Sunday, May 30, 2004

Words. More Words. War of the Words.

Words. Words we say. Words written down. Words keyboarded in. Each word a moment in time. Those words written or keyboarded or even by video or audio recording are captured. Perhaps for a long while, or perhaps only momentarily. If we only think the words--that constant stream of verbiage racing through our brains--they are lost after a moment. Our dreams disappear and fade away as we wake and go about our day. Sometimes the dreams return night after night. Sometimes we have an intense dream, only to never have it come to us again. And after a few hours, days, weeks, or years, the dream has faded and is no longer. To help *catch* the image and the words, we have to say the words. We have to recite our dreams. We have to tell our stories. We have to write them. We have to capture them in writing, keyboarding, and other means of recording. Then we can use them. Then others can see our thoughts. Some of our thoughts may not be nice. Some of our thoughts may not be comfortable. Some of our thoughts may be disgusting. Some of our thoughts may be intriguing. But, if we don't write those thoughts and thus, words, down, how do we *really* know how we think? How can we analyze what we think? How can we *clarify* what we think? If we don't write the words down. If we don't capture the moment. If we don't capture the words. We have lost ourselves. Because perhaps what we define as "ourselves" is nothing but words. Code, perhaps. Each of us possesses a unique DNA. A unique *code*. And since we are unique, the words we have inside us are also unique. How we formulate our thoughts, how we assemble our words, how we express ourselves with our words--*THAT'S* what makes *each* of us unique. We have a voice. We have a place. So, the next question is, why would anyone want to listen to our words? Why would anyone want to *read* our words? Especially when each of us is already full of our own words--why would we want to read or hear anyone else's words? This is the dilemma for anyone wanting to be an author, a writer, a poet, a musician. Why would *ANYONE* want to hear our thoughts? Our muses? Don't they have their own? Is there not an autobiography inside everyone, just waiting to get out? We all have 24 hours in a day, no more, no less. Why do some of us struggle to scrape by with just enough money for food and shelter, and others have no wants, no needs that are not fulfilled and with more money than they know what to do with? I don't believe we can put blame on anyone but ourselves. Sure, some of us were born in bad environments, perhaps got the short end when it came to looks, or intelligence, or so on. But there are a lot of successful, sort of dumb, and sort of unattractive (I'd say *ugly*, but that's mean) wealthy folks out there. And... there are attractive, and well-educated folks out there struggling. Go figure. But I digress. This essay was on words. And my words all sort of got jumbled up and fell out of my head onto the keyboard. Freewriting. Writing whatever comes to mind that is strong enough to activate the nerves that control your fingers on the keyboard. I'm fighting a serious case of "writer's block" at the moment and I'm hoping that this little brain-dump will stimulate *something* to form into a coherent thought. A thought that folks will deem worthwhile. A thought someone will find useful. A thought someone will think is amusing. A thought that someone will want to send a check for $200 to my bank account for. (Just kidding on that last one... but hey, how do you think writers get paid? --they get paid for their writing. What a concept!) Well, I've captured enough words for today. I'll keep a pad and pen handy as I go for a drive today to the hardware store to pick up an air filter for the air conditioner and some gardening supplies--mulch and potting soil. That's another thing I've been putting off--taking care of my back yard garden. It's a pile of weeds at the moment and I need to brave the allergies and get out there and clean the mess up. Who knows? Maybe I'll get an article or other thought out there that may turn into a paying writing gig.

Monday, May 17, 2004

Riding Herd on the Herd--have ya heard of it?

What's up with those folks who plug up entrances and exits to everything from movie theaters, coffee shops, elevators, meeting rooms, airport arrival/departure areas, churches, and other crowded spaces? These are the bozos, who while supposedly entering or leaving the area, will stop smack dab in the middle of the ONLY WAY OUT/IN to have a conversation with a friend, to hug someone, to check their makeup, to blow their nose, to check their purse or pockets, or some other darn fool thing. Kinda makes you want to get a cattle prod to get things moving again, eh? And, then, of course, are the knuckleheads who stop on freeway on-ramps, or who cut across three lanes of traffic to make a turn... aaargh! And then also are the folks doing 70mph who tailgate you so tightly that you have to make room among your bumperstickers for them... Was driving between L.A. and Las Vegas this weekend--and saw the result of that... five or six different cars--with stupid owners who were tailgating. The one in the front stopped or slowed quickly... The folks behind them did not. Created one heck of a traffic jam... but also a very graphic lesson for those others considering tailgating to perhaps rethink themselves. (Probably won't work, but it is worth a shot to give them the benefit of the doubt--I know my kids hate my preaching and grousing about these things ..but maybe it will soak in.)

Tuesday, May 11, 2004

Recommended books... from my *other* website



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Welcome to Fanihiman's Cave... a site for *pondering* and other stuff

Again, I'm starting a Blog today. Another test of the many uses of Blogging. Information overload. Perhaps it will help to clog the wires with extraneous bits and bytes... More to come