I just arrived home. I don't have that much time to write...but I have a decent amount. But...y'know...I don't have much to talk about, either.
Okay. I'm talking to TJ right now. He's asking about my breakup with Victoria. I thought, y'know, he actually cared about our mental and emotional well-being, that he wanted to be sure that we were doing well in the wake of one of the most catastrophic emotional events in either of our lifetimes (well, in my lifetime, anyway), that he wanted to be a good friend and support me and/or her in our time of need. But no, he just wanted to know if she was coming down and bringing the Magic card she promised him for Christmas. That fatso.
I made a couple of new friends yesterday. One of them is Jen, a girl who had heretofore lived just down the hall from me, but we had never really met. She, like me, is a writer, and she read my devil story with great interest. She showed me her blog, and an old essay she had written that was based on a Mark Twain quote: "I wonder how much it would take to buy a soap bubble, if there were only one in the world." It was neat. As soon as I remember what her blog was titled, I'll link to it. She's nice.
The other one was a guy named Joey, whom I met while I was wandering around a dark campus at 3:00 AM last night. I couldn't sleep. I encountered him near the student union, and he said he was on his way back from a friend's house. I offered to walk him back; I had nothing better to do with my time. We ended up talking. He's a freshman and a journalism student like myself, so I told him to take classes with a certain professor who was awesome. We spoke of sports and the merits of joining marching band, the various strategies one should undergo while in early years of college, and other such things.
I friended both of them on Facebook. Though I'm not the biggest fan of Facebook as it relates to a lot of people obsessing over it constantly, it is the most useful tool for finding and keeping track of people that I have ever seen. So, that's awesome.
Now I'm home. Which is likewise awesome. So, er, that's it. No YouTube link today, I'll save it for Monday and a more substantive post. It's short, but, well, I'll have more time later. All my friends are over. I'll have either a McMillan installment or another short story on Monday.
REPLIES.
Steve: So do I, frankly. And, again, knowing rules is one thing, but there's no call to be a jerk just because you know how to respond to a fast effect or know what gets past a split second or something. Shmovacs acted just like I thought he would.
Dad: I have a hard time believing that the devil would give someone immortality. It seems, er, kind of contrary to the point of getting someone's soul if he'll never die. And maybe this dorm battle is supposed to increase my resilience to annoying coworkers later in life. Perhaps this was intended in the design of dormitories...
Mom: It's sad, but true. I never win, except when I'm in the many in a many-on-one game like Fury of Dracula. As for the devil, the classical interpretation of him is someone who tells the truth, but warps and twists and distorts it beyond all recognition - yet, it's still technically the truth. I think of him as the ultimate wish corruptor. I don't know why the hotel blew up, frankly.
Travis: Good to see you, finally. Your attempt was successful. And, er, this was the story. There's not going to be a sequel. It's left as an exercise to the reader to wonder whether the devil eventually wore the guy down, although frankly I doubt it. We do combine the two - people from any group join any game - but we're still formally two groups. They don't want to go under my banner, as they've been operating for some time, and...I like having my own group. It makes me feel special.
Climate wars are always a difficulty. But I didn't know Kelli liked it so hot. I'd figure her for the sort who was always burning up and wanted the AC on. I gave the name of the book in the original post, but here it is again: Stick to Drawing Comics, Monkey Brain! by Scott Adams. And in case people didn't read Travis's comment, here is his blog:
www.travis-is-bored.blogspot.com
There, that was easy.
Bye.
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2 comments:
Luke, you're HOME! I'm so excited! I love you! Yea!
Deep breath.
love,
Mama
Remember what I was thankful for at our Thanksgiving dinner? "I enjoy the noise when you [Luke and friends] are here, and the quiet when it is just your mother and I". I really mean both parts of that. I was joking with your mother about how I shouldn't be spending money buying a new Tivo unit (or old one is in the process of dying), since we will not be able to watch any television at all for the next three weeks. Last night was a perfect example: we were trying to watch something, and we literally could not hear a single word because of all of the (very loud) conversations going on in the house. I am thankful for the noise when you are here, and the quiet when you are not... :-)
As far as the devil giving someone immortality, I think you have to recognize the difference in point of view between deities and non-deities. "Immortality" to your main character probably means thousands of years, maybe a million or so. But in terms of deity time-scales, this is meaningless: they are around at least until the death of this universe, a few hundred billion years from now, and (depending on your theology) were around before and will be around after that. To them, human time-scales and the human definition of immortality is like the way we treat butterfly lifetimes, which for some species are approximately 2 weeks in length (as the Silver Surfer story recognized). So a butterfly managed to extend their lifetime to a few decades? So what, even in human terms.
I don't know if you ever thought about it, but look at all of the classical fantasy literature (elves, The Little Mermaid, etc) and even the classic Greek/Roman/Norse/etc pantheons. The people who wrote the stories and believed in those deities postulated that the societies of those clearly non-humans (mermen, gods) were structured exactly like the human societies, with kings and nobles all fighting for position and power (think Loki and Baldur for Norse, or Zeus always trying to have an affair behind the back of his wife), and the rest of us being either protected or exploited (depending on the story) by those nobles. The societies were idealized, of course (these were supposed to be gods), but they acted remarkably human, which I think is unrealistic.
So if you are going to continue this story, you need to think deeper about the difference in POV of someone who simulates humanity, but is clearly and totally not human in any way.
-- Your happy Dad
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