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rinueI've always thought of myself as a person defined by words. Aside from being a writer and a some-time comedian, I have a better vocabulary than at least 99.9% of the adult population, and I can use it. I play Scrabble and Boggle constantly. I read dictionaries for fun. When someone doesn't know how to say something, they call me to write their script for them.
Words are powerful: this is something I say often enough to make it a mantra. When The Book of John says "first there was the word," I know what it's talking about; names do create things, whether people or ideas. If you're directionless, write a manifesto. It will change your life simply by existing.
I've been calling Val "Val" for nearly six years now. It's not her legal name, just like "Stretch" isn't Stretch's. But it is who she is, at least as far as I'm concerned, and [real name omitted] is just a construct -- which is why I can appear in her yearbook photo or answer the phone as her but feel strange using her screenname.
Two years ago, I decided to spend a day not talking. No speaking, no writing, just gestures. Answering direct questions only when absolutely neccessary, and in as few words as possible. I wanted to vanish while walking among people, to become the perfect observer.
Instead, the opposite occurred. I was sought out as a guru by people I'd never spoken to. That was the day I was asked to audition for Romeo & Julius, which would shape my life for the next six months. That was the day I met Jamie, one of my best friends and collaborators. That was the day I met Rory, the only guy I've bothered to sleep with.
Nobody noticed the change in my behavior, not even Raine, who yelled at me for an hour while I smiled at her.
These are my thoughts as I sit in the bathtub with a throat so sore I can barely whisper.
Words are powerful: this is something I say often enough to make it a mantra. When The Book of John says "first there was the word," I know what it's talking about; names do create things, whether people or ideas. If you're directionless, write a manifesto. It will change your life simply by existing.
I've been calling Val "Val" for nearly six years now. It's not her legal name, just like "Stretch" isn't Stretch's. But it is who she is, at least as far as I'm concerned, and [real name omitted] is just a construct -- which is why I can appear in her yearbook photo or answer the phone as her but feel strange using her screenname.
Two years ago, I decided to spend a day not talking. No speaking, no writing, just gestures. Answering direct questions only when absolutely neccessary, and in as few words as possible. I wanted to vanish while walking among people, to become the perfect observer.
Instead, the opposite occurred. I was sought out as a guru by people I'd never spoken to. That was the day I was asked to audition for Romeo & Julius, which would shape my life for the next six months. That was the day I met Jamie, one of my best friends and collaborators. That was the day I met Rory, the only guy I've bothered to sleep with.
Nobody noticed the change in my behavior, not even Raine, who yelled at me for an hour while I smiled at her.
These are my thoughts as I sit in the bathtub with a throat so sore I can barely whisper.
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Date: 2002-04-03 01:37 am (UTC)That said, I can probably go for a couple of days getting by with smiling and nodding, as you might have notice. Not so much anymore but I have gone like that for nearly weeks at a time when I was younger and more moody than what I is today.
Now what you want in a nice chesty booming cough that makes people edge away from you even in doctor's waiting rooms and people on the street stop to ask if you're choking. Now there's a way to strike up conversations with absolute strangers. Or perhaps not.
And this entry is going nowhere.