We–I–need technology that allows thoughts to flow directly into a save file. I want to be thoughtwired like that. I want the opportunity to capture all of the ideas that pass through my consciousness when I don’t have a pen or a keyboard handy. I was going to write about something else today, but I forgot what it was because I am not thoughtwired. I used to have a website with that very name. It is the name of a screenplay I wrote when I didn’t know a thing about writing screenplays. I feel like it is an idea I should go back to, especially now that I am in a sci-fi class in a graduate program that appears to embrace my brand of weird.
I used to have ideas all the time. They happen less now, perhaps through aging or TV usage. The problem will absorbing so much media is that it leaves you less time to think and imagine. The time I spent as a kid staring out of 17th and then 8th floor window was time well spent. I don’t spend that time as well these days. I waste a bunch of it on bad fiction. I absorb that stuff like candy anymore. Just today I sped through one of those videos on daily motion that are chock full of bad acting and rather repetitious scenarios that all revolve around some incredibly wealthy man who is hiding his wealth and identity and all the people around him are treating him like trash. Incel bait, this. Still I struggle with putting down stories when they hook you right away with a moment as simple as wanting to see someone snooty get theirs. Unfortunately, these things make you wait an hour and a half (plus ads) to get to the payoff. Thankfully, I am a master of fast forward.
No, the payoff isn’t worth the speed scrubbing.
What I do realize in all of this is that I need to spend more time offline. The stories are there. The stories are floating around in this jumbled psyche of mine and, not being thoughtwired, I need to dig them out by analog. It is hard work, but if I can mine a few really good tales then it is work worth doing. Besides, I tend to enjoy silence, nature, and moments of peace. It is all I crave when the house is full of noisy kids.
Some Thoughts:
- Not a lot of thoughts but a little bit of time left.
- I will say one thing: I’m excited to see the draft… be over. I just want to get on with it. Being a Giants fan has gotten tougher. I’m out here rooting for Jameis. That’s wild.