Xmas break be damned! Shane Greer has tagged me in a meme, which means I now have to write a letter to my 16 year old me. Unfortunately for Shane I have been reading Philip K Dick books again, and so am approaching this not quite in the spirit intended. Here goes..
Dear Me.
Thanks to the nature of time, nothing I can say in this letter will change anything – at least, that is my hope. Assuming the physicists are correct, what will happen to you is what happened to me.
I don’t remember getting this letter, so presumably this letter will never reach you. I’m supposed to look upon this exercise not so much as a letter to the 16 year old version of myself, rather an open letter to myself reflecting on the 16 years that have since passed – mistakes made, victories gained and so on.
But, on the off chance you really do see this, I need to be a bit more careful about what I say. Time, it turns out, is a great healer, and 16 more years of life experience and knowledge stuffed inside your brain changes your perceptions of yourself, of the world and your place in it. I am very different to you.
I think, if you could see me now, knowing you as well as I do, you’d be enthused with an almost unstoppable passion to change the future, to make sure you don’t turn out like me. I understand that.
But, see, I cannot allow this to happen. I need you to carry on the path you’re on, no matter how wonderful or horrible it might be. If you do anything differently then it might change something, and I wouldn’t be me any more. In fact, just knowing you’re still alive 16 years from now is probably too much information.
So I’m going to tell what’s going to happen to you. Not a god-damned thing. Having said that, in about 12 months Kurt Cobain really is going to kill himself, but then I think you already knew that.
Yours Sincerely,
You (or Me… rather confusing isn’t it?)
I tag a bunch of Lib Dem lady bloggers, cos I’m fairly certain they haven’t been yet: Jennie Rigg, Caron Lindsey, Sara Bedford
Jennie said...
21 Dec 09 at 11:55 am
Damn joo. Will do this when we get to Devon.
Stu said...
21 Dec 09 at 12:07 pm
Well. What a complete cop-out!
Of course, the last paragraph made it all worthwhile. That’s the kind of advice teenagers really need.
Larry Linux on Crack said...
22 Dec 09 at 7:51 pm
Kurt Cobain with that Pixie style of thing, rounded things off.
Seattle had morris station wagons down from Canada, and people would look at them, and it reminded them of why places were called after Brits, and of the wonderful nearly happened war over the little pig, when the Royal Navy showed up to kick ass.
It is about identity, & being more than Microsoft, Boeing, Dupont or Starbucks.
LLoC
Leon Greenwell said...
23 Dec 09 at 5:43 pm
Talking about Philip K Dick – is the ‘Bladerunner’ (itself a suggestion of William S Burroughs) it’s/his/her/one’s self also a ‘replicant’?
To some extent we all are
If we are in LA I’m claiming Native American Rights, Chief!
Matt Wardman said...
23 Dec 09 at 7:14 pm
I hare people who are only 32.
Matt Wardman said...
23 Dec 09 at 7:14 pm
hare / hate.
Bah. Senility.
Caron said...
24 Dec 09 at 10:16 am
Well I have been thinking about this one and am quite grateful for the tag – but I doubt I’ll do it until the weekend.
This is one which will need massive editing, because I’m not quite sure how much of my mucked up teenage self I want to share with the blogosphere.
Merry Christmas!
Ed P said...
27 Dec 09 at 8:51 pm
Yeah, Kurt “killed himself”. I believe he had a little loving help with that.
Larry Linux on Crack said...
29 Dec 09 at 11:35 am
I released some Burroughs stuff – I am sure I did.
If I didn’t I was Chink rocked in Portland when I should have been releasing it. After vinyl, people stopped seriously doing drugs, young people were left with nothing to look down at.
Ya think, Julie, that thing, with Tazia Doll’s crack whore of a Mom?
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/images/B000M8NM5K/ref=dp_image_0?ie=UTF8&n=229816&s=music
When Yvette was in Oregon, doing her sick films, the price of smack hit an all time high. It is no wonder punk kids in Leeds, Sheffield, and similar smoke stacks were taught to fear gender bending.
LLoC
Oranjepan said...
29 Dec 09 at 8:56 pm
I’m also surprised at your taste in music.
With my 16th birthday celebrations still somewhere in the distant future I worry that reading everyone else’s letters to themslves has already irreversibly changed me…
Newmania said...
2 Jan 10 at 8:24 pm
The Red Queen`s Race ? Bit of geezer-bird aren`t you Charlotte
angela said...
2 Jan 10 at 10:14 pm
Leon, when you think that the movie of Bladerunner was panned when it first came out, it shows how little attention we should pay to the critics. This film is now recognised for the masterpiece that it is, the atmospheric, claustrophobic, multiracial feel of the city was prescient of our cities now.
http://cyberboris.wordpress.com/2010/01/02/prodigiously-talented-and-born-for-the-world-stage-2/
We knew he was clever, but not that he was as stratospherically intelligent as this! Read to find out who!
Charlotte Gore said...
4 Jan 10 at 11:39 am
I had to google what the Red Queen’s Race was, Newmania, so no, my sci-fi cred isn’t that good.
Gregory Carlin said...
5 Jan 10 at 4:48 pm
Charlotte
I live in an urban landscape which would scare the shit out of a dalek.
Gregory
The Great Simpleton said...
30 Jan 10 at 10:24 pm
Why give up? Most readers have you on RSS feed so all you need to do is post when the urge or rage takes you. None of us expect daily output, I for one would prefer a good quality post once week or more than none at all.