Complex Numbers

Future Perfect

If you don't have regrets, you're doing it wrong.

PROMPT November 29^th

Imagine for a moment that you are near the end of your life. What do you want to have done that would make you feel satisfied?

What do you mean, "imagine?"

Everyone has some regrets, I think. Not necessarily the mind-consuming ones like "Oh, I shouldn't have jumped off that cliff, plunging me into a lifetime of pain," but little things, like "I really should have asked her out," or "Damn, I should have had the lasagna instead."

Nothing wrong with having regrets; I just think it's counterproductive to dwell on them for too long.

Like, one thing I wish I'd done when I could was see the Roger Waters version of Pink Floyd in concert (or any Pink Floyd, really). Or Led Zeppelin. Both of those eras ended when I was in high school, though, so it's not like I had a whole lot of agency in the matter. But I don't live my life thinking every day about how awesome that would have been. Besides, I have seen other performers that I like, and I'd rather remember those than the might-have-beens.

But with the use of the future perfect in the prompt, I think the intent is: what do I want to do between now and my inevitable embarrassing demise that would make me feel satisfied before I kick it?

Well, other than having a romantic interlude with Halle Berry, which ain't gonna happen; or maybe finding the Fountain of Youth, which is marginally more likely... really, not much. Some traveling, if things would fucking settle down. I've done much of what I'd set out to do, and I'm fine with what few regrets I have. (Occasionally you'll see me making references to having lived my life toiling in the regrettium mines of Regrettistan, but that's for humorous effect and not to be taken seriously.)

So, no, I'm good. I'm pretty damn satisfied. Smug, even. Yes, I'm insufferable (you think that's bad, try having beers with me). It's not like there aren't things I still want to do, but that would be the case even if I lived until the heat death of the Universe.

And no, I have no reason to believe I'm actually near the end of my life. But I have no reason not to believe it, either.