Tuesday, June 9, 2009

Mistakes

There is a quote that JD from Scrubs says that I just can't get out of my head: "Even if you've done a procedure five thousand times, there's no guarantee you won't screw up number five thousand, one."

So what is it that makes us mess up what is most likely second nature to us? We have done things so many times before, so what makes this time different? Do we never truly master anything? Or are we simply distracted that five thousand, first time?

They say that practice makes perfect, but what makes that four thousand nine hundred and ninety nineth time so different to the five thousand, first? What is it that distracts us?

So can we stop ourselves from repeating the mistakes we make? Does practice ever really stop us from making them? Or does life work on ratios? 5000:1 right to wrong? But generally the odds are substantially lower, at least that is what I've found...or is that just me?

Friday, June 5, 2009

Dreaming...

Below is a dream that I had last weekend. It's taken me all week to write it down as it didn't make a whole lot of sense, but here's my best shot:

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I made the decision that I had to go back to that place. I couldn't just leave my friends there, knowing what was really going on. They couldn't believe that I had just abandoned them, I had to let them know I had escaped...and what I had escaped from.

I guessed the best time to go and see them would be in the evening. I had to be very careful not to be seen, for a couple reasons. First of all, I did not need anyone to recognise me. Secondly, no one else knew about my powers, and that could lead to a lot of awkward questions.

As I snuck along the shadows I glanced up the multi-story building that used to entrap me, shuddering at the memories. I reached the base of the building and slowly levitated up towards. I still could not look down as I did this, I was still not a fan of heights, despite the fact that now I could fly. When I reached the seventh floor I quickly checked to make sure no one was in the room and entered. I had chosen to come during dinner time, when I could be guaranteed the rooms would be empty.

I checked the clock on the wall and I had about a half hour before my friends would be back from dinner. I snuck out of the room I had entered and into the hallway to get to my old room when I heard someone coming. I went in the first door I could find, the girls bathroom, and hid in one of the cubicles.

Just as I had closed the door and locked it I heard the sound of laughter and two girls enter, my friends in fact. But I could not reveal myself yet, there was something nagging at the back on my mind - why had they come in here right after me? I was sceptical about the coincidence, and I had a right to be.

As they were washing their hands the door opened again and I heard the heavy footsteps that haunted me. It was one of the men that ran the facility. He asked my friends about whether they had seen me, and he enquired about the stall that was locked ... the one that I was in. He was so suspicious that I thought he already knew I was here, and I heard the footsteps approach my stall. I levitated off the ground so he could not see any feet under the door. His actions to me were appropriate, but I heard protests of disgust and disapproval from my friends.

"Go on, get back to dinner," he said, ushering my friends out the door.

I couldn't risk leaving out the front so I opened a window and managed to squeeze out and fly around to the balcony of my friends' room.

I waited there for about 15 minutes before they arrived back in their room. When they saw me they were really surprised, and I had to insist strongly that they keep quiet.

"But what happened? Where did you go?"

They fired questions at me, but I could hear those familiar heavy footsteps in the corridor outside.

"I don't really have time to explain it all at the moment. Just come out to the balcony with me," I said, and they followed me. The balcony overlooked a large field, surrounded by a think 6-foot high stone wall which divided the land from the forest that stretched as far as the eye could see. This used to be such a peaceful place to be.

Just as we got out on the balcony the door to the room opened and the man who had confronted my friends in the bathroom appeared. His eyes widened when he saw me and a look of both disgust and attraction flashed across his face.

"You guys are going to have to trust me," I said to my friends as I put an arm around each of them and jumped over the balcony fence.

The screams in my ears were deafening as I kept all three of us from plummeting to our deaths.

But I had overestimated my powers. Instead of being able to fly away, my powers failed and I used all my remaining strength to lower us gently to the ground seven floors below before passing out.

When I woke up I was back in the dungeon where I had escaped from just weeks beforehand. My hands and feet were both bound with chains and I felt so weak.

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And that's where I woke up for real...