I've met so many people who think like this. I usually pick it up after one or two in depth conversations. These people probably never perceive themselves in this way. It's a sad life in which the closest friend they can keep is their own reflection in the mirror. This however, doesn't seem to bother them in the least...
If, perchance, I too fall under this category please tell me so I can perform brain surgery on myself crossing fingers that I will lop off the right portion and become a worthy human being again.
In case you were wondering, this is just a general post aimed at finding out if I am (have become) what I hate. If you think you know who I am leave an honest comment (I can take it !!! *crushes an empty appletiser can onto his forehead*)
They say curiosity killed the cat. I disagree. In my younger years I lived my life following a path set out by Mr Curiosity himself. This is a post about a few of the situations I willingly put myself into as a pre-teen.
We are all guilty of the thought process “They told us not to…so we did” the first instance I recall fits into this category. I was around 7 years old and playing in the back yard of my dads’ store. There was a wild bee-hive back there then and I thought I could get some honey from it. I already knew that bees stung (thanks to a prank pulled by my older brother) but in my cocky state of mind thought I could kick the hive, leg it to safety, come back later and eat the delicious honey.
This is what actually happened.
I kicked the bee hive, ran as fast as my chubby legs could take me (…not faster than a bee…) towards the door getting stung several times on my face and ears on the way. I got to the door to find that it was closed, a few seconds delay to open the door cost me a few stings but I got inside slammed the door behind me and slumped onto the floor (heart rate ± 250 bpm) before the whole cry and run to dad procession. After all that I didn’t bother going back for the honey.
The next two situations I recollect are examples of how curiosity can have less than spectacular outcomes. Ever wondered what was inside a battery? How did that little cell make stuff move and light up? One quiet corner, an AA battery and bread knife was all it took for me to learn that the insides of batteries are indeed very boring. It was the same with deodorant. The can clearly stated:
“DANGER! DO NOT PUNCTURE, EVEN WHEN EMPTY!”
So there I was, knife in one hand, empty deo-can in the other. I brought the two together repeatedly in a less than safe stabbing action at arms length whilst wincing and peering through as narrow a gap as my quivering eyelids would allow me to look between. My ass cheeks clenched and my body rebounded as I dropped the can after finally piercing through the metal. All that building up… and nothing happened, NADA! I was relieved and annoyed at the same time to be honest.
The last story is as a direct result of the following equation:
Firecrackers + x = (Curiosity)2
Where ‘x’ is basically anything, anywhere, anytime…
This equation is applicable to all boys between 6 and 15 years old and is often paired with the following reaction:
Firecrackers + x => y
Where ‘y’ entails having an extra pair of undies nearby and the probability of ‘y’occurring is directly proportional to the length of the fuse…
Amongst the hundreds of crazy things I did with fireworks, this is the one that stood out most (I’ll have to post specifically on this topic at some point in time, so many stories…).
Do you remember tom thumbs?
These little crackers hardly even made a pop. They did have something going for them though. You see I figured out that there was always some residual gunpowder left in the case after a pop. You could light this and get a teeny weeny split second flash followed by a puff of smoke…. OR, you could save up all the dead tom-thumb cases till you have a tupperware full, empty all the powder onto the floor in a big heap with a line of narrow powder leading to the big heap to act as a fuse (like in Tom and Jerry…).
The plan was:
Light the trail fuse
Run inside the house
Look out the window
Observe spectacular display of pyrotechnics from safety
What happened:
Light the trail fuse
Realise that it’s WAY to short given the reaction speed
Close eyes
‘y’
Extinguish eyebrows
Change undies
In the end I can honestly say that curiosity often landed up entertaining the cat, hurting the cat, boring the cat to death (figuratively speaking) and sometimes giving the cat an eye popping adrenalin rush. After all I’m still alive and in retrospect, curiosity induced situations from yesteryear have contributed more towards my life than my death. I’d still kill the cat for kicks though (or at most scare the number 2 out of it).
I wonder how many adults actually become what they wanted to be when they were kids?
We all had a vision of ourselves as adults when we were kids. Some profession that was very appealing to us when we first realised that we would have to do some sort of work in the future.
Mine changed several times as I grew up. The process of deciding what I wanted to do with my life all started after visiting the Durban aquarium with my family. My sister and I were really thrilled by the dolphin show and shortly after being splashed by Flipper (I can't remember his real name) we both decided that we would become... wait for it... Dolphin trainers. Yipee! What fun!
This lasted about a year. In that time my sister and I would constantly bicker about who was the first to decide to become a dolphin trainer and try to convince the other not to do the job (so we could have the dolphins all to ourselves). Eventually I backed off, there were plenty of other cool jobs way better than training dolphins (sobs...). I now had to decide on a new future job. Fortunately my parents took us for an air show and in doing so inspired new hope in my young mind.
I would become... a pilot. Woohoo! Take that sis. Flying aeroplanes in stunts and seeing the world from the heavens would keep me occupied for a long time to come. I remember spending hours fantasizing about all the destinations I would visit. I would even deliberately take the the long route on my walk home from religion classes so I could fly my model aeroplane on 'secret spy missions'.
I also recall wanting to become a toy designer and even a cartoonist in my early teens. These were never really obsessions though. The next obsession was car mechanic. I have a really cool uncle who always visited us with his restored old muscle cars and racing tweaked autos. Alas I was now a teenager and my parents wouldn't even consider me studying towards becoming a grease monkey...
I have a theory. I'm sure the individuals who stuck it out and became what they originally set out to be when they were kids are now the happiest adults. When we are young we express ourselves without thinking about consequences. "That's what I'll do, It'll be fun". This childish impulse is probably a better indication of who we are and what we should do with our lives than a well thought out career path made by a brainwashed grade 10 pupil.
Okay the theory has its flaws, I doubt many kids dream about becoming an accountant and many will be disappointed after finding out that they can't work for Santa Clause. You have to admit though, there is something to this...
I guess I need to chat to someone who has pulled it off.
