Dear Clinton McGinty in 1987,

I will henceforth refer to you as “CM87.” It sounds like Terminator terminology which I figure will help you understand what is going on here, and also, it sounds really cool, even by post-millennium standards. I know this is going to sound crazy, but it’s me (you) writing to you (me) from 2014, 27 years in your future. I know, I’m still getting used to it.

It has been 5 days since the big jump. 6 days ago I was settling into bed in my/our Mid-City apartment, thinking about litigation prep on the Anderson Case. It was April 15, 1987 and life was ordinary as pie. When I woke up, I was you, except, I was in the year 2014, living in the same apartment in Los Angeles, CA. I work at an eerily similar law firm, just 27 years in the future. Don’t worry, Anderson settled in the end.

I don’t have an explanation yet as to how our situation arose as such. I thought it was a dream at first, but it is real. Here I am in 2014, writing to you/myself in 1987. The world has changed so much in 27 years, you will hardly recognize it. I will do my best to explain things to you in a concise manner, but forgive any vagueness, many things remain unexplained.

Given our love for technology, I am using a journal-style website (referred to now as a “blog”, which is short for “web-log”) to communicate with you. This was the first good idea that I had to try and get in contact with you. My principle hope is that you will eventually find this site (assuming you went on living even after I traveled through space and time). I am hoping that through it you can learn from my mistakes. It is incredibly strange writing to you like you are my son, but in many ways, you are a completely misguided fool and the future is seriously mindbogglingly confusing. Right now in 1987, the internet is only a zygote, you may not even hear about it for another 6 or 7 years. In 2014, it is an angsty teenager.

By the time you find this, you will probably already know, but the internet is essentially a large network of information, accessible via many devices, including computers, phones or tablets. It is the single-biggest difference that I can articulate between ’87 and now. Its predominant uses are as follows and in this corresponding order: pornography, people watching other people play video games, Netflix, social media and cats. 

Obviously, you were able to find this site.  How, I am not sure, but since you are me, I am guessing you were askjeeves’ing yourself one day and this showed up. We use the search engine “Google” now, and people just say “googling” instead of “searching the internet”.

Yes, I did just block quote myself. It’s been a crazy week so I feel like I am entitled to it.

Check back often for updates on your life in the parallel future.

As an aside, there are a number of movies that came out between the 80’s and 2014 which try to explain time-travel. I don’t know which kind ours is. I don’t know if it is “Butterfly Effect” time travel, “Back to the Future” time travel, “Looper” time travel or some other parallel universe time travel like “Hot Tub Time Machine.” I don’t know if what I do changes things for you (sorry if that is the case). I am doing my best here with a bewildering sci-fi situation.

Remember, if you ever do find this site, email me.

Yours seriously,

Present day Clinton McGinty (“CM14”)