Heroes in our brains

In public situations in which I am bored, I tend to let my fantasy run wild. I think about stuff that I am doing at that moment, fantasize about the people around me and their lives, or about what I'll be eating tonight. The person next to you could be famous in a few years, what did that grampy do in his life, should I cook or just get some fast food? Questions that fly through my mind with a dazzling speed.

Now, sometimes my fantasy gets a bit too wild and I just need an ego boost. In this case, I'll start making up hypothetical situations. You know what I mean, I'm sure of it. In fact, I'm pretty sure that you have had these fantasies yourself. The ones where you imagine the person next to you to be a strong and evil mastermind, trying to rob the bank in which you are waiting. Or in the case that you're in a doctor's office, the person you choose as the bad guy in your fantasy is a drug addict and will try to threaten the nurses to give them some. It doesn't really matter where you are, but you'll start developing fantasies in which somebody will be the bad guy, and people need saving.

There are several possibilities to the role you give yourself:
1. You are the hero that saves everybody;
2. You get saved by a handsome hero (or heroine... Though I doubt guys would really fantasize about them needing to get saved).

If you imagine yourself as the hero of the day, you start to think about how you'd react if the bad guy would try to pull out a gun or knife or do whatever bad guys do in their situations. You start plotting out how you'd grab the plant and throw it at them, or how you'd stick out your leg to trip them and foil their evil plans. Maybe you even think of something more elaborate, in which you end up fighting the said bad guy, need help from another person, or perhaps even crafting a crafty construction with the sole purpose of taking the bad guy down. Whatever the case, you are the hero in your fantasies.

In the case that you perhaps see a handsome guy around, you might start to imagine how he would save you, the damsel in distress. How he'd knock out the bad guy and take you in his strong, muscular, toned, manly arms... Or perhaps the handsome guy already IS your boyfriend, who in your fantasy would throw himself in front of you to take a bullet for you. Nothing like being saved by a handsome guy, with whom you build up a future.

"So what if I combine those two fantasies... If that guy over there would pull out a gun, I'll call the police, then throw my shoe at him. He's be distracted and confused and then I can tackle him. But what if he just shoots at me? I'll just dive behind the desk there first, then throw my shoe. Then I'd run over and kick him! But what if he catches my leg and overpowers me! Maybe that cute guard will try and save me. "Let her go, take me instead. I'm more of use to you than her." But then I'd have screwed it up by throwing the shoe at him already, damn it. No, the guard would then save me no matter what! Yeah..."

Sadly, or perhaps it's for the best, these fantasies will never come true. You're just going to have to wait another 15 boring minutes until it's your turn. The bad guy is actually just a normal non-evil person with no plots to take over the world. Or is he...?




Guess I'll just pop a pizza in the oven.

Billy Mays here with another new fantastic product!

Infomercials. We all have a certain weaknesses, one of them being infomercials. We know that they are fake, too good to be true and most likely just a scam. Even if Mr. T is in them, praising the FlavorWave. Now that's just awesome. Semi-forgotten B-stars from the 90's, paid to make an appearance in infomercials and endorse the products, trying to recapture their lost fame. Mr. T has been showing up lately, recapturing his fame from the A-Team with WoW commercials and the FlavorWave. Yeah.

Whenever an infomercial is on television, I tend to stop zapping and watch it for a while, even if I've seen it several times before. I have encountered products like the aforementioned FlavorWave, Billy Mays endorsed Mighty Putty, the Ab Circle Pro and Zumba! Why is it that I can't help watching it? They are fake! I know it is fake! Or... is it?

"That looks good... No it doesn't work. He is convincing though... Just three seconds to cut up cheese for the pasta? No way that THAT was three seconds. But even so, it just takes a bit longer, but still should work like that. Oooh, is that chocolate milk? What am I thinking? It's all fake. A whole extra set? OH MY GOD I WANT THAT MAGIC BULLET BLENDER. Oh never mind, it costs how much? No thanks. But I still want to watch this, it's interesting. I'm hungry..."

A few months after first watching the infomercial for a product, I see it in the stores and I can't help but wonder whether the product might actually work. And every time I have to supress the urge to buy it on the spot, just to try it. I was apparently that impressed by the infomercial, that I would get an AeroBed, even if I don't have guests over and don't have the room for it in my 10m2 room. Is this the effect of the infomercial?




I should have bought it when I saw it on tv, at least then I would have gotten one extra...