h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Whenever I read the end of The House at Pooh Corner, where it says the bit about a little boy and his bear will always be playing, I weep for the child I was and what he turned into because I'm not as innocent as I was, and that is sad.

"Halfway down the stairs" sung by Kermit the Frog's nephew, Robin, seems to have a similar effect on a lot of people ....

Yes that bit in Winnie-the-Pooh always gives me a lump in the throat too - I've found I'm much more prone to tears over films, TV programmes & books since having children. Perhaps it's the feeling of how precious they are, the responsibility of caring for them & potential helplessness in certain situations to prevent harm coming to them.

That reminds me of a very surreal nightmare I had recently.

As a child, I used to have repeated nightmares about flying hairdryers:

http://www.ripe-fruit.co.uk/cartoons/data/bogdryer.gif

but they tailed off at about age ten, and the limited number I had in my teenage years had little effect on me as I was more than capable of suppressing the hairdryers, basically because I was bigger and knew how to shatter plastic. (Except once when it was a polypropylene hairdryer and I had to throw it out a window, and then lock it.)

However, about two months ago I had a scary nightmare, again containing flying hairdryers. I have no children (I don't even have a girlfriend ... sigh) but in the dream I had a son, and although I knew the hairdryers didn't exist, and therefore there was nothing to fear, my son DIDN'T know they didn't exist and therefore the hairdryer noises I could hear in the distance were definitely coming for him.

I'm trying to express the idea that I wanted to protect this kid from his own thought constructs, which I knew to be fallacious, but was capable of sharing directly in a small degree.

Aren't dreams weird?

(incidentally, the reason for the dreams was almost certainly the noise the dryer made as it passed my ear -- loud noises frightened me as a child, although I now love The Who.)

What's that got to do with Winnie the Pooh?

Sorry, just spotted the link!

As in, having children can inspire this sort of thing?

As in having children can addle your brain & inspire haphazard postings? Children inspire all sorts of things but I'd better not start off on that track.........
No, as in I noticed the idea of protecting children in your dream relating to what I said rather than directly relating to Winnie the Pooh!

That's what I meant, yes.

I do have a Godson (currently 9), so possibly that's where it came from. I got invited to his last birthday party, actually (which was a huge compliment and which I was suitably flattered by) which was laser questing, and for the last game the other team was a bunch of young teenagers: one of them basically behaved quite threateningly to said Godson, provoking a bout of murderous righteous ire in me. Fortunately I didn't see who did it, so nobody got hurt, but I was in a mean mood ...

... scary. And me a pacifist, too!

Ah, sounds familiar.......
Funny, my son did laser quest for his 11th birthday & I was very chuffed that he wanted me to join in. He wasn't too pleased when I entered into it with such gusto that I scored more than him! Having seen the hefty participants in just before us, I was very relieved to only have to contend with some other little boys.
Now he's grown up - his 18th next weekend - & we've survived the teens OK. (So far so good with second son age 14). Hard to let them go, but great to see the adult emerging.

Yeah, I can imagine ... we've all moved out now and when Richard moved out Mum and Dad started wanting to pay me more visits, bringing random foodstuffs they weren't sure were sold in Cambridge, etc...

All this is some way off for me as I have to find someone loony enough to want to borrow my DNA first. It's proving tricky, and slightly depressing.

And speaking of that, it reminds me ...

... another things that always, unaccountably, makes me cry, is stories about artificial intelligences that nobody realises are artificialy intelligent, because we're frankly really bad at noticing other intelligent species -- and even other intelligent members of our own species (particularly those with the temerity to be a different colour).

Don't ask how that reminded me of this, it's rather embarrassing.

Cambridge as in Cambridgeshire? Just down the road! (Results permitting, son will be off to St John's in the Autumn.)

I don't think you'll want your DNA back will you?
Sorry, shouldn't be flippant. Don't fret too much, I know it's a sad old cliche, but life's too short to waste worrying.

I think the lady will not want to keep my DNA for long either, in which sense I mean borrow -- as in borrow a tissue, since have a tissue is too strong a term. You can't have your tissue and eat it, after all. Not and be hygienic.

Have just moved to St. Albans -- good luck for John's, they seem to be a fun crowd. Although at semi-permanent war with Magdalene.

Am OK basically, but there are large holes in the soles and so on. You know how it is. Long, boring story ....

Having a tissue could be tricky........but you can eat fresh tissue if it doesn't have wet strength......but not very appealling compared to more substantial paper like in old books. (Was a paper eater for a while as a child.)
Starting to meander now.
Must go & do boring things like hanging washing out.

nearest smiley I can find for sympathy.

Thanks