Seven Degrees Left of Center

Exploring the past

The past week I binged watched the HBO series, Game of Thrones. I remember watching it when it first aired. However, I have forgotten the storylines. So, it was like watching it for the first time. The GoT series is an example of knowing I have seen or done something but not remembering the event's details.

Try to imagine sitting on a piano bench and placing your hands on the keys. Then, without thought, you start playing a melody. You have no memory of the lessons or hours of practice committed to learning how to play. Yet, you can play anyway.

Either way, this is the experience I have with books, movies, and real-life events. Fiction in film and print is easier to align because I'm getting a do-over. However, the actual life events are much more challenging.

One of the problematic facts about memory is the ability to alter actual events, blurring them with fiction. As a result, the stories I tell are, well, embellished.

I have to stay away from binge-watching in the future. I had forgotten how disappointed I was with the last two seasons of GoT. What I did catch in the early seasons, I am going to explore in the books. Sadly, I haven't read them yet. I hope to find the antagonist viruses the protagonist's storylines. GoT might be a good study on how a character is the villain, hero, sidekick, mentor, or no one in the background, without losing the character's core within the storylines.

Speaking of core, I found personal notebooks written in the past years stored in a box. Stories I started years ago. They are time capsules I am afraid to open. Afraid, mixing fantasy and reality even more.

Among the books is two small pocket-size notebooks. My wife tells me I would write a sentence or two every so often. Not that I remember, but the handwriting is mine.

The first entry in the first notebook reads, "Always take a light when soul searching." How spooky is that? How did I know I would embark on this journey years ago? As I read the entries, what will I find?

The following entry is, "Temptation is often granted." *chills*

Nope, I cannot play piano, I do not have one in my home, so I am making an assumption I didn't play before. But maybe, I need to sit at one and try? Who knows?