What LOST Has Done For Me

Yesterday was the end of something that meant a lot to me. On a very personal level, LOST sparked my creativity and imagination for the last six years. It’s fed my inner artist, and inspired the student in me. So many ideas, projects, parties, people I’ve met, and things I’ve learned have come about because of my love for this show and the way it makes me feel. I’ve laughed, despised (Michael!), and cried during the course of this show, falling in love with its characters and twists and turns. It’s something that only the uber loyal hard-core fans seem to all understand amongst each other.

Casual watchers just don’t understand how BIG of a show this is for us. It’s not the show… it’s the EXPERIENCE. After every episode, I rounded up my crew of hard-core LOST fans in an email thread and we would theorize, research, and joke about all the things we’ve all seen. (Janelle, remember when I didn’t wanna get caught reading Lostpedia while working at Embark, and I had you paste all the info about the latest episodes into a .txt file for me to read in Notepad++ so it’d look like I was coding? WINNER.) A COMMUNITY of forums and sites were formed out of pure fanship, as we all searched for answers, shared our thoughts about the island and its mysticism. Did you see that this book was mentioned? Did you know the book is about this and that? The show PUSHED us to a point we didn’t even know we were willing to go! I’ve bonded with new people, became even closer with some of my fellow LOST friends, and I even found love.

One of the first things I ever said to Brent was, “HEY! You watch LOST?!” I saw the Season 1 DVDs sitting on his work office’s desk. The ultimate test: “Are you catching up, or are you lending out your set?” “Heck yeah I’m all caught up!” The only two people that could keep up with my theories and ideas at that point were Batz and my brother Conrad. After a few weeks of watching LOST on tv while chatting with Brent, I knew he was someone that was inspired by LOST too, and he too could also harness that inspiration with a plethora of ideas of what was going on in the show.

Uncontrollable Crying Scene #1: If you weren't on the brink of tearing up during this scene, you have no soul. ... Just sayin. :)

Collective Consciousness and What Matters

But in the end, theories, questions, super complex and thought-out formulas of what was going on with the island’s mysteries, none of those things really mattered. And at the same time, it ALL mattered.

Jack and Desmond debated outside the heart of the island, Desmond stating that none of it mattered, that nothing they do matters because they’ll eventually be at a better place. Jack, on the other hand, was arguing that it ALL mattered.

As Christian Shepherd explained, the church and that “reality”, was a place that they all created so they could all be together again, where they could all remember everything they did together. This hit such a strong chord in me: a place, somewhere beyond space and time, where you and the ones that matter to you most can share a place brought together by… some sort of COLLECTIVE consciousness. A love SO powerful that this place is created for you, your loved ones, the only thing that’s ever really mattered, just to BE together. [Wasn't there a similar movie like that? Where someone magically made all these things come true (subconsciously) because he NEEDED those kinds of scenarios to happen (i.e. flash-sideways events) in order to stay connected and remember those he loved?]

With that in mind, Desmond and Jack were BOTH right. NONE of it mattered because in the end, they would all be together again in a better place. But all if it DID matter because the island is where they all came together and have grown to love each other with all their crazy experiences there.

Whatever Happened Happened

… and everything else is moot.

SO many people I know are asking MORE questions, thirsty due to the lack of answers, and not really grasping what the show was all about. LOST has always been about the characters. Every single episode has been centered around one character and their struggles, hardships, and how they eventually overcome that challenge. The BEAUTY of the show and the reason for its success is mostly because we can RELATE to these characters. All the characters had to deal with some sort of desperate emotion that we’ve all had to deal with at one point of our lives: loneliness, stubbornness, internal struggles of what is right and wrong, trying to figure out the “meaning of it all” is, loss and failure, separation, and love.

I suspect the people that have watched the show for the shallow mysteries, not really caring about the characters (or even just watching the show via the recaps and thus not fully experience the ART that is Jack Bender’s direction and Michael Giacchino’s musical perfection) are the folks that are left unsatisfied with this series finale.

So Let Go, Let Go… Cuz There’s Beauty In the Breakdown

So, let go, let go
Jump in, oh well, what you waiting for?
It’s all right, ’cause there’s beauty in the breakdown
So, let go, let go
Just get in, oh, it’s so amazing here
It’s all right, ’cause there’s beauty in the breakdown

This is one of the biggest messages that I realize now that’s incredibly prevalent in Season 6. I think it’s even a direct message to the shows viewers: are the answers really that important? Would you really be content if we blatantly answered it for you?

That reminds me of a very powerful lesson I learned in Sociology: we’re always searching for the next best thing. For some reason, we’re raised in a culture where we are piled on with options, and we constantly think that there’s something BETTER out there, better than what we already have. (e.g. gadget-fiends that are always the first to buy the brand new tech toy) Our professor would question us: we’re always trying to get the next best thing, but would you know it if you have it? Would you be SATISFIED with what you have? Or would you simply go out and keep looking for something that you think is better?

Have Trust in the Future

Uncontrollable Crying Scene #2: Everything will be okay in the end.

Part of embracing the present is appreciating what you already have, and not worrying about the past nor the future. I think that was LOST’s biggest message. Whatever happened happened, and there’s nothing you can do about it. And at the same time, stop worrying about HOW you’re gonna get to the end—you’ll get there, whether early or late, and the outcome will always be what it will be.

That was an amazing realization for me, and blew my spiritual-self outta this world. I interpreted LOST’s ending to mean that the end will always be the end, but the MEANS to that end can be whatever you choose. I can see that when Hurley says to Sayid, “It’s your choice [if you want to go], but if you stick with me, you’ll be happy you did.” I like that… and it’s something I really couldn’t put into words what I’ve felt too: I DO believe in fate, and I DO believe in freewill. I TRUST that things will always be good in the end. “Everything will be okay in the end. If it’s not okay right now, then it’s not the end.”

To Conclude…

One of my interpretations is that the whole show of LOST was a journey through Jack’s experience in learning to let go: of his pride, his father, his need to be a leader. Even in the end, he was so hesitant of remembering everything from the island. But when he let go, he was able to tap into that collective-consciousness place where he was finally able to reunite with the people that mattered most, even the ones he lost long ago.

In order for us to truly appreciate and embrace the present, we need to let go of the past and trust in the future. I found myself feeling extremely content and satisfied with LOST finale because it made me realized that just like in real life, we’ll never have EVERYTHING answered. And it DOESN’T matter to have all the answers.

What matters to me is that I lived the LOST experience. LOST created characters that I fell in love with. It brought together a community of creative, intellectual, and loyal fans that spent hours and YEARS working together to contribute to something awesome! The writers listened to the fans, and it gave back to us in what I think was the BEST way to end the show. LOST has redefined viral marketing, and has pushed the limits of television. It was an excuse for me to plan an all-out September 24 party. And it’s one of the many reasons why I love Brent! (Gushy moment)

Thank you, LOST team, for the six years of artistic excellence, and for inspiring our hearts!

September 22 LOST Party

On a Less Serious Note…

• Some thank yous: Thanks, Lostpedia, for being my weekly drug for the last few years! And thanks, Lost-Media, for being my go-to for any and all LOST screencaps! :D
• Awesome time pow-wowing the finale with Brent and Norvelle—so glad we all loved it and that we were able to talk about it and share our thoughts! A lot of the above ideas are your guys’ too, so thanks for helping us understand it all together!
• I think I finally fell in love with Jack in this final episode (hah)! The picture above where he sacrificed himself for the island to save everyone else, and how he’s sitting there smiling, knowing that he succeeded. He looks SO happy, proud, and satisfied that he was able to complete his task and “do what he was supposed to do.”
• Most excited moment of the night for me:
  

  I knew it!!!

• Uncontrollable Crying Scene #3:
  

  We can go dutch!

• One of my favorite lines of the night:
  

  "You were a real good Number Two." "You were a great Number One."

• I LOVE this image of Jack. He was so at PEACE, and accepted that he was just going to leave the island the same way he came to the island. And the “hello, ‘ol friend” smirk he has as he sees Vincent!! AHHH!! Vinnnceennnttt!! <3 This is about the point where Uncontrollable Crying Scene #4 hit me!
  

  Live together, dont need to die alone! Yay! :D

Bye-bye, LOST.

Thank you for the good times, and see you again soon! <3

——-

UPDATE (5/25/10):
I needed to include this for all my LOST peers!!

• How to Make a Dharma “Namaste New Recruits” Banner
• How to Make Oceanic Air Invitations (Boarding Passes and Ticket Jackets)
• LOST Party Recap!
• Resources
• More LOST Party Pics on Picasa

Pre-Party Prep: Dharma “Namaste New Recruits” Banner

Modeled off of this infamous Season 5 banner (SERIOUS SPOILER WARNING: don’t look if you’re not done with Season 5), it only seemed appropriate for me to make one for the party!

This was a 100% DIY poster I made. If you’d like to make one too, this is what I did:

• Buy a roll of poster paper from any art store. I used 24in x 25yd roll of Canson bond layout paper. It was a little thin for my preference, but definitely did the job! (~$14)
• Banner is 2 ft x 13 ft
• Center points of Dharma symbols are about 15 inches from the edges of the poster paper, and halfway down from the top of the paper (at 12in mark)
• Dharma circle centers have a 6½in – 6¾in diameter
  (I used the top of my rice-jar cover, which worked out PERFECTLY, apparently!!)
• From the rim of the circle diameter border, measure out the symbol’s thick-lines that make the surrounding Dharma border lines. Not really sure what to call the lines–image below should make the most sense:
  • Space between circle and innermost “thick-line”: 1 inch
  • Thickness of each “inner thick-line:” 0.75 inches
  • Space between each “inner thick-line:” 0.5 inches
  • Space between outmost Dharma symbol border and “inner thick-line:” 1.25 inches
  • Thickness of outmost Dharma symbol border: 1 inch
  

  Dharma circle center is at the very bottom. Measure 1 inch up to begin the "inner thick-line" borders that surround the Dharma circle center

• Repeat measurement for all other sides of the circle
  
  

  NOTICE the style of the inner thick-lines change throughout every side of the Dharma symbol!

• Trick to measuring the diagonal sets of lines: the center of the set should be at a 45 degree angle from the horizontal line that runs thru the center of the symbol. (Estella used MATH for this?! Let alone a PROTRACTOR?! GASP!!!)
• To duplicate the Dharma sign again: you can use some tracing paper + transfer/carbon paper instead of re-measuring another symbol. You can also use this to recreate a few other Dharma signs around the party ;D

Measuring the banner text:

• Center of the WHOLE poster is at 6.5ft
• Lettering has 3.5 inch margin from top and bottom edges of poster paper
• Font-weight (width of each letter’s stroke) is 1 inch thick
• Kerning (space between each letter) is about 2 inches. Exceptions: less kerning around round letters (o, c, e) and more for stick-ish letters (i, l)
• Leading/line-spacing (space between the row “Namaste” and the row “New Recruits”) is 3 inches
• Letter height: 7 inches
• Letter width of each letter is about 6 inches. Exceptions: M and W are bigger, measuring 7 inches.
  
  

  Breakdown of measurements of letters and spacing

• NOTE: You may notice that the kerning/letter-spacing is different for the top “NAMASTE” line. That was my bad. ^_^ I prefer using the 2inch kerning as I did for the bottom row of text. :)
• Then, hire a minion to paint it all in for you:
  
  

  <3! Thanks for all your help, Janelle! :D

The result?

Pre-Party Prep: Oceanic Air Invitations

The Boarding Passes

As mentioned in my previous post, Jon Griffith’s site was extremely awesome in posting a boarding pass mock-up for printing! I made a few tweaks to match the Oceanic dates/times, but it served to be a GREAT starting point! Here are some notes for the boarding passes:

• Griffith’s original boarding pass printed out (for me?) as a 11 x 4.6 inch boarding pass, which is way too big, compared to actual boarding passes. To print smaller, changed the size of the boarding pass images to 500 x 208 pixels (6.94 x 2.89 in). (Actually, the size I altered mine to is slightly too small, for those that care!)
• Print them out on 65lb. (or heavier) cardstock paper. You can copy/paste multiple boarding pass images onto one 8.5 x 11in canvas in Photoshop so you can print three at a time.
• Use a corner rounder to punch out the corners of the boarding passes! :D You can get a round corner punch at Michael’s or any other craft store.
  

  Round-cornered OA815 boarding passes!

Oceanic Airlines Ticket Jacket

Gotta go all the way, right? (Guys? … Guys?????)

I spent some time studying this image of Claire’s Oceanic ticket, staring at the ticket jacket in the background.

But then I stumbled upon Catchpenny’s LOST party photos, where one of their friends (a graphic designer) had created their own Oceanic ticket jackets! AH-HAH! This is TOTALLY doable! So I got to workin’!

Not much time left before the party, I threw together a few of the Oceanic logos, and trial-errored with a few print outs. Here’s what I came up with:

DOWNLOAD the Oceanic Air Ticket Jacket (PDF). Feel free to use! Please link back to this post--thx! :)

Folding the Oceanic Ticket Jacket
Here’s how the Oceanic ticket jacket looks. I’ll walkthru how to fold, cut, and paste the way I did it!

The Ticket Jacket is a trifold of a standard 8.5x11in paper. Flap A has the small Oceanic logo at the bottom center. Flap B has the large words of "Oceanic Airlines." And Flap C is the plain blue, inner envelope flap of the jacket.

• Position the paper in front of you so that the underside/white side of the paper is facing up, and so that the white underside of Flap A (with tiny Oceanic logo) is on your right side.
  
• From the left side of the paper (which is the white underside of Flap C), measure 3.25 inches towards the center of the paper. This is where you will fold Flap C over, towards the center. This will create the inner envelope of the jacket! :)
  
• Take the right side of the paper (Flap A) and fold it over, towards the center and over the previously-folded Flap C. Tah-dah! Half way there! :D
  
• Open up the envelope and cut between the top Flap C and B borders so you can stylize the inner jacket fold however you’d like~ I cut 3 inches from the top, and just did a diagonal cut. Then, I just rounded off that diagonal cut corner with scissors.
  
• Next, glue the bottoms of Flap C and B together. This will create the envelope for your ticket jacket! :)
  
• Tah-dah! Oceanic 815 boarding pass ticket holder! :D Happy crashing!
  

Puh-puh-puh-PARTY TIME!

Much to my surprise, everyone went ALL. OUT. for the party! It made me sooo happy and proud!

Most memorable moments:

• Norvelle coming over at 11PM the night before, cutting up labels until 3AM(!!!)
  
• Shultsy came as Dr. Jack! I’ve missed my sugar-parent-husband!! <3
  
• Craig’s MR. CLUCK’S CHICKEN was put together so well! Even matching bowl colors! (Plus Janelle’s waffles to go with the chicken! mmmm!)
  
• The ever-original Christine came as BAD ROBOT! What a GREAT choice, knowing that no one else would come dressed as… that? it? ze??!
  
• An AWESOME Custom LOST Orientation Video by Brent!
• Little Walt. (No. You cannot have any of our tampered, generic-looking Dharma soda at our cultish-looking party without your parent’s consent.)
  
• I guess the trivia crossword was kinda hard huh??
  
• Grant as Dr. Artz: “Do you KNOW what happens to nitro glycerin when it’s been sitting in the sun?! You have to be CAREFUL! *whips off scarf*” lololol
  
• Gilbert’s stupid costume-winning streak: “End of Season 3 Jack”
  
• Savina’s uber delicious BOAR stew!
  
• Glow-in-the-dark LOCKDOWN painting–oops… how many ppl did I scare with this? Don’t worry. Me and Norvelle saw something totally creepy before I finished the painting. Not talking about it…. (Forgot to take a pic of it on the back of our bathroom’s sliding door :( Did anyone get a snapshot of this in action?? :D)
  
• Sofa turned First Class seats! Complete with oxygen masks, little vodka bottles, airplane seatbelts, airplane snacks, pillows and blankets! I tried to get airplane seats… couldn’t get em… hahhah (Thanks, dad! hahahah)
  
• The GREAT company of friends, old and new!

Yay! THANKS for such an awesome LOST Party, everyone, and for celebrating with me!! Don’t forget to enroll at LOSTUniversity! Only THREE more months until the last season of LOST. We’re almost there!

Resources

Here are the sites I used and reference to bring all these ideas together! THANKS so much for posting your party pics, ideas, and creations to inspire the success of mine! :D

• Oceanic Boarding Passes – http://www.jongriffith.com/boardingpass/
• Oceanic Ticket Jacket ideas – http://www.flickr.com/search/?q=lost&w=89714698@N00.  These Flickr pics helped me a lot in creating my ticket jackets! Click here to download my ticket jacket PDF (Please link back to this post! ^_^).
• The motherload site for ALL your Dharma label needs (no exaggeration) – http://maxpictures.com/weblog/2007/04/10/lost-labels-for-your-dharma-initiative-needs/
• Hatch countdown timer for your computer – http://www.cagriaksay.com/?p=19 More can be found here: http://lostpedia.wikia.com/wiki/Fan-made_countdown_timers
• Squidoo.com – Hosting a LOST/DHARMA Party
• KungFoodie.com – Love is a Lost Fish Biscuit Cookie (Instructions and Recipe for making Fish Biscuits!)
• Neatorama.com -  15 Details to Help You Throw a LOST Party
• Dharma fonts: http://www.dafont.com/lost-font.font and http://www.dafont.com/dharma-initiative-logos.fontseafood
• JonGriffith.com – How to Throw a LOST TV Show Theme Party
• Fun-Theme-Party-Ideas.com – ABC Lost Party Theme
• And SUPER special thanks to Brent, Janelle, Jo, Craig, Norvelle, and Damian for all your help with the party! It wouldn’t have been so fun and successful without all of your help! <3

Na.ma.ste!

MORE PARTY PICS ON PICASA – Feel free to comment and “Like” the photos! ^_^

Oh, what?
Sept 22 is on a Tuesday!?! Damnit!
Bleh… okay fine, we’ll have it on Sept 19 since it’s the Saturday before the 22nd -_- *mutter mutter mutter*

Anyway, I’m planning a LOST party and I wanted to share my resources and finds with everyone!

Why a LOST party? Well, especially since it’s LOST’s last season in 2010, I’m taking extensive measures to fully take on the LOST experience to the max! I love the show, how it’s educated me on a lot of topics, and how it’s the first tv show to make me THINK on a completely new level.

Last year, Brent and I went on an all-out LOST tour on Oahu, driving around to the various spots where they’ve filmed the show. This year, we’re hosting an all-out LOST-themed party!

Also, I think it’ll be nice to celebrate LOST while we’re patiently waiting for its return in 2010. Gotta keep ourselves busy and entertained!

What have I found already for planning a LOST party? I did some thorough research for websites that give some tips for fellow LOSTies and, man, they’ve come up with some really GREAT ideas!

• Neatorama’s “15 details to help you throw a Lost party”
• Fun-Theme-Party-Ideas.com’s LOST Party ideas
• Jon Griffith’s “How to Throw a LOST TV Show Theme Party”
• Squidoo’s “Hosting a LOST/DHARMA Party”

I’m LOVING this party idea (if even just for myself to celebrate on my own!) because it’s proving to be a combination of things I love: creativity, LOST, arts and crafts, food, and event planning!

The Boarding Pass Invites

Boarding Pass template provided by the awesome JonGriffith.com!

NOTE: Editing his files requires a .png file editor (i.e. Fireworks). Griffith doesn’t have instructions yet for folks that don’t know how to edit the file. Here’s what I did! (No idea if this is most effective, but it worked for me!)

How to Edit Jon Griffith’s .png Boarding Pass File:

1. Download and install the 30-day trial version of Fireworks CS4 here: http://www.adobe.com/go/tryfireworks
2. Open the extracted “Custom Boarding Pass.png” file from Griffith’s .zip, provided in his email response. FILE > OPEN > wherever you extracted the .png file.
3. Click once on the text that says “THIS BOARDING PASS WAS DESIGNED WITH…” Press “Delete” on your keyboard.Yay! White text should now be gone!
4. Click once on the dark shaded box that remains. Press “Delete” on your keyboard.Yay! Now we can see the actual boarding pass!
5. In Fireworks’ tools menu, click on the “Type Tool” icon. Looks something like this: Then double-click on the “LASTNAME/FIRST” portion of the boarding pass. You should be able to type and edit those words to enter your own name.
6. Do the same for the second instance of “LAST/FIRST” on the right side of the boarding pass.
7. Feel free to edit whatever else in the same fashion!
8. When you’re done, you can save the file as a .png again. If you’re more familiar with Photoshop, you can also save the file as a .psd file to edit later too. Just some options~!

Two small details to note when editing the boarding pass (that I cared about, at least!):

• The boarding pass doesn’t list the flight date as September 22, and the flight time should be 2:15PM–thaaannkkk yoouu Lostpedia for that info! (Though, a screencap of Claire’s ticket lists the flight as departing at 2:55PM. Hmmmm!)
• Also, the “Date of Issue” should be a date before September 22, 2004. It’s currently noted as “26JAN06.”

Also another thing to note: the Oceanic Airlines boarding pass is a different style. Here’s what Claire’s looked like:

Screencap of Claire's boarding pass

Those that know me know that I’m a HUGE LOST fan. It should not be a surprise that I went to Comic-con this year primarily for LOST’s final panel at Comic-con, in preparation for their last season. [Insert uber sad face here!!!] It should also not be surprising that I also woke up at 5AM on Saturday morning to get in line for the 11:00 LOST panel.

Of course, I duly bow-down to those hardcore fans that really go the distance: some folks began camping out at 7PM on Friday night with sleeping bags and tent. For their true dedication and love for the show, the campers definitely deserved the closest seats at the front that they diligently earned. At that, I know that I can only self-identify as a “medium-core” LOSTie fan. Much props and respect to the TRUE hardcore fans! <3

Here is my summary of the LOST panel at Comic-con 2009 with the help of various videos that I’ve been able to find and compile from the net. Hope you enjoy it!

Standing In Line

Brent and I got to the line by 5:45AM, where there were at most 300 folks already lined up for the Hall H panel. Hall H has a 6700 person capacity, but with factors like front seats and spot-holding, I was more than willing to try to get a decent seat!

Around 6:45AM, JOpinionated started giving away some LOST paraphernalia by asking some TOUGH LOST trivia questions:

1. Who broke their leg while skiing?
2. Who is Maggie Ryan?
3. Who are the 3 Flight 815 passengers (that are on the island) that know that Locke was in a wheelchair before?

Do you remember the other trivia questions asked while in line, or who asked the questions? Please let me know!!

We sat, napped, and waited with some pretty chill people, a lot of whom were single fans without friends to accompany them–TRUE dedication, see? Friends or not, the LOST panel MUST be experienced! Someone from Nashville, someone from Ontario (Canada), we sat and chatted to pass the time.

Going Into Hall H

Around 9:30AM, they started letting folks into Hall H–w00t! We got in around 9:45AM and got pretty good seats near the front, center (relatively speaking since Hall H is HUGE?).

While coming into the Hall, we got some sweet LOST freebies, advertising the new ARG (alternate reality game, aka official game for LOSTies to pass the time to research more between seasons). The new ARG is LOST University!

The LOST Panel

Shortly after 11AM, the Hall’s lights dimmed and this ad for LOST University was shown:

How cute! Polar bear as the school mascot! Be sure to go to http://lostuniversity.org/ to find out more info! Enrollment begins on September 22, 2009–the day of Flight 815’s crash!

And then, an interesting clip from “Mysteries of the Universe”(?) with an intro that read: “The following is an episode of a short-lived television series from the 1980s. The topics explored may be of particular interest to fans of ‘LOST.’”

(Source: http://abc.go.com/primetime/lost/index?pn=lostmysteries&cmp=09_Lost_DharmaDoc_CO1)

Then, the final Season 6 banner is revealed in suspense!

Here is a video of how all the characters appeared:

(Courtesy of ODI: http://the-odi.blogspot.com/2009/07/lost-sdcc09-panel-opening.html)

:O Locke was the only one with his back turned! Audience kinda went crazy over this!

Finally! Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse come out with Europe’s awesome “Final Countdown” as their intro song!

Thanks to Tostie14 for posting the panel for us!

LOST Panel in HD Part 1:

Per 2:04 in the above video, Lindelof and Cuse gave props to some of their favorite, HILARIOUSLY awesome fan videos in this montage!

Btw, if you’re looking for the original fan videos included in the montage, here they are in order of appearance:

• SNL ‘Dear Sister” Parody (LOST Fans) by shawngendreau
• LOST Babies – Relations by elbarto643
• Jack is having troubles with his XBOX 360 by hfctorch
• Lost Rhapsody 2: Electric Boogaloo by CapnBob
• LOST Parody #8 – The Yankees (S2, E3) by JustForLaughsTV
• Brokeback Island- ORIGINAL (LOST) by crazymol4588

Continuing with the panel, Lindelof and Cuse address the question of “Are they making up the story as they go along.” They take out the two pages of the LOST finale, and lock them up in a chest with keys only they can open. They also announce that the night of the finale, they will read the 2 pages on Jimmy Kimmel Live. Awesome!!

Q&A Highlights:

• We’ll be seeing characters that we haven’t seen since Season 1! Awesome!
• Paul Scheer is hilarious and gives Lindelof and Carlton a velvet painting of the two with a polar bear (http://damoncarltonandapolarbear.com hahahha) – “Is that on velvet?” “It IS on velvet! Because you guys make us feel with our eyes and our head.” hahahahah
• Yes! We WILL see Faraday again!
• “The time travel season is over, the flash-forward season is over. We have something different planned.” What will the style of Season 6 be??

Lost Comic Con 2009 Panel – Part 2 HD:

Cuse performs the current LOST opener: “Wooooaaaaaaaaa” hahahah! Per 4:20 in the above video, they play the winning song of the new LOST theme (with some visuals that they put together). Hmmm can’t find a video of the clips they showed, but here’s a link to hear the new song: http://www.myspace.com/randomgibberish

After that, they showed us these three clips from their “sponsors:”

What the heck?? Ummm… I guess this is a preview of what Season 6 will be like if Jack was successful and undoing the plane crash. Oceanic doesn’t have any casualties, Hurley wins the lottery and runs Mr. Cluck’s Chicken successfully, and Kate is still on the run for killing a plumber and NOT her step-father?! Talk about alternate realities!!

Lindelof and Cuse acknowledge the clips we just saw: “Interesting, I always thought that Kate KILLED her father.” They take some more Q&A questions from the line and–who is it?! JORGE GARCIA at the Q&A mic!! hahahahah

“Jorge? You know you could have just called us if you had a question. You didn’t have to come all the way to Comic-con to ask us!”
“Yeah, I did call. You guys haven’t called me back.” hahahah

“Jorge, you just have to trust us.”
“Okay yeah, the last time I trusted you guys, you said that Nikki and Paolo were gonna be awesome.” waaaahahahha

“Okay, so this is the last season, so that means everything’s gonna be answered, right?”
“Yeah, everything that matters.”
“Yeah, cuz like, Season 1, Confidence Man… Sayid tortures Sawyer to get Shannon’s inhaler, right? But… Sawyer didn’t have the inhaler… So what happened to the inhaler? We never found out about that one…”
[ENTER GREATEST ENTRANCE EVAARRR!!]
Voice from somewhere: “Oh for cryin’ out loud, Jorge, what happened to one question per person?!”

MICHAEL EMERSON‘S SOMEWHERE!!! My favorite LOST character!!!! <3

Jorge accuses Michael of being jealous that he didn’t get the part of Hurley, of which Emerson responds: “What a sad fantasy.” hahahha!! Hurley queues up some evidence!

Michael Emerson’s “Hurley” Audition:

lol he looks so insecure, hahahha “Maybe that was… a little too much?”

Lost Comic Con 2009 Panel – Part 3 HD:

Some more Q&A highlights:

• Lindelof and Cuse note this as a very good question: If we’ll see a Richard flashback and if it has to do with the Black Rock being in the middle of the island. We WILL be seeing Richard a lot in Season 6 and we’ll see his background too!
• “I need to know that [Juliet's] okay… and if she’s not, can you make her okay?” Yessss! We WILL be seeing Juliet again!
• Bob Stencil shows up and asks about time paradoxes and ends up getting a nose bleed, noting that he needs his constant, Dharma beer, hahahaha And he gets a Bob Stencil Dharma tshirt! hahahah
• “Is Jacob’s friend named Esau?” – Michael Emerson doesn’t answer it at all. hahahah
• “Does Nestor [Richard Alpert] wear eyeliner before he comes on set?” hahaha w00t! NESTOR CARBONELL comes out as the next guest!
• “Where do the food drops come from?” Jorge Garcia answers this question: “Oh, it comes from planes.” Lindelof and Cuse let us know that food drops WILL be answered in Season 6! Yes!
• Dharma won’t be around much in Season 6. :O
• “Has Jacob ever appeared to our LOST castaways as any other image other than himself, such as Claire or any other another characters?” (”Claire” is the secret word! Prize = the original note from Par Avion that Claire sent off) The answer is NO for the Jacob question! :O

Lost Comic Con 2009 Panel – Part 4 HD:

Per 3:00 in the above video, Lindelof and Cuse roll a clip for the next surprise guest:

JOSH HOLLOWAY enters as one of the guest stars!!! (AHHHHHHHH!!!) He tases Lindelof and steals his key for the Season 6 finale chest, threatening Cuse to give up the key or he’ll tase “J.J.Abrams” again, hahahah Holloway gets his hands on the papers and stares at it. Emerson says: “Oh my god. You don’t know how to read, do you?”

Emerson takes over and reads out the script. It turns out to be from HEROES! “Sy-lar” hahahahha For their last minutes, Lindelof and Cuse give one last thank you to all the fans, and start a clip of all the people that couldn’t be with us today: a montage of all the characters that died on LOST.

[UPDATE 8/6/09] I found the last video montage!! (Thanks JOpinionated!)

The lights dim and we hear Boyz II Men’s “It’s So Hard to Say Goodbye to Yesterday” playing with clips of our characters (I only remember some of the many!): the guy who got sucked into the plane engine in Episode 1 (Gary Troup), Pilot Seth Norris, Dr. Artz, Frogurt, Ethan, Shannon, Boone, Ana Lucia, Libby, Mr. Tom Friendly, Nikki & Paolo (haaahahha), Michael, Mr. Eko, Charlotte, Danielle, Karl, Alex, Faraday :(( The music changes to “Win One for the Reaper” and we see Charlie’s whole final scene! Sooo sad!!

When the lights come up, and Dominic Monaghan is the final guest of the panel! He waves hello, and supposedly he had the words “Am I Alive?” written on his hand. (Thanks YuBlog.org for the photo!)

Lindelof and Cuse say thanks and “See you some other show!”

Conclusion

So sad for the panel to go so quickly!! Of course, it was much worth the wait, and I’m glad I got to be there for LOST’s last panel at Comic-con! :(

Being at the Con with the LOST fans felt like we all had a mutual understanding that we all came together because of a SUCH an amazing show. Yes, it’s “just a show,” but it’s one that inspires critical thinking, intelligence, and is incredibly full of CULTURE: religious, popular, musical, literature, artistic, and ethnic cultures!

I think the first fan dressed as Hurley put it in words really well:

I can’t even begin to articulate what a positive influence LOST has had on my life, how many fond memories I have attached to so many scenes from so many different episodes, or how many awesome people I’ve met. I’m sure a lot of people in this room have a real shared passion and camaraderie for the materials you guys produce. I just wanted to thank you for being part of that experience and help you guys tell what I think is one of the greatest stories that have ever been told….

Oh, and thank you for making Hurley, so someone like me can finally have someone to identify with on television.

I just love that last part soooo much!

LOST: Thank you sooo much for all the great times you’ve brought for all your fans! We await patiently for your return in 2010! We <3 you!!

Here are some of my pics from the panel!

Thanks again for everyone that posted up videos from the panel! These sites were also helpful for me in compiling this post:

• Zap 2 It: ‘Lost’: Summary of the 2009 Comic-Con panel
• CinemaBlend.com: Comic Con: Liveblogging The Lost Panel

And thanks to Brent, Norvelle, and Damian for being awesome buddies for the many hours we spent together in line and in Hall H! <3

(Boring. Not many pics this year.)

2008… (the factual stuff)

Where did you ring in 2008?
Sacramento at Peacock’s place! We almost missed the New Year’s mark because we were playing the Every-Time-Estella-and-Eugenia-Laugh-During-Lemony-Snicket’s-Series-of-Unfortunate-Events Drinking Game. We had a ton of orange Cuties to eat. The infamous Family Portrait (below). Left over Carl’s Jr. chicken sandwiches. THE EPIPHANY.

The Epiphany

Family Portrait

Did you keep any New Year’s Resolutions?
- Buy a 1 tb harddrive — DONE!
- Possibly renetwork the silly setup in our house — NOT COMPLETE (I don’t think I really considered this thru the year)
- Start writing stuff down again — DONE!
- Get back to 110lbs — NOT COMPLETE (At least I’m the same weightish as I was last year! And the back dimples make an appearance every so often)

How did you earn your keep?
Web developer @ Embark
Operations Analyst @ Embark

Did you move anywhere?
Not officially. Spent most of my weekends in San Jose or now back in Oakland with Brent.

Where did you go on vacation?
Vegas, LA, Lake Tahoe, and Hawaii!

Describe your birthday:
Went to Buca for dinner with mostly Embark folks, and went to Fenton’s afterwards for dessert.

My bday was on a Wednesday and I took my 2 floating holidays the following days to get an awesome 4-day weekend! Went to Academy of Science, Brent made sushi, and went to a winter oyster BBQ with Brent’s friends.

What did you do for Christmas ‘08?
I decided to skip out on the trip to Las Vegas with my mom and Conrad (to meet up with our Toronto friends–Chan family) because I was sick and so I could spend more time working on my website revamp. I got a LOT done being home by myself, though I realized how much more was needed.

Norvelle came over for a pity visit. *shaking fist*

What sporting events did you go to?
Probably none. Wellll, actually… Flag Football with Embark’s T^2 counts! I think I went to 1 Warrior’s game too, to see my fav player: Steve Mullins!!

What concerts did you go to?
- Ozma – May 19, 2008 @ Bottom of the Hill
- Weezer – October 13, 2008 @ SJSU Arena

What was the best thing you bought in ‘08?
I’ll go with practicality… Either the new digicam SD1100 since my old SD400 broke, or the new Inspiron 1525 laptop (tho this is still kind of new and I’m still getting used to it.)

Where did you spend most of your money?
Food, and the September Hawaii trip. And probably a lot of electronics/gift-type things. Wow.

What did you purchase that was over $500?
New laptop, Hawaii plane tix, etc.

Were you in school (anytime this year)?
Yes! I went back to school!! Took Beginning and Intermediate Figure Drawing classes at Laney! Suuuucchhh a great move for me!

Favorite TV program of ‘08?
LOST, of course. I don’t really watch anything else. Although Ace of Cakes is a pretty awesome show to watch!

What was the best book you read and/or movie you saw?
I didn’t read much this year :( No specific movies come to mind, though I’ve started watching more, since I now manage Brent’s Netflix queue.

2008… (people)

Did you know anybody who got married?
Janelle! What a funnnn wedding! And Brent’s friend Danny!

Any new additions to your family?
Uncle Darryl had a daughter!

Did anyone close to you give birth?
Taylor and Vicki got Karli!

Did you know anybody who passed away?
Yee-goong (Leland Dea)

Did you fall in love in 2008?
Same as last year’s response: Always. There’s ALWAYS something to fall in love with.

Did you get your heart broken in 2008?
No.

Do you hate anyone now that you didnt hate this time last year?
Yes. But solely due to work’s relationships with schools. (e.g. PSU, Harvard, Oxford)

Who was the best new person you met?
Brent’s crew is really awesome. I don’t think I’ve met many new people this year other than folks at work, though. I didn’t get out much this year ^_^

Who did you wish you did not meet?
No one in particular.

Who was your best friend?
Eugeniaman, Norvelle, Pean, Brent, Christine

Who was your enemy?
Ehh…. *shrug*

Who do you miss?
Pohpoh.

2008… (the stuff that requires more thinking)

Are you happier than this time last year?
Uncertain. I’m happier in a sense that I feel a lot more settled and professionally accomplished. I feel more mature and that I’ve learned a lot. I know more now about what I want. (Does that count as happy??) I feel much more accomplished, and that I’ve definitely come a long way, for sure.

What song will remind you of 2008?
Nothing in particular.

What’s the one thing you thought you would never do but did in 2008?
- Drink only “girly” drinks. Not drink.
- Go on a LOST-fanatic trip around Hawaii
- Become so involved in work that my social life had to get put on hold.
- Be able to find someone that I can connect with on SO many levels; and to be okay with seeing him just about every day.
- Revert back to the “their always together” status–which I don’t seem to mind!

What is one thing you regretted this year?
Hmmm… nothing in particular comes to mind. I’m pretty content with 2008 and where I’ve come along the way.

What’s something you learned about yourself?
- Not everything’s as black and white as they used to be.
- You never know until you’re put into the situation.
- Always follow your heart. “It may hurt, but when you look back at it in the future, you’ll always know that you’ve done what YOU wanted and not what someone else wanted.”
- I should have got more into art a long time ago.
- I’m not perfect; I don’t have the best attitude; I’m not immune to selfishness. But… these are the things that I am, and I can learn to give and take, and it’s comforting to know that he knows that, and that he’s still willing to overlook all that. I’ve learned a lot from that, and how I should be as forgiving and understanding. This is feeling of mutual understanding in conjunction to all we have in common with and for each other is worth it all.

What was your best month?
September: Hawaii trip. That one week made up for the troubles and stress of the rest of the month. It was a big epiphany moment for me, too, to take the time off and figure out what the heck I’m doing with my life.

Best decision made all year?
One of the biggest decisions I’ve had to make before.

What will you remember 2008 by?
Hell months and the amount I’ve learned; finding my own management style; Brent.

Will any date from 2008 stay etched in your memory forever?
Septemberish – The Hawaii trip.

What was your biggest achievement of 2008?
Being able to handle the Leads position; managing a team of 7.

What was your biggest failure?
Not hanging out with my friends enough.

Did your behavior change over the year?
Yes. I’m totally more of a hermit and a grandma now. Please find me in my peaceful underground dwelling.

What do you wish you would have done more of?
Exercise; more activism; see my friends more; get more of my site updated.

What do you wish you would have done less of?
Nothing.

What was your greatest discovery?
For some reason, I have a new addiction for any type of sushi, sparked by just plain ol’ California Rolls. Not sure why this happened so late since I’ve been eating sushi my whole life. Very bizarre.

Also discovered the BEAUTY of Kauai, Hawaii!!

What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
If I knew I was healthy. hahaha
Also if I got my revamp up :~(

Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2008:
Part of growing up is knowing WHEN to make decisions. Sometimes you have to take the opportunity available to you even though you’re not ready, or even if you’re not sure if you even want to take the leap. The key really is to follow your heart, to know that your decision is truly the best thing you can do for yourself, and that it’s the truthful choice for you. People may get hurt, but you just have to be honest with the parties involved and especially yourself.

Another lesson learned is that bad things happen, and they will KEEP getting worse and worse. But they’ll always get better; there’s always a pay-off. It was important for me to keep this in mind in order to pull out of the tough times. “Everything will be okay in the end. If things aren’t okay right now, it’s not the end.”

What will you always remember about 2008?
Learning to live independently while “living at home”; the lessons I’ve learned.

The New Year…

What are you doing to ring in 2009?
Went to Liz’s place in Sac (why the heck did she invite us over???)

Any resolutions?
- Be healthier
- Save more money, including: money hunting (finding best bank rates and such), budgeting my monthly expenses, making financial milestone goals
- Find an art-related job
- Not be a coward when it comes to art and activism
- Continue organizing all my archived photos on Terry
- Move out

What would you like to have in 2009 that you lacked in 2008?
An artish job.

What do you want to do in ‘09 that you couldn’t in ‘08?
Budget.

Anything you want to change about yourself for 2009?
Hmmm… haven’t figured it out yet.

Own Notes

Since it always happens, favorite passing-out/drinking experience:
- Most eventful: Getting x10 wasted at Janelle’s bachelorette party in Vegas, passing out to have Paul wake me up, and then getting kicked out of Palms, wahah
- The standard: I totally didn’t drink that much at all this year.
- The comeback: Playground for Gilbert’s bday; 6 soju shots; sleeping crew. wahah

Favorite Embark Moment:
Undecided.. it was the culmination of moments. Some good ones: Embark Prom, BBQs at Shults-Foster Manor, All the good times in the Leads chatroom!

Favorite Brent Moment:
- Most memorable: the whole Hawaii trip + all the LOST touring!
- Epitome of us: Tie between 1) chanting “Sushi House! Sushi House!” at 8:30AM like 3 year olds in bed. (Then going to Sushi House at their opening hour.); 2) 2AM Taco Bell run to eat in bed.

- Most delicious (local): Harris’ Steakhouse!
- Most delicious (travel): Hanalei Dolphin Restaurant
- Most delicious (homemade): Suuuuushiiii!!!

Restaurant of the Year:
The truck. hahahahha

Highlights of 2008:
- Embark Holiday Party (Face-Your-Fear CLASSIC!)
- Ugly Sweater Party!
- Man’s Bday: Everett & Jones + Fenton’s + couchcouchcouchcouchcouch!
- T^2 games!
- LOTS of E&C!
- Caden visits!
- 90’s Game nights
- Lots of trips to San Jose
- Nancy’s Bday (stupid UCLA shot!!)
- AWESOME LOST season 4!!
- Roadtrip to LA and up the CA coast :DD
- Embark Prom!
- Brentwood (Nectarine Pick Your Nose!)
- CA Legalization of Same-Sex Marriage
- Janelle’s Bachelorette Bday
- Shults-Foster Manor!
- SARS-Bikini Spam party!
- Janelle + Ryan’s wedding
- TECHKARAOKE SF!
- Brent’s surgery
- August Tahoe trip! Soooo fun!
- Banned! the Band practice
- VHS Night
- Hawaaaiiiii!!
- BFF’s Bday in Vegas
- Prop 8 Protests
- Karli’s born!
- 24th bday at Buca’s + Fenton’s
- Academy of Science!
- Meeting Phyllis Lyon @ GSA Network’s YES Summit
- New Years @ Sac!

Happy new year, all. Have fun, and be safe <3

There’s a rerun of Part 1 @ 8PM tonight.

Please read more to view my theories/predictions, otherwise known as my list of “I called it”s.

This was from an email I sent out to a coworkers the day after “There’s No Place Like Home Part 1″… Enjoy! (I called it.)

Prediction:
Since all our Losties are all scattered all over the place (like a bad dream!), the Oceanic 6 will somehow or another end up on the helicopter to meet up with the people on the Freighter to escape the crazy Keamy militia, who’s determined to blow up the island.

But when they return to the Freighter, they’re gonna find that it’s abandoned cuz it’s about to blow up. They fly back to the island, but before they get there, Locke “moves” the island (whether physically to another location, or he moves it in time) and the island is missing. They have no choice but to fly somewhere else.
Michael will probably die saving everyone else, sacrificing his own life in order to redeem himself in the end. (Not sure how I feel about this. Michael still sucks. Well.. it’s weird now cuz he’s 100% selfless now because his son is no longer in the picture.)

Miles predicts that Frank, the helicopter pilot, will try to his best to fly them (him + Oceanic 6) to safety, but the helicopter’s gonna run out of fuel (I think he said this in the preview too), and the Losties will jump out or something of the sort, but Frank will fly the plane into the ocean away from them to save them. He’ll probably make some claim about how he was the one that was supposed to fly Oceanic 815 anyway and that he was supposed to go down with the plane. Maybe the Oceanic 6 really WILL get washed up on shore a Sumba, where people will take pictures of them (shown at their press conference), etc. etc.

They’ll all be back to the mainland, but clearly, none of them are happy about it. They probably all feel guilty for being the ones that got back home, but not everyone else was able to. Plus, they never got to say goodbye or anything of the sort—none of the Oceanic 6 ever got closure. Maybe that’s why they look all distressed when they get back to the mainland. Maybe that’s why they all need to go BACK to the island.

Questions:
- What’s Keamy get from all of this? Just a payout from Widmore?
- What does the thing on Keamy’s arm do? (Probably pushing the button will activate all the explosives on the Freighter.)

This has seriously gotta be one of the best episodes of Lost I have ever seen. Carlton Cuse and Damon Lindelof wrote this ep—as always, their eps are the BEST. Every second of this episode was well worth it, and each moment was seeped with information and content. I take notes when I watch Lost (yesyesyes it’s the geekiest thing ever, but it’s because I can only remember stuff if I write stuff down—I don’t ever really look back at the notes I take), and I could barely keep up with note-taking the night this aired.

Questions popped up verryyy often during the episode, and we even spent an hour and half afterwards discussing/researching the possibilities of what the HELL is going on! So, let’s get down to business…

TIME TRAVELING

Clearly, this season is centered around the concept of how time is different on the island than outside of the island. Of course, we never had any realization of this since we (via Lostie perspective) had no contact with the outside world. The only few outside world references we got were teases from the Others.

SOME INSTANCES OF OUTSIDE WORLD CONTACT:
(prior to us knowing that time travel existed in this show)

Keeping in mind that Flight 815 crashed on Sept 22, 2004…

1. Ben showing Jack a clip of the Red Sox winning the World Series
   • Showed video to Jack on Day 68-69 on the island
   • To the Losties, the date should be around November 28-29, 2004, so we thought about two months had passed since the plane crash, about one month after the Red Sox win the World Series.
   • How much time had passed in real-world time since the World Series?
2. In Juliet’s flashback, where Ben shows her video footage of her sister, Rachel, being cancer-less with her child at the playground
   • Ben showed her this clip the day the plane crashed on the island
   • Richard first zooms in on the date on the newspaper, a “Live” feed, and then shows Rachel, Juliet’s sister with her son.
   • We’re not sure how long Juliet has been on the island?
   • Is it possible that Richard has traveled back to that SPECIFIC time in order to recreate that scene? Could it be possible that he just picked up a fake newspaper with the plane crash date to “prove” that it was a Live video?
   • Does this mean that Juliet does NOT know the time differentiation that exists on/off the island? It seems like it by her reaction in the Season 4 episodes.
3. The times the Losties interacted with the Freighties:
   • The time difference when the Freighties initially left freighter to rescue the Losties – How long did it take them? (in real time? in island time?)
   • The time difference that occurs when Faraday asks Regina on the freighter to send a payload to the beacon he set up. According to Regina, the payload arrived at the target within 20 seconds. It finally arrives to the beacon a while later, and the time difference between the two timers was a 31mins and 20sec difference.

Calendar from the freighter. Do the colors mean anything? How much of a time difference is there at this point from the outside world and the island?

METHODOLOGY:
Simplistically speaking, it seems like one has to be exposed to a high level of electromagnetism recently, which has to be triggered off by a “zap” of electromagnetism, sending one’s conscience to the past, (is it always the past? What about Desmond’s ability to see Charlie’s future?) while one’s body is still intact in the present time (aka “future,” relative to the past-self).

After the triggering zap of electromagnetism (the second high exposure), they float in and out of time, affected by other types of random triggers (light? water?). Or is it that after the triggering zap, the time jumping occurs independent of triggers, and actually happens at some exponential rate, as Daniel Faraday was saying?

EFFECTS:
While in the weird time travel state, the present self apparently has no idea/recollection of present time. While in the past, they think any events that are happening in present time are like dreams.

With all this time jumping, the brain is being overworked and the person would most likely die, unless they find their constant.

CONSTANTS:
This back and forth time jumping is a huge stress to the brain, which eventually can’t handle it anymore. The brain is confused as its disoriented every time a jump happens. In order to make sense of what’s going on, the time traveler HAS to make contact with something or someone that exists in both times that is really significant and crucial to them in both times. This something or someone is their anchor, their “constant.” If they don’t get in contact with their constant in BOTH times (did Faraday say this? or is it simply assumed that as a constant, it must exist as a static reality for both times?), they’re brain would probably explode and just flat out die.

(Thank goodness Desmond(s) got in contact with his constant, cuz that would have been a really anticlimactic death. *Sayid asking* “Do you know the number?” FUMP! *Desmond hits the floor* THE END.)

DOES PRESENT DESMOND REMEMBER EVERYTHING NOW?
With the way this episode ended, the way it was edited, I think he does. I think contacting his constant in both worlds fixed his memory lapse. When he was time jumping, his consciousness would be elsewhere while his body would be dazed out. At the ending scene, Past Desmond is outside of Past Penny’s door, begging her to keep her number, while he time jumps back to Present Desmond (pressuming that as he time jumped, Past Desmond is blankly standing outside of Past Penny’s door). When Present Desmond is talking to Present Penny on the phone, they show a clip of Past Desmond (while Present Desmond’s conversation with Present Penny is going on) of him walking away from Past Penny’s apartment, looking relieved. I think this implies that Present Desmond regained his memory of past events.

Past Desmond walking away from Past Penny’s apartment while Present Desmond is talking with Present Penny on the freighter phone.

CHANGING THE PAST/FUTURE:
Faraday stated that the future cannot be changed.

But can the PAST be changed in order to affect and essentially form the future? Talking with Norvelle about this, it’s kind of like one of those adventure games where you have to travel to the past to set the puzzle a certain way so that you can go back to the present time to get through the puzzle you were stuck at (like Day of the Tentacles!). The future may not be changeable, but perhaps the PAST is O_O, in order to produce a certain outcome in the present time. Which brings into question whether or not the past is being changed or not, since the present time can only exist if the past event occurs.

What made time traveling the second time more successful for Desmond than the first time he went to the past (3×08:Flashes Before Your Eyes)? One of the major differences is that the first time he went back to the past, he had all his memories of everything up to present time, and his body wasn’t physically taken through any time warp. In THIS episode, Desmond only had a memory up to 1996–could this could have been an effect of physically traveling through the space between the island world and real world? Was this space a time warp? tear in the space-time continuum?

We learned from the first time travel that, according to Ms. Hawkings (the creepy lady from the antique store), you can try to change events, but the universe will course-correct itself in order to fix how things should occur. One can change EVENTS, but the OUTCOME will always stay the same. (Which is interesting, because that would mean that FATE is intertwined with how this time travel science works.) Did Desmond’s actions change events of the past, and did the outcome of time at some point in between 1996 and 2004 course-correct itself? Or was all of this supposed to happen as is? Thus the paradox of time traveling: there has to be a FIRST time that Desmond went back to the past to meet Faraday. But if there is a FIRST time, this would imply that at some point, the outcome and future was altered and changed. Did Desmond really change anything at all, or did all of the Past Desmond events happen as they actually did? (Unfortunately, at this point, we can’t ask the former, pre-time traveling Desmond if he ever went to ask 1996 Penny for her phone number, or if he quit the military cuz he was daydreaming x10, etc. The current Present Desmond is already “tainted” by time traveling.)

Also, what about course-correction and Charlie’s death? Desmond had flashes of all the visions of Charlie dying, and despite knowing that Charlie would eventually die, Desmond kept changing the events in order to prevent Charlie’s death. In the end, it was Charlie’s death that saved everyone and got the Freighties to arrive on the island and thus (presumably) get the Oceanic 6 off of the island. Was Desmond SUPPOSED to prevent all of Charlie’s deaths until the one where he had to drown in the underwater station? What if Desmond didn’t prevent Charlie’s other deaths? Who would have gone to the underwater station to turn off the jamming signal? Would the Losties have come in contact with the Freighties, or would they have found the island regardless via course-correction? Is the Freighties’ arrival considered the greater, unchangeable outcome, or something else?

THE LOSTIES + TIME TRAVEL?

Are the Losties all exposed to high level of electromagnetism? Their whole plane was brought down by Desmond not pushing the hatch button, releasing a sufficient surge of electromagnetism. Are they not as sensitive to the triggers as Desmond because Desmond was the one who has experienced a ridiculous amount of exposure? (What happened to Mikowski that made him experience this too?)

That brings in to question ALL the flashbacks (and flashforwards) the Losties have EVER had. Since we know them only from the perspective of when they’ve crashed on the island, we’ve just come to assume that these flashbacks happen just for character development reasons, done by the creators of the show. But what if these flashbacks are actually very short instances of time traveling?

Maybe when one is REALLY exposed to electromagnetism (like high voltage, high exposure), one just passes out like how Desmond and Mikowski would just have a blank expression on their faces, being mentally absent.

Umm.. scariest shit… ever?? NO THANK YOU.

But what about people who are less exposed to electromagnetism? Would they just brush it off as daydreaming? After we see flashbacks of our character, we see them in the present concentrating on whatever task is at hand, in an introvert kind of fashion. How about the hallucinations they get on the island, where they see things there that aren’t supposed to be there? I believe that hallucinations happen because of the black smoke, a form of electromagnetism.

Also, remember how we often see other Losties in other people’s flashbacks, and we think that it’s a huge coincidence? Maybe there is a connection between all of them. Maybe they can all serve as each other’s constants (although maybe not because constants have to be emotionally significant to both the past time and the present time). Some of us tickled the idea that maybe the Flight 815 survivors are the only ones that can time travel because they have constants in their past and future off-island lives.

THE ISLAND & THE FREIGHTIES

It seems like all the Freighties knows about the island. Why? Something that’s even more unnerving is that the way Faraday, Charlotte, etc. speak of the island, it almost sounds like they’ve BEEN there before. Maybe they HAVE been there before. That would explain why they don’t seem surprised to know that the Losties exist on the island, how they’re not really surprised that there’s a weird island in the middle of nowhere, and how they’re all prepared to do their respective tasks on the island.

In part of Faraday’s notebook, there’s a page that mentions the variables of Real Time, Imaginary Time, Space Time, and Imaginary Space.

Daniel Faraday’s Notebook

It sounds like the island is some “imaginary space.” Maybe when things get caught in a time warp, but don’t correctly go through with the time travel, they end up on the island. Maybe the island is like a junkyard for time travel gone wrong, making it a really special place because it doesn’t really exist anywhere, but really DOES exist.

That would explain how Flight 815 was found at the bottom of the ocean: after the plane was struck by the huge surge of electromagnetivity from the hatch, the whole flight was sent into imaginary space, sending it to the island. But in the real world, the consciousness of all the passengers of the flight were sucked out from the bodies, including the person that was flying the plane, sending the plane out of the sky and into the ocean. (Not sure why the pilot’s body would be fake though. Maybe there is a greater organization that tried to do some cover up of the plane crash.)

Maybe that’s why the Oceanic 6 are significant. Since they can’t time warp back to their old bodies, since it’s laying dead at the bottom of the ocean and that it’s also their FATE to go to the island, they have to physically travel from the island to the outside world (via the bearing / degree that will get them off of the island). Maybe to the outside world, the story is that the whole plane was sunk at the bottom of the ocean and for some reason or another, they were able to get out and survive.

What if the island itself is a byproduct of time travel? Like what if in the real world, this island existed on our planet at one point, but was destroyed (by too much electromagnetism, simultaneously disintegrating AND sending the island through time?) and was sent to imaginary space, thus creating the island environment we see now? The island wouldn’t exist in our real world (and thus no one would know where it is located), and there would be no way of physically getting to/from the island, except for following the exact coordinates that Faraday stated.

BENRY & DHARMA

With all this time traveling stuff, what does BEN have to do with all of this? Why is he so protective over the island and being the one in control on the island if it’s merely a place of limbo? Sure, the island is powerful and has its perks, but he must have some kind of greater investment in the island, right? He must have implemented a “radio silence” kind of interaction with the outside world in order to prevent outside people from physically entering the island (so the only way people could enter the island would be via time travel messup?).

He somehow has access to time traveling, clearly. Why would he want to travel on/off the island? (Btw, time traveling would explain why the picture the Freighties have of Ben is one that looks like he’s in the ’70s even though he’s the same age X_x.) Does he work for some greater organization where he actually has some sort of duty?

Benry’s pic that the Freighties showed O_O

Following the idea of the island being a time traveling junkyard, maybe Dharma was created on the island to research the nature of the island as an imaginary space, and how things come and go off of the island via time travel. (Regarding the polar bear experiments: Charlotte found the polar bear in the desert, as if the fossil had been there for ages. Maybe the polar bear was sent through time traveling and ended up on the island as a product of the Dharma Initiative research.)

I’ve heard that the Dharma Initiative, whose purpose is to research the Island, was run by the Hanso Foundation. There is a theory that the numbers (4 8 15 16 23 42) indicate when the world will end, and the Dharma Initiative was to research how we could change the end of the world by tweeking with the numbers. Maybe when people began to realize that although you can change events and you can’t change the outcome due to the universe’s course-correction, the Hanso Foundation realized that the numbers cannot be altered, and thus cut the Dharma Initiative program.

And what about Jacob? What’s up with him? He must be this entity living as some electronmagnetic force (partially via the Black Smoke?).

Anyway, in case you missed my thesis: this was a GREAT episode. Brent pointed out that the first three seasons of this show was all character development with some story development. It seems like now, it will mostly be all about the story and plot and explaining stuff. YES!!

*stretches back with arms behind neck* We’ve got it all figured out; we know exactly what’s going on. ;)

Happy Losting, and thanks for reading my 6 page essay. (Sorry, no cover sheet, bibliography, double-spacing for you, Janelle.) :(

Of course, I HAD to put this pic in. I’ve been completely addicted to this picture ALL week. This is officially the “panic” face we should make from this point on for the rest of our lives.

Happy bday, love!  I miss you LOTS!! (And I wish I could do that all again! kakakaka!)

In other news:

and my favorite one LOL:

Continuing with two posts ago… big changes are in play.

One of them is the fact that I’ve been eating out every night for the last month and half with the exception of like five nights since Henry’s been back home. My, my, we do LOVE to eat, don’t we? Not to mention that he’s long since discovered that the key to my heart is food. Yum yum.

With that said, I just had my annual physical check-up and surprise surprise, I’ve gained 10 lbs in the last year. Haaaaaahahaha. Anyway. Starting next week, I’m determined to start jogging the Lake again.

Also along the lines of self-improvement, I gotta start learning how to save money better. I need to start budgeting my money if I’m intent on saving money to go to school again. Despite popular belief, I do pay my parents for rent. And with my dinky little paycheck, I pay them about 20% of my monthly income. The rest? Commuting costs, and food food food. For the sake of my health and my wallet, I really NEED to stop eating so much. And I really need to start dedicating a specific portion of my paychecks to go directly to savings or I’m never gonna get anywhere at this point. Maybe I can even come up with a $ goal for each month. Which also means I need to not go out as much and just be at home (Double Dash challenges are welcome to entertain me).

To be honest, I’ve been trying to implement these things for a while but man every time I’m about to start, I keep making exceptions like “Oh, well this big event is coming up, I’ll just wait until after that.” And then another big event comes up, etc. I totally need to get back to being self-disciplined.

There’s also a few other things I need to do to get started with the art stuff: talk to an art school admissions counselor [goal date to be set], enroll in art class for next semester [tbd], make two more pieces for my portfolio by the end of the year [Dec 2007], go check out National Portfolio Day [Jan 2008].

I should also start eating fruit every day and being strict about my sleep times again.

That should be enough for me to handle for a while. Now… onto the goodies. Things to look forward to:

• Late-Oct/Early-Nov — Possible socal trip?
• Nov 30-Dec 3 — Bday in Vegas?
• Dec 11 — LOST Season 3 DVDs! >:O~
• Early 2008 — Mario Kart for the Wii!!
• Feb 2008 –LOST Season 4 BEGINS!
• Sometime 2008 — The Sixth Album O_O_O_O_O
• ??? — my hair will finally get long

I’m glad that Heroes is back to have a weekly thing to look forward to again, but kinda not because it totally ties me down! I’ve seriously been going through some major Lost withdrawals tho… I mean, I had a dream the other night that I was sooooo pissed off at Locke because he killed someone, and I got washed away in some lake and while I was underwater, I saw that the Others were watching me. *shudder* It needs to come back soooooonnn!!

And to follow up on the last post about Mario Kart… slowly cutting off a few seconds every time… I’m gonna rock you, Peacock.