Well, gosh, I thought I was writing something to try to explain to myself how I feel in my mid-life crisis, or tell my wife what was going on in my head or something, but it got pretty weird pretty fast, and it’s not very personal, so I’ve decided to share it. Turn away.<\/p>\n
\nWhat\u2019s On My Mind<\/b><\/p>\n
\nI\u2019m looking for some way to let you know what\u2019s going on in here.<\/p>\n
\nIt is my only intention to type freely. I have little idea what I\u2019m about to write. I do know that I want to express some things that I\u2019m feeling and thinking about lately. Here we go\u2026<\/p>\n
\nI\u2019ve toyed with the idea of doing a sort of \u201chere\u2019s what I think about moment by moment as I go through my day, from the moment I first wake up until I go to bed,\u201d and I think that could make for a really powerful presentation of my stream of consciousness.<\/p>\n
\nI\u2019ve also toyed with the idea of just typing a true stream of consciousness, but right now, that feels almost like what I\u2019m doing!<\/p>\n
\nI\u2019ve also also toyed with doing a running, fictional, allegorical narrative.<\/p>\n
\nI\u2019ve also also also toyed with the idea of doing a topical outline and just saying, in effect, \u201chere\u2019s what I\u2019m thinking right now about pets in the household.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nWhat do you think? Hey, here\u2019s an idea\u2026 let\u2019s try a little of each!<\/p>\n
\nWaking Up:<\/b><\/p>\n
\nIt\u2019s 2:30 am. I don\u2019t feel so hot. What time did I go to bed??? <\/p>\n
\nOh, that\u2019s just the cat. Should I feed her? What time is it? Oh, yeah, right\u2026 2:30. I don\u2019t think that\u2019s a good time to feed a cat. Sure don\u2019t want to train her to expect that!<\/p>\n
\nOK. (Clears throat.)<\/i> Do I need to pee? No. (Thank God!)<\/i><\/p>\n
\n\u2026sounds of snoring\u2026<\/i><\/p>\n
\nIt\u2019s 4:30 am. I don\u2019t feel so hot. I think I went to bed around 1:15?<\/p>\n
\nOh, that\u2019s just the cat again. Should I feed her? What time is it? Oh, yeah, right\u20264:30. Thinks angrily:<\/i> Think again, \u201cfurball.\u201d (I typically put this into mental quotes now because of that Berenstain Bears episode where they pretend it\u2019s a dirty word.)<\/p>\n
\n\u2026sounds of snoring\u2026<\/i><\/p>\n
\n(Boy, this gets boring pretty quickly. Let\u2019s try device #2\u2026)<\/i><\/p>\n
\nTrue Stream of Consciousness:<\/b><\/p>\n
\nI\u2019m typing. No, wait, I need to pretend I\u2019m in the past or something. Still typing. I\u2019m clever. <\/p>\n
\nReturn.<\/p>\n
\nReally liked that last one. No one knows what I\u2019m typing or talking about, but what the fuck do I care anyway? Insects. Of course, I don\u2019t really feel that way, but I\u2019m typing whatever the hell comes into my head, and BOOM!, there you have it. I don\u2019t recommend this. (technique) (or overusing parenthetical statements [I started to type \u201cparentheses\u201d {I dug correcting my plural of parentheses to have the \u2018es\u2019 on the end\u2026 GOD I\u2019M SMART!}])<\/p>\n
\nBoy, that goes quickly, but I\u2019m <\/i>sure it\u2019s a lot more boring to<\/i> read.<\/p>\n
\n(And I\u2019ve really enjoyed doing italics in reverse and nested parentheses to make all that syntax work.)<\/p>\n
\nFictional Allegory:<\/b><\/p>\n
\nOnce upon a time, there was a little boy whose parents told him he could do whatever he wanted with his life. <\/p>\n
\nThe boy loved and trusted his parents, and up to that point, he\u2019d gotten pretty much everything he\u2019d ever wanted, so the boy believed it.<\/p>\n
\nHe decided that he would be a scientist, an astronaut, a philosopher, an author, an artist, a photographer, a composer, a chef, a mechanic, a poet, a programmer, a gardener, a father, and a lover all rolled into one. (This turned out to be too much work, so he became an alcoholic.) <\/p>\n
\n(D\u2019oh! That damned stream of consciousness is creeping back in. Gonna have to watch that!)<\/i><\/p>\n
\nTopical\/Hierarchical:<\/b><\/p>\n
\n1.The Hot Tub.<\/p>\n
\na) I really like having a working hot tub.
\nb) It has a leak.
\n c) I have the part.
\n d) I need to install the part.
\n e) If it doesn\u2019t leak, we need to make time for family hot tubbing.
\n f) If it still leaks, then what?
\n g) I\u2019d love to build a solar heating panel on the roof of the garage.
\n h) Either that or go to 220V or gas. (Is it worth it?)<\/p>\n
\n2. The Garden<\/p>\n
\na) I like dirt.
\nb) I like compost.
\nc) I like seeds.
\nd) I love plants.
\ne) I love flowers
\nf) Gardens are a lot of work.
\ng) Our garden doesn\u2019t perform very well.
\nh) I want fresh tomatoes and peppers and onions and cilantro for salsa.
\ni) I eat a lot of salsa.
\nj) I like salsa.
\nk) The garden space conflicts with the vision for the new play structure.<\/p>\n
\nEtc., etc., etc., ad infinitum\u2026 God! Is life really this boring?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Well, gosh, I thought I was writing something to try to explain to myself how I feel in my mid-life crisis, or tell my wife what was going on in my head or something, but it got pretty weird pretty fast, and it’s not very personal, so I’ve decided to share it. Turn away. What\u2019s … <\/p>\n