Why is a raven like a writing desk?
Do you know how hard it is to choose between infinite sets of choices? Imagine trying to guess the password of a numerical padlock, there are gazillions of possible combinations. Try comparing a dog with a lampshade and contrasting a country with itself. Right now, those things that you’ve read here probably doesn’t make sense anymore. What does a raven, a desk, a dog, a lampshade and a country have to do with unlimited possibilities? They don’t exactly add up. At least that’s what you think.
Though human mind is limited, our imaginations are infinite. Some just lacks the motivation to challenge their minds to bend logics and facts to create a whole new world. Maybe in someone’s self-made world, a dog has similarities with a lampshade, heaven knows what those are, and maybe this country in our cosmos is different from itself in an alternate universe.
Think of Alice in Wonderland.
After reading an ingenious introduction, you should be thinking what this essay is about by now. Maybe it’s about fantasies or dreams. It may be about life within a sci-fi book and its differences with reality. I don’t know whether you’ve seen this coming or not, but I would simply impart about my room.
Why should I complicate my situation by sharing about places or things I’m not completely familiar with?
We won’t tackle about where my pet lizards and spiders are hiding but I’m going to share how my room became two places at the same time.
My room is a three by three meter box in our house. As a child, that room seemed huge. And it was pretty spacious since all it has is a bed and two cabinets. It served as a guest room in the past. It was mainly for relatives who wanted to get away from their family for a while or my cousins whose schools happen to be nearer to our house than theirs. When there’s no one staying in it, my mom would clean it every day. It’s not spotless clean, but it’s clean enough.
My room used to be my “fun room,” my brother and I used to play there. I’d get my dolls and h
e’d get his action
figures. After we’ve got a hold of our toys, we’d start creating our fantasy world. We seldom get along with the plot of our game. My brother wanted body parts flying all over the place from the beginning till the end of the story, while I follow an organized pattern. I only want the body parts of our toys to go flying all over the place during the climax of the game.
Scrolling the topic back to my room, I was and still am scared to sleep in it. During the night, I could see shadows of trees from my windows; they look like silhouettes of monsters ready to snatch their prey. You probably know how sounds tends to be louder at night, but have you experience hearing the ticking of the clock from the other room which is approximately three meters away from where you are? What’s worse is when I hear children laughing when I know that the neighbours, kids included, are asleep! I also get nightmares, the ones that won’t let you wake up, almost constantly. Can you sense even the tiniest hint of how scared I am to sleep alone in my room?
Moving on to the present times, I realised that I was a mosquito but now that I’m an elephant, my room isn’t so big after all. I found out that it’s just the right size. It is currently crowded with more furniture like a study table, more cabinets, another table (for decoration purposes this time) and a half length mirror. Then, rather than being cleaned everyday by my mom, my room is, now, cleaned by me once or twice a month. Drastic change, isn’t it?
Now, my room is still a three by three meter box in the house, except that, it’s no longer a guest room. It is now my storage room. It has all the things I used, the things I’m using and the things I might use. It has my memories, my secrets; it can even store my emotions. Whenever I cry or laugh but I want to keep the reasons to myself, I have nowhere else to go but my room. It still is my fun room minus my brother, but now, it also is my sanctuary. As stated at the previous paragraph, I’m still scared to sleep in my room; the only difference is I’m a little braver than I was.
My room may have been a place of monsters, giants, elves and exploding toys when I was a kid, but now, it’s just a serene place for a lone UFO (Unidentified Fat Object). Though, its purpose and the fact that I own it didn’t change.
To summarize this whole thing, my room is literally my storage room. It stored and still stores me and whatever I own physically and emotionally.
That is how this is supposed to end, but there’s something bothering me. There’s a flaw. I have no clues or whatsoever whether you’ve notice this specific flaw or you just focused on my grammatical errors. I’ll point it out either ways. I wasn’t able to explain how my room became two places at the same time, as I have previously stated. All I did is to share my past and present room (which I consider as two different place due to the difference of my point of view as a mosquito and as an elephant), but they’re not exactly “at the same time.”
This is where the endless possibilities will enter. Remember the first paragraph?
I believe in ghosts and aliens, and I’d even believe in fairies if you’d tell me they exist. I believe not only because of my childishness, but also because of the possibilities. Now, if I tell you that the past, the present and the future all happens at the same time in parallel universes in an endless cycle, would you believe? Whether you answer yes or no, that’s the beauty of the human mind. We’re all human but we differ in beliefs and perceptions. Our minds don’t exactly work the same way. Our perception may even differ with our own insight depending on the place, time and situation we’re in, like how I saw my room as a child and as a teenager.
The universes, the two places I was talking about, was never my room, it has always been my mind. If I recalled how my room was in the past while I’m standing in my present room, wouldn’t that let me be in two places at a time?
By staying in my room, I am not limited to only be in my room. There are lots of other places that I could go to through imagination.
This may have been a weird piece for you, but it isn’t.
Not in my universe.
Interesting post. It’s true. An object or place or anything can really be a million different things because of different views on it from a million different people. Sometimes I’m scared to be in my room at night, too. The dark shapes of the furniture or the dark corners can sometimes be mistaken for something else. I try not to look around at night because what if the shape I think is the bookcase is really something else? Everyone has a mind capable of a great imagination, and wouldn’t it be great if we all learned to use it properly? All the stories we could tell. My imagination is limited by the real world, but it shouldn’t be. I can imagine anything at all if I try.