[Martinelv]

Get this. And don't laugh. I'm not shitting on pretense here.

Last night, about an hour after I'd turned my computer off, my printer suddenly churned into life. It printed one page, with one single character...the smiley emotion. You know, the thing. That was it. Of course I flicked immediately into rationalisation mode. Perhaps there was something in the buffer that the printer decided to spew out, as I had, a few days before, written a letter with several smileys, even though I'd deleted them. But I couldn't think of anything that would cause this, so, as a human, I've been indulging all sorts of irrational fantasies about it.

Was it a 'signal' from 'somewhere' or 'someone' or 'something' ? It sounds ridiculous to me as I write this, and I still don't really believe it was anything 'spooky'. And is it a sinister smile, like a clown with a butchers knife? I say this because my platelet count has dropped to 24, frighteningly close to the point that I need hospitalisation. Despite the crap they are pouring into my veins every other day.

I'm on the inside now, unable to stand back at take a look a the bigger picture, which has always been my saviour.

:shock:

 

[sebastian]

Then it's starting. It was only a matter of time. The age of men is over. The dark armies of the smiley emoticons will soon rule this land, forcing everyone to wear a ridiculous and disproportinate smile on their face at all times, or face the wrath of an emoticon apocolypse.



Now picture each of them drenched in blood and armed with an assault rifle.

This is only the beginning. Be warned. Be very warned. Crap...i mean, Be Afraid. Be very Afraid.

 

[sebastian]

actually, this thread reminds me of that one started by sleeping beauty back in her single days when she used to come here all the time Do you remember that one? Where a stranger she'd never met muttered Gavin's name...

These things do happen. And they're unexplainable as far as so-called "rational thought" is concerned. I used to be afraid of such oddities, and maybe i still am a little. But really, what an inspiring thing to have happen...anything that defies rational thought. It instills in one hope of the divine, an omnipresent cosmic maestro, slipping in subtleties here and there and dropping hints and clues and giving us glimpses into the great beyond.

Or...maybe you have a virus.

 

[bat]

if it had been a would that have been a good thing or a bad thing too? poor smiley faces can't win :x

 

[rainboteers]

I have had so many things like this happen to me. It is just amazing. It is a shoot from above and someone is sending you a very sweet message. Not spooky at all, I love it when things like that happen to me. Im jealous.

The last time something like that happened to me was my last birthday. My boyfriend and I were in bed and the bathroom shower turned on by itself. Didn't spook me out at all, just a happy birthday wish.

 

[Monkeydust]

You probably want to get an excorsist in to sort out your printer. Tell him you have a possessed Epson and see his reaction.

 

[terri*]

I didn't know I had such powers ! :twisted:

Smile Martin, it's a God thing. :wink:


terri

 

[person3]

this could happen to no one but you, martin...er Charlie Brown

 

[Martinelv]

It's OK, I've got over it now. There must have been something wrong with the computer or printer or something. Despite that, I have taken the precaution of mounting my printer in a Hindu-type shrine, and lined my windows with cloves of garlic.

One thing that's always puzzled me...these 'signs' that people get. Why aren't they more tangile ? Why are they always so criptic, like a smiley on a printout, or an image in a potato ? If 'they' have these tremendous powers, surely they could just appear in person, or perhaps write a letter, or something.

 

[rainboteers]

I understand what you are saying, but to be honest it would scare the holly hell outta me if someone appeared to me in person or if I heard them talking. I would be sure I was going crazy. I also think it is very safe to say that we by nature are just not open enough to let them in. Your smiley face story cheered me up all day, and I don't know why. You were having a rough time and I believe (your angel, god, zeus, a passed loved one, whatever) is cheering you and trying to let you know that you are going to be okay. They have your back and won't let you fall.

Another thing to remember (at least with my beliefs) is that you are here to learn. Think of it like school if someone gives you all the answers it would be to easy for you. How can you test yourself and see what you are made of if someone is telling you how it all works? I'm tired and can't sleep, hope some of this is making sense, and most of all I do not want to offend you in ANY way.

 

[person3]

Maybe it's not that these "signs" are crypitc, Martin; maybe its that you're aware something needs to change or improve and that causes you to notice more when these things happen...eh who knows. Now i'm starting to talk like you.

 

[Guest]

Due to the limits of empirical evidence and any kind of experimentation as to what happened, you are left to react as anyone would when presented with an unexplained phenomenon. Hypothesize. I have had some weird crap happen to me in my life, and I think most, perhaps all people have. At the very least, such events serve to remind me of the limits of my own vision and the complexity of the universe and that there are laws of physics and psychological and perhaps electromagnetic/radioactive/ectoplasmic or otherwise natural patterns that have not been explored or at least been made mainstream as accepted scientific information. It reminds me that while I should not give in to superstition and paranoia, I should keep an open mind to the uncertainty and general multifaceted nature of the universe.

 

[Guest]

Also, perhaps even printers have become so complex (in making metaphorical parallels between circuits and nerves and myself not being a computer engineer being uncertain of how much information a printer can process and store from a computer) that they have developed intelligence, and this printer was trying to make you feel better.

Seriously, it makes me want to study some more about how this technological stuff works. This is in keeping with my previous assertion about the amount of information the brain can process and store is insufficient to properly contemplate the amount of information in the universe, thus there is too much to learn despite our best efforts.

It is my hypothesis that I have the mind of a child. This is both good and bad. I also have a longing to study Lacan now.

 

[Martinelv]

but to be honest it would scare the holly hell outta me if someone appeared to me in person or if I heard them talking. I would be sure I was going crazy.

Ha, yes, good point.

It was just one of those bizarre coincidences that our brains latch on to. When it happened I instantly forgot all the other times I'd 'asked for help' or whatever, and nothing happened.

Normal service is resumed. :twisted:

 

[rainboteers]

I don't much believe in bizarre coincidences. I think we just try to excuse things with the word "coincidence" to make us feel better and more in control.

 

[Homeskooled]

Honestly, I think its either a technical error, or a good sign. With the amount of praying people are doing for you, and that you are probably doing yourself, God has probably uncrossed His arms and said, "Harumph! Fine! You people win! Eventhough this guy is always tempting me and only this far away from a lighning bolt, he seems to be bloody popular, so I'll send him an emoticon. But just one, mind you. Besides, it'll have him pulling his hair out for days...Bloody atheists...." :wink:

Peace
Homeskooled

 

[Martinelv]

:lol:

But what if it came from the devil, indicating that my room is prepared and the meat cleavers are at the ready. Ha, but with the cocktail of shite in my blood at the moment, then they are likely to dissolve on contact. Hm. And then maybe I can rule hell, which is undoubtably my birth-right, with a slightly (only slightly) softer approach. :wink:

 

[Guest]

Well, coincidences don't exist in (external) reality, they only exist in our minds as reactions to larger patterns or specific events that we happen to be near (after all, we're part of the pattern). I'm not entirely sure what this means in Jungian terms, after all according to him, external and internal are given false separation in the intellect. Not quite sure I buy that, but I concede the separation is only through perception (not stimulus) and the conscious and subconscious processes of the mind. So we can draw distinctions and we're free to jump to conclusions about what all this means, but I suppose that in actuality we're a tangle in how we react to these things. The scientific method is pure and pure animal astonishment is pure, but any other reactions are subject to prejudice and rationalization. Thus, I suppose true awareness comes slowly, and in small pockets, so to speak.