I used to watch Star Trek: TNG about a million years ago. OK, maybe more like 10. I think I was in high school. Anyway, I remember this episode where all of these other realities existed from different decisions made. I think one of them was what if Picard wasn't the captain. This whole other reality would exist, branched off from his decision to not go into the academy. Every once in a while I wonder what my other realities are. What if I had *really* answered the question, "What do you want?" Would the weekend have changed? Maybe he would have felt weird for a day and avoided me. Would things be different now? Eh, probably not.

To be honest, I'm glad I didn't say anything. First off, I don't like to mess with the status quo. Secondly, I know what he would have said back. But then there's this part of me that's like, eff it--you only live once. And I think it's important for people to know when you care about them. But I always tend to tell them when I'm leaving. I took Bruce Cromer out to lunch a week before I moved to AZ to let him know how much he meant to me as a professor and a mentor. And, of course, there's my famous letter to JM, knowing I would probably never see him again.

Oh well. I missed my window. And it's not going to come around again. I'm not all doldrums about it, I'm just stating facts. But sometimes I wonder what that alternate universe is like.