"Bereft of passion & imagination! That is not who I am!"

Yes, I know I've been publicly tearing my hair out while here in the Caribbean, but that's mostly because I'm crushed no one told me that adventures sometimes have dull moments. I sure wished Indiana Jones helped me out with that one..

(On a really quick side-note, you've GOT to check out the first few paragraphs of this article: Harrison Ford to the Rescue ) (It would be worth getting lost in the woods, if you ask me...)

Anyways, I was talking to my dad on Skype tonight. I, of course, was telling him about my sunny Groundhog Day life here, and he helped me remember that at least 'I am living a little.' That reminded me of a Star Trek: The Next Generation episode that I re-watched recently.

• Background with my Star Trek experience: 100% delightful! Apart from it being a part of my childhood, I have always enjoyed the morality and philosophy, as well as the characters' interactions. And when the suicide bombers in Afghanistan, global financial crisis, and the gang-raping of women in Africa become too much for me, I enjoy watching the posterity of a high-functioning society from Earth in the 24th century. I recommend it, whole-heartedly. (Except for the first season; I can't believe how cheesy everything is!)

• Background of this Star Trek episode: Captain Picard experiences a near-death experience with Q, an omnipotent and rather asinine entity. Q sends Picard back in time when he was 21 to make a different choice that had, in effect, led up to his death. When Picard fulfills his Different Choice, he returns to the present. He is not the captain; he is a forgettable low-rank officer in astrophysics. Picard cannot take the limited life he's ended up living, so he seeks out Q...

(Click the title to see the scene:  "Tapestry" season 6, episode 15 )

Picard: You having a good laugh now, Q? Does it amuse you to think of me living out the rest of my life as a dreary man in a tedious job?

Q: I gave you something most mortals never experience: a second chance at life. And now all you can do is complain?

Picard: I can't live out my days as that person. That man is bereft of passion... and imagination! That is not who  I  am!

Q: Au contraire. He's the person you wanted to be: one who was less arrogant and undisciplined in his youth, one who was less like me... The Jean-Luc Picard you wanted to be, the one who did not fight the Nausicaan, had quite a different career from the one you remember. That Picard never had a brush with death, never came face to face with his own mortality, never realized how fragile life is or how important each moment must be. So his life never came into focus. He drifted through much of his career, with no plan or agenda, going from one assignment to the next, never seizing the opportunities that presented themselves. He never led the away team on Milika III to save the Ambassador; or take charge of the Stargazer's bridge when its captain was killed. And no one ever offered him a command. He learned to play it safe - and he never, ever, got noticed by anyone.

 
I don't want to live a bland, vanilla life. Instead of allowing the negative emotional blows be the most emphatic events in my life, I want the colorful and strange experiences and exotic achievements outshine them by light-years!

Thank heavens that I grew up in a home where we Carpe Dium-ed!