beautiful, funny, sad & true

This afternoon in rehearsal, I experienced déja vu for the first time in quite a long while.  I was playing the snare drum, and the five of us were sitting in a particular way, working on a particular song, stumbling over a particular section, and then working out that particular section.  It lasted almost a full ten seconds.

This reminded me that I have a drummer friend (as of four years ago, anyway) claimed to have never experienced déja vu, and to the best of my knowledge, he still hasn’t.  He revealed that fact while we were on a long road trip, the kind where you talk about everything and nothing for hours on end; it’s one of the best things about being on tour.  One of us in the group – there were six of us riding together in a motor home – had a déja vu and described to the others, and that’s how the subject was started.  The drummer claimed not to have had one, and we all fell about with shock.  “Really?  How is that possible?  How can you have made it into your thirties without having one?”

At that point, he asked us what the feeling is like, and we had a very funny time trying to describe it.  Each of us said miniscule variations on the same theme.  “It’s like you’ve experienced the situation you’re in. . .before.”

“Somehow you just know that you’ve done this thing, whatever it is, before.”

“You feel it while it’s happening; that it’s happened before.”

It was like trying to describe an orgasm, or what it feels like to be drunk or high.  Each is very difficult to explain to someone who’s never experienced it.  For the record, I’ve had plenty of orgasms, and been drunk plenty of times, but still never been high, which is probably a whole separate story in itself.

Monty Python has a classic Flying Circus episode called “It’s the Mind” that explores this phenomenon in a very funny way.

Oh, and if you’re my drummer friend and you’re reading this (assuming that you still haven’t experienced déja vu), it isn’t really like that.  It’s more like. . .you’ve experienced the situation you’re in. . .before. Somehow you just know that you’ve done this thing, whatever it is, before.  You feel it while it’s happening; that it’s happened before.

Tune in next time when I describe what an orgasm feels like.

This beautiful little animated short film needs to be shared with the world.  Fans of the accordion and of Hugh Manatee–a.k.a the human spirit–will find it particularly touching.

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Due to the volume of applicants, the review process took longer than usual, making the final selection even more difficult.  While you were not selected for an interview, please accept our appreciation for your interest in [CompanyName].

Thank you again and good luck in your search.”

While driving home from the store today, I saw a police car along the side of the road with the words “UFO Response Team” emblazoned on the back, and the little kid in me got all excited thinking about all that stuff again.  You see, when I was young, I had an endless fascination for UFO’s.  I had a stack of books about them (by authors like J. Allen Hynek and John Mack) and I watched every TV show I could.  The Air Force used to have a special team called Project Blue Book that investigated sightings and stories, and for about two seconds in the late 1970’s, long before “The X-Files”, there was a TV show based on Project Blue Book cases that was called “Project U.F.O.”

Long before conspiracy theories abounded or distrust of the government became de riguer, there seemed to be a kind of mythology about UFO’s.  One show described an ancient site in South America that was given the insipid name of EarthBaseOne, which (after decades of retrospect) looked like an Inca temple.  It was a large square, with no roof, and in the walls of the square were carvings of skulls.  One was human, and the others (all around the walls) were slight variations on human faces.  Some were very similar to our current visage, while others were grotesquely misshapen.  A quick Google search revealed that the site’s real name is Tiahuanaco, in Bolivia.

Anyway, the show put forward the idea that extraterrestrial life forms created humanity, and that Tiahuanaco was the place where they worked out their ‘design’ for us.   An interesting theory, and one that I’ve never forgotten.

So anyway, I got to thinking about all that UFO business again this afternoon, and I really wanted to see the show “Project U.F.O.” again.  It took longer than I would have thought to scrounge up an actual episode (Due to a government cover-up, perhaps? KIDDING!), but here’s one for you.

Warning:  WATCH THIS CLIP AT YOUR OWN RISK.  It may have been based on an interesting premise, but the show is a complete and utter turd.  Do not attempt to drive or use heavy machinery after watching it.

You’ve been warned.

There, see?  I warned you.