last year's unanswered christmas letters....geek holiday...

Dear Santa

Last year I got my wish for a highspeed internet connection. I love it. I spend at least 10 hours a day on the web.

This year may I please have a new keyboard. My current one is all sticky.

John

P.S. You don't have to put it under the tree. Please just put it in my room, I live in my parent's basement


Johnny Cash Loves You!

i blame myself...mostly...

there are a handful of regular readers of this journal...both friends and strnagers...on top of that...a couple dozen of regular passers by and lurkers...so when i write a post intended to solicit audience participation...i don't expect much...sure, i'm disapointed when no one plays along with my reindeer games...but i haven't done a lot to earn avid...and reciprocal...readership...i can live with that...

but when some annonymous jackass...is the lone commentor...to an offer to play an innocent word game...and his contribution is a critique...of the style this journal is written in...that would be depressing...if said jackass knew what the hell he was talking about...but since "someguy" doesn't have the guts to leave an email for correspondence...or a link to his own writing as an example of his own stellar...wordsmithery...i am only left with the choice to get fired up...and publicly evicerate him...

starting with the the writer's bible, The Elements of Style...or one of my personal favorites, the AP Stylebook...even the grammar maven du jour, ms Lynne Truss...make little if any mention of the humble ellipsis...but there are rules regarding its correct use...a quick search online...and on my bookshelves...offers the following definitions/usages...

Wikipedia:
"An ellipsis can also be used to indicate a pause in speech or, at the end of a sentence, a trailing off into silence."

Merriam-Webster:
"a sudden leap from one topic to another...marks or a mark (as ... or · or --) indicating an omission (as of words) or a pause"

Hodges' Harbrace College Handbook:
"Use ellipsis points to mark a reflective pause or hesitation."

even "someguy's" source The Blue Book of Grammar :
"Sometimes sentences are meant to trail off. Use ellipsis marks without any ending punctuation in this situation."

it's one thing to completely disregard the disclaimer above...and like a coal pinching tight ass...find fault with the writing style...it's a choice on my part...it'a a way to let readers inside my head...and give them a sense of how i think...it's a stylistic choice to represent the fact that i...and most sane...and reasonable people...don;t think in complete sentences...

it's another to annonymously leap in...without credentials...or the courage to open yourself up to equal critique...and attempt to correct me...

hey "someguy"...first, you're wrong...there are many things that i'm wrong about...but my use of ellipsis...is correct...more important...if you don't get the spirit of the thing...and only adhere to the strictest interpretation of the rules of language...in my mind...that's a greater ignorance than illiteracy....

language is a fluid...living...thing...it is neither static...nor bound by codification...get over it...and get over yourself...

Johnny Cash Loves You!

fun with madlibs...

an interactivity test...remember these...well...you give me the words...i'll fill them in and...together...we'll write something...funny...maybe...

here we go...

1 male name

6 nouns

1 human body part

2 more nouns

2 adjectives

2 last nouns

1 adverb

okay, let's see what you got...

Johnny Cash Loves You!

resurrected...

i saw a hawk on a streetlight...it was sitting there checking out the view...the snow capped mountains...the parking lot...the mice in the tall grass...the traffic...it seemed to be considering it's options...while a crow was swooping and swirling just above it's head...diving within inches of it...

i thought...yeah, that about sums me up...mulling my choices...the rest of the world be damned...

btw...this is an excellent assesment of denver's hip hop community...and it's lessons are applicable to any independent spirited endevour happening here.

Johnny Cash Loves You!

a question of character...

ive been thinking about don jose recently...he's the central male character in bizet's carmen...the man is a boy scout...steady...disciplined...and loyal...ever loyal...then he meets the seductress carmen...and goes to prison...for helping her escape prison...when he gets out...he goes back to her...deserts the military...and reluctantly follows carmen's gypsy life...of course...it doesn't end well...

this is on my mind because of the time worn cliche...character is destiny...i wonder how true this really is...is it something that storytellers spun...out of whole cloth...how many truly good people...come to good endings...and how many scoundrels...get punished...is character really destiny...or is that just a story we tell ourselves...

carmen is one of the earliest models for what we now call...noir...good man falls for bad woman...and bad things happen...don jose's central trait is his loyalty...loyalty for his mother...loyalty to his uniform...when he trades these things for loyalty to carmen...he really hasn't changed...he's just redirected his focus...loyalty is a positive trait...something worth rewarding...don jose's first crime is bad judgement...

why do we tell ourselves these stories of human ruin...they're morality plays...warnings of bad tidings for behavior...outside the norm...but does life really work that way...mostly i see that the people who live...beyond the everyday...are creating change...innovating...and mostly making the world a better place...this is one of the things that makes us all want to secretly be...outsiders...it's a daring life...

the real theives and human misfits...hide behind normality...to make what they do seem right and just...one of my favorite bands from the 90's called this...friendly fascism...

and this is why don jose is on my mind...men like him are good...in their way...but ultimately...they are easily manipulated...toward bad ends...so that his character is not his destiny...it's his trap...

Johnny Cash Loves You!