Brief movie review: Twin Falls Idaho (1999)

Having come highly recommended by my favourite film fan, this one had been on my list for some time.  And it lived up to its billing. 

Ostensibly about conjoined twins, the film really was about being alone and being together, and being different; about being okay with who you were, but with others not being so okay with it; about surviving and exploitation and trying to separate the two.

A low-key film written by twins (but not conjoined off-screen) and acted by the same twins, with one of them producing, it was obviously born of curiosity about how much more together one could be than just being identical twins.   Their insights illuminated this somewhat dark film, turning what otherwise might be bleak into something about hope and love.  "Another love story", said my life partner.  Ultimately, he's right.

Generally speaking, I'm not fond of metaphors or similes based on competitive sport, military confrontation, or automobiles.   But this one seems to fit the occasion: I'm sure I'm no more than a V-6 engine, but all six cylinders have been firing with perfection of late.  (That depletes my automobile jargon.  And just in time.)

I recall, in the spring, going to buy new shoes for walking.   Well, not just walking. Walking.  Serious shoes.  For the serious walker.   But I digress.  I was in a store that specializes in fitting serious shoes for serious walkers (and runners and whathaveyou); the sales person was telling my advisor and I how she had given up a career as a costume maker, with a vision of becoming an aerobics instructor.  She took the job selling shoes to make a living, and lo and behold, it ended up leading to her own aerobics classes.  Just as she had hoped and much sooner, too.

Then she said, "It just proves that when you're on the right path, there aren't as many closed doors.  The doors just seem to open, once you're on the right path."  I'm not given to mysticism, but I have felt my heightened productivity to be at least partly because I'm on the right path. 

The first crossroads, in retrospect, was withdrawing from doctoral studies.  Even though I never devoted as much time to it as it warranted and as I intended, it weighed on my mind.  It was like the ever-present obligation, always casting shadows and confusion on all efforts to do something else, whether work-related or fun.  A huge burden was lifted with that decision; a whole bundle of energy was released, freed to be tapped for other purposes.

The second choice of paths seems to have been more by default, than a conscious choice.  I knew we had to decide whether to grow the business, but suddenly it was growing itself.  And then the choice became whether to try to bring the train screeching to a halt, or whether to try to control its course and speed.    While it's still not clear that growth will be easy or even possible over time, or to what extent it can be sustained, all systems are in place to find out.   We are accumulating the talent and the interest and the skills to both assess and direct our future, and to grasp opportunities as they arise. 

As someone who never intended to become an entrepreneur, I'm still amazed at how much fun I'm finding it to be.  I feel, with providing virtual teamwork software and mobile offices on the Internet, that we're just among the early miners on the scene of the gold rush.  It's not that I'm sure we have talents as panners for gold; it may just be particularly abundant at the moment.  But soon, we'll have a better sense of our own talents and the potential.

For now, having been through car, train and gold mining metaphors, I'm going to enjoy the bursts of energy, the clarity of purpose, and the exhiliration of being on the right path.  It truly doesn't get much better than that.

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