In my younger days as a Fortean philosopher, the only thing that seemed to be able to occupy my mind was reading or talking about aliens, UFOs, or ghosts. I was an ardent reader, but you would have been hard pressed to find a non-paranormal book in my hands at any given time. By the time that I was in high school, this trend didn't show any signs of stopping.
It had gotten to a point where my mother was afraid that I was obsessed with the paranormal, something she thought was quite detrimental to me. Her biggest concern was the kind of people that I had begun hanging around with. They weren't criminals or anything like that, however they did like to cut class and smoke pot. Also they were, or at least considered themselves to be, Satanists and pagans. My mother was concerned that my interest in the paranormal had led me to associate with these people. Sadly nothing could be farther from the truth. In fact the paranormal never came up while I was hanging out with this group of people (I guess even then I was Closet Anomalist).
Nothing could convince my Mom that my interest (obsession) with the paranormal would not somehow end up with me truly becoming one of 'those' kids. So reacting as only parents can react, my mother took all of my paranormal books away from me. Maybe I was obsessed because, and I guess I should feel embarrassed by this but strangely I don't, I actually cried when she took my books away from me. It was as though she was taking my identity or my foundation away. I suppose in high school, kids are trying to figure out who they are. Or at least they are beginning that process, because the same thing is said of college.
So there I was at the tender age of 14, crying because my world was literally shattering around me. No longer did I have the books that I could turn to in order to read about paranormal things, nor did I have those cool alien figures I showed off here. Luckily I still had the Internet, so I could at least stay up to date with some of the happenings in the paranormal world. But it felt so strange not having that aspect in my life. Because at that time in my life really all I had were my books on the subject. I walked around like a shadow of my former self.
Of course as time moved on I quit hanging around those kids, not so much because the 'influence' of the books were gone but because like most kids my taste in friends changed. And besides just because I didn't have the books didn't mean that I had quite thinking about the paranormal, quite the contrary actually. All during this time I was still running the PSA with my friends and brother; where each weekend we would go off looking for Bigfoot in the woods near our home, or looking for Chupacabra in the sewer systems below our subdivision.
Eventually my Mom would give me back my books, although she probably still thought that I was obsessed. Unfortunately I don't disagree with her too much. As a kid I definitely was obsessed. Not longer after I got the books back, I moved out and went to school for awhile. Eventually I dropped out and had to start life in the 'real world'. So there wasn't much time for Fortean stuff. In fact I was out of the 'field' for quite a few years as a matter of fact. I (un)fortunately missed out on the 'CARET' Drones fiasco and the equally amazing (simply because of its sheer audacity for story-telling) the 'Project Serpo' document releases.
It wouldn't be until about 2008 or so that I really picked back up on the paranormal. I've been at it ever since, but with a huge distinction from when I was a child. Unlike my younger days, now I spend time doing other things. Don't get me wrong, nothing fascinates me more than Fortean topics. But I take more time now to make sure that I have other hobbies as well. It's like my dad used to say 'everything is fine in moderation'. I think that's what happens to a lot of the personalities in this topic, they let the subject get to them too much.
Really it is OK to take a break every now and then and do something else. Hell as a perfect example, I was off Twitter and this blog for the majority of the day because I was busy playing The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D. That is just one of my other hobbies. I do think Fortean topics are important and likely could hold the answers for some of the questions that we have as a species, but you know sometimes its OK to just play a game. So if there is a moral of this story I suppose it would be this; don't spend all day everyday reading this or any other paranormal blog. Go outside for a walk, watch a movie with friends/family, or hell just go out for a beer every now and then.
Well that's all I have for you tonight, until next time this is Tony Morrill the Fortean Philosopher saying, “ Take a break from the Fortean!”
It had gotten to a point where my mother was afraid that I was obsessed with the paranormal, something she thought was quite detrimental to me. Her biggest concern was the kind of people that I had begun hanging around with. They weren't criminals or anything like that, however they did like to cut class and smoke pot. Also they were, or at least considered themselves to be, Satanists and pagans. My mother was concerned that my interest in the paranormal had led me to associate with these people. Sadly nothing could be farther from the truth. In fact the paranormal never came up while I was hanging out with this group of people (I guess even then I was Closet Anomalist).
Nothing could convince my Mom that my interest (obsession) with the paranormal would not somehow end up with me truly becoming one of 'those' kids. So reacting as only parents can react, my mother took all of my paranormal books away from me. Maybe I was obsessed because, and I guess I should feel embarrassed by this but strangely I don't, I actually cried when she took my books away from me. It was as though she was taking my identity or my foundation away. I suppose in high school, kids are trying to figure out who they are. Or at least they are beginning that process, because the same thing is said of college.
So there I was at the tender age of 14, crying because my world was literally shattering around me. No longer did I have the books that I could turn to in order to read about paranormal things, nor did I have those cool alien figures I showed off here. Luckily I still had the Internet, so I could at least stay up to date with some of the happenings in the paranormal world. But it felt so strange not having that aspect in my life. Because at that time in my life really all I had were my books on the subject. I walked around like a shadow of my former self.
Of course as time moved on I quit hanging around those kids, not so much because the 'influence' of the books were gone but because like most kids my taste in friends changed. And besides just because I didn't have the books didn't mean that I had quite thinking about the paranormal, quite the contrary actually. All during this time I was still running the PSA with my friends and brother; where each weekend we would go off looking for Bigfoot in the woods near our home, or looking for Chupacabra in the sewer systems below our subdivision.
Eventually my Mom would give me back my books, although she probably still thought that I was obsessed. Unfortunately I don't disagree with her too much. As a kid I definitely was obsessed. Not longer after I got the books back, I moved out and went to school for awhile. Eventually I dropped out and had to start life in the 'real world'. So there wasn't much time for Fortean stuff. In fact I was out of the 'field' for quite a few years as a matter of fact. I (un)fortunately missed out on the 'CARET' Drones fiasco and the equally amazing (simply because of its sheer audacity for story-telling) the 'Project Serpo' document releases.
It wouldn't be until about 2008 or so that I really picked back up on the paranormal. I've been at it ever since, but with a huge distinction from when I was a child. Unlike my younger days, now I spend time doing other things. Don't get me wrong, nothing fascinates me more than Fortean topics. But I take more time now to make sure that I have other hobbies as well. It's like my dad used to say 'everything is fine in moderation'. I think that's what happens to a lot of the personalities in this topic, they let the subject get to them too much.
Really it is OK to take a break every now and then and do something else. Hell as a perfect example, I was off Twitter and this blog for the majority of the day because I was busy playing The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D. That is just one of my other hobbies. I do think Fortean topics are important and likely could hold the answers for some of the questions that we have as a species, but you know sometimes its OK to just play a game. So if there is a moral of this story I suppose it would be this; don't spend all day everyday reading this or any other paranormal blog. Go outside for a walk, watch a movie with friends/family, or hell just go out for a beer every now and then.
Well that's all I have for you tonight, until next time this is Tony Morrill the Fortean Philosopher saying, “ Take a break from the Fortean!”
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