Reflection – Page 14 – The Renegade Coder

On New Years Eve, my wife and I were on the couch munching on snacks when we started talking about everything we had experienced over the last year. And let me tell ya, you could not pay me to redo 2018. Time Travel into the Past When I was a kid, the prospect of time travel—specifically into the past—was always a cool idea. Who wouldn't want to go back in time to redo a test, have another shot at a conversation, or maybe even stop something bad from happening? Of course, time travel hasn't really lost its attractiveness. After all, it plays an important role in some of my favorite TV shows like Travelers, Future Man, and Rick and Morty (up for debate) as well as anime like Steins;Gate, Erased, and Mirai Nikki. Clearly, there are many ways time travel can still be interesting as an adult. From the perspective of shows like Travelers, Future Man, and Steins;Gate, time travel serves as an exciting way to merge human creativity with physics. These types of shows stretch the boundaries of what we know to explore ideas like parallel worlds and paradoxes through time travel. Meanwhile, in shows like Erased and Mirai Nikki, time travel is treated more like a super power which individuals can wield to control destiny. In this case, time travel is attractive due to its practical use cases like saving a life. New Game+ While popular culture does an excellent job of making time travel appealing, my interest in the idea has grown more nuanced thanks to a little concept known as New Game+. If you've ever played an old-school RPG like Final Fantasy or Dragon Quest, you know what I'm talking about. New Game+ is a feature that opens up when you complete a game for the first time. The idea is that you get to play the entire game again without sacrificing certain aspects of the previous play through like items and experience. In many cases, New Game+ offers new material, so you get more value out of the game. At the end of the day, however, you're still playing through the same game. Those 80 or so hours you just crushed away on a handheld are never coming back, and New Game+ doesn't exactly improve the situation. In other words, are you willing to sink all that time again for a slight change in narrative or experience? Is it worth it? These are questions that I struggle with when it comes to the prospect of time travel. The Practicality of Time Travel To be more clear, if I were ever offered the opportunity to travel back in time for whatever reason, I'd have to think long and hard about it. In fact, I'd probably be asking a lot of questions: How far back am I going?What impact will my choices have on the new future?Can others come back with me?Will I know everything I know now?Why should I go back? Of course, those questions really only scratch the surface of time travel. That said, I'm not so much interested in what changes will occur by going back. Instead, I'm more so worried about what will stay the same. For example, if I go back a day, surely I'd have to redo major parts of that day like cooking, cleaning, and conversation. Add another day and that's twice the amount of things that need to be redone. And, how would I keep track of what I have and haven't redone between the two timelines? My own memory would begin to betray me. If I went back, I'd have to make an entirely new life for myself. There's just no way anyone could persuade me to do the same work over again. Forget 2018 With all that said, I probably wouldn't mind going back within reason. For example a day or two would be fine but more than a week is asking a lot. Naturally, going back a whole year is completely out of the question, so I can honestly say you could not pay me to redo 2018. For context, here are some of the things I've done in the past year: Quit my jobPlanned a weddingGot marriedChanged my nameHosted a wedding partySigned for a new apartmentFought with previous apartment managementMoved statesStarted grad schoolTaught my first classPassed my first semesterTraveled to 5 different statesPublished 152 articles and 182,170 words And, I wasn't the only one running around like crazy. My wife also did quite a bit in 2018: Finished out first year of teachingApplied to several new jobsAccepted a job in OhioCompleted Ohio teaching examsCompleted a background checkMoved statesStarted working in a new role Together, we've been through a lot in the last year, and you could not pay us to do all that again. Plans for 2019 For the first time in a couple years, my wife and I have some stability, so we're hoping that means a smoother year ahead. That said, I don't plan on wanting to redo 2019 either. After all, that would mean I'd have some sort of regret, and I don't want any of that. Here's to another trip around the sun!