1000 Hours of Thought

There were two titles to this unlikely work, the first went ‘is that a planetarium, or is your lamp on steroids?’ - a humorous nod to the ludicrousness of creating what is essentially an elaborate magic lantern that recreates .. Creation.    It was so serious you had to laugh, like John Lennon cracking up before 'Let it Be' cranked up on the last Beatles record.  The other title was ‘1000 hours of thought’, which sort of belied anything funny.  Anything you had to think THAT many hours for was at risk of sinking under its own weight much faster than the Titanic.  But that’s almost accurate, 1000 hours of thought for each hour DOING was how this went down.  

Dave Marsh, the old boomer rock critic had the answer on page 343 of 'The Heart of Rock and Soul, the 1001 Greatest Singles Ever Made', when he described for years hearing the first line of 'Surfin USA', the Beach Boy classic, as ‘if everybody had a notion’, instead of the true lyric, ‘if everybody had an ocean’ .  'If everybody had an ocean' merely sets the scene for surf music - I could well say, if everybody had a planetarium …  and describe the joys and benefits.  But if everybody had a NOTION was far different - that implies that surfing or planetariums (or whatever crazy pursuit you wish to insert here) was something far greater.  Something to ponder. Something that drives you, though you may not know exactly what it is.  Aren't we driven to do the best things in life?

It made surfing, or building planetariums, or (insert here your crazy dream) an act of will and philosophy.  Those weren’t just kids swimming around on surfboards - I wasn’t just some lunatic sitting in a barn projecting fake stars on the ceiling … we were men walking on water, pursuing some nobler purpose only we could see but one that we desperately wanted to share.  Achieving something far more weighty for our own souls.  Living a purpose and driving down a road with or without a clear view of the destination.  Me?  I just like stars, OK?  That became my motto but anything that required this much passion was surely far more.  It might seem like an ocean, but you had to have a pretty powerful NOTION to cross that ocean.   Surf music - home planetariums .. the will to beat on, boats against the current.  Something that drives you.  A way to live. This must surely be a part of the furniture of my life.  Not really a hobby at all.

So...  that lamp down on the far end table.  Has it gotten fatter????