What to talk About?!?

Elaborate courtesy is probably a good long term strategy in getting along with friends Online. I find that hard to maintain, frankly. In the morning I must quickly go to the doctor again to schedule surgery on what's apparently a minor hernia. Ardently I thanked God over and over for my long life apparently going to be allowed to continue. Wisely I didn't ask for a contract in the matter. I already figured out that one can't haggle with God. She gets upset. That's not clear: I went to The Bob Hope Clinic for a diagnoses, then I was given papers to take to a surgeon at Cedars Sinai, tomorrow (which is now today).

Yesterday I bought my wife a guitar. It was on sale. Tuning it up a string broke. I was mortified. The only 'music store' I could find nearby, in Glendale, was a piano store. I've never seen so many baby grands all in one place in my life before. I asked directions to a music store. Cut to the chase, the owner put in new strings and tuned the guitar. He was "Persian" (shhhhh, Iranian) and joked with my two boys having a fit because their Mom got a guitar and they did not. I will not, and can not, buy five guitars in one day. The owner asked me what I paid for the guitar. I told the truth, peanuts. He had guitar strings on hand. Don't ask I don't know. I asked him how much: he said "Five dollars." The packet said "$2.29" but I gave him five dollars. He gave back the five dollars, and, put in the new string, and spent maybe ten minutes or more tuning the instrument. "How much?" I asked. He brushed that aside and like two rich merchants we agreed to do actual business on another day. Home we went, the boys and I, mission accomplished. Yesterday was my lucky day.

I'm intrigued by the success of an apparently fairly new AOL message board called DO YOU BELIEVE? In the last several days that one board has received, again, over 100,000 posts. Educated people, as well as religious well-educated people, post on that board. Don't know what to make of it. Reading every post is for me out of the question: some of them are long, passages from Scripture are sometimes included. Literal, thumbs up, thumbs down, voting takes place as I mentioned in my Entry about "Meeting Jesus."  

All the fiction writing message boards have failed, IMO. One reason, of many perhaps, is that writing per se is inherently a tussle. Oh of course the use of stronger words has been tried.

The other day someone expressed Online their contempt for the renaissance stage play Hamlet. It was judged "over-rated." Ha ha ha. So, I scratched my head and puzzled out what was the essential ingredient of the play that makes it so important in the history of writing. Tentatively I put forward now the opinion that the primary reason the play is so important is that for the first time a character's most private thoughts were spoken, solo, onstage. Furthermore, characters have scenes together that would take place in life, only if the characters believed they were speaking privately. The scene in which Hamlet overhears his wicked, murderous Uncle praying, helps emphasise how Shakespeare seems to glory in his new writing toy: private thoughts. Shakespeare must have loved 'stealing a march' on his theatrical competition.

How well do we do with private thoughts in our writing here and elssewhere? In letters it can be disasterous. Not everyone will forgive. Writing is hot stuff. Wear gloves. Shade it kind. Hide your private parts.

Barry

Isn't there a song, or poem, or play or novel called Private Parts!? Oh, isn't that the name of Howard Stern's movie? Pretty good movie, funny as all get out. Of course don't bring it up in good company, ha ha ha ha ha...........................zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Barry

http://journals.aol.com/bbartle3/Vengeance/