About two and a half years ago, Hypno Bro did a stage performance at my university. If you’ve never seen a hypnotist, they usually invite several people from the audience to come on-stage and participate in the show, and will sometimes encourage the audience to try and participate in the trance as well. I wasn’t picked to come up front, but I’d never been hypnotized and I really wanted to try it, so I just sat in the audience, following the hypnotist’s relaxation chants, and hoping for the best.

“Relax every muscle in your body, from your head to your toes…” (Disclaimer: I’m paraphrasing.)

“Concentrate only on the sound of my voice…”

“10… 9… 8…”

“As you wake up, you realize that it’s getting kind of warm in here, isn’t it?”

Huh? Wake up? B-b-but, I haven’t fallen asleep yet!

“It’s getting really hot now; you’ll need to fan yourself!”

Did I even– Naw, I definitely don’t feel anything…

“It’s like a sauna up in this place!”

Umm… no it’s not. I guess I’ll just keep trying to relax and hope something comes out of it.

The next thing I knew, someone was bringing me up to the stage. I remember uttering some initial protests. “But- But I’m not-” Oh well, I thought, he obviously knows more about hypnosis than I do. Maybe I really am in a trance and don’t even realize it.

There were no empty chairs, so Hypno Bro laid me down on the floor — center stage! At that point, I knew I had no choice but to pretend I didn’t know what was going on. Maybe he would notice soon and dismiss me (like he’d done earlier for some folks who weren’t really “into it”).

But he didn’t notice, and very soon I felt like a huge phony… but it sure was fun! I felt like I had total control over my actions during the entire show, and I remembered every bit of it afterward. There were even a couple of things I didn’t want to do (such as dancing ballet), so I spent that time doing stretches. You’ve got to stretch first to prevent injuries, don’tcha know? My friends were also surprised at my ability to use reason even while seemingly “under a trance” (I wasn’t too surprised at this, obviously). At one point in the show, we were told to speak to Kim Jong-il on our “phones” (shoes). While everyone else started chatting away, I walked right up to Hypno Bro and asked him if he spoke Korean. (No, he didn’t.) Then I pointed at one of my friends in the audience and asked the same question (and got the same answer).

While I did feel as if I was acting the entire time, I had an argument with myself over it later…

Self: There’s no way I was actually hypnotized. I had control over everything!
Other Self: But you don’t exactly have anything to compare it to, now do you?
Self: I still felt like I was acting.
Other Self: Oh, c’mon. You couldn’t act if your life depended on it!
Self: … Good point.

So, readers, what do you think? Genuine trance? Hidden talent? Or something in between?

Welcome to Don't Accept the Status Quo! If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to the RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!

Ugg: Yo, Ogg!
(silence)

Ugg: Ogg Dawg, where you at?

Korgette (relaxing behind a boulder with Ogg): Your roomie’s calling. You gonna answer?
Ogg: No way. He probably just wants to go hunting for some grub. I’m not hungry.

Ugg: OGGGG! Dude, let’s get wasted!

Ogg (muttering under his breath): Not again…

Ugg (finally locating Ogg and Korgette): Whoa, there you are! For a minute there I thought you were trying to hide from me or something! But of course, that would be lame, right!? Ooooh, you’re with your giiiiirlfriend! Should I leave you two alone? (winks)
Korgette: Yes, you should. Ogg is… uhh… sick. Yes, very sick. You should leave him alone and crawl back under your rock.
Ugg: But it’s boring under there! Hey Ogg, I know what’ll make you feel better — I met some guys in this frat cave, and they’ll distill booze for only, like, five rocks! I just won big in a poker game, so I’ll buy yours! You in?
Ogg: Uhh, no thanks Ugg. Like Korgette said, I’m very sick. *cough, cough* See? I coughed. That means I’m sick. According to Prof. Biobork, booze isn’t good for sick people. Remember?
Ugg: Oh. I must have slept through that lecture…
Korgette: Besides, Ugg, don’t you have a couple of disciplinary marks already? One more, and you might get kicked out of your cave.
Ugg: Relax, ya stupid goody-goody! My R.A.’s tight; he ain’t gonna write us up.
Korgette: Maybe not, but he will. (points)

Coach Kickinthepants: UUUUUGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG!

Ugg (turning around): Oh, sh-!
Coach (yelling at 80mph): Ugg! Where the hell have you been!? Living under a rock?
Ugg: Well, actually…
Coach: Save it! We’re in the Dino Bowl tomorrow, for cryin’ out loud! You’ve missed three practices in row, you’re this close to being put on disciplinary and academic probation, and worst of all, your breath smells! I want 500 laps around the pond, STAT!
Ugg Yes, sir… (Ugg and Coach leave the scene)

Ogg (turning to Korgette): … So, you know where this secret frat cave is?
Korgette: No, but I’m about to find out!
Ogg: Me too. Thank goodness we’re not stuck with Ugg and his fish breath again! What are those little mints called? Knick-knacks or something?

I think there’s a reason that college students, generally regarded as some of the most intelligent people in our society (by and large, not to say there aren’t plenty of dimwits out there), have so much trouble keeping their dorms and apartments clean. And it’s not because they have lower standards and are more tolerant of messiness, though I’d assume that to be true. College students need room to grow and thrive, and taking time out of their constantly-morphing schedules to do menial things like clean house requires a lot of overhead.

You might argue that having a clean and organized living space might let students work more quickly and efficiently, even if there’s an initial cost in dissolving the chaos. I would tend to agree, but I also offer the following counterpoint — How is it that messy people can still manage to get things done, despite not having any human-recognizable system of organization? (I’m proud to be one of those people, and I prefer the term “organized chaos.”) In my opinion, the brain eventually adjusts to this chaos such that it can locate items and do whatever else it needs to do with little to no delay compared to your average neat freak.

Now then, on the flip side — What exactly is wrong with organization? Nothing… that is, if you don’t mind spending 10% of your time to garner a 2% increase in productivity (yes, I completely made those numbers up). My point is this: The reason that college students so often prefer chaos is that having a strict system of organization limits their ability to change that system. It’s really quite intuitive; when was the last time you saw a bill run through Congress in less than 60 seconds? Most likely never. But if the United States was run by a dictator (Bush, while almost there, doesn’t quite make the cut; and no, I am obviously not advocating this system of government), laws could be created, changed, or repealed in no time flat.

It’s just something to think about. All through adolescence, we were told to keep our rooms clean, our beds made, and were forced to help with a large-scale scrub-down any time company was expected. How certain are we that the benefits of this overrode its drawbacks?

I have a problem. Two problems, actually; two problems that, when combined, form one particularly nasty problem.

1) I am a perfectionist, especially with my own work (even more so with writing).
2) I am impatient.

Such problems can be detrimental when one is trying to change the world… or provide content for a website. Sure enough, I often run into major difficulties when writing a new Don’tASQ “blurb.” I may spend several hours drafting, revising, and nitpicking any given article, only to get sick of doing so and release it “unpolished.” Or worse, I may write part of an article, save it as a draft, and refuse to finish it when I realize that the first draft just didn’t live up to my standards. (There are three such drafts hidden in the database at this very moment.) I have yet to actually publish an article that hasn’t been written in just one session. Combine this with the fact that I’ve got 30-40 ideas sitting around on post-its and paper scraps which I still haven’t fully developed, and you may wonder how I ever get anything done at all. I often wonder that myself.

Enter Creativity Boot Camp. The process is simple: Just write something — every day. I’d thought about such a task numerous times, but something about that post inspired me to actually do something about it. (I’d highly recommend giving it a read if you’re into any sort of creative work.) And I’d never considered making it into a full-blown project… until now.

*ahem* Introducing… Write, Write, Write! In short, I will write at least one Blurblog post every day for the next 30 days. I will make every attempt to write quality material, but I obviously won’t be able to put in the time I would normally prefer. These posts will all be included in the “Write, Write, Write!” category, and I cannot guarantee that they will be insightful, unique, or even sensible… but I will take full credit if they are. Otherwise, not much will have changed (other than the frequency of new posts, obviously). Hopefully, this next month will allow me to dust off some of my notebooks and whiteboards and bring some novel ideas into the limelight. And I hope Creativity Boot Camp is more enjoyable for you than it will be for me!