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Wake up. Try to remember. It's only a game.
We gods are but masks
Created on 2000-12-23 18:43:50 (#35995), last updated 2009-03-27
4,650 comments received, 2,189 comments posted
Basic Account [Gift]
1,686 Journal Entries, 23 Tags, 0 Memories, 1 Virtual Gift, 6 Userpics
Basic Info| Name: | Leslie Caribou |
|---|---|
| Birthdate: | 1983-03-21 |
| Location: | San Francisco, California, United States |
| Website: | Counting down to zero |
BioThe Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy has this to say about the art of flying.
There is an art, it says, or, rather, a knack to flying.
The knack lies in learning how to throw yourself at the ground and miss.
Pick a nice day, it suggests, and try it.
The first part is easy.
All it requires is simply the ability to throw yourself forward with all of your weight, and the willingness not to mind that it's going to hurt.
That is, it's going to hurt if you fail to miss the ground.
Most people fail to miss the ground, and if they are really trying properly, the likelihood is that they will fail to miss it fairly hard.
Clearly, it is the second part, the missing, which presents the difficulties.
One problem is that you have to miss the ground accidentally. It's no good deliberately intending to miss the ground because you won't. You have to have your attention suddenly distracted by something else when you're halfway there, so that you are no longer thinking about falling, or about the ground, or about how much it's going to hurt if you fail to miss it.
It is notoriously difficult to prize your attention away from these three things during the split second you have at your disposal. Hence most people's failure, and their eventualy disillusionment with this exhilarating and spectacular sport.
If, however, you are lucky enough to have your attention momentarily distracted at the crucial moment by, say, a gorgeous pair of legs (tentacles, pseudopodia, according to phyllum and/or personal inclination) or a bomb going off in your vicinity, or by suddenly spotting an extremely rare species of beetle crawling along a nearby twig, then in your astonishment you will miss the ground completely and remain bobbing just a few inches above it in what might seem to be a slightly foolish manner.
There are private flying clubs you can join which help you achieve the all-important moment of distraction. They hire people with surprising bodies or opinions to leap out from behind the bushes and exhibit and/or explain them at the critical moments. Few genuine hitchhikers will be able to afford to join these clubs, but some may be able to get temporary employment at them.
There is an art, it says, or, rather, a knack to flying.
The knack lies in learning how to throw yourself at the ground and miss.
Pick a nice day, it suggests, and try it.
The first part is easy.
All it requires is simply the ability to throw yourself forward with all of your weight, and the willingness not to mind that it's going to hurt.
That is, it's going to hurt if you fail to miss the ground.
Most people fail to miss the ground, and if they are really trying properly, the likelihood is that they will fail to miss it fairly hard.
Clearly, it is the second part, the missing, which presents the difficulties.
One problem is that you have to miss the ground accidentally. It's no good deliberately intending to miss the ground because you won't. You have to have your attention suddenly distracted by something else when you're halfway there, so that you are no longer thinking about falling, or about the ground, or about how much it's going to hurt if you fail to miss it.
It is notoriously difficult to prize your attention away from these three things during the split second you have at your disposal. Hence most people's failure, and their eventualy disillusionment with this exhilarating and spectacular sport.
If, however, you are lucky enough to have your attention momentarily distracted at the crucial moment by, say, a gorgeous pair of legs (tentacles, pseudopodia, according to phyllum and/or personal inclination) or a bomb going off in your vicinity, or by suddenly spotting an extremely rare species of beetle crawling along a nearby twig, then in your astonishment you will miss the ground completely and remain bobbing just a few inches above it in what might seem to be a slightly foolish manner.
There are private flying clubs you can join which help you achieve the all-important moment of distraction. They hire people with surprising bodies or opinions to leap out from behind the bushes and exhibit and/or explain them at the critical moments. Few genuine hitchhikers will be able to afford to join these clubs, but some may be able to get temporary employment at them.
ConnectInterests (102):
alan moore, alternate dimensions, andy warhol, ash, baroque, beatles, being a cat, bluetones, bob dylan, boy meets boy, britpop, buddy holly, burping, capes, caravaggio, catatonia, cindy sherman, clubbing baby seals, comics, conspiracy theories, dada, dali, david bowie, dead puppies, diy fashion, dork tower, duchamp, dungeons & dragons, eddie izzard, edward scissorhands, ee cummings, elvis costello, eyeliner, feminism, frida kahlo, glam, glitter, grant morrison, guerrilla girls, helen love, high-fives, iguanas, j.r.r. tolkien, johnny depp, johnny the homicidal maniac, jonathan richman, joy division, kerouac, king mob, knitting, komeda, laurie anderson, legolas, linda nochlin, liquid eyeliner, lord of the rings, lou reed, man ray, manic street preachers, mansun, michelangelo, modern lovers, monsters, moptops, neil gaiman, new order, nick drake, nirvana, performance art, placebo, plato, polaroids, pulp, radiohead, ragged robin, rembrandt, renaissance, riot grrl, robert hass, roleplaying, sandman, sending postcards to kip, she-hulk, sleater-kinney, spatulas, spider-man, stone roses, super furry animals, superheroes, technoccult, the beatles, the clash, the invisibles, the kinks, the london suede, the pixies, the ramones, the velvet underground, the who, vintage clothes, william burroughs, x-men
External Services:
 | caribou@livejournal.com | |
 | CodenameCaribou |  |
Schools:
Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry - Hogsmeade, Scotland - Highland, United Kingdom
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