It doesn't make a lot of sense for me to keep blogging because I find it harder and harder to write anything that anyone would find interesting. The thing about being a common joe is that most of your experiences are pretty common -- not the kind of thing people looking for excitement would want to read. I originally set this blog up as just a place where I, who am a fairly common person, could express viewpoints that I consider fairly representative of what common people are concerned about. Somewhere along the way I have lost my focus and started writing about all kinds of things. It's hard to get a following when your audience never knows if you are going to write something they want to read. You can't be all things to all people. As a result, you aren't much to anybody. It takes an arrogant person to think that hundreds of people will want to read what he or she writes all the time. Still, I don't quit. I think about it, and even don't write anything for a while, but I always come back.
Sometimes, I write about movies. I have gone to see the Hunger Games, and I absolutely loved it. I know there are some people who ask why would a decent human being watch a movie AND enjoy it when it features teenagers hunting and killing each other. That's a good question. Stephen King believes that all of us have a dark side that needs to be sated every now and then just so that we can behave in socially acceptable ways most of the time. I think there's something to be said for that. To me though, the utter incongruity of the move amazed me. All the pomp and celebration for what is essentially a death match. The images of pomp and pain juxtaposed are especially effective. Then, the theme itself -- the idea of punishment and redemption. The characters are interesting also. The movie disturbs people, but isn't that a good thing? Of course, it's hard to make a judgement considering the entire story took three books. Hunger Games is just one book. The entire series is a vicious attack against hypocrisy and totalitarianism. I won't say it's another 1984, but it has that same kind of vibe to it.
I also like to talk about music. I have listened to a lot of it lately. I made myself a couple of data disks full of music for my trip to Iowa City. The two of them combined lasted for about ten hours. I love the fact that my Toyota can play data disks because I can put several full CDs on one data disk. I listened to Christina Aguilera, Leona Lewis, Foghat, Kansas, Boston, RTZ, Bob Seger, and a bunch of other bands. I love all kinds of different music. I'm fond of saying I like everything from Abba to ZZ Top. I like country, rock, classical, pop, new age -- almost anything really. I cannot imagine the chaotic mess my life would be if I did not listen to music. It soothes the savage beast. For me, it keeps the insanity at bay. I always think of the story of Saul and David. I think I am very much like Saul. That's not good.
Sometimes, I talk about writing. In Iowa City, Iowa University has one of the best known creative writing programs in the country. I have often wondered what would have happened had I majored in creative writing. Where would I be now? All my life I have played it safe. I know that isn't necessarily a bad thing, but sometimes I feel like George Gray. If you don't know George Gray, look it up. It's a poem out of the Spoon River Anthology by Edgar Lee Masters. It's king of gut wrenching.
I have to go back to work -- at my real job tomorrow. I'm so far behind. Plus, one day soon I have to give the EOC test. It's on a computer, and I have no idea how to do it. The class I'm proctoring is not my class, but its teacher is proctoring another one of his classes elsewhere. I am available, and I don't mind doing it at all. I just don't feel comfortable doing it. The time I
spent in Iowa City was really nice. The pedestrian mall is a section downtown right next to the Sheraton that features several blocks of shops and restaurants. It's also in the heart of Iowa University campus. All kinds of college students are walking up and down the streets. The area is paved in bricks with benches and flowering trees everywhere. I loved sitting and watching everyone even though it made me feel a little old.
In my writing news, I need to do some serious revising of Fall of Knight. I have a friend who has expressed a desire to collaborate with me, but once she sees the mess it is, she may decide that she has plenty of other work to do. I am going to revise it and get back to the screenplay of my dystopian novel/movie called Tongue Tied which is about a futuristic society where stories are outlawed and those who write them and tell them face harsh punishment or death.
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