There was a guy who kept hundreds of reptiles in his house. He had iguanas in the sock drawers, glass aquariums with hairy spiders under black lights, mice with pink eyes for the boas...
Thanks, Kim. There's some early morning madness to it. The reverse engineering is interesting to play with because it actually takes a little effort to retrace my steps. I remembered it much more clearly with the Pigeons story. This one was a bit more of a blur other than what I added, possibly because there aren't really big narrative shifts. There was building out the relationship, but it's not really about big plot points emerging. I think those are the things that really jump out because they come out of nowhere (and, generally speaking, come with a little kick). For that reason, they are very memorable. The piece that jumped out here, primarily, was the addition of the letter which created the context for everything.
“…or experimental by the writer, but a legitimate, epistolary artifact that made structural sense! See! I can both tease and simultaneously kill off accusations of pretentious nonsense in one fell swoop! Or rescue myself from it since I didn’t actually have that letter postscript idea in the first place.”
Just one of the many reasons I stick around to,“Feel Something”.
Coltrane’s Ascension, I did listen to it. Once, in my own home, the second time, cuz you asked me to. Twice is enough for one lifetime . And if I am not in the room when you ask again, you’ll find me downstairs in the kitchen with Melanie, talking about you. Me saying to her,“ It all makes perfect sense“(Roger Waters, Perfect Sense; Amused to Death).
OMG, rereading that, Lor. I understand what I'm saying, but when I read that out of context I sound like a pretentious windbag. I'm praying that there was irony in that... Rereading the second sentence, I see there's a soupçon of untrustworthy humility to take the edge off. 🤣
I played Ascension on headphones for a few days while I wrote. Eventually, it became like a background sleep machine, white noise I could tune out. I really don't think that was John Coltrane's intention. There is a huge chance he never listened to it all the way through, but I'm no jazz critic.
Now a question for you: I confess I'm not tracking on Roger Waters --> Amused to Death. Help!
No, no, not pretentious at all, I love when you add those tiny bits and pieces of yourself into your writing. On second thought, Re: Coltrane’s Ascension, there are certainly moments of pure genius , but the moments are not connected, resulting in the antithesis of easy listening, I’m no jazz critic either. Playing it on repeat, well, that’s where I came up with the line, “it all makes perfect sense”. I was just giving Roger Waters ( Pink Floyd fame) credit for the one line. The entire song, does not relate at all. But here it is in case you want to listen ;
I was at my dentist’s recently and her face was eight inches from mine and all I could think about were patients locking in eye contact with their dentist while they worked away. I may not be capturing the social awkwardness of that but it almost had me in stitches. I asked her if patients ever stared at her without looking away while she worked and she said yes.
For this and 500 other reasons, I could not be a dentist. Thus the story…
A narrator can never be trusted! But we lean in anyway because neither can the listener. Love how you reverse engineer your madness for us.
Thanks, Kim. There's some early morning madness to it. The reverse engineering is interesting to play with because it actually takes a little effort to retrace my steps. I remembered it much more clearly with the Pigeons story. This one was a bit more of a blur other than what I added, possibly because there aren't really big narrative shifts. There was building out the relationship, but it's not really about big plot points emerging. I think those are the things that really jump out because they come out of nowhere (and, generally speaking, come with a little kick). For that reason, they are very memorable. The piece that jumped out here, primarily, was the addition of the letter which created the context for everything.
“…or experimental by the writer, but a legitimate, epistolary artifact that made structural sense! See! I can both tease and simultaneously kill off accusations of pretentious nonsense in one fell swoop! Or rescue myself from it since I didn’t actually have that letter postscript idea in the first place.”
Just one of the many reasons I stick around to,“Feel Something”.
Coltrane’s Ascension, I did listen to it. Once, in my own home, the second time, cuz you asked me to. Twice is enough for one lifetime . And if I am not in the room when you ask again, you’ll find me downstairs in the kitchen with Melanie, talking about you. Me saying to her,“ It all makes perfect sense“(Roger Waters, Perfect Sense; Amused to Death).
OMG, rereading that, Lor. I understand what I'm saying, but when I read that out of context I sound like a pretentious windbag. I'm praying that there was irony in that... Rereading the second sentence, I see there's a soupçon of untrustworthy humility to take the edge off. 🤣
I played Ascension on headphones for a few days while I wrote. Eventually, it became like a background sleep machine, white noise I could tune out. I really don't think that was John Coltrane's intention. There is a huge chance he never listened to it all the way through, but I'm no jazz critic.
Now a question for you: I confess I'm not tracking on Roger Waters --> Amused to Death. Help!
No, no, not pretentious at all, I love when you add those tiny bits and pieces of yourself into your writing. On second thought, Re: Coltrane’s Ascension, there are certainly moments of pure genius , but the moments are not connected, resulting in the antithesis of easy listening, I’m no jazz critic either. Playing it on repeat, well, that’s where I came up with the line, “it all makes perfect sense”. I was just giving Roger Waters ( Pink Floyd fame) credit for the one line. The entire song, does not relate at all. But here it is in case you want to listen ;
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mYVjsjoo4Iw
Feel something? I’m feeling amused, surprised, pleasingly perplexed. I love tbe dentist. Why does anyone go into dentistry?
I was at my dentist’s recently and her face was eight inches from mine and all I could think about were patients locking in eye contact with their dentist while they worked away. I may not be capturing the social awkwardness of that but it almost had me in stitches. I asked her if patients ever stared at her without looking away while she worked and she said yes.
For this and 500 other reasons, I could not be a dentist. Thus the story…