Make a Wish

Ergo Christobal

Ergo Christobal

Talking Lightbulb
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MBTI
INFJ
For a long time I've had this abstract idea about a fictional world and how this world might operate. Basically, I got to thinking about what would occur if everyone had one wish per day. Genie style, no rollovers, and you can't wish for something too significant like one million dollars or something. The wish resets at midnight, and if you don't spend it it gets lost. You can't combine wishes together to make them stronger. Oh, and time travel is not permitted.

The strength of the wish can only be for things of lesser importance, or if used correctly, it could be very helpful. For example: Short-term levitation, making objects stop/start moving, generate electricity for a short time, create a small amount of water or fire, knowing the specific time and date, short-range teleportation...

Side note: I'm currently brainstorming a novel idea for a world such as this, where the protagonist is without the wish ability. What do you think of the idea?

What would you wish for? Would you save it for the off-chance of a life-threatening situation? Would you use it for laziness? Would you wish for things, then store them to try and build over time? Would you wish for as much money as possible each day?
What do you think would be different in the world? Would things be better if everyone had a daily wish? Worse? This is assuming the wish has been with humanity for all of our known history, and is a commonplace part of society.

With everyone having one, and never being without a wish, would people take them for granted and not necessarily care as much?
 
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My crazy random posts have no replies but both have had +rep, I'm officially transforming this thread into Chris' crazy brain crack dump/blog.

What's brain crack, you ask? Allow me to get Ze Frank to explain it to you:
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=24prm3XjVgk"]YouTube- zefrank on brain crack[/ame]

Here's some more brain crack:
I've got this story idea that will totally be awesome if I could just write it. The protagonist is the average nothing special guy who ends up going through hell. He starts in his dead end job without social life, and wonders when the bad story starring himself would end.

Next thing you know, his car gets rammed into the side of the corporate building and he flees the scene, only to find a day later that his house has burned down. He gets blamed for the arson, so he runs away again.
(This is about as far as I've written it)

He eventually gets caught, but in prison he goes through some kind of transformation. He finds that he can bend matter, warping and twisting objects. He inadvertently destroys his cell, and is on the loose again.

Turns out,(unknown to the reader or characters) some crazy energy surge has been blowing across the city, and some individuals find themselves deconstructing Newton's laws without meaning to.

All the while, the protagonist feels as if something is watching him, and he feels out of control of his own mind at times. He breaks into some military facilities that were doing research on the recent goings-on and finds that the very thing giving him these strange abilities is actually intelligent, and is watching him, and is inside him, controlling him at times.

The big twist at the end is when average guy starts to take back control, at which point the reader realizes that they've been the mysterious intelligence all along. Watching him, forcing his life to be interesting, acting through him. Then I give the reader a choice.

Average guy's mental state starts to melt, and he begins to try to run. The POV of the reader follows him easily, and eventually causes average guy to threaten to kill himself, addressing the reader directly.
He's going to do it, too... If you keep reading and assaulting his mind.

This originally started as a kick-ass idea for a video game, more on that later.

Blog portion:
Life is getting better. I'm still a bit lonely without my college buddies but the next few months look pretty bright. I'm going to do plenty of self-searching this summer. Hopefully I'll have found something by the end. In more recent news, I've made a few steps towards the poetry contest for this month. I found a good base, should be fun to build off of.

Until next time, I hope your mind has been blown.
-Chris
 
hey man i like your ideas, both of them actually. the first one had me trying to imagine what a life like that would be like and what i would use my wishes on. the second one felt like a message underneathe the story kind of pointing the finger at the very audience themselves, like you could walk away and this guy wouldn't die but because you're still watching you've pushed him to possibly suicide, is this what you mean kind of? either way interesting stuff.
 
bagelriffic said:
hey man i like your ideas, both of them actually. the first one had me trying to imagine what a life like that would be like and what i would use my wishes on. the second one felt like a message underneathe the story kind of pointing the finger at the very audience themselves, like you could walk away and this guy wouldn't die but because you're still watching you've pushed him to possibly suicide, is this what you mean kind of? either way interesting stuff.
Click to expand...
Basically, yes.
I want to stress the reader-character bond. Most people feel as if they live through their characters, that they learn from them and feel what they feel. In a way, we are the agents of their worlds: constructing a path that we find interesting, and causing them to live how we would want to.
I take that to the next level, our little protagonist has the life we live, and we make him experience the life we imagine. He overcomes his fears, grows into what we want him and ourselves to be, but at what cost?

People read passively, and witness events. I think people should read actively, and participate. The story forces this, every time you read it you kill someone. It forces the choice: Read and help him live his life that eventually ends violently, or leave him to the monotony of the corporate machine?
 
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haha hell yeah, thats an interesting tidbit about the audience living through the character. it makes sense now that you've said it but not something i have put together before. well goodluck to you, i think its a cool idea.
 
I'm excited about your poetry entry!
 
I think I may have just finished the poem, it actually turned out pretty cool. I'm going to polish it off, and go find a good picture for it. It needs some explanation, as spring is different where I'm from. I'll try and record tomorrow.

More brain crack before I go to sleep:
Building on my time travel thread, after one such outing I discovered another cool idea for a book. Let's say that the time travel worked, and I saw my future self appear. He gives me information to save the day, and I do so. Yay! Then, when I'm old and frail, I realize that another completely different but totally disastrous situation must be prevented! So, I use the time machine and deliver a similar message to the one I received so many years ago to my past self.

This creates an infinite loop of space-time heroes! So many adventures could be had, maybe even change it to a whole family of people that rendezvous with their ever-changing future selves to prevent catastrophes in the present! I could add a twist and say that they make things worse every time, or the problems get bigger and bigger... Would be a cool series.

Once again, I hope your mind is blown. Good night. Or good whatever it is.
-Chris
 
Adventure Time

I like to go on adventures.
For any outing, there is always where, what, and when. An outing qualifies as an adventure when only one of these three factors is known.

I usually plan a when, then drive around randomly.
Having a what works too, but it's hard to be sitting around and spontaneously leave. Especially if you prepare for the what ahead of time.
Leaving at night is highly recommended, it makes everything easier.

How to execute an adventure:
Grab some friends, mischief is never fun alone.
Acquire all-black clothes. You never know when you need to lie low.
Bring a change of shoes, they might get wet.
Bring a towel, there are countless situations when a towel will come in handy.
Bring water.
Bring materials for the mission.

The mission:
This is the what. It's very possible that you won't know what the mission is until you get there. You don't need a mission. Assign mission responsibilities to you and your friends. code names are recommended. The mission must be legal, but must involve at least some recklessness/mischief. The mission does not need a goal, but it should have some completion point.

Examples of missions:
-We took tons of water bottles, drank them, and decided to drive around and leave messages inside the empty ones that we drank along the way. Little messages in a bottle, we would leave them on front door steps or otherwise in plain view. We had never been to any of these houses. Later, we left some pieces of paper that simply said "hi" in mailboxes at the other end of town. then we found a reservoir, trespassed our way over to the edge, and promptly urinated sever water bottles worth into it.
Materials required: paper, water bottles, writing utensils.

-On a separate occasion, the same people minus one and plus a different one took about 70 rolls of toilet paper with the mission to instead of wrap a house, place the entire rolls in the yard. We decided against it, and went out into the woods instead. The TP was 100% biodegradable, so we strung up some random trees in the wilderness and then began to light a fire using toilet paper as kindling. The fire was awesome, but soon we heard sirens and freaked out. We put it out in a hurry, and drove off. We took off our jackets that smelled of smoke, just in case. There was no problem after all, we called it in after that.
materials required: a bag of toilet paper, lighter fluid.

-We didn't have a mission in this one. We just drove around. I saw a Styrofoam box sitting at an empty bus stop, so I decided to pull over and check it out. It had a single green apple inside. Against the better judgment of myself and friends, I took a bite. It was pretty good. Then we went into a creepy part of town, down some long wooded road away from everything. It was extremely dark, and quiet. These times are the best, it's dark, quiet, and you sit in your fear and excitement for a few minuets.
No materials needed.

I'm Looking forward to more adventures next semester, accounts of the merriment and mischief shall be laid here. I hope someone reads and goes on their own adventure, it's freaking awesome!!

Side note: the title of this post is also the title of the coolest TV show ever.
 
Don't panic and always bring your towel.
 
Therefore Chris said:
why is that a problem?
Click to expand...

Every time I look at a blank piece of paper/screen, my mind goes blank. That is the simple answer. The real answer is too complicated for me to express. I may just have too high expectations for myself or what I write. Part of the problem is that what I want to write is something that I have been developing for a long time; I knew I wouldn't be able to express it back when I first got the ideas, and only now am I beginning to gain the capacity to do so.
 
Dragon said:
Every time I look at a blank piece of paper/screen, my mind goes blank. That is the simple answer. The real answer is too complicated for me to express. I may just have too high expectations for myself or what I write. Part of the problem is that what I want to write is something that I have been developing for a long time; I knew I wouldn't be able to express it back when I first got the ideas, and only now am I beginning to gain the capacity to do so.
Click to expand...
I find it helps me to write by giving myself license to suck. If writing is making a sculpture, then the first draft is pulling the clay out of the ground.
I usually write by spewing. I think for a long time, then I sit down for an hour and spill it out.

Don't think about the screen, just start with words. they don't have to make sense. Just random words. It will come to you, and hopefully it gets easier the more you think it over.
Just so long as you don't get addicted again.
 
That random post by that new user used the word "mindfield". This made me remember this little ritual I used to do. The idea was to create a place that would automatically trigger DejaVu for you every time you went there. I called them "mind mines". You place them along certain areas, and walk near them, then BOOM you have a sudden memory or DejaVu if you forgot that you put a mind mine there.

To do so, close your eyes and focus on the image you were just looking at. Burn it into your head, concentrate, hold your breath, apply pressure to the inside of your skull... and Presto! You will have sudden flashbacks when you go to the place you are at.

Make some mind mines today! :D
 
^^
Weird. I always get DejaVu from certain sounds and smells. It's not usually from places. Maybe I'll put some candles out and get out the iPod.
 
New hairdew. Or rather, a shorter version of old hairdew.
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the lady who cuts my hair is very nice, always gets a big tip.

I got a call today from my old friend's girlfreind, my old friend that I haven't talked to since... God months. We used to be best friends, but me and him just sorta floated off during college. I felt terrible about it, but every time we tried to hang out one of us was busy. He also has very different hobbies, it's hard to connect. I've been putting off talking to him since summer started, and he even called me once. I ignored it, I felt terrible afterward. I just feel uncomfortable getting everything back together. We were best friends for 8 years, then I moved away. I moved back, but things were never the same.
Anyways, this call: She said that he took a spill off his bike and received multiple fractures in his foot. He can't walk, and he's going in for surgery tomorrow to get some hardware installed. This is likely what he was calling about a few days ago. I called him right away, things weren't too uncomfortable. I'm going to be there tomorrow at the hospital. It's just a foot, but I feel really bad. He'll also have a month of no walking.

hopefully things go well. I'm looking forward to talking to his girlfriend, she's more open about things and I for some reason feel more comfortable talking to her.
 
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