Hypotheticality

hypotheticality – n. the inherent hypotheticalness of an idea, situation, etc. (e.g. The hypotheticality of the idea is what caused it to spiral out of control.)

Now that we’ve cleared up that definition (it’s official, and don’t you dare question me), let’s talk about what brought about this post, shall we? Come along into the random ramblings of Stacie encore une fois… Or, as the French would say, “once again.” ;)

In my 29 years of sociological research (read: observing people), what I have found is that lots of us humanoids spent a great deal of time considering the hypothetical, the great-wide world of WHAT IF. It’s a magical, mysterious, and sometimes frightening world, yet we dare to tread there time and time again. We do the same dance to different tunes all the time: What if I do this? What if she says that? What if we can’t…? What if he won’t…? What if^{^∞}

I suppose it’s a normal part of the reasoning process, and it’s something we’re trained to do from the time we’re little through things like games. When we played, say, Monopoly or checkers or chess, we were taught how to consider our opponent's next move, and then think ahead to our next move – to strategize. Being able to develop a clear strategy for life's moves is essential as an adult, so it’s a natural reaction for us to delve into the hypothetical and play out in our minds the next several strategics steps.

That being all normal and whatnot, on the other hand, you have people like… well, me.

The other day I fell into an abyss I can best describe as a SUUC (Sudden Unexplainable Urge to Clean). These do happen occasionally, and typically when they’re over, I have the sensation of opening my eyes and waking, as though from a dream, and everything is *~*SPARKLY*~*. This is about the time I start to wander about the house looking at cracks and crevices which I knew not to exist previously and wonder to myself, “Did I really just clean that? Oh my… It all smells... so... wonderful. *dizzy spell* Ok, maybe I should sit down…”

It’s a tad strange maybe, but this bout of madness works for me. It makes 3 hours of cleaning feel like 15 minutes, which suits me just fine because I would not like to feel every moment of that 3 hours.

All that said, back to the other day and the point of this post: So, while I was in the middle of one of these cleaning sprees, I had a moment of semi-lucidity where I started to think of some far-away friends. I imagined that they were in town visiting, and I’d just cooked dinner for us all and was cleaning up afterward. Well, that might be a silly, benign enough hypothetical daydream, and I wish I could say that it ended there, but alas… it continued. I then imagined that they came in to ask to help me clean up, and I insisted that I do it myself. “Please, it’s fine, really. I’ll be done in a bit,” I imagined myself responding to the offers of lending a helping hand. But they didn’t let up. Now, realize, this is MY hypothetical daydream… and their hypothetical wills were beginning to hypothetically impose themselves on mine. Not cool, hypothetical-world buddies. Not cool. So what did I do next? I did what any self-respecting daydreamer would do: I kicked them out of my kitchen.

That's right, you read correctly. In my very own imagination, I kicked my friends, who were hypothetical guests in my home, out of my kitchen. Now if that is not taking it to a whole ‘nother level, I do not know what is. Can you say, “neurotic”?

Of course, you shouldn't judge me. Some may say that I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one. You've done something similar to this at some point or another. You know you have. Come on... admit it. 

Haven't you? (o.0)

Oh dear...