Sunday, January 07, 2007

Tread lightly, lest ye be fictionalized?

My friend Ian came out to the city yesterday. We don't see each other as much as we'd like these days, since the dissolution of the band.

Ian is very supportive of my decision to make a legitimate stab at writing. As though to prove this, he brought me a tardy Xmas present (shown at right), a wonderful t-shirt that made me laugh aloud when I opened it.

Although I suppose it doesn't really matter how careful one is. I'll still likely put elements of most everybody I know into my novels. I have to, as I am not particularly clever.

I informed him that I don't know if I could ever wear this shirt in public. He wasn't offended. He knows I'm almost never in public.

We talked about my writing and his school for a bit at the beginning. I think we find it a bit more difficult to talk in general these days. So we tend to spend a bit more time than we might otherwise talking about the large things in our forebrains.

Later on, though, we started talking about music, and everything felt fine at that point. He's a super-cool music geek like me, and we can usually fill some time talking about albums we think the other might like. It's a nice way to spackle in the holes where we used to have our own music to chatter endlessly about.

Yes, that's right: music geeks are super-cool.

Most of the rest of my weekend was spent working. Well, that and apparently ignoring the comments that were piling up on my last post. Some of them asked me specific questions, and I know when I ask someone a question on their blog and it takes them two days to reply I am usually no longer quite so curious. So I apologize. It was just work, I promise.

I wasn't off with another blog or anything.

Went out to the car yesterday and discovered that someone had punched in my passenger-side door lock. Why a rusty station-wagon which (if a human) would be in junior high should attract so much attention, I don't know. Nothing was missing. My best guess is that someone was practicing their break-in skills on the car that never goes anywhere.

Finally turned the cable on again this evening to catch yet another installment in the disappointing current season of The Simpsons. Then I put on some music to get back to work. So far, I'm a little impressed by how tempting the new cable tv thing isn't. But if I'm hardly ever gonna watch it, is it worth the money? Time will tell, I suppose.

6 comments:

Caroline said...

Your t-shirt is perfect. Made me laugh out loud. I love it. And I didn't realise that I needed one - but I do!

Unknown said...

I love that shirt! Since I write mostly horror stories mine might say "Careful or you'll end up dead in my novel" lol.

The Moon Topples said...

I have no idea where Ian saw this, but he said he snapped it up immediately.

Zorak: Yeah, I didn't think about how creepy this shirt would be on, say Kafka or Poe. Although that's partially because they'd just look weird in a t-shirt. It certainly becomes more sinister in that light.

Liz Dwyer said...

Make sure you wear the shirt outside in case you pass whoever busted your lock. It might scare them off from doing the driver's side.

The Moon Topples said...

Liz: what if they know that I don't tend to kill off my characters? Would they really be so frightened?

Also: the idea that they'd do the other side, which would force me to access the car from the trunk, had not occurred to me. Thanks for my new phobia.

Also for your previous comments about your calendar, which led to my getting a hit today from a search for "orlando bloom 2007 calendar."

Anonymous said...

In case the statute of limitations for commenting doesn't expire - I have decided that maht is simply too nice. he is unwilling to warn people that they have to be careful of they'll end up in his novel, no matter how hard I try to empower him to give others heed. so - despite my not having actually watched The Sopranos and knowing the lingo - I shall appoint myself his novelguard and warn anyone that they may be unflatteringly fictionized if their reality involves offending maht. This service is free to maht, but I simply don't have time for anyone else. I'm already a bad enough friend so as not to comment on a post about my xmas gift to his blog for well over a week after his posting it. I may discuss an additional fee to be delivered to me should I begin to offer the novelguard plus service of nagging maht to write more, but I still think his writing is a good thing - even if I or other people he knows appear obliquely within.