ʇı ʇɐ ʞooן noʎ ʍoɥ uı ןןɐ sı ʇı

Time for a little more perspective on … well … perspective.

Humans are pretty habit driven creatures. The most free-spirited of folk has their habits, even if their biggest habit is to not really be all that habitual. Some of our habits become so ingrained we don’t even recognize them as habits. Especially the habits related to how we perceive the world. Have you ever seen somebody you know fairly well out of context, and not recognized them? When I was a lifeguard and people I worked with every day at the pool saw me out of work they almost invariably did not know who the hell I was (I am making an assumption that it was not by choice, but you never CAN be sure).

Of course that was one of the few times I could say "You don’t recognize me with clothes on," and actually get away with it.

There are certain things that we might always see a certain way simply because of our expectations. For instance, if we see printing on something, we generally go with the guess that it is:

  1. ""Words.
  2. Words in a language we recognize.
  3. Right side up and forward words in a language we recognize.

If one of these simple assumptions does not hold true, all hell might break loose.

As I was getting creative to come up with a picture for the Weekly Photo Challenge offered by good ol WordPress (which incidentally is themed Free Spirit and thus the shameless plug up there ^^ … muahahaha), I needed a few tools to help with the with the whole creative thang, one being a box of a certain size. So I asked mom, the master of saving things for a rainy day (even if they may have no actual use for a rainy day). She gleefully led me to one of the many cubby holes that abound in the house, and pointed to a box, saying as she did, "What is uozɐɯɐ?"

Not quite sure which box she meant and a bit concerned that my mother was suddenly speaking in tongues, I wisely said "Huh?"

So she repeated, "What is uozɐɯɐ?"

Now one of the skills I am proudest of is the fact that I am not fully committed to one perspective, so I can generally recognize pretty quickly when something is out of whack. I looked in the closet and caught on.

"You mean amazon?" I asked.

It turns out that was the box she meant, and it worked quite well. Fortunately all hell did NOT, in fact, break loose at assumptions gone awry.