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Moments of Pure Magic/Things That Broke Your Brain
Have you ever had an experience that completely shattered everything you thought you knew about reality -- even if only for a second or two?
Off the top of my head I can only think of once that it happened to me, and once that I made it happen for someone else. A few years back, I was at work, and a co-worker said "Hey, you wanna see me levitate?" Of course I want to see you levitate. So he walked away about 10 feet, facing away from me, and shakily levitated a few inches off the ground. For a split second, my brain was exploding -- everything I thought I knew was wrong. Then I came to my senses and realized it had to be a trick, no matter how convincing the illusion. Then he showed me how to do it. A few months later, I showed some of the other guys I work with, and unbeknownst to me, one of the cleaning guys saw it. He later asked one of my co-workers if I was a witch or something. I guess that maybe also counts as breaking someone's brain, but that's not the second story.
Okay, the other time, a friend of mine had come back from few months in Europe, and I was helping him edit his photos. There was one photo of some fancy building, and some random person was standing in the shot. He mentioned that he wished that person wasn't there, and I said "You want me to take him out?" If you've ever used the clone tool in PHotoshop, you know how this is done. However, it was a fairly complex background -- the guy was standing in front of something I'd describe as ramparts. I clicked to select my clone location, and when I went to paint the guy out, it just so happened that the clone location I had selected was absolutely perfect, so that when I made that first stroke, it really looked like I was literally just erasing the guy out of the picture, revealing what was behind him. My friend's jaw literally dropped, and he said "what" with a really small, shaky voice. Then he got it, and I laughed, and he acknowledged that his faith in his perception of reality had been shaken to its core for just a moment.
These moments are all too rare, but also incredibly awesome. Do you have any?
Off the top of my head I can only think of once that it happened to me, and once that I made it happen for someone else. A few years back, I was at work, and a co-worker said "Hey, you wanna see me levitate?" Of course I want to see you levitate. So he walked away about 10 feet, facing away from me, and shakily levitated a few inches off the ground. For a split second, my brain was exploding -- everything I thought I knew was wrong. Then I came to my senses and realized it had to be a trick, no matter how convincing the illusion. Then he showed me how to do it. A few months later, I showed some of the other guys I work with, and unbeknownst to me, one of the cleaning guys saw it. He later asked one of my co-workers if I was a witch or something. I guess that maybe also counts as breaking someone's brain, but that's not the second story.
Okay, the other time, a friend of mine had come back from few months in Europe, and I was helping him edit his photos. There was one photo of some fancy building, and some random person was standing in the shot. He mentioned that he wished that person wasn't there, and I said "You want me to take him out?" If you've ever used the clone tool in PHotoshop, you know how this is done. However, it was a fairly complex background -- the guy was standing in front of something I'd describe as ramparts. I clicked to select my clone location, and when I went to paint the guy out, it just so happened that the clone location I had selected was absolutely perfect, so that when I made that first stroke, it really looked like I was literally just erasing the guy out of the picture, revealing what was behind him. My friend's jaw literally dropped, and he said "what" with a really small, shaky voice. Then he got it, and I laughed, and he acknowledged that his faith in his perception of reality had been shaken to its core for just a moment.
These moments are all too rare, but also incredibly awesome. Do you have any?
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OK, done vomiting yet? Actually, the most memorable moment like that I have was between my brother and I. We were visiting my aunt and uncle, and the two of us were walking downstairs into their basement. John turned to me and said, "Hey Pete, you know what the smell of this basement reminds me of?" We both answered "Warhammer," and then proceeded to freak out a little bit. We had both been there a decade earlier, and bought the 40k and Fantasy boxed sets. Since then, apparently, both of us have had the same scent-linked memory.
Having a sibling is awesome.
Here's where the story gets silly: In the end, neither of us could be satisfied with leaving it a mystery so we hiked back into the forest on a sunny afternoon soon after. We followed what we guessed was our previous trail until we came out *surprise* in the sculpture garden of the monks. Various renditions of Saints stood around and under a raised platform of earth that bore up Saint Francis was a drainpipe, which caught the wind sounds in the manner pipes sometimes do. Had I not gone back, I would have believed in ghosts until this day, but curious people always have to look twice.
The experience was so surreal, so profound, I had several epiphanies that night.
It sounds silly when I say it aloud, but I literally sat the whole day trying to wrap my head around this concept.
edit:// I just though of another one internet related. Last week I was surfing for cars and I was on a manufacturers website building a dream car to see what it'd cost. I then went to cars.com to search used from the Google toolbar in Firefox and clicks straight through to advanced search. The website automatically filled the make and model fields with the make and model I was building on the other website. Freaky.
Well Andrew seems to think about similar things at least.
Also, I was/am (it's presently up for grabs) epileptic, and seizures and their auras qualify for brain breakers.
I remember clearly one day when my Mother picked me up from school right before lunch. I wasn't expecting to be picked up, but she told my teacher that I had a doctor's appointment so I gathered my things and we walked out to her station wagon. Once we got in she told me that there was no appointment and that we were playing "hookey" for the afternoon. She took me to McDonald's for lunch (the rarest of rare luxuries - we were poor and Mom was a health nut then) and we went to a park and played, fed ducks, read books, and even stopped for watermelon icees on the way home. The idea that there was a life and world that didn't involve school on a school day broke my entire sense of reality. Hookey was incredibly rare with us, but every time it felt like I stepped into another dimension.
EDIT: I love my Mommy.
I dream very vivid dreams. Dreaming is one of my favorite activities. Many times I learn to fly for the first time in my dreams, and I believe I can really do it. It's hard work, but I can float off the ground. The weird thing is that I always remember all the other times I've found out I can fly in my dreams, and I also remember, in my dreams, that those previous times I learned to fly were in dreams too. I'm always hoping against hope that this time I'm not dreaming, and I can actually fly. This has never happened; so far I've always woken up after learning to fly.
Except once! I was flying, and I woke up, and I was still flying! A thousand thoughts rushed through my mind, and I convinced myself in that split second that I was wide awake. The problem was that I'd woken up as I rolled over in bed, and rolled off the top bed in a bunk bed. The weightless sensation was only there for a second, but it was enough time, before I hit the floor and hurt myself, to believe that this time I was flying.
I have other stories, and epiphanies, but I'll save them for later.
A sad brain-breaker was after my dad had his stroke, and came to the realization he had to stay in the house most of the time because he couldn't. And I was a very lazy, sedatary computer-loving teenager. His words? "I'm a frEAK!"
Chilling. 3:
And the other is Heroin.