Don't Panic

"In the beginning the universe was created. This made a lot of people angry and has been widely considered a bad move."

For the last couple of weeks, my mission (and solution to said mission) has been simple. That would not do.

A couple of Sunday ago, May 25th, it was Towel Day. I decided I needed to procure 2005's "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" on Blu-Ray. No, not DVD... What am I? Amish?

My quest began by hitting the place I was grocery shopping... Target. Nope... Had a copy on DVD, but the aforementioned snobbery would not abide. I zoom across the road to a place I dread, Wal-Mart. On a Sunday. After the cultists have finished their ritualistic exposure to what awful people they are, but for 10%, all is coolio. No luck there, either. On to Best Buy. Nope. Half Priced Books? Nope. Movie Trading Company? Nope. Bupkiss. Zip. Nada. No bueno.

I called it a day... And yes. I know a a bevy, a virtual cornucopia, a veritable plethora of ways to order my Precious and have it delivered to my very door. I am also quite positive I have a gift card to one or more of those establishments and would end up paying next to nothing...

NOT THE POINT!!!

I wanted the quest. I wanted the search. I wanted to be Arthur and it my Holy Grail (Yes, with coconuts. Python-a-style!). I wanted to be Indiana, and it be Coronado's Cross (phooey to all those who thought I would go with the Ark!). I wanted to be Zaphod and it be my Magrathea... If I would have gone right out and found it, I would have enjoyed it, and that would have been it.

To my high falootin' literature peeps, if Gregory Peck found that damn white whale real quick like and killed the bastard, it would have been a short ass book. Eat it, Melville!

I will keep my peepers out for the elusive prize. In the meantime, I "obtained" a digital copy and watched it... The means of the obtainment shall not be discussed due to legality. Arrrrgh, Matey!

For me, the film, a bit more than the books, which will be read again soon, had a theme of questions and answers. To all nerds, this next section is for the non-nerds... Slightly paraphrased. Don't get yer nerd jizz all frothed up...
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A long time ago, an alien race built the largest, most powerful computer in the galaxy, named it "Deep Thought" and asked it the Ultimate Question. "What does it all mean... life, the universe, and everything?"

Deep Thought, sultrily voiced by Dame Helen Mirren, replied, "That will take a bit... Come back in 7 billion years."

When the crowd gathers at the designated time, from planets near and far, They ask "Do you...?"

The supercomputer interrupts, "Have an answer for you? Yes. but you are not going to like it... Okay... The answer to the ultimate answer of life, the universe, and everything is... 42."

This of course led to more questions...

At a later point, the bad guys are going to take the protagonist's, one Arthur Dent, brain in order to find the NEW "Ultimate Question". 

"Fine, Fine, take it. Because my head is filled with questions and I can assure you no answer to any one of them has ever brought me one iota of happiness. Except for one. The one. The only question I've ever wanted an answer to - Is she the one? The answer bloody well isn't forty-two, it's yes. Undoubtedly, unequivocally, unabashedly yes. And for one week, one week in my sad little blip of an existence, it made me happy."
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I think back to my relationships, and the times I asked that ultimate question. It was very akin to when I was a student. I was wrong. So very fucking wrong. A lot. However, that feeling of having that question answered... Satiation...

A friend of my third ex-wife, X3, asked me when I began exclusively being with X3, "Do you plan on hurting her or jerking her around? She has had enough of a rough time."

I told what I sincerely believed, at that time... "You know how we are all searching for the one we want to spend our lives with? My search is over. How's yours going?"

Yeah, I know. That was a good answer.

While I am okay with being "alone", there are times where loneliness sucks major donkey balls. I steel myself against attachment and shroud my heart's fragility with cynicism. I truly, equally hope for and more than fear the day when I have to ask that question again.

Because I already know the answer.

So long and thanks for all the fish,

d

P.S. - And yes, when they engage the Infinite Improbability Drive at the end of the flick, and it pops into Douglas Adams' (who helped write the flick, but died in 2001) floating head, goes black, says "For Douglas"... it makes me tear up a tad.

This blog brought to you by Temple of The Dog, Rush, Dethklok, Pearl Jam, Stevie Fucking Wonder, Credence Clearwater Revival, Marilyn Manson, KISS, Stone Temple Pilots, Robert Plant & Alison Krauss, Korn, Eric Clapton, ZZ Top and Tomahawk.