Where No One Should Go... Ever

I've been filling all of my free time recently with watching Star Trek. I've burned through all of the watchable Enterprise and now, I'm working on The Next Generation. For most normal people 178 hours of Star Trek would probably take them a few months to get through, but I have the viewing habits of a smack junkie, so I've watched a chunk of the first and second seasons already, though I've only been at it for about five days.

It actually all started Monday when I got up and, against my better judgement (who am I kidding... I have no better judgement) turned on the TV. For some reason, the magic box was tuned to the SyFy channel. And by some coincidence of fate, they happened to be playing all TNG, all day.

I practically squealed with joy. My only obligation for the day was to write a short article about affordable housing for The Lookout, so as you can imagine, Picard and his merry explorers skyrocketed to first priority in my brain.

The thing is, I was never into Star Trek growing up. My step-dad liked it but I busied my childbrain with the History channel (before it became the "All World War II, All The Time!" channel). Star Trek just didn't do it for me. I think I was too self-conscious about being considered a stereotypical nerd. It was bad enough that my friends and I did well in school, didn't party, couldn't talk to girls, etc. I didn't feel the need to add "Trekkie" to the list of things that were going to prevent me from getting laid until I was in my mid-30s.

Now that I've given up on life, though, I am free to be as much of a loser as I want to be (as evidenced by my life trajectory since coming back from Bulgaria). As a result, I've broken the nerd barrier. The deluge follows.

It certainly isn't good for my brain, though. In the past week, I have watched 48 hours of Star Trek which has caused me to enter into some sort of time warp. It feels like I've lived a year, on an adventure into the recesses of my mind.

On the one hand, I really enjoy the show. The plots are well-structured and engaging. The characters are well-acted and multi-dimensional. I find myself wishing I were on the bridge of the USS Enterprise taking order from Picard. It's comforting.

On the other hand, I am finding it harder and harder to motivate myself to leave the house, or to write, or to communicate with other human beings. I am slowly becoming more and more immersed in the Star Trek universe.

The other day, I found myself imitating Data's speech patterns...

TNG is also the source of my new life philosophy: Resistance is futile.

A bus pass that has been augmented to better
represent my new reality.