a day for my [inner] geek

today is an important date. it is the 50th anniversary of an event that changed my life. now, you may ask yourself, "what could have changed eric's life november 5, 1955?" to give you a hint, it's a red letter date in the history of science. well, if you don't know your fictional history, this is of course the day that dr. emmett l. brown invented time travel. he was standing on the edge of his toilet hanging a clock, the porcelain was wet, he slipped, hit his head on the sink, and when he came to, he had a vision, a picture in his head, a picture of the flux capacitor. and as you all know the flux capacitor is what makes time travel possible.

yes, i am this much of a geek.

back to the future has been my favorite movie ever since i first saw it in 1986. i identify with this movie because it deals with the subject of time travel. traveling through time fascinates me on two levels. first of all, it gives a person a chance to see before or after their own life time. i would love the opportunity to travel back to any year between 1955 and 1965. i've always had a strong fascination with these years, i can't explain why, i just do. the other level runs deeper. time travel gives you the chance to go back to moments in your life, with knowledge you've gained from the future, and change them for the better. however having this opportunity, brings up several questions. are we, in fact, suppose to live with regrets from past decisions? is this what gives us character and helps us grow? does everything truly happen for a reason? if we could always go back and fix mistakes in our past, would we ever learn? are there moments in our life that were just not meant to happen? i don't have the answers to these questions, but i think about them a lot.

however, now that you know what today is, if you get a chance, pick up the movie, place it in the dvd player, and enjoy a great movie. if you don't get to it tonight, don't worry, you've got until the 12th. that's of course the day that lightning strikes the clock tower, sending the necessary 1.21 gigawatts into the flux capacitor, sending marty back to the future.