The Flipside

Information source (pre-internet)

The Flipside

I make no secret of the fact that I enjoy writing, make that love writing.  My very profile to this blog states it.  To my way of reasoning it would make sense that I also love reading on many different levels.  Once upon a time (70’s and 80’s) I used to subscribe to up to three different newspapers (all at once).  My biggest justification is that every newspaper from different parts of the country influences a news story with a slightly different perspective. 

Definitive favorites, there was the Wall Street Journal, Seattle Times, La Opinion (Spanish Language Los Angeles Paper), The San Jose Mercury.  Let’s not forget my favorite Magazines: Time, U.S News and World Reports, People, Consumer Reports, plus others (Playboy strictly for the articles).  The bottom line is that I simply couldn’t get enough knowledge about various current and world events, and social goings on (pre-internet). 

Amongst my book reading, here are some of my memorable readings: The Great Gatsby, MobyDick, 1984, Adventures of Huckleberry Fin, The Lord of the Rings, Don Quixote, and many more.  I especially appreciate good suspense authors like: Stephen King, Dean Koontz.

I’ve often thought what could be or might have been, if only some event or conversation in the past had not taken place.  However, being of very upbeat and positive attitude, I always see possible changes in history (outcomes) as ending with improvement.

As an example: if my mother had fixed my father a lunch that one fateful day in 1955, my father would not have had reason to walk into a small restaurant near his work, where he met a cute young waitress. My mother and father eventually divorced over my father’s involvement with the cute young waitress.  Or, perhaps if the waitress had missed her ride to work, or had the flu, my father would never had met the waitress.  In my mind the many scenarios of outcomes, all had different but happy endings.

I’ve never given a second thought at how life could have been different in a negative way.  Most recently I’ve read a novel that has started me thinking about possible negative outcomes. I am not convinced that this new exposure doesn’t bring out a negative (darker) side of me, that I didn’t realize dwelled in the recesses of my mind.  My next post, “A Kindle, Kind of Man,” will further explore this thought.  The best is yet to come…….