An Early Stage Of Dementia

Been watching the first season of "Heroes" with my son, and without doubt our mutually favorite character is Peter Petrelli, who can adopt the powers of any Hero he comes in contact with. Still, I have tremendous sentiment for Hiro Nakamura, who can bend, stop, and travel in time. At one point, his future and present (past?) selves meet, and naturally, the older Hiro has some stern words for his earlier person (which are necessary and vital). I'm not sure if one's future and past selves could occupy the same plane without damaging the space-time continuum, but it's an entertaining thought, though the past self would be at a decided disadvantage against his/her future version, at least in theory. Depends on the person.

I just ran across the sound of my earlier person, from 1989, to be exact, thanks to my friends at Hitchens Watch. I attended a debate about capitalism versus socialism between Dinesh D'Souza and Hitchens at Georgetown University. I sat with Hitch's wife, Carol Blue, through the entire event, then felt it necessary to be the first questioner from the audience. I haven't heard me utter these words since that time, and man, do I sound stuffy and ultra-serious. I was then with FAIR, and so made our standard argument against D'Souza, who didn't seem to get where I was coming from, but that's okay. I was young, raw, and prone to droning on in public.

What's that? Some things never change? You may be right.

Part of me wishes I could travel back to just before the debate, and provide my kid self with some seasoned council, a la Hiro. If nothing else, I would give that Perrin a glimpse of what's to come, and tell him that it was not too late to return to LA and write for TV. I would also advise him to lose the Chuck Taylor camo high tops, which I wore at this event.

The whole debate's worth listening to, but if you're impatient, jump to the 53:20 mark and listen to the Red State Boy tell it to The Man.