Boy, there’s nothing I like better than clattering the keys for 30 minutes or so, with the certain knowledge that what I wrote, or most of it, will never see the light of day. Don’t care. It felt good.
For what it’s worth, it was a letter to the editor, and if it gets butchered, well, it’s my own fault — you just don’t submit 638-word letters to the editor. Maybe they’ll run it as a guest column. If it sinks beneath the waves entirely, I’ll post it here. But they get first crack at it.
(Don’t get your hopes up; it’s a topic of little interest outside journalism. But it’s of interest to me.)
The end of a long week. For the first time in quite a few, I have a full plate — a long-term project and a couple of meaty stories to figure out. This will require time management, i.e., not spending so much time surfing the web while picking my nose. Fine with me. It’s appalling, how much I know about stupid b.s. like blogwar squabbles and the exact tactics used by Cathy Seipp’s online stalker. It makes me think that a certain portion of the human brain is simply roped off for inconsequential data; when we’re young we fill it with the lyrics of “Afternoon Delight” and the technique for playing the “Combat” theme on the harmonica, and now we fill it with crap from the internet. If only the new data would overwrite the old. But no.
Actually, the Seipp-stalker story is pretty interesting, if only as an illustration of the ways the internet facilitates mental dysfunction. (Which is sort of a theme to my too-long letter to the editor, too, but never mind.) As many of you know, I had a crazy man obsessed with me for a long time, too. Every so often someone sends me some random spew that indicates he still hasn’t gotten over it. Lance Mannion once wrote him a letter that said, “If you don’t get professional help, soon you’ll be locked in a padded room, using your own excrement to paint pictures of Nancy on the wall. On second thought, that’s what you’re doing now.” This ranks as one of the more stylish smackdowns in my memory, and yet another reason I love Lance.
I should note, however, that it did no good. The murals continued.
OK, now should be some bloggage, some tasty tidbits to carry you into the weekend.
…Sorry, I don’t have any. Post your own in the comment. Back after the weekend.
MarkH said on March 30, 2007 at 1:06 pm
Nance, I think all of us are enough into journalism to appreciate and be curious about your letter. I look forward to it.
Also, curious as hell about your stalker; but not enough to know the details, so will leave it alone. Scary enough, though.
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nancy said on March 30, 2007 at 1:30 pm
He’s not a stalker, more of a silly little homunculus. Nothing harmful.
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MarkH said on March 30, 2007 at 1:48 pm
Wow.
I frequently reach for my dictionary, sometimes when posting on NN.C, but I nearly fell out of my chair scrambling to look up THAT word!
BTW, “little homunculus” is redundant. Just sayin”. 🙂
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nancy said on March 30, 2007 at 1:50 pm
Not if the homunculus is particularly little.
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brian stouder said on March 30, 2007 at 1:50 pm
‘silly little homunculus’ could pretty much peg me!
anyway – good to hear that the thing is contained within the ‘harmless’ file.
Writing for yourself only – lots of solid precedents for that wholesome habit
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MarkH said on March 30, 2007 at 2:11 pm
Nance, I am (sometimes) a little slow on the uptake.
As I was sitting here thinking about that word and its implications, it hit me, and I rushed to acknowledge that is, indeed, just what you meant. Alas…
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Dave said on March 31, 2007 at 9:57 pm
Funny, since he took his site private and got himself into such a frenzy because others began blogging about the local scene, threatening litigation and all sort of nasty things, he seems to be little thought of now. And little missed. The open access of blogging did him in.
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brian stouder said on April 1, 2007 at 12:09 pm
apropos of nothing – last night my lovely wife rented Running With Scissors, based on the box’s description of it as a “hilarious comedy”.
And since it stars Annette Benning – she knew I’d watch.
30 minutes into the movie, I asked her if she was sure it was a comedy – and she said she thought that was what she had read. It WAS occasionally worth a snicker – but the ‘humor’ was uniformly black.
Even Little Miss Sunshine – which was also described as a raucous comedy – had at least a FEW actual laugh-out-loud moments (despite being pretty dark throughout).
Got me to wondering when I’d seen a new comedy that struck me as good. Other than Disney/Pixar (et al) style movies, I cannot think of very many. Maybe the romantic comedies – 50 First Dates, 10 ways to Lose a Boyfriend (or whatever they called that movie), The Wedding Planner (OK – I like McConaughey – even if I can’t spell his name)…Hollywood can still churn out funny romantic comedies.
But other than that – beware the words “hilarious comedy” on a dvd at the rental place
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