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My little guy...my son...is a constant source of entertainment. Even when he's not doing anything in particular, he's funny and cool as he navigates the boundaries of a world that was a complete mystery less than a year-and-a-half ago. I admire his fearlessness.
In his blue dino jammers, he grabs a book I've been reading to him and tries to climb up on the bed that's too high for him to reach. He can't make it, but that doesn't mean he won't try. I grab him and pull him up. Together, we pile together and he tries to read to me.
He's almost a Teletubbie - footie-pajamas make you look more roly-poly, somehow. He lies back, holds the book up and 'reads'. Baby Latin comes out. He's so proud - doing what Dad does. Simple pleasures, like getting a bite of chocolate brownie. Being so purely happy...I'm glad that someone is.
You may be interested to know that another of my short stories was published by Indiebloggers. "No Good Deed" was a story I wrote several years ago - a character-based science fiction short I was thinking of developing in to a novel.
I wanted to write a story about a boy who takes that step into manhood. It's a classic theme and I wanted to visit it without boring people. Too much these days, male development is told in the context of your first sexual experience, when something terrible happened to you. It doesn't always have to be that way. Humans have been growing into adults for a long time now - the process is large enough to encompass when a young person does the right thing, even though it happens to be impossible.
The story goes through some classic themes - you might not be surprised to learn that I drew from Harper Lee's "To Kill a Mockingbird" and various short stories by Robert Heinlein. I generated some technical terms and nomenclature ('danjir' and 'MH-105', for example). Sci-fi has been doing that for a while and I didn't want to bog the story down with it. It's there, it helps tell the story but it isn't the story. The story is this boy and the annoying brat he dislikes but must save anyway.
"No Good Deed" @ IndieBloggers...
Readers of this blog might be interested to know that, after a suggestion from a contributor - I picked up a book from Nick Hornby and a book from Richard Russo. I'm happy to report that yes, they are exactly what I'm talking about when I talk about 'flawed characters'.
Ánágodziih doleel
I'm using a lot of '...'s today - not sure why.
Anyhoo - like all good blogspot accounts - I'm being offered a chance to cash in on all the content I'm producing here through the magic of Google Adsense. Just think - I could be talking about the popcorn I burned or another short story from Indieblogger and you'll have ads for Orville Redenbacher and Amazon pop up right next to you. All hail the magic of relentless adverse-tising!
Why, look at that - I have coined a word. "Adverse-tising!"
Anyhoo - I'm never going to discuss politics here. I thought that might a refreshing break from the screaming demon monkeys that populate the airwaves and print. The closest I'll get is stuff like this: do I want to become just another tired vehicle for people to advertise their garbage with or do I want to retain some measure of control in this little virtual space? I think back to a great mp3 I got somewhere of Howard Stern explaining to his staff how he feels about cashing in on his own celebrity. However you feel about him, you did get the sense that he was passionate about not being 'just another dog with a $#@$ t-shirt!'. He said that, almost verbatim.
So - I'm skipping the 'confirmation' mail that Adsense sent out. We'll talk later after we determine how powerful (or not) what I have to say is.
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Ánágodziih doleel
Why is the concept of 'give a man a fish... / teach a man to fish...' so foreign in the business world?
I forget sometimes that we're all working from different playbooks. There's the one where upper management says "we're all one big happy family" and we believe it. Then there's the one they're working from that says "Me King and you not King".
I've been doing IT work for quite some time - I'd like to think that I've gotten pretty good at it. One thing I try to do is show other people how to solve problems for themselves - the simple ones like 'change printer toner' and/or 'how do I work the "thingy"?' 'Thingy' in this context can mean paper shredder, printer, copier or fax machine.
Sometimes, you get fed a page from the un-discussed playbook. A manager has been saying 'we're all one big team' and 'we're all empowered' and then you get the call...come change the toner. I do my thing, get the toner and then ask "would you like to see how to do it?"
"No...thanks."
In the space of those two words is a large, unspoken pause. You have had to have worked here for a long time to know what it means. Perhaps it sounds alarmist, but where I work, you develop a fine-tuned sense of when you're about to put your foot in the bear trap. I said nothing more - changed the Cyan toner on a color printer and went about my day. I wish I could say I let it go but I spent quite a bit of time reviewing what I did, wondering if it meant I was going to get dinged in some subtle way from this guy.
I wish I understood how it worked but for now it seems very arbitrary. You're empowered insofar as being empowered means doing what you want to do. This doesn't extend to the dirty work you think is beneath you.
"(Feels Like) Starting Over" got published today in Indiebloggers. I'm very pleased by that, as well as the immediate and total enthusiasm from their editors.I've been asked whether or not I was writing from personal experience. I'm not, this is fiction. A lot of the story elements were drawn from personal experience and I think some people might see parts of themselves in what I wrote. To quote that old boilerplate "Any resemblance to persons living or dead is purely coincidental".
Forgot to add two other authors I think are interesting. William Gibson and Robert Mailer Anderson. Gibson writes scenes so descriptive that I often refer to them as 'delicious' - which freaks other people out. Anderson in "Boonville" handled the whole idea of a guy at the end of one of his life and the beginning of another that I was really inspired to try and do the same. Gibson is so descriptive in telling his stories (even though some of his stories appear dated and clunky now -- science fiction is like that sometimes) that you can put yourself into the action. I actually picked up a recipe from one of his books but that's for later.
Patricia Cornwall's characters bore me. My sister used to pick up her novels and I'd read them as well; Whatever 'CSI' is to people, she wrote about it about 10-15 year ahead of time.
Still...boring. To some degree, most large-selling novels suffer from the same problem. They create a character who's interesting on one level (hitman, medical examiner) and then fall apart on another level. To keep this happening to me (and to you...you might ask me to read what you've written at some point - this is a preemptive strike) - let's set some rules for our characters to follow:
- Flawed characters are interesting characters
- It's who you are...it's not what you own, drink, wear, write with or drive
- Improbably complex != interesting
- Sex is not always pretty / Pretty is not always sex
- Relationships are complex creatures with a life of their own
I've been writing this and re-writing it; debating on what I should add - maybe go into more detail. Then I got over myself; I know as much as you do - let's learn together.
Kicking off a new blog is always difficult - I'm actually not a fan of blogs that punish people by not providing enough info about what's being said, who's saying it and where they're coming from. So - I thought I'd begin with a quick bio.
Sex: Male
Age: 29
Hometown: Sunol, CA
Highest Schooling: Community College
Day Job: Desktop Support Technician for a major laptop company
Best Day Ever: Still waiting...
I dislike bios that read like personal ads. Who doesn't like a candlelit dinner or walks on the beach? I'll admit the truth: I wish my life allowed for things like candlelit dinners and walks on beach. Right now I'll settle for a shorter commute.
Some people would call me bitter, a nerd, stuck-up and weird. Other people would call me complex, warm, honest and brave. It's a weird world out there and laboring under the normal ways people label each other is tiring after a while.
Interesting Authors: Robert Louis Stevenson, Chuck Palahnuik, Nick Hornsby, Hunter S Thompson, Barry Eisler and Elmore Leonard
Interesting Bands - A note about music; I like most of it, if not all of it. Therefore narrowing me down to a single genre or group within that genre is both difficult and a waste of time. If I say "Blur" today and you run up to me tomorrow and go "I like Blur, too!" my response will be "That was yesterday." Again - sounds stuck up, not meant to be - people take it in different ways.
That's enough for now...like all good relationships, we'll get to know each other better over time.
~D
