and who knows ... it might just have been a beacon to myself and a few others , to shake off all the transparent layers of comfort that were burying us alive , to cough up those empty calories we were being force fed -- a nice slap in the face , the kind of wake up call that might lead one to accept old chet baker 's great invitation ( ca n't you just hear that mesmerizing voice whispering from the depths of some dark forbidden highway , `` let 's get lost '' ) ... anything -- a tap on the shoulder , a note passed underneath the desk , telling me that something else was possible , drawing a clear picture of exactly what one has to lose by not defining their own set of parameters regarding what they will and what they will not accept as 'the way it is ' .