A week from this Thursday, the 29th, will be the 10 year anniversary of this blog. The earliest entry in the blog is dated March 29, 2008. There are actually two posts on that date, the second and longer one is a summary of what I had posted in an earlier blog I began. By the anniversary, I will probably have about 3115 posts, or going on a million words.
I took a course in fiction writing in college and found I didn't like that sort of writing. The endless array of possibilities was distracting and tiring. Even now, I dither about what to write about. I have developed a procedure for getting started that involves making notes on up to five possibilities for the post of the day. Until a few minutes ago, I had only three for today but I still have ten documents of previous notes, each of several pages.
Get a cat to blame, rightly or wrongly
When we had children in the house and we found something amiss, we could blame the spilled salt shaker or the wet towel on the floor, we could suppose that an unspecified minor was responsible. We recently got a regular house cleaner to come and fix us up. She does a terrific job and her smile and energy brighten our day. It occurred to us that everyone should engage such a service or get a cat. That way, there are others that can be blamed in absentia for mishaps, and spats between the two of us as to guilt are less likely.
Lie or misunderstanding
What with fake news and all, I have read more instances of a statement that something was a "lie". I think the relation between what is a lie and what is not true, is similar to the difference between murder and manslaughter. It is a lesser crime to kill someone if it was terribly negligent but not intended. Similarly, it is a lesser crime or disservice to state something that is not true such as "I am a giraffe". I advise reserving the charge of lying for situations where the speaker deliberately stated something that is not true and did so knowing that the statement was not true. Elvis sang in "Hound Dog" that "they said you was high-class, well, that was just a lie." But I advise Elvis to check it out. If they have a different definition about what high classness is, or if they heard about you being high class without actually experiencing your class, they might not qualify as liars.
Practicing fierceness
About the 7th grade or so, I practiced fierce expressions. I am not sure why. To some extent, it seemed part of the preparation for warriorhood. It felt good and appropriate. I have seen writing recently that makes me wonder if maybe the idea of being fierce is semantically and socially acceptable to more young girls and women than previously. The book by the young gymnast, Ally Rasiman, is titled "Fierce: How Competing for Myself Changed Everything" and uses the word. Somewhere else, I saw the word in a context that made me wonder if the term and the notion are more acceptable to women of today (and tomorrow) than previously.
