Why did Forrest play with the Omegas in OUAW?

[Gunrunner]

As noted above
"No apparent differences in Supplemental Punishment (pg 2-5) which in itself seems odd considering his statement he revised all the stories."
In a sense, I think this story was loosely tied to the Totem Cafe. They both had a familiar ring if you listened close. The title in itself speaks volumes and struck me curious why it was chosen as the first chapter. All in my opinion of course.

I've been wandering along similar lines the last few days. In the thread that Not4but242Walk linked above someone pointed out that there were 39 stars on the front cover and 39 stories. Then there were 40 of each, so maybe the Dizzy Dean scrapbook corresponds to the small star added by Fenn's name... which would suggest the other stars represent respective stories as well. If that was the case, then the stars on the inside flap and back cover would be elsewhere in Fenn's writings, perhaps.

I'm just thinking out loud here, but if OUAW was Forrest's swan song, so to speak, and Forrest wanted it to serve a purpose known only to himself, there's a way he could pull it off. Suppose OUAW was a map and you could marry the stories to actual places, as we're supposed to do with the clues in the poem. Forrest could have had the revised edition planned ahead of time, giving the folks who produced the first edition only part of the map without them being aware there was any such map, and then producing the revised edition himself, adding the bits and pieces needed to complete the puzzle. Really, I can understand revisions to correct errors in the text, but there is no good reason to add a star to the cover or fool with the omegas when you know how your searchers are grasping for any hint from anywhere. Was he just yanking our chain?

[Star Shadow]

Was he just yanking our chain?[/QUOTE]

Lol, I about choked when I read this. I think he yanked our chain just as much as we yanked his, just that his chain had some missing links. Remember he thought 'Catcher in the Rye' was about him, he just just needed to add on to it. Why did none of the circles complete? Why did he bend a little? Why was Cody's rope missing a section? He 'may' have recieved the correct solution out of order? He wishes he could have skipped a year and 'added(?)' it on the end? Eric Sloane wrote a book with invisible ink? Shiloh lands in the fog(I often wonder what that party was really about)? Why did he add two extra stumps to the big picture? There are some blanks/ spaces, to fill in, imo. I know he was not a selfish man, and his "swan" song may have been the least selfish thing in his life, pure payback or pay forward, in my opinion. While it may not be wise to jump to conclusions, it may be wise to fill in some blanks.
My apologizes in advance for this convoluted response but sometimes thats how my spacious gray matter operates. If only I could have been born an elephant then there would be no need to go searching for another trunk.

[starwheel]

I've been wandering along similar lines the last few days. In the thread that Not4but242Walk linked above someone pointed out that there were 39 stars on the front cover and 39 stories. Then there were 40 of each, so maybe the Dizzy Dean scrapbook corresponds to the small star added by Fenn's name... which would suggest the other stars represent respective stories as well. If that was the case, then the stars on the inside flap and back cover would be elsewhere in Fenn's writings, perhaps.

I'm just thinking out loud here, but if OUAW was Forrest's swan song, so to speak, and Forrest wanted it to serve a purpose known only to himself, there's a way he could pull it off. Suppose OUAW was a map and you could marry the stories to actual places, as we're supposed to do with the clues in the poem. Forrest could have had the revised edition planned ahead of time, giving the folks who produced the first edition only part of the map without them being aware there was any such map, and then producing the revised edition himself, adding the bits and pieces needed to complete the puzzle. Really, I can understand revisions to correct errors in the text, but there is no good reason to add a star to the cover or fool with the omegas when you know how your searchers are grasping for any hint from anywhere. Was he just yanking our chain?

Gunrunner I guess it hasn't dawned on you to add 39 to 40 and come up with 79 which is the atomic number for Gold and that the previously distant star has now changed to a Gold color?

[Gunrunner]

Gunrunner I guess it hasn't dawned on you to add 39 to 40 and come up with 79 which is the atomic number for Gold and that the previously distant star has now changed to a Gold color?

Well, sure, it dawned on me that the star had turned gold as soon as the revised edition came out, but, no, it never would have occurred to me to add 39 and 40. I don't have the justification or rationale for involving atomic numbers -- I shudder to think of the number of 79s I could extract from words, phrases, page numbers and squiggles I see in the pictures. Talk about lost in the funhouse! My head just doesn't work that way and if the solution to the poem lies in zodiac signs and atomic numbers I'm out of luck; I'll never be the one to solve it and likely wouldn't be able to understand the solution if someone explained it to me.

What I'm thinking about right now is that if that added star represents the added story ("Dizzy Dean"), then the most obvious choice for the gold star would be "Montana Golden." You know there's an Avalanche Lake up in Glacier, too, right? Much better known than the one down there outside West Yellowstone. When I first read that scrapbook I thought he was talking about Glacier and I saw some of the commenters on Dal's thought the same thing. You have to hike in a few miles and it's loaded with grizzlies. It wasn't until Forrest mentioned Blue Danube and Google having the names wrong that I was even able to find the Avalanche Lake outside West. So, anyway, I look on my Glacier map and see the gold star does indeed land in the vicinity of Avalanche Lake. Not real close but at least the general area -- looks like about two miles. (But, hey, didn't Forrest say Google had Avalanche in the wrong place? He's at least a mile off, himself, and besides, "Montana Golden" itself moved a couple of pages away from where it was in the first edition.)

And so what do "Dizzy Dean" and "Montana Golden" have in common? Dr. Pepper is the first thing I spot and so I guess that's the rabbit hole I'm heading down now.

[starwheel]

Well, sure, it dawned on me that the star had turned gold as soon as the revised edition came out, but, no, it never would have occurred to me to add 39 and 40. I don't have the justification or rationale for involving atomic numbers -- I shudder to think of the number of 79s I could extract from words, phrases, page numbers and squiggles I see in the pictures. Talk about lost in the funhouse! My head just doesn't work that way and if the solution to the poem lies in zodiac signs and atomic numbers I'm out of luck; I'll never be the one to solve it and likely wouldn't be able to understand the solution if someone explained it to me.

What I'm thinking about right now is that if that added star represents the added story ("Dizzy Dean"), then the most obvious choice for the gold star would be "Montana Golden." You know there's an Avalanche Lake up in Glacier, too, right? Much better known than the one down there outside West Yellowstone. When I first read that scrapbook I thought he was talking about Glacier and I saw some of the commenters on Dal's thought the same thing. You have to hike in a few miles and it's loaded with grizzlies. It wasn't until Forrest mentioned Blue Danube and Google having the names wrong that I was even able to find the Avalanche Lake outside West. So, anyway, I look on my Glacier map and see the gold star does indeed land in the vicinity of Avalanche Lake. Not real close but at least the general area -- looks like about two miles. (But, hey, didn't Forrest say Google had Avalanche in the wrong place? He's at least a mile off, himself, and besides, "Montana Golden" itself moved a couple of pages away from where it was in the first edition.)

And so what do "Dizzy Dean" and "Montana Golden" have in common? Dr. Pepper is the first thing I spot and so I guess that's the rabbit hole I'm heading down now.

Gunrunner He shows a photo of his aircraft with an ATOMIC bomb under it. In the books beginning he says "Well I'm almost eighty" then goes on to mention seventy nine.

[Gunrunner]

What I'm thinking about right now is that if that added star represents the added story ("Dizzy Dean"), then the most obvious choice for the gold star would be "Montana Golden." You know there's an Avalanche Lake up in Glacier, too, right? Much better known than the one down there outside West Yellowstone. When I first read that scrapbook I thought he was talking about Glacier and I saw some of the commenters on Dal's thought the same thing. You have to hike in a few miles and it's loaded with grizzlies. It wasn't until Forrest mentioned Blue Danube and Google having the names wrong that I was even able to find the Avalanche Lake outside West. So, anyway, I look on my Glacier map and see the gold star does indeed land in the vicinity of Avalanche Lake. Not real close but at least the general area -- looks like about two miles. (But, hey, didn't Forrest say Google had Avalanche in the wrong place? He's at least a mile off, himself, and besides, "Montana Golden" itself moved a couple of pages away from where it was in the first edition.)

And so what do "Dizzy Dean" and "Montana Golden" have in common? Dr. Pepper is the first thing I spot and so I guess that's the rabbit hole I'm heading down now.

Well, turns out there may be more Dr.s involved in this than just Pepper. As much as I liked the idea that the gold star represents "Montana Golden", I may have to revise my thinking a little. Has no one ever mentioned the gold star that Forrest gives Dr. Blake in "The Bullet Comes Home"? And where would a bullet come home to? The gold star on the cover is about as close to Gunsight Mountain as it is to Avalanche Lake; closer, really, if you don't measure to the peak. (You might even be able to see it from where the gold star lands, but that's not really relevant unless you want to imagine Snyder Lake is Dr. Blake's mirror.) So Gunsight Mountain on my map is represented by a star on the inside flap, which according to my "theory" should correspond to a story somewhere besides OUAW, presumably the one in TTOTC about shooting meadowlarks since he talks about that again in OUAW.

I realize this must be hard to follow. I'm yakking away about places I see clearly in my head, but the map I keep referring to is in a different thread. I'll try to gather this stuff up into one place where maybe it will make some sense to those following along at home.