Science fiction, fantasy, mystery and what-not
The word is given
we gotta go
through that door
either quick or slow
We think we know what’s up
think we know it’s time
though we’ve been wrong before
we keep swallowing the same lines
so on we go, on our way
not understanding
it’s the same game
by another name
Walking après writing yesterday, I was thinking of words and their meanings. Words’ meanings, especially when used in expressions, often lose their original meaning or intentions. Sometimes they’re literal for some while they’re meaningless to others.
“Thoughts and prayers” jumped into that category. Politicians are often saying, like a jerk reflex, “Our thoughts and prayers are with” some victims of murder or disaster. It seems like an expression they can use without thinking or doing anything else. Meanwhile, thoughts and prayers are powerful to others.
“I love you” also jumped into my thinking. I was reminded of a sitcom called King of Queens. It was on for a while years ago. While it ended production, the show can probably be seen in syndication. I confess, I’m a sitcom addict. Most make me wince but I still watch them, hoping for one that’ll satisfy. Admittedly, I watch less of them now than a few years ago. They’re too insipid. While I’m fond of shows like The Kominsky Method and Grace and Frankie, I’m instead turning to darker comedy like Barry, The Boys, and Stranger Things.
But there was one episode that came to mind from the King of Queens. The main characters were Doug and Carrie, a married couple. Carrie worked for a boss for a while whose name also was Doug. Once, when she was saying good-bye to him to end a phone conversation, she said, “Okay, Doug,” and then, saying Doug, automatically added, “I love you. Bye.”
“I love you,” became the pivot for my thoughts. That finally brought me to today’s music. “More than Words” by Extreme (1991). The song is a ballad about wanting more demonstration of a woman’s love than just the words, “I love you”. When I first heard the song on the radio, I wondered who was singing it, and was really surprised to learn it was Extreme. Later, I saw the video, and enjoyed how the bass and drum players are just sitting to one side, variously reading books, holding up lighters, etc., since the song doesn’t require anything on their part. That cracked me up.
So, here it is at last. Sorry for the long intro. Cheers
Seen on a pickup truck in town.
Pickup truck is an interesting expression. Why is it used? According to Wikipedia.org, it’s of unknown origins, but was used by Studebaker in 1913, although it was hyphenated as two words then.
I laughed in the dream at this dream because I felt an immediate understanding and it was funny to me.
The setting was very vague. Others were there and I engaged with them, but all of them were outside of the dream cam’s view. Sometimes I was outside on a green hill; other times, I was indoors. The indoors settings varied from being a restaurant, coffee shop, and office.
I was doing two primary things in the dream. One, words would come up, and I was putting them into order. I thought at first that they should be alphabetized, but then I thought that they should be ordered by association. In parallel to this, I was playing a computer game called “Word Whomp”. Seven letters are provided and you make words out of them while the clock is ticking. So I was making words on the computer game and ordering words off to the other side. Then I began taking the words that I was supposed to be ordering and started putting them into the game. The words were accepted, even though they weren’t made of the letters provided. Throughout this, I was talking with people off-stage.
It was at this point in the dream that I paused to wonder about what was going on. My first thought was, why am I organizing words like this? Hasn’t this already been done in items like dictionaries? Then I pondered why the game was letting me put in words that didn’t have the letters.
That’s when I laughed in the dream. I thought it was about the writing process and angst. And though I laughed and knew I was playing the game right and doing things the way they’re not supposed to be done, I kept going and had myself a fun time.
Three words remained in my memory from the dream: lacing, facing, and gracing.
I have a super rant today about the overuse of super. Things are super-clean, super-neat, super-simple, super-priced, and super-super. It’s super-irritating. Like literally, super has lost its super meaning, becoming another empty word used as a synonym for that overused word, very. Guess this is progress, or just change. It’s how the language grows, mis-employing words that aren’t understood to give them new meaning.
I guess I’m an old crab. Coffee, and make it super-quick.
I move left and you slip right
down the stairs, bouncing and tumbling
through a night of
righteous indignation and outright
hopes for what could be
more optimistic than your simple
thinking that it’ll all come out
once we come to the understanding
that minute by minute, we’re
losing the way that moved us forward
and back we slide
Michael Seidel, writer 