Direction (or, Directionless)

This is cheating a little: I haven't re-read Lewis Carroll in a while. However, this snippet seemed appropriate, given the general questions about life direction that have been percolating through my head:

Alice came to a fork in the road. "Which road do I take?" she asked.

"Where do you want to go?" responded the Cheshire Cat.

"I don't know," Alice answered.

"Then," said the cat, "it doesn't really matter."

Six Impossible Things

I finally saw Alice in Wonderland, courtesy of the in-flight movie selections on my latest trans-Atlantic flight. Overall, I really enjoyed it: I thought Mia Wasikowska captured the right mix of wide-eyed Alice and skeptical Alice, Helena Bonham Carter's tone was appropriately imperious, and Johnny Depp was brilliant.

But -- and, you knew there was a but! -- I cringed (multiple times) at the deviations from Carroll's original storylines. e.g., Alice's famous line in the film? Not actually said by her in the original:

"I can't believe that!" said Alice.
"Can't you?" the [White] Queen said in a pitying tone. "Try again: draw a long breath, and shut your eyes."
Alice laughed. "There's no use trying," she said: one can't believe impossible things."
"I dare say you haven't had much practice," said the Queen. "When I was your age, I always did it for half an hour a day. Why, sometimes I've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast.''