Year of The Ox 4707
1 February 2009 AD
Sunday, 1016 AM CST
Stormcrow Ranch
Boone, IA
USA
"Squirrel Corn Capital of The World."
SuperBowl Sunday. A time beyond understanding for most of the World. It is said God rested on the Seventh Day just so He could watch American football. And I am not far from enduring the blather of the Pre-Game, before we actually get to that meat near the bone.
But in the meantime, I'd like to answer the most frequently asked questions my ten readers have generated regarding this blog, my writing in general, and my life overall:
Yes. Yes. No. Yes. Sometimes. Yes, but not my fault. Yes. No. Yes. Yes.
There.
I hope that clarifies things.
Actually, of these questions, there is one I would like to address specifically: the quote usage (item #3 on the list). The quotes I use are from memory exclusively otherwise said words will be cited when I have to look them up. I make no bones about using the words of others. The funniest thing I ever saw about this was from the comic strip 'Doonesbury' wherein George F. Will would shout for his 'quote boy.' (off panel: "'Get me something from W. Somerset Maughm!! Now dammit! I'm at the conclusion!. I need pith!) Maybe you need to be a writer to understand the humor in this series of panels. I roared. It was so like Trudeau to notice a pattern, and it was even funnier to see his drawings of a wide-eyed intern scrambling through a huge library, trying to find apt words for his master who sat a desk like Bartleby the Scrivener.( 'uh, sir? Will Kipling work?' Fool boy. I said 'pith'; not depth!!') But what most people missed was that the writer knew who to cite and when. Now, GFW is a great writer and a huge baseball fan, and while he may have flown into town on a plane with two right-wings, this does not change the fact that the man can turn a phrase or two, that he can sling ink. But he uses quotes a lot. Smart man, that Mr Will. Conservation of resources, doncha know.
Myself, I find that I cannot keep re-creating the wheel, that the words already expressed say exactly what I intended. It is my hope that one day, I too will be listed in Peter's Quotations, or even say or write something of merit, something that people will remember in the next Age. And the Age After That. It seems unlikely. I am the first to admit that I am too goofy and lazy to create such things even in this world of sound-bites and blurbs, of blogs, Op-Eds, and YouTube vlogs.
Oh and ah, I better get going. I have snacks to prepare for my private tail-gating party. At least I'll know everyone there.
"... my sock is off,
my foot is cold,
And now my story
Is all told."
~~Dr. Suess
Rage, rage,...
~~Hob
