I don’t know if you recall the series that aired on MNet a few years ago, The Pretender, but I remember watching it religiously each week. Briefly, the story dealt with a genius, Jarod, that escaped “The Centre” in search of his true identity. You can read the whole premise, etc. here.
Jarod was so gifted that he could walk into any job, any position, and pass himself off as the real deal. The perfect pretender.
And this is what I like to do while driving or doing some other mundane task. I imagine myself in countless other positions and situations, I concoct entire stories in my mind complete with conversations and even politics. Anything might set it off… I’d see a businessman crossing the street and place myself in his shoes, ascending the elevator to the top floor for a high powered board meeting. Or a news story heard on the radio could make me the reporter, desperately trying to make a name for myself.
My favourite is staring off into the night sky and seeing myself as an asteroid miner, barely keeping my hunk-a-junk spaceship from leaking but entirely the master of my own domain.
Call it daydreaming, but I like to believe that had my life taken any number of different turns, these could be alternate realities of me… Out there are infinite possible versions of me and my story and my pretend lets me (temporarily) bridge that dimensional gap.
