Mile 699.4: Owings Mills

Trip Start Mar 05, 2006
Trip End Mar 11, 2006

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Flag of United States  , Maryland
Thursday, March 9, 2006

mile 699.4 3/8 9:22 pm 41 degrees F

I'm just outside Baltimore and I just finished watching Final Destination 3 and I liked it quite a bit. I was a fan of the first two, so I don't find it hard to believe. I think I like the movies because it's close to a slasher flick but it's more of a how-done-it than who-done-it. It's not that I like the gory endings, but I like that there are twists with the endings. Just when you think someone is going to die but then it happens a different way. The movie even mocked this for the fourth death when it highlights every single possible factor and the main girl looks at all of the possible ways and is trying to prevent them all from resulting in death. And of course, none of those factors were the precise factor in death. There was a line in the movie about how when someone is not in control, they only fear the worst and all those fears never come true. But going on the whole themes that are in my trip and my regret presentation, I couldn't ignore that line. I can't attest to this statement, because I haven't necessarily feared when things were out of my control. I feared when something negative happened and I couldn't control it, but that was more reactionary fear than presumptive fear. But then is this fear a defensive mechanism so that control-freaks don't experience regret? And can exacerbation of this mechanism lead to OCD? At least in the psychodynamic theory of etiology of OCD - I believe this is true. Speaking of reactionary fear and regret, I rolled Philly.

The whole purpose of the trip is to experience new things in a randomized manner. And of course, I get sent back. I can't take back the roll either. At that point, I wanted to end the journey and start phase II as soon as I got back to Philly. Phase II was going to be where I select my location and do as many spontaneous activities along the way as possible, even including faking identities. It would've been fun. But rolling Philly is something I need to cope with. That's one of the challenges of the trip, I have to cope with the dice roll when it's out of my control - I can't always try to put it back into my control. Things are going to be alright, and I need to trust the external locus of control. Giving up would be a failure on the trip (and its supporters) and it would be a failure on me and my willpower. Instead, I'm going to be more lax on the rules, since they really didn't work out ever. So that I won't straggle the MD-PA border, city options cannot go backwards in direction. I'm going to avoid allowing MD and PA be on the city options. And the activities dice roll never worked earlier. Everyone had trouble coming up with six options and even when they did, they were often boring and predictable. Instead, I'll ask people to come up with something to recommend that they would do if all restraints were removed. I'll try to do that. Also, if spontaneity calls along the way, I might stop and do that as well. I've felt that I've learned enough so far, but I still want to keep the randomization and experience new things as well.

P.S. Martha Rule enacted: I just heard "Your Song" by Elton John. I need to change course according to the rules (Change everything when you hear Elton John - I know I misinterpreted her rule when listing them, but she told me that I change everything upon hearing Elton). Of course, this is a conscious decision and I'm tailoring the rules to my needs, but it's fairly justified.

1: Annapolis, MD
2: Philadelphia, PA
3: Washington DC
4: Frostburg, MD
5: York, PA
6: College Park, MD
Result #2

Martha Rule:
1: Chappaqua, NY
2: Newark, NJ
3: Dover, DE
4: Annapolis, MD
5: Richmond, VA
6: Washington DC
Result #2
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