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The Big Spin
Jan. 18th, 2007 09:11 pmOne of my favourite books is Replay by Ken Grimwood. Well, I confess I've only read it once, but I was entranced by the concept. Essentially, it's like Groundhog Day, except with years instead of a single day. Our middle-aged protagonist has something like a heart attack and finds himself back in his adolescence. He lives his life again to the same point, and then returns to a slightly later time. This keeps going, the cycles getting shorter, until he is able to continue his life from that point forward. (There's more to the plot than that, but read it yourself if you're so curious.)
I keep wondering what would happen if I went through the same process. Certainly there are things I'd do differently if I went back, with the benefit of advance knowledge and hindsight. Assuming, of course, that if I returned to a teenage body the wisdom of my mature years(ha!) wouldn't be swamped by hormonally-charged emotions.
On the one hand, too, I'd get all this free time to read, but I'd have to read stuff that's already been published. Also, think of it this way--if I went back twenty years today, I'd have to wait even longer to find out how the Harry Potter series finishes, let alone the Wheel of Time or A Song of Ice And Fire...or "Lost". No more Sims 2, a drastic drop in hard drive space and memory speed...
I could buy albums that I've never heard because they're now out of print...although I'd really want to be getting CDs for later when the MP3 file finally comes out. Except that they'd still be pretty expensive, let alone the players.
So of course I'd need money. In "Replay" he remembered some sports upset with long odds, and makes a killing in Vegas. I doubt I'd remember anything like that. I could always play the stock market, since I have some vague idea that, you know, spending money on Microsoft might be lucrative. But I don't know when it would pay off, or how much. And who knows when I might not change something?
I'd probably have a better chance with the lottery. I'd need to pore over lottery records, find some easy-to-remember winning combination and memorize it and the date. And hope that I could remember it at the appropriate time. I probably wouldn't bother to do that unless I'd already been through one replay, and would be prepared for the next one, having read the book.
Or I could become a songwriter. If I learned to play guitar or something, I could probably "write" all sorts of nifty songs from memory. I could send them to the original artists and see if they'd record them. (Note to self: memorize "My Heart Will Go On". No, nothing's worth listening to that over and over again...) What if someone had already written it and then received my copy? That'd be a bizarre case, almost "Secret Window"-like. Writing entire bestselling books from memory would be much more work. Even the Harry Potter series...especially because I don't know the ending. (I could make up my own ending! Would it be any good, though?)
Heck, even if I just started writing my own stuff, I'd be a much better writer than I would have originally been at the time, I imagine. I don't know if I've written my "million words of dreck" yet, but I must be getting close. I'd have to write it on my Apple ][, but it's just words.
I also have this image of coming back, finding myself still in high school, and not remembering what classes I have and where, and what we happened to have studied. But I could probably deal with that.
Would I tell anybody? Interesting thought. I had a few friends that I might be able to convince if I proved my prescience to them. "I predict that Iron Maiden's next album will be called...'Seventh Son of A Seventh Son.'" Or whatever.
Really, it'd be more fun to just have a time machine. Then I could take my computer with me, or just come back to play games. I could buy those obscure CDs and rip them here. Except that of course I don't look physically much like I did when I was in high school. (I was in much better shape then. If I kept up with my cycling, I could actually stay in shape...)
Anyway, it's probably not going to happen to me. But I believe in being prepared, in having at least thought about it. In case, you know, it does happen.
I keep wondering what would happen if I went through the same process. Certainly there are things I'd do differently if I went back, with the benefit of advance knowledge and hindsight. Assuming, of course, that if I returned to a teenage body the wisdom of my mature years(ha!) wouldn't be swamped by hormonally-charged emotions.
On the one hand, too, I'd get all this free time to read, but I'd have to read stuff that's already been published. Also, think of it this way--if I went back twenty years today, I'd have to wait even longer to find out how the Harry Potter series finishes, let alone the Wheel of Time or A Song of Ice And Fire...or "Lost". No more Sims 2, a drastic drop in hard drive space and memory speed...
I could buy albums that I've never heard because they're now out of print...although I'd really want to be getting CDs for later when the MP3 file finally comes out. Except that they'd still be pretty expensive, let alone the players.
So of course I'd need money. In "Replay" he remembered some sports upset with long odds, and makes a killing in Vegas. I doubt I'd remember anything like that. I could always play the stock market, since I have some vague idea that, you know, spending money on Microsoft might be lucrative. But I don't know when it would pay off, or how much. And who knows when I might not change something?
I'd probably have a better chance with the lottery. I'd need to pore over lottery records, find some easy-to-remember winning combination and memorize it and the date. And hope that I could remember it at the appropriate time. I probably wouldn't bother to do that unless I'd already been through one replay, and would be prepared for the next one, having read the book.
Or I could become a songwriter. If I learned to play guitar or something, I could probably "write" all sorts of nifty songs from memory. I could send them to the original artists and see if they'd record them. (Note to self: memorize "My Heart Will Go On". No, nothing's worth listening to that over and over again...) What if someone had already written it and then received my copy? That'd be a bizarre case, almost "Secret Window"-like. Writing entire bestselling books from memory would be much more work. Even the Harry Potter series...especially because I don't know the ending. (I could make up my own ending! Would it be any good, though?)
Heck, even if I just started writing my own stuff, I'd be a much better writer than I would have originally been at the time, I imagine. I don't know if I've written my "million words of dreck" yet, but I must be getting close. I'd have to write it on my Apple ][, but it's just words.
I also have this image of coming back, finding myself still in high school, and not remembering what classes I have and where, and what we happened to have studied. But I could probably deal with that.
Would I tell anybody? Interesting thought. I had a few friends that I might be able to convince if I proved my prescience to them. "I predict that Iron Maiden's next album will be called...'Seventh Son of A Seventh Son.'" Or whatever.
Really, it'd be more fun to just have a time machine. Then I could take my computer with me, or just come back to play games. I could buy those obscure CDs and rip them here. Except that of course I don't look physically much like I did when I was in high school. (I was in much better shape then. If I kept up with my cycling, I could actually stay in shape...)
Anyway, it's probably not going to happen to me. But I believe in being prepared, in having at least thought about it. In case, you know, it does happen.
