On Having a REALLY Good Idea

There are lots of highs that even the staunchest of Mormons can indulge in. I’ve been told they’re called “freebies” by people who have gotten sober. From the high you get from running until you want to puke, to the high you get when you’re perched on top of a rollercoaster about to plunge, to the moment when you drop your phone and it’s plummeting to the ground, sure to smash and crack and break in a million pieces, until you suddenly grab it out of the air like the immaculate reception, these freebies are all wonderful. For me, though, the king of all freebies, the best of all harmless highs, is that moment when you realize you just had a REALLY good idea.

You’re sitting around, plumbing the depths of your imagination, staring off into space just hoping for inspiration to strike like a bolt of static electricity off the carpet of nothingness, praying you’ll figure out what to get your significant other for their significant birthday…when all of a sudden, the air grows still, all sounds around you dim, time seems to slow down…holy shit, HOLY shit, HOLY SHIT! You’ve got it! A REALLY GOOD IDEA! Finally, that impossible task is solved, that unbearable burden is lifted, that Gordian knot is cut! Until… ah shoot those concert tickets sold out the minute they were released…six months ago…but boy was that a great high.

There are just so many moments in today’s world, when I feel very stupid. It can happen when you try to read an article about the latest technology in electric cars that seems to be written with so much jargon that you’d need a masters in chemistry, physics, and ancient Latin just to get the gist. Then it happens again when you watch a video explaining why the latest GPU from Intel is so much better than the ones they came out with last year but it seems to be in a language only those who didn’t have to take statistics three times can understand. Then your friends ask you where you should all go for and it feels like you’d have to be some kind of walking Zagat to answer such an insanely complex question.

But then, you have a REALLY good idea…and for just a moment, you feel like an absolute genius. Suddenly you tower above all those people who don’t have to use their fingers to do subtraction anymore, you look down on all those folks who understand the difference between a deductible and a co-pay and a premium, and you sneer at all of those who can speak more than one language and do their own taxes and can build Ikea furniture without having a mental breakdown because you are become unto a god…because you had a really good idea.

It is truly one of the greatest feelings. A feeling that can only be described as, for a moment, being able to peek through the fabric of space and time at the true heart of reality…only for someone to say, “Nah I had noodles yesterday. Let’s eat something else.”

What was the last REALLY good idea you had?