flying pigs

some things are pretty easy to envision--normal, logical events like going to the grocery store after work, or taking a trip to the beach.

and even really implausible, unlikely stuff can be put together in your head like there's nothing to it. you can close your eyes and watch crazy things happening: people walking on the ceiling, animals that talk, anthropomorphic manifestations of all shapes and sizes... all those things are fantastic and adventurous.

“The world stands on absurdities, and
without them perhaps nothing at all would happen.”
— Fyodor Dostoevsky

and then there are things you never really think will happen. things you don't want to imagine, or don't dare imagine. scary things. perfect things. potentialities which the slightest thought might crush or solidify, and there's no telling which. you probably have your own list of unimaginable tragedies or indescribable hopes. I won't try writing one of my own.

and then... there are things you never bother imagining because they are utterly mundane. things that happen to you every day. gradual, imperceptibly slow things. if you ever imagine these things, it's in the glossed-over yes-of-course-that-must-have-happened-at-some-point background.

“Some things are so impossible, so fantastic, that when they happen, you are not at all surprised. Their sheer impossibility has made you imagine them too many times in your head, and when you find yourself on that longed-for moonlit path, it seems unreal but still, somehow, familiar. You dreamed of it, of course; you know it like a memory.”
 — Andrew Sean Greer

have I told you about Slaughterhouse 90210? it's by a woman named Maris Kreizman (Maris is a sweet name, is it not?), and she pairs stills from television shows with quotes from literary works. it's pretty interesting. I can't say I recognize even half the shows--but the quotes are worth reading. and even without knowing which show the picture is from, I can still sometimes decipher the connection. get the irony. see the insight. no doubt there are nuances I miss, not knowing the whole context and everything, but even so, it's cool.

what does Slaughterhouse 90210 have to do with crazy, unimaginable ideas? not a whole lot. but it is from Ms. Kreizman's blog that I borrowed this trio of quotes on the subject. so there you have it.

“If we are to make reality endurable, we must all nourish a fantasy or two.”
— Marcel Proust