The past few days have been horribly dingy, dark, cold winter days with occasional precipitation thrown in. For someone like me with seasonal depression, those days are hard to handle. I need an alternate reality with sunshine and warmth. I guess that’s called going on a vacation holiday. But my wife is working and my youngest daughter is in school. I could go to St. Louis again on business. Ugh, no. What am I thinking? I can’t find any good concerts playing there until February.
So here I sat, shivering in the dark. The TV show Stranger Things offered the upside-down world as an alternate reality.
Okay, so that doesn’t look too good.
The Man in the High Castle TV show offered numerous alternate realities as part of the multiverse.
So many realities to choose from. There has to be a nice, sunny world for me. Unfortunately, also a whole lot of Nazis.
Gross. Thankfully, I stumbled upon an alternate reality right in my wife’s car. I discovered it while listening to the radio.
Good song playing on FM 93.1 WXRT, the world’s greatest radio station. But note down in the lower right where I have circled the 1. What happens if I pushed the 2? I steeled myself and cautiously pushed the 2 with my trembling finger. Then, this happened.
I was magically whisked away to the crazy HD2 alternate reality of WXRT where blues and soul music is played. I had no idea such a world exists. And the signal fades in and out, giving the station a true other-worldly feel, albeit an inferior listening experience.
I enjoyed discovering this strange alternate radio reality, but it did nothing for the dark and cold engulfing me. Fortunately, the sun made an appearance today. Although still cold out, the sun feels good. Although it is very bright and causing some glare on my laptop screen. Geez, it’s really hard to see what the hell I’m typing.
Ah, much better. Nice and dark again.
Jim Flanigan Looks at the World 