right now I'm sitting in a coffee show doing a bit of work on Plundered Booty, waiting on the other members of my critique group to show up in a bit. A guy with a large tattoo on his leg (yes it is snow and cold out but he has shorts on)is talking about a boxing tournament he is entering down in Dallas. The guy he met here is saying he will go along and wrap his hands.
The guy beside me is siing cofee from a metallic cup and reading a book titled Everyday Theology. He looks preacherly, but seems unfazed that the boxer and pal are now describing someone as a pussy.
Two tables over a girl is talking about some guy with gorguos eyes but I can only hear every third or fourth word.
Do any of these people realize just how close they are to winding up in a scene of mine somewhere down the road. Would they recognize themselves after I got through distorting the snatched of their conversations. Are they wondering about the lone guy in the corner typing away?
Can this post get any worse? On to something else.
************
On the way here I heard an interesting song called Cheney's Toy.
The song is erformed and written by James McMurtry, the son of author Larry McMurtry.
My interpretation is that the song is about President Bush but acording to the DJ on Sirius some listeners called and complained the last time he aired the song. They apparently thought the song was disrespectful to American Soldiers. But to me it is clearly a musical critique of W.
Check it out here. You can listen to it for free and it may even be a free download. What is your take?
**************
The boxer, his friend, and reacher man are all gone. Now I am surrounded by some kind of sales meeting. I tried to listen but they bored me rather quickly. Snow is still falling outside and my fellow writers should be here soon. One of those is this lady. Check out her blog post on rituals of reading an writing.
**************
A check of my email finds this which made me smile because they are very true.
'True' Friendship
Enough of that Sissy Crap!
Are you tired of those sissy 'friendship' poems that always sound good, but never actually come close to reality? Well, here is a series of promises that actually speak of true friendship.
You will see no cutesy little smiley faces here - just the stone cold truth of our great friendship.
1. When you are sad -- I will help you get drunk and plot revenge against the sorry bastard who made you sad.
2. When you are blue -- I will try to dislodge whatever is choking you.
3. When you smile -- I will know you are plotting something that I must be involved in.
4. When you are scared -- I will rag on you about it every chance I get.
5. When you are worried -- I will tell you horrible stories about how much worse it could be, until you quit whining.
6. When you are confused -- I will use little words.
7. When you are sick -- I will tell you to stay the hell away from me until you are well again. I don't want whatever you have.
8. When you fall -- I will point and laugh at your clumsy ass.
This is my oath....
I pledge it to the end.
'Why?' you may ask.
'Because you're my friend!'
17 comments:
You need this:
http://store.northshoreshirts.com/imbltht.html
I have one. :)
My (former) critique group meets in the cafe at a BAM, but who the hell can hear anything over the screech of the espresso maker and the screaming kids? I couldn't. Too many distractions for me in these public place. I don't know how people like Spyscribbler write in them. Oh well. To each his own.
Glad to hear you're almost there with "Plundered."
I love wandering posts like this one! They're my favorite. And listening to conversations in coffee shops or other places is one of my favorite things to do.
Good luck finishing up the work on "Plundered Booty." I enjoyed the promise to a friend thing.
Aren't coffee shops great for people watching haha
This post wasnt boring to me! Although I don't feel sorry about your weather, considering we just had a bad ice storm and now they are calling for 6-9 inches of snow again ho hum will winter ever end?
Hey that email about friendship was great. Particularly liked the line about being blue and choking
Snow? Is this normal? When you mentioned the fat guy in shorts I was reminded of a guy I knew who always wore shorts because he could not find any pants that fit him. He was a fat, short dude with ginormous calves so it was not easy for him to find jeans.
I love reading about normal people (relatively speaking) who have no idea they're being observed. As long as it's not me! lol
Yeah, I just saw north Texas on the evening news. I heard Dallas was expecting five inches of snow before the weekend. We are merely getting tornadoes and rain.
Anyway, about the song . . .
This is TOTALLY about George the sequal. Come on: "You're no longer daddy's boy . . . you're only Cheney's toy"
In the words of my hero Edward R. Murrow, "We must not confuse dissent with disloyalty." I wish the current administration would consider this a little more often.
Karen
Wasn't it just in the mid-seventies there? That's wild.
Good luck with Plundered Booty. Like Josephine, I have a hard time writing in bookstores/coffee shops. I need my quiet space, my music playing softly in the background.
And that's a great friendship promise.
: )
Great email!
I just tried to post, so if you get this twice, blame *&*$&%*%&%*$&% whoever.
It's great that you are keeping up your writing- even if it is in a noisy starbucks. I see wearing-shorts-in-snow-guy as being a potentially awesome character to write about.
I LOVED your post on Old Tascosa, and plan on making a witty, effulgent reponse sometime in the near future. (Can you tell I've been reading my word of the day toilet paper?)
:)PS: Record breaking heat here on Saturday. 74. Woke up the next morning to 6 inches of snow. "In like a Lion" is apt.
Sales meetings...ZZZZZZZZZZ.
OK...the coffee should help.
I often sit down to write a blog post and... BLANK. Nothing. Makes me crazy. However, that said, you turned your post around beautifully!
I used to belong to two different critique groups years ago and sadly neither of them were great. I think it's hard to find like-minded writers who know how to critique on a mature and helpful level. I hope yours is a good group.
I could completely sit and people watch (and listen) for hours on end. It's fascinating stuff.
HA! Love the mixed conversations. Live blogging is always fun to read. Also love the friendship pledge. Awesome!
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