Stormrider blogged recently about a friend of his who got into the trap of cults and the supernatural. This is a good opportunity for me to write a bit more about my own similar experiences in my younger age. I have already blogged about my experience with a Christian sect, but I don’t think I’ve blogged about my time in Corfu, when I was studying to become a nurse in the early ’90s.

I hated the nursing studies. Computers was always what I wanted to do, but my parents had a different idea about my future. So, for the 8 months I was forced to be in Corfu (1991-2), I was miserable. I hated the job, the two female teacher-witches we had there, the whole sub-culture in the hospital between the doctors and the established nurses etc. Because I didn’t fit in, and because I am by nature a very curious person, I started reading books. Anything outworldish was welcome. Soon enough, I was the “weirdo” of the class — where my classmates would only be interested in clothes and clubbing, I would prefer to explore what’s beyond. It cost me dearly of course, as the one person I really cared for back then, would not take me seriously after finding out my little interest in parapsychology. Looking back at that era, I find everything and everyone around me at the time to be a complete joke. That includes myself, of course. I was an idiot among [complete] idiots.

I never got into any cults/sects, but I did learn as much as I could about both sides of the subject, and I do give credit to myself for that. I maybe never learned how to properly apply mascara, but geez, I did learn what frauds Uri Geller or astrology or crystals are. I bet my ex-classmate girlfriends still read the astrology column on their husband’s daily newspaper, or even worse, they might occasionally be visiting “readers”. Shortly after my time in Corfu I completely renounced the supernatural and today I am an agnostic and I prefer scientific answers rather than charlatanisms. However, I think it’s important that most young people do go through the process of exploration by themselves — even at the danger of falling at the pitt– by taking the journey and find the right answers and proofs on their own. It’s an age that’s filled by curiosity anyway.

I got into a roller-coaster for the first time in my life today. I managed to ride with “Roar“, which is of “moderate” thrill. Still, quite a few people were screaming, but I kept my cool. What’s scary about this particular roller-coaster is not its sharp turns and speed, but the fact that it’s built of wood. The modern metal-based roller-coasters don’t “shake” you much, while the old-style, wooden ones, they give you the impression that they are going to fall apart at any moment. Video of the Roar coaster here.