So, the title: Prolix Ruminations, is, I believe, a nice way to start this out - a good first title. For one thing, it would give anyone who were to read this a hint about my personality. They would know that I am verbose - that not only do I talk a lot, I like complex or obscure words, & might guess my love of words whose meanings are commonly misused.
If one were to have read past the title & through to this point, they might have discerned other aspects of my personality. For instance, I've been referring to people reading this blog in a hypothetical sense. One would be right to conclude from this that I have no delusions about there actually being real people out there reading this blog.
Also, I linked a few definitions earlier. I do like to think of myself as a wordsmith, although I have no delusions about my skill as one. My mood vacillates, though, so there will be times when I talk a lot, & other times when I'm succinct. I suppose this would be a good time to set down a few ground rules.
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• Sometimes I post links to a word's definition:
1. The reason I've decided to do this is not because I don't think people will know the definitions. Actually, I'm very optimistic about the education of the proles. I do it because I have a natural inclination to educate. Apparently it runs in my family.
2. Sometimes a commonly used word will get linked to a considerably more obscure word. This likely means I would rather have typed the obscure word but chose the common word for style.
3. Don't get spoiled. If I don't define a word, that's my prerogative. I have my own ideas about which words my readers already know, & it won't kill you to go look it up yourself.
• As long as I'm discussing semantics, a few other things to note:
4. Readers of this blog are
5. Rule four extends to grammatical errors, as well as broken links or (God forbid) if I misuse a word.
• That's about it - if I end up making a lot of other rules, I'll be sure to post a compilation. Oh, actually, there is one more thing.
6. Suggestions are encouraged.
7. It's my party, & I'll cry if I want to. (I hope that doesn't need a link)
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Actually, let's run with that metaphor. After all, hosting a successful party takes skill, & although some people decide - "Hey, let's host a party," & a hundred people show up & get drunk & dance & did'ya hear that Alice & Bob hooked up on top of the beer pong table right before the cops showed up, but it turns out Alice was dating Charlie ... anyway. Yes, those parties happen, but more often those parties are really well planned & advertised, & a lot of parties that could equal or top those parties just don't end up being that quality of fun. This? right here? with me typing? is more than likely me, pouring a hundred cups of punch for a crowd that'll never show. But that works out well, because I'll need that punch to rehydrate. You know, after sobbing myself to sleep.
There's a reason I don't host parties.
Not to mention that I'm already at a disadvantage, because it isn't smart to host a party on a night when a another really popular party's going on – or, you know, a lot of really popular parties. I would be inflating my own self-importance to hyperlink this blog to the period in that sentence.
...The en dash might be Myspace.
My point is that everyone publishing content on the internet is competing with everyone else for (what else) your time. Hosting a personal blog isn't exactly the key to getting famous that it's purported to be. The Blogosphere is huge, & as a result, trying to find a new blog to listen to is like sticking your head in a beehive if the bees had opinions. The only reason that you (if "you" in fact exist) might be reading this is that with your head in the honeycomb long enough, you will get stung a lot. I guess that makes losing your social life anaphylactic shock. Huh.
And in all likelihood none of what I'm saying is original! People say a lot of things & have a lot of ideas that they think are original, but there are a lot of people typing stuff up on the internet, because we live in an age where individual expression is triumphed, because it helps their self-esteem to delude themselves into feeling as though they are impacting the world they live in. The emphasis that America places on self-esteem is one of my pet peeves, & I'm likely to mention quite frequently, so if that bothers you, go find someone else to sting you.
So why do it, Chris? If you hate it all so much, & if you're so above it all, why are you wasting your precious time on us? Shouldn't you be off arranging deck chairs on the Titanic or something?
...
It's a good question.
But I disagree with your assertion, Mr. Sockpuppet. I don't hate it; despite my reservations, I actually admire the internet subculture & have suspicions that it may be a necessary step for humanity's development. Nor do I think I'm above it all - remind me to write about that at some point. Having read this far, you likely have suspicions that I'm oft accused of having pretentious tendencies. You'd be correct in holding to them.
I see a lot of problems with the world as it is. That's nothing new - the earliest Christians firmly believed the world would end in their lifetimes. We have always managed to run faster than our destruction. The danger I see isn't plague, famine, war or death, although they have always been constants in the world.
"The world over which Forrest's men rode & fought was closer to Henry II's than it is to ours. They are centuries apart, yet those centuries knew the orderly return of the seasons, saw the supernatural in the natural, moved about by foot, by horse & at sea by the wind. We have put our faith in the machine."
~Andrew Nelson Lytle
Rather, I fear the chains. At every step of the way, I see men & women with the power to guide our development saying, "Believe us, & trust in us. We have the answers you seek & have learned the answers you covet. We will show you the path, the mountains of caution tape will keep you from wandering off it. The path leads to Heaven, & we are righteous for shepherding you along it. So righteous are we that we are allowed to act in a manner that would otherwise necessitate our fall to Hell. If you would ascend to Heaven, we have the shackles that will lift you up. If you would stay innocent, avert your eyes or wear a blindfold. See the headphones we have made for you? Wear them, lest you hear the screams. All that we ask is that you love us, & speak no ill of us. All this, we do for you, & more - know it.
And I see a redemptive power in the internet. Maybe I'll talk about it later, but I've lost myself in a tangent - & I still haven't really answered the question Mr. Sockpuppet asked me earlier.
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I'll stave off my proclivities & be brief. I would love it if people read this - if it gained some popularity or notoriety. But I'm not holding out for that yet. I'm doing this for me. I've been that I have a gift for arranging my unoriginal ideas in a way that some people are drawn to. People say that it works for what it is. I like that. But I haven't been writing often enough, & I haven't been expanding my range. So this? This is practice. I'm writing so I'll get better, so I'll get good practice.
And lastly - if you do decide to read what I write, I would appreciate it if you'd comment sometimes. After all, how else will I know if anyone shows up to my self-indulgent derivative pretentious bee sting party?
~ Chris LC
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