Conference hydra::dejavu

    	I have had several occurances that have made me wonder about
    those very same topics:  FATE or DESTINY.
    	As a child, I had always been fastenated by the topics of space
    and throughout high school followed closely anything I could read
    or see on TV regarding the space program, and of course I also read
    my share of science fiction space novels.
    	Internally, I dreamed of working for NASA, but never actually
    persued a career that would take me in that direction.
    	Another one of my childhood fantasies, problably occured when
    I watched "YOU ASKED FOR IT" on TV.  This show offen brought topics
    up about placec or subjects people had heard about, but were never
    able to see or persue themselves.  Once the show covered the "NORAD"
    or North American Defence Center in Colorado Springs Colorado. 
    I was fastenated by this topic, of an underground top secret complex
    inside the Rocky Mountains in Colorado.  Besides having a passion
    for spelunking [cave exploration] and the combination of a science
    fiction world.  This did not surprise me.
    	Well, as time progressed, I graduated from high school in 1970,
    and then spent two years in Tech school in Louisville, Ky.  After
    graduations form tech school in electronics, I then entered the
    U.S. Air Force, and after going through basic training and then
    to another electronics school in Mississippi, was sent to Colorado
    Springs.Colorado and assigned to work in "NORAD".  Needless to say
    my first dream came true!
    	Once, my term in the U.S.Air Force was over in 1976, I was not
    sure what I was going to do when I got out of the service.  I really
    did not want to leave Colorado, but there was not a lot of
    opportunities here at the time.  As it worked out, I was hired by
    Digital before I actually was released from the service.  Of all
    places to work, I was hired to work in busy Washington D.C. 
    	Shortly after arriving at my new job, I spent the first 3 months
    in more training, and then the next three months working all over
    the D.C. area.  I recieved a clearance to work at a Nuclear Power
    Plant at the National Bureau of Standard, but on the same day my
    clearance came through, my boss called me in and told me that I
    was being transfered to work as an on site rep at the NASA Goddard
    space facility in Greenbelt, Maryland.  I spend the next three and
    a half years working there, enjoying every minute of it.  Second
    dream come true.  
    	Eventually, I decided to move back to Colorado, and here I am.
    Well, You tell me, is it FATE or DESTINY?
    

    When I was a freshman in high school, the date of December 3rd sort
    of got stuck in my brain.  For months beforehand I would sit around
    and say "December 3rd. There is something I'm supposed to do, or
    something that is going to happen on that day."  I figured that
    it was a day that I had pre-arranged a dentist appointment, or some
    assignment was due at school or some such, but I just couldn't put
    my finger on what it was.  It worried me a bit, but I figured that
    I'd find out eventually.  That experience stuck with me until nearly
    10 years later I discovered that December 3rd of that year was the
    day that my now ex-husband first entered the USA from Poland.  I
    guess that George and I were destined to have a definate impact
    on each others life.  I think that destiny is at the source of many
    psychic happenings.
                       
    Marion
    
    Marion

    RE: .1
    
    I don't think that destiny/fate had as much to do with your dreams
    coming true as did the fact that you pursued them with the choices
    you made throughout your life.  The schools, the Air Force, the
    experience and knowledge you sought eventually led you to making
    your dreams come true.  
    
    I wish more people believed in taking control of their lives, rather
    than waiting for fate to somehow lead them down the path to happiness.
    (And it seems that people who wait for fate will cry "woe is me" when 
    fate "deals a rotten hand," blaming it on fate rather than their
    own lack of self-control.)                     
    
    -joella
                           
    
    
    

    
    There is so much of this in my life that I'm no longer surprised
    by this.
    
    As .1, I'd read just about every space book in the library and always
    dreamed about becoming an astronaut - to the point of becoming an
    Engineering Science major in college, which I never really did anything
    with after graduating (with an AS degree).
    
    Somewhere in my high school years, I began dreaming/thinking about 
    future children's names and the name 'Christa' kept coming to mind.  
    I mentioned the name to my cousin whose wife was pregnant at the 
    time, and they ended up naming their daughter Krista (note the
    difference in spelling....).
    
    I figured that the connection was that of my cousin's daughter's
    name, and really didn't give it much thought after that.
    
    You can probably figure out the rest of the story from here.
    
    Given my intense desire to be a part of the space program earlier
    in my life and even now to a slightly lesser degree, I often wonder 
    about that connection.  
                                             
    Cindy

    To .3
    
    	I would be the first to agree with you, until you take the
    following things into consideration.
    	When in the military, I did not have a choice of assignment,
    but was rather picked among others to work in Colorado at Norad.
    Even when I first arrived in Colorado, I did not know until I got
    here that I would be working in the mountain.
    	As for preparing or guiding myself, even though perhaps
    subcousciously, the only area I can agree with you on is with regards
    to being trained as an electronic tech.
    	When I was hired by DEC to work in Washington D.C. and eventually
    at NASA/Goddard, I could have just as easily been hired to work
    anywhere else in the country.  I didn't even know at the time that
    a NASA site existed outside of Washington.
    

    I believe that "fate" or "destiny" is the *probably reality* that
    will tend to occur in one's lifetime.  We do have free choice, but
    are inclined in a certain direction.  Experiences with the ouija
    board predicting my future husband, date (month and year) of my
    marriage, etc. has made me feel this way.  
    
    I also believe in the possibility that time exists concurrently
    (i.e., there is no past/present/future) and therefore experiences
    of "future" lifetimes can be "tuned into" now (the time we are focused
    in at present).
    
    Helaine

    re:	.3
    
    	Amen!!!
    
    	If a person believes in fate and destiny (which to me is akin
    	to giving the responsibility for everything in one's life to
    	another, i.e. God, Buddha) then I don't understand if they
    	believe in creating their own reality or a freedom of choice.  I 
    	have chosen to be a white American female in this lifetime and 
    	short of a sex-change operation that will not change.  So I 
    	suppose you could call that my "fate," but it was also a choice
    	I made *at some point* in time.  And from there I have made my 
    	life what it is today, both from conscious choices and also at 
    	a higher level.  I believe in my*self* as the guiding force
	in my life.
        
  	I put in a note a while back entitled "Getting What You Ask For."
    	I believe in creating what I want, and, more importantly, what I 
    	*need* in order to further my knowledge and growth.  I take full 
    	responsibility for my actions and my life.  I am not playing the 
    	I Create My Own Reality game (as it has been called), where people 
    	say and believe it until something happens that they just can't 
    	believe they would create and say "Well, I just create my own 
    	reality up to a point."  If you believe it, you've got to accept
    	it and take the responsibility for it.
            
    						Carla
    

    The way I look at is that something deep down inside me, perhaps my
    prime interests in life, guide me. And if I'm willing to listen to my
    heart I'll achieve some measure of success pursuing my prime interests. 

    I tend to think of destiny or fate as the framework of reality.
    There is no question in my mind that an element of destiny does
    exist.  That doesn't negate the power of the will or "choice".
    
    Some of us have a special role to play in this reality.  Although
    we may always choose to go our own way, destiny still presents the
    opportunity to grow in a certain direction, to assume a certain
    role.  If the element of fate is particularly strong, the opportunity
    may present itself more than once.  Choice is a matter of self,
    of what kind of person we want to be, we insist on being.  Destiny
    is (in my opinion) the Myoho's (God's) way of guiding us in a
    specific direction, of placing us where we should be in the scheme 
    of things at a particular time/place.
    Mary

    
	I genuinely do believe that you can control your own destiny
	** up to a point **. That point being that sometimes
	- "stuff happens", for reasons I can't explain or a(e)ffect.
    
    	What I can control is my response to these events. While
	I can't control the deal - it's up to me to play the cards.
    
	Somewhere in this note or one of the others the example
	of parking spaces was brought up.

	Consider.. if I decide to control this part of my 
	destiny and always get a good spot ( up close etc.)
	Does this mean that I have

	. caused several people to overlook a good spot
			or
	. caused someone to leave at just the right time
			or
	. caused someone not to show up at all

	If so, I have just exerted my external control
	on their destiny. Does this mean that they
	can do the same to me? If they can then I'm not
	in full control.
              
    	Sometimes I prefer to think that I made a conscious or unconscious
        decision to arrive a little earlier. 
                 
    
    
  Anyhow.. .0 wanted a Fate or Destiny story

	Here's mine..


      When I was in tech school, a FS engineer from DEC stopped by
  one day with a GTxx system and demo'ed lunar lander. Since this
  was the first video game I'd ever seen I was reasonably impressed. 
  It was also the first time I had heard of DEC. ( DEC was probably
  a three person outfit in Ct. in 1974).

      About a year later I was coming back from a camping trip in 
  Maine and spotted a DIGITAL sign on 495 - The Marlboro plant.
  I pointed to it and told my buddy I wouldn't mind working there
  someday.

     Six months later DEC comes to our school and I get hired
  to work in Marlboro. Same building that i had made the
  statement about. 


 Brien

    
    re. -1
    
    As I was entering my "title for reply" I had the stangest sensation
    that I had used that line before in notes or was meant to or
    something..
    
    Just another one of my nearly daily DEJAVU sensations.
    
    brien
    

                                                                   
    GT40 with Lunar Lander???   That's how 'we all' got started too!
    It was back in 1975 in college when the DEC FS Rep. used to let all 
    the computer center types help out when he was fixing the DEC-10, 
    and then would take us out for pizza and amber liquid afterwards.  
    Out of that group of hackers, 7 eventually came to work for DEC.
    
    The director of the computer center back then now works for DEC
    as well, for a Vice President in an engineering group.  He used 
    to sit for *hours* playing Lunar Lander.  I can't bring myself to 
    reveal his name though....  
    
    Cindy

    I am a firm believer in Destiny.  But I don't think that I have
    one specific predetermined destiny.  My belief is that in my life
    I have a number of choices (kind of like a decision tree) and depending
    on the choices I make, my destiny may have a number of possible
    paths.  I think this is true of my career and my personal life.
    I am a firm believer that there is "someone" special that I am destined
    to be with, but that is dependent on conscious choices that I make
    in my lifetime.
    I like to let my common sense direct me to the best possible
    alternatives in my life.  So far I haven't been steered wrong! 
    ;^)

    
    
    It was definitely fate that caused me to get my job at DEC.  I just
    graduated from Tech school and was sending out a batch of resumes.
    I had the address of the CSC in Colorado Springs but was not planning
    on sending them a resume.  "They wouldn't be interested in me so
    I won't bother wasting a stamp".  
    
    As destiny would have it I had one stamp left over & was trying
    to decide which company would complete the batch mailing.  My inner
    voice kept telling me to send a resume to DEC.  "Oh well, what the
    heck", I said as I mailed the envelope to Digital.  
    
    Less than 2 months later I was relocated to Colorado Springs and
    working at the Customer Support Center.  That was 6 years ago, last
    week. 

    
    
    Another episode deals with my current Significant Other, even he
    (a relative non-believer) thinks it was destiny.  We both work for
    DEC and are new members of a club.  I had seen him at the club but
    thought he wasn't anything special.  He told me that although he
    thought I was pretty he would never have asked me out.  
    
    We met thru a classified ad that I placed in a (legit) singles paper.
    This was the only ad I've placed & the only ad he replied to.  The day
    his letter came I got several other letters.  I determined which letter
    to read first by holding them & deciding what type of vibrations I was
    getting.  When I held his letter I felt joy.  We hit it off immediately.
    Everything about the relationship seems to have moved fast but without
    forcing it. 

    
    Jayna

    Re.-1 - That's a great story!
    
                      Love, Dejavu-style
                      ===================     
    
    What possibilities!
                       
    Cindy

    
    Another SO/destiny story....
    
    I moved to Southern California two years ago after spending the
    first 23 years of my life in Leominster, Massachusetts.  Drove cross
    country with my roommate, found a place to live, tranferred to a
    DEC office out here, and got settled.  After a couple of months
    living here, met, fell in love with, and moved in with Peter.  So,
    what does this have to do with destiny?  Peter is also from Leominster,
    MA, and had lived out here for 5 years when we met.  He lived only
    a mile from me when we both lived with our parents in Leominster.
    The strangest part?  We didn't know each other.  See, he's five
    years older than me so we hung out with different people and we
    never even knew of each other in school because he was getting out
    of junior/senior high school(s) as I started attending them.  What
    are the chances of moving 3,000 away from your hometown and falling
    in love with someone from the same hometown?  Pretty slim, I'd say.
    We're making our wedding plans now and I'm a firm believer that
    it was fate, or destiny, that brought Peter and I together.
          
    Cherie