Let's Start Over...

Sometimes I wish I had amnesia. Wouldn’t it be great to be able to start with a clean slate? I sometimes daydream about what would happen if I woke up one day in, say, Kansas, and didn’t know who I was or what I was doing. I even thought about turning this idea into a book, but the whole amnesiac-with-a-story has been done to death recently (not to mention its continuing popularity in various soaps).

It would be very cool to read my own story without already knowing the intricate details. What would I think about it if I wasn’t so completely biased?

And think of all the things you could do for the first time again. Like watch “The Shawshank Redemption”, which is quite possibly the best watch-for-the-first-time shows ever (it holds up to repeated viewings, but once you know the twists, it can never have the same impact).

Of course, amnesia would create its own problems, the first one being the fact that you probably got slammed hard on the head and now have brain damage. Of course, many of the people I know already seem brain damaged, so perhaps that wouldn’t matter so much.

And what would happen when your former wife / child / cat / other miscellaneous past loved one found you? And you had already re-married and had other children? And a new dog? Your old family would probably forgive you and something would be worked out. Your old cat wouldn’t, but that’s okay; dogs are expendable.

Speaking of soaps (yes I was – go back and check the end of the first paragraph :P), Sheila is apparently back on The Young and the Restless. A long time ago, during the only unemployed couple of months in my grown-up career, I was given the assignment of watching Y&R for my wife and keeping her up to date on it. Despite the shoddy writing, ridiculous plot twists, and often bland acting, it turned out to be fun to watch. The best character was the evil nurse Sheila. Even after I went back to work, I’d watch whenever I could just to see what she was up to. Eventually she left and the show grew too tiresome to watch.

But now she’s back, and I might just have to TIVO Y&R.