Most people say it’s impossible, that the laws of physics don’t allow for it, but I’m here to tell you they’re wrong. You really can travel through time! In fact, you’re traveling through time right now! We are all traveling forward into the future at a rate of 1 second per second.
Oh . . . you thought I meant something else? Like going back to kill Hitler and save Abraham Lincoln? Unless we can escape from a black hole, or find a way to exceed the speed of light, that’s never going to happen.
Nevertheless, I have found a way to use this slow, forward time traveling perk of our universe to interview my future self, and I won’t be needing the Large Hadron Collider or even a flux capacitor to do it.
How, you ask? Simple … I have written a number of questions for Nick Alimonos of 2020. He should be 45 years old. Then, all I have to do is wait five years, when I become future Nick Alimonos, to answer them.
Ridiculous, you say? No so fast.
As we move forward through time, we forget the people we used to be; we forget our mindsets, our thoughts, and our precise feelings about the world. All that remains is hazy. Just try to remember a specific day in your life five years ago. Can’t do it, can you? Our memories are flawed. We only retain bits and pieces of our lives, and even then those parts are skewed. The further back in time we go, the less of ourselves we recognize. The child you used to be, would be a total stranger to you today.
So without further ado, I give you my interview with me, from 2020.
Nick (2015): Hey, Nick, thanks for taking the time to talk to me today!
Nick (2020): ________________________________
Nick (2015): There is so much I want to ask you, so let’s get right to it. First and foremost, how is the family? Jasmine must be, what, almost 16 now? Has she turned into an obnoxious teenager yet? Is she dating? Ready that shotgun! Sophia must be ten. Is she still doing tae kwon do? Yesterday (my yesterday) she was all excited to get her gi. Of course, we can’t forget the wife! If I had done this when I was 15, I’d have loved to tell my teenage self about Hynda<3 Have to say, we are one lucky bastard!
Nick (2020): ________________________________
Nick (2015): If I know myself (and I think I do) you’ll probably hate this question, but I have to ask, how goes the restaurant? The economy was really starting to improve in my time, so are we still making money? Or did another Republican get into the White House? And how much are you working there now? I know that I was planning, next year, to work a lot less, to devote myself full time to writing.
Nick (2020): ________________________________
Nick (2015): OK, enough beating around the bush, how goes the writing career? Have you been published yet? Found an agent? Gimme all the details!
Nick (2020): ________________________________
Nick (2015): What about Ages of Aenya? Remember how devastated we were when our Kickstarter failed? Did that get picked up by a publisher, or did you go the independent route?
Nick (2020): ________________________________
Nick (2015): At about this time, we were finishing up on The Princess of Aenya. Were you satisfied with the end result? How do you feel it compares to Ages of Aenya?
Nick (2020): ________________________________
Nick (2015): So, are we a success yet, or still struggling? Also, how goes the blog? I just switched to WordPress, but you probably remember that. It was after being with Blogger for 5 years. Wait, are we still on WordPress, or is this being hosted by some other server?
Nick (2020): ________________________________
Nick (2015): What are you working on now? The Children of Aenya? The One Sea? Some other book I haven’t thought of yet?
Nick (2020): ________________________________
Nick (2015): OK, I know not much time has passed, but how is the nudist movement looking in 2020? Is public nudity legal yet? On TV? On Facebook at least?
Nick (2020): ________________________________
Nick (2015): OK, our daughter just got an iPhone 6s for her birthday. It’s hard to imagine technology getting any more advanced. I know if I could show an iPhone to my 15 years old self, he’d freak out and call me a wizard. So, what comes next? Holographic computers like in Iron Man? VR video games?
Nick (2020): ________________________________
Nick (2015): Speaking of Iron Man, lets talk movies! How was Avengers 3 and 4? And what about Star Wars VII, VIII and IX? I hope they weren’t too disappointing …
Nick (2020):
Nick (2015): Lastly, what is the one piece of advice you could give me, if you could answer me now?
Nick (2020): ________________________________
Well, that’s it for my interview with future Nick Alimonos. Check back on October 2020, for all of the answers!
The Art of Storytelling 
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