin Luther King the peace activist of the 60's would also be interesting. Anyone who has a dream and puts everything at risk and places himself in the line of fire (so to speak) of society's backlash is inspiring.

Walt Disney! I mean what a dream he had. He must have been intersting.

What about Steven Spielburg. Now there is a focused man and with such a depth of scope and imagination! I bet if you were with him for awhile some of that would would rub off! When he does something he does it to the best of his ability.

Joan of Arc. Now she would have been interesting. I would love to meet someone who believed she heard the words of God and believed enough as to follow them without question. Even if she was deluded, it still would have been intersting to follow her around for awhile.

I could go on for ages.

I think the lesson I learnt, Louise was not to beat myself up about things that I have no control over. Other people have their own wills, ethics, motivations and problems and no matter what I think or want, I cannot always hope they act as I would.
We are all different and I shouldn't assume other people will act as I do. To me friendship is special, not something to be treated willy nilly. You stand by each other both in good weather and in monsoon season. Others seem to treat friendship as something to grab off the bargain table, and throw away when its no longer of any use.

I sound a bit bitter from this post. And perhaps I still am when I really touch the feelings inside. But I am learning that I needn't feel guilty for situations I had no control over. Don't you keep going over things thinking, 'what did I do?' 'What could I have done differently?' 'why did it happen?'
I did for ages. Not anymore.
And don't worry, Louise, I still carry a huge umbrella for friends when they get stuck in the middle of a monsoon! I cannot help myself!

deb

Dinner and conversation, eh?

JFK - obviously. Though I think I would like to be a fly on the wall throughout his life. Too damn boisterous for me - never been the touch football type. But to be in on the conversations in the White House. To look over his shoulder as he wrote his inauguration speech. Maybe I could come back as Kenny O'Donnell or William Manchester - someone in his inner group who saw all.

My fave actor is a guy called Christian Bale - the kid in Empire of the Sun - he's my age now, all grown up and married but I've always felt this sort of affinity with him - same age and all. Not like a poster on the wall type of thing but I would like to know what makes him tick.

But then there are clever wordsmiths with interesting slants on life like Woody Allen and Sigmund Freud who would be a hoot to just listen to.

Then again, two of our closest friends, a couple in Brisbane, are the best conversationalists. When the four of us get together we just roll around the floor in stitches, we crack each other up so much. So for a good conversation where you know you will get a good tummy muscle workout, they would win hands down.

But then again - dinner - maybe the inventor of chocolate...

I don't have a definitive list myself. I think Ghandi for sure, and, actually, my Grandmother who has been dead for 15 years now. There are so many questions about her life that I desperately wish I'd asked her.
I'm not that interested in movie stars as such, because it's the characters they create that I'm interested in, not the actors themselves (and after watching five minutes of a Russell Crowe interview I've decided to never watch actor interviews again in case they put me off the actor. What they're like in real life is of no interest to me whatsoever so long as I like the characters they create).

Tolkien, and most definitely Lewis Carroll. People who can create fantastical images with words. Can't think of anyone else at the moment.

Deb, that 'lesson' is a tough one. But I guess it's good to learn that two wrongs don't make a right and just because someone else didn't value friendship, it's nice to see that hasn't affected what you feel about it. You're right, people behave according to their own agendas but that shouldn't affect the way we behave. If we stick with our own morals and ideals then we might be tricked at times, but at least we'll be able to sleep at night knowing we did the right thing wherever possible.

"Does the fact that you have never done something before increase or decrease its appeal to you?"

Wow! Today's "what if" is a doozy.

I always get an adrenaline high before I do something for the 1st time. I really have to psyche myself up to do some things.

Last year, I competed in my 1st Masters ski-races ever, and I was terrified!!!!! We had a two day program of racing and I was determined to have the experience. I ski in a group of about 10 every Sunday at Perisher and we all made a pact to race. Well, three out of ten actually raced and the rest were our own personal cheer squad.

I felt physically ill before my 1st race, my strategy, be careful and don't miss any gates. I got a shocking time on my 1st run, but I had done it!!!! The strategy for my 2nd run was to have fun!!!!! Well, I did, and I forgot about being careful and fairly flew down the course. How surprised was I at the presentations the next day when I discovered that my 2nd run had been so good that it lifted me to 3rd place in my age group for the race?

It is something that I will definitely do again, but I think that it is the anticipation of a new experience is the thing that I love. My parents despair of their thirty-two year old daughter who gets a tattoo for her 10th wedding anniversary, loves karaoke, wants to buy a motorbike so she doesn't have to ride pillion anymore, is a mad-keen paintball enthusiast and a definite non-conformist.

I guess it is our differences that make us all interesting!!!!!!!!!

A bit of both for me. Often it can decrease its appeal in that I am a real homebody and I would prefer to sit at home at night in my Pjs drinking hot chocolate snuggling with my hubby than anything else in the world. Is that because it is familiar and safe and I won't be dissapointed doing it? For sure.

But then again I can be pretty hot headed and stubborn and have done some bizarre things in my life that I have done off my own bat wihtout anyone else's suggesting it in the first place - such as moving to Melbourne, becoming a pro dancer whilst at Uni (which most people scoffed at saying I should become a lawyer or a doctor not a dancer with an English double major) and getting married in Las Vegas (everybody though we were kidding with that one).

So for me, I live a sensible, peaceful, life which is intermittently broken up by wild, unusual, new, scary, exciting flights of fancy.

I am basically a boring old sod when it comes to doing something new. As I have no confidence in myself I tend to have to be pushed itno somethng new. I procrastinate and try to wriggle my way out of new things.
Maybe its old age!!! LOL! Nah, can't be! I have always been like this.

I stand on the fringes and watch everyone else have fun but am too nervous to join in without watching and weighing it up for about three or four hours!~ HEE!

deb

I wondered about this what-if as well, and guess I don't have a consistent feeling of either excitement or dread about doing new things. Some things create dread, others excitement. And the funny thing is, that sometimes I know I'm excited and feeling positive about a new experience, but the physical expression of that is a sick stomach, dry mouth etc.

I think I can honestly say, though, that I feel excited about the prospect of trying new things if I know I can do them in private (new writing styles etc) and will have time to 'perfect' them before anyone else sees them. Things that are done for the first time in public usually carry a dread factor for me, because at those times that horrible teenage "everyone is watching me" feeling comes back and it's so hard to just do it. I think that comes from an unrealistic perfectionist attitude which I'm trying hard to release. You can't be perfect, or even good, at everything. Well, not if you try new things. And I'd like to do that. But not scary physical things that could be dangerous. I'm not even good with fast rides. I thought once that making myself jump out of an airplane would help my fear of heights, but I'm SO glad now that I didn't do that. I think my life is destined to be exciting on the inside and I'm happy with that.

Okay, shall we have a new 'what if'?

"If you were guaranteed honest responses to any three questions, who would you ask and what would the questions be?"

(This might be a little personal, but I thought I'd toss it in there anyway)

Ooh, this is a toughie. I'll have to think about this one. The others have all come to me pretty quickly...

It is a hard one, isn't it. I figured that if I can ask anyone, I want to ask God:

What am I here for? (although I'm pretty sure it's got something to do with writing )

Is this reality (the material universe around me and my material body) the only reality, or is there more that I can't see /hear /feel /know?

Is linear time a construct? And if so, what is the real nature of time? (hope that doesn't rate as two questions)

Anyone who knows the answers to these questions is most welcome to reply...

I still can't think of any questions that defintively watn to know the answers to. One way or the other the answers would probably be disappointing - either because they are dull, or becasue they are so fantastic that know you know what is the point of this whole journey? (P.S. I don't want to know the answer to this one!!!)

Myabe this is me be scared of trying something new re: the previous question!

But then there are lotto numbers, who killed JFK, what will be the in colour for the next season, who will win next year's Oscars... but we should all have learnt from 'Back to the Future' what a bad thing knowing the future can be...

Okay, the last one was just too hard. Let's try a moral dilemma:

"A cave-in occurs while you and a stranger are in a concrete room deep in a mine shaft. Before the phone goes dead, you learn that the entire mine is sealed and the air hole being drilled will not reach you for 30 hours. If you both take sleeping pills from the medicine chest, the oxygen will last for only 20 hours. Both of you can't survive; alone, one of you might. After you both realise this, the stranger takes several sleeping pills, says that it is in God's hands and falls asleep.

You have a pistol; what do you do?

Ok I haven't participated in this "what if" thread yet, but now it's time I get out of indecision land and jump in to the discussion!!! I'll get back to you straight after lunch - I need some thinking time first!! Fi

Yikes!

This is one you probably could not know unless there. I'm 99% sure I would take the sleeping pills and hope for the best. Sleep perchance to dream. Shooting the person, you would have a day of lying with a dead person and a lifetime of living with the knowledge of what you had done. The guilt eating away at you. And guilt is a powerful destructive force.

Think of the September 11 people. A couple died whilst helping a very overweight colleague down the stairs. Exhasted, he could finally go no further. If they had left him on the stairs they would have made it out alive. But they both stayed with him, and died with him. Human spirit comes to the fore.

This would make a great film! Have you seen "Shallow Grave". Three friends have a new roommate, the roomate dies and leaves a bag full of cash under the bed. The roommates chop him up and bury him and keep the cash. Until one by one the money eats at them and they become greedy and paranoid by turns. Devilishly good!

Sounds like "Shallow Grave" is another to add to my list. I love books and movies that delve into interesting areas of psychology.

Guilt can certainly eat you up, but I wonder if there would be any circumstances where you might be warranted in killing the stranger. Let's say they tell you they're a murderer or a bankrobber or a wife-basher - someone you judge (and who says we have the right to do that) as less important to society than yourself. What if you're the head of a charitable organisation and millions of children/animals/sick people are counting on your continued ability to serve them?

Then again, even if you felt you had to live to fulfil some altruistic purpose, could you kill someone if they weren't physically threatening you or your loved ones?

Interesting, isn't it?

My first instinct is to take the pills and hope for the best. I don't think I would enjoy living with another person's death on my hands. And then who's to say I wouldn't get the electric chair for murder once I escape from the concrete room???
I would rather sleep and just fade away than sizzle.
So I think the pills sound like my option But then I start to worry! What happens if the other person only pretended to take the pils to lull me into a false sense of security???? They have the use of the gun too.

I would take the pills!!!! Don't your heart rate and respiration slow down when you are asleep? I think that if I shot someone I would go into a flat spin and use up the air quicker. Disabling either the gun or the bullets might be a good idea too.

I'd never thought of that - that the stranger might just be pretending so they could get the gun. If that was the case, you'd really need to disable the gun before you took your pills. But taking the pills is suicide because you know there isn't enough air even if you take them. What if you've got kids at home who need you?

I don't imagine any scenario where I could shoot someone, but if I thought we were both going to die and I was frantic to get back to my children, could I suffocate the stranger with my coat?

Hmmm, I don't think so. It would be less traumatic than the gun, but it's still murder. Really, I think that no matter what was happening in my life (dependants, charities, whatever) I'd try to accept my death graciously. I believe in reincarnation, so perhaps I'd be able to accept that this life was over and whatever lessons I still needed to learn would come in the next life. I'd also believe that my motherless children needed to learn lessons in independence and that's why I was dying just then. These things work out well if you believe that there's no such thing as coincidence.

Well, that question was rather draining. Do we want another one?

"If you were able to wake up tomorrow in the body of someone else, would you do so? If so, whose body would you choose?