Growing up, I managed to assemble a nice little box for myself, filled with all the things that I had experienced and liked. And as I settled into my nice little box, closing the lid to the rest of the world, I was content. I wasn't happy, but I was comfortable. I would think "if I only have these things for the rest of my life, then it will be a good life." And, in some ways, it was.
When you're sitting at a restaurant, there's no agonizing over what you're going to eat. Every time you've sat at this restaurant, you've ordered this dish, and it has consistently been good. You don't even need to look at a menu, as you can recite your order from memory and save yourself, your party, and the wait staff time. And if you keep your dish simple, then you can get it relatively anywhere. There's not a restaurant in the world that can't make you a hamburger.
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| Oh. Right. |
When you're flipping through the channels on the TV, there's no worrying about what to watch. You've seen that movie replayed on HBO a hundred times. No worries about following the plot or about whether it will be good or bad. And since you've seen it a hundred times, you don't feel a sense of loss if you have to leave during the middle.
When you're reading a book, it's like returning to a little safe zone in your mind. You've been here before, you know exactly how the story is going to play out, there's no fear of anything unexpected happening.
And that's how it is with everything. It's familiar, it's comforting, it's safe.
It's boring.
Eating the same food again and again is comforting. You know what you get each time, and you don't have to worry about spending money on something you don't like. But as delicious as that sirloin is, how do you know you don't like fish more? That potato is good, but is the corn better? And you don't even have to reach that far outside of your comfort zone. If a plain hamburger is good, would adding tomatoes, or lettuce enhance the flavor?
Watching the same TV shows or movies, or reading the same books repeatedly is also comforting. You know you'll enjoy the story arc and be happy with the ending. You don't have to invest countless hours in something that may have a disappointing payoff. And, hey, repeated viewings tends to reveal details you may have missed the first time around. The twists and turns in the story may have had subtle foreshadowing that you didn't pick up on the first few times. But at the same time, those twists and turns become less surprising. It might be shocking when you see the big twist in Saw (Dr. Gordon is the Dread Pirate Roberts) or the Sixth Sense (Haley Joel Osment's career is dead) for the first time. And watching it again might reveal more clues (he was also Robin Hood; M Night Shyamalan's career is also dead). But after that, there's not much point for a third viewing. There's nothing riveting, nothing to get you emotionally invested in the characters anymore. I recall the first time I read the Dragon Prince series by Melanie Rawn, this was the first series I had read where the author wasn't shy about killing characters. I actually feared for the characters as their stories played out.
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| Many a sleepless night was spent agonizing over the fate of these characters. |
Reading it a second time, you start to remember which characters not to get attached to, and you no longer worry about if the heroes will succeed. It's fun to read again, but only when I've had a few years for the finer points to have faded from my memory.
I realize that this may all sound like common sense, but to be brutally honest, it is something that I only recently discovered.
As I said before, I was very comfortable in my box, if not a bit bored. What inspired me to start exploring the world beyond the borders of my box was spite.
A few years ago, I used to hang out with a friend who we'll call Scott (because that's his name. Though I have other names that I have called him, we'll stick with Scott at the moment for simplicity.) He introduced me to a friend of his, named Aimée, who I would end up considering a good friend of my own. She confessed to me that when Scott was introducing her to the concept of me, he said that I was closed minded and wouldn't try new things. Aimée took this as a challenge to get me to try something new. At the same time, Scott and I hadn't seen eye-to-eye on a lot of things, so when I heard this, I decided that I would try anything and everything that was presented to me, with the sole exception being anything that he recommended.
So, it became something of a game. We started with food. I always prided myself as a meat and potatoes type person, so I had to venture forth and try other things that grew in the ground and things that used to swim in the sea. It was scary, but in the end, it was good! And from there, the directions I was willing to reach grew. Mixed drinks, movies, TV shows, books, roller coasters, cosplay, anything that was mentioned would go on my fabled list and slowly I started checking them off. Sure, I've liked some things more than others, but I can honestly say that I've enjoyed the experience.
Sometimes, it is difficult to keep trying new things, and instead of trying something on a corner of the menu I haven't browsed yet, I get something more familiar, but there's nothing wrong with going back to your comfort zone, just so long as you don't let it stop you from exploring.
Which brings us to the here and now. Since I've opened myself up to new experiences, I have still only relied on a small handful of people to dictate what I should try next. While I know these people and trust that they have a good idea of my preferences and interests, they are themselves limited to what they have experienced.
So, as an experiment, I wanted to open up my fabled list to see what my readers would recommend. I've taken the liberty of breaking it down into categories and sections so that it's a little easier to navigate.
My List - Anime
My List - Books
My List - Games
My List - Movies
My List - Music
My List - TV
My List - Other
All I ask is that anyone who wishes to contribute to the list add as much information as they can in the provided fields. This makes it easier for me to find the show, movie, book, etc. I'll add more categories and sections as their need becomes apparent. Please include your name or some other identifying nickname so that I can tell who made the recommendation. This way, if someone has similar interests to my own, or has recommended a lot of things that I enjoyed, I can apply more weight to their suggestions. I ask that no one edit the green columns, as I want to use those to track my progress and grade the experience. Also, please limit your editing to just adding content, as I'd hate for someone's recommendation to go ignored because someone else deleted it.
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