Consider, if you will, the movie, Groundhog Day. Stars Bill Murray. Heh heh, another funny part (the only other one, mind you) of the Rutles was Bill Murray as Bill Murray the K. Hah hah hah.
Anyway, in this movie, Bill Murray plays this dude, Phil O'Connor or something. He's a weather man and it's Groundhog Day, so he has to go and find out the forecast from the Groundhog. And he's in love with this chick and all kinds of the other stuff goes on.
But the main thing is, he wakes up the day after Groundhog Day and it's STILL Groundhog Day! Imagine you woke up one day, and it was yesterday! But you're the only one who realizes it. If you tell anyone that today is yesterday, they think you're insane! Of course, this doesn't matter, because tomorrow will be yesterday (well, two days ago) and no one will remember you saying crazy stuff. But you will. You remember everything you did the day before that was really the day before the day before. But you can make an ass out of yourself and it doesn't matter, because tomorrow no one will remember! You can kill yourself, which Phil does in various ways, but you'll still wake up tomorrow to I Got You Babe playing on the radio.
Think of all the things you can do! I've already mentioned killing yourself, which isn't exactly a fun thing to do (well, maybe for some people, but ah, I'll just leave that alone), but maybe you'll learn something about the afterlife. Or non afterlife. Or who knows?
You can go tell off someone who's been pissing you off and it won't make a difference. You can go quit your job, skip school, with no repercussions whatsoever!
Even if the day that you are stuck in is the worst day in your life, it doesn't matter! You can avoid whatever has been making it the worst day. Someone cuts you off on the road, you don't take that road. You go somewhere else. Problem solved!
Now, what would I do? That's something I like to think about every once in awhile.
I'm a rather, well, conservative, safe type person. I could do all sorts of crazy stuff. I could streak across the gallery at lunch. But, uh, no, I still don't think I'd do that, even if it was repeating Groundhog Day and no one would care the next day. But hey, maybe some people would like to do that, so hey, more power to them. Just don't do it in front of me. Unless you're like Keith Moon or someone… I think I'd be able to handle that. Well, actually, no, if Keith Moon was streaking across the gallery at lunch, well, firstly, I mean… okay, I'm not even going to go there. Right. Moving on…
Again, what would I do? Assuming it's a weekday, which there is a surprisingly high 71% chance that it would be, I'd probably have to still wake up at 7:30 and eat breakfast and do all that and pretend to leave for school so as to not draw any suspicion from my mom. Because if I just left, that would be kind of strange. I'd also have to tell her I was going over to Jada's house after school or something. Of course, I could always say I wasn't feeling well and she'd let me stay home. Of course, after she left for work I'd leave as well.
But where would I go? I'd have to bring lots of money and find a bus to get downtown and go on a go train or something and I'd make my way to Toronto. Of course, I have no clue how to get to Toronto, so I'd have to figure out some kind of schedule. And of course, after a few weeks of repeating this day over and over, I'd feel pretty good about sneaking out and I'd have a system worked out. I'd also know if there were any bad people hanging around and I'd know which exact locations to avoid at which exact time, because the same people would be at the same place every day.
So now I'm in Toronto? What next? Of course, going on a shopping spree and buying a bunch of old records and stuff would be stupid. Tomorrow when I wake up, they're not going to be there. I need to buy something that I can *use* today. Food's always good, I don't think you'll get fat either, even if you're eating all day. I can buy a cool outfit for my day out in the dirty city. As nice and expensive outfit as I want because I'm always so cheap when buying clothes. Might teach me to stop being so stingy when I see all these cool new clothes. Of course, my parents might not appreciate it afterwards when I want to go to Macy's. Heh heh.
I'm not sure exactly what I'll do in Toronto, but I'm sure I'll find something. I can go see a movie. And isn't there a Premier drums place out there? I'll definitely make sure I stop by there and see if they have any Pictures of Lily drums. And even buy them! Of course, I'll have to find my bank card and learn how to withdraw money. Heh heh. And then when I've got the Pictures of Lily kit, I can touch real naked Keith drums! Woo hoo! *flashbacks to I Wanna Hold Your Hand* Okay, so Keith didn't really play these drums, they're just a reproduction, but I can pretend. And of course I can smash them and rebuy the same (fixed) set the next day!
I'll be able to practice drums all day if I want. After a few months I'll probably be pretty good and then maybe my brother will jam with me! That'd be kinda weird, one day I just suddenly am playing like John Bonham. But totally awesome too! And of course I can smash my drum set every day and never have to pay for it!
I'd obviously not bother working on my website, because again, that will just be a waste of time because my work will all be gone the next day, which is the only fault in this whole Groundhog day business.
Toronto was my second choice of where to travel. If there were no limits on this whole thing, I'd be catching a plane to jolly old England. I asked my mom what would stop me from just going to England tomorrow and she just said a passport. Assuming I was already stuck in a Groundhog Day (which I very well may be, but of course you'll never know!), I wouldn't be able to get a passport because that'll take a few weeks or months or whatever. I can't apply for a passport one day and then a week later, while it's still the same day, it won't arrive.
But if I could go to England, well, I'd be doing the whole tourist thing and checking out Big Ben and all those places. And looking for famous old people. Heh heh heh. Technically I'd be able to sneak into their houses and even if I was arrested I wouldn't care. It would actually be better if I was arrested because then I'd know what it's like to be arrested. Experiences, you know? That's what it's all about. But don't worry old famous people in England, I'm not coming to find you. I can't. Sorry. I know you're disappointed.
I'd never have to worry about missing a show on TV, because it'd just be the same thing on the next day. But I mean, you can only watch the same shows so many times. Have to memorize the Jeopardy! answers and astound your family and friends though. Heh heh. ;)
What else? I could try drugs and alcohol. I could even drink all of the alcohol that's left from my parents wedding. No one would care! I mean, the rest of my day might be wasted because, well, I'm wasted, but I can do it again tomorrow with no hangover! What a lovely thing, drugs without consequences. Of course, once I get out of the Groundhog Day loop I might have become addicted to some of them. Oh well, that's the price you pay I guess.
Hmm. I probably sound quite twisted. I mean, streaking, sneaking out, getting drunk, going to jail for the fun of it, killing yourself. I could kill other people, too. I could steal my new outfit, why bother buying it?
Yep, some pretty twisted ideas there. So I'm sorry about that. That's just my imagination. I would never really do these things. Only if it was Groundhog Day. And not just any Groundhog Day, it has to be a repeating one.
Phil O'Connor put his looping days to good use, he helped the old ladies with their car, caught the kid falling out of the tree, helped the homeless man, etc, every day. I don't think about doing things like that. Of course, maybe Phil's usually a mean guy and decided to be nice when it doesn't matter. Me, a usually nice girl, decides to be mean when it doesn't matter. So that makes me the better person, right? And Phil's just a stupid character anyway.
I could sleep all day. Try to learn how to lucid dream. Of course, I could get stuck in a lucid dream and be in the lucid dream in the Groundhog Day for years! So once I'd finally woken up I'd have to try to get out of Groundhog Day! Phew!
Physical things won't stay with you, but knowledge will. Why leave it at becoming the next Keith Moon? I could get my guitar out and practice it day in and day out. I could read Wikipedia for days (which, well, is what I've been doing all weekend, unfortunately) and learn everything about everything. I could talk to my mom and have her tell me her life story. Of course, I don't think she'd really want to. She'd probably tell me it in two minutes and then just say that's all. Of course it isn't, but I could learn things about people. I could go talk to every little clique in school and learn about them. Learn some deep dark secrets that I could put to use once I'm out of the loop.
There I go again, using my Groundhog Day for evilness. I suppose I really am an evil person at heart. I'd love to play Lady Macbeth in a play. She seems cool. Of course, seeing as Macbeth is cursed and all, it might not be a good idea. But I could do it on Groundhog Day! If somewhere someone is putting on a play and on opening night the lead is sick, I could learn the lines in a few weeks, then come back and say "I'll do it!" and I can be a famous actress for the rest of the night. And the next day I can impress everyone with knowing the entire script to a play I've supposedly never heard before. Maybe they'll start suspecting I was in the play in a past life?
Let's see, I could drive a car. Yeah, I'd be able to study for my G1 or whatever I'm supposed to get. I should've been able to do it in January, but I'd not wanted to read the beginners book thing. But I could just hop in a car (well, I'd need the keys, I suppose, but I could steal someone's car too) and just figure it out. If I get in an accident, hit a few mailboxes, hit a few pedestrians… eh, who cares?
I could try new foods. Go to Mother Tucker's and try everything there. Of course, I could do this on a regular day as well, and probably should.
Hmm. Really, a lot of these things (aside from the killing myself, other people, etc) I could do any day. So why not start?
What's it that they said on Dead Like Me? All you have is your memories. Experiences. That's it.
Every day is really kind of the same thing over. I need to do new things. I need to LIVE.
Wow. This is quite a nice ending to this entry! I mean, you started out thinking I'm talking about this lame movie, then going on about what I could do, and then in the end I see the light. That's pretty impressive. Did I subconsciously plan this realization?
You know, maybe I should go practice drums. I could be the next Keith Moon one day, you know.
:)