Feb 4, 2008

Soak Time...

So the question is how much writing can I get done in 25 minutes? I'm not optimistic--most of my posts generally require at minimum one hour (what with all the editing, re-editing, etc), but let's see what I can do...

A current paranoia--after my younger years of parroting the stereotypical Evangelical viewpoint, I get particularly sensitive about figuring out what I really believe about any given topic. Sometimes I have a fairly balanced approach. Other times I either make up the most different-sounding thing I can think of just to be different or actually fall back into believing I believe what everyone else believes. A variation on this is doing essentially the same thing with my creative outlets. I worry that when I talk, or write, or whatever, I'm not saying anything original. Not that I have to have all new ideas; that would be an impossible feat to keep up with, always thinking up completely original thoughts. What I mean is saying something I haven't fully explored; piggybacking off of someone else's ideas & opinions. I'm not quick with my ideas--hence the long lead-time on blog posts. Usually my off-the-cuff responses are (at best) only vaguely related to what I really think once I process things through. I have to have soak-time (a phrase I learned in a previous job--see?).

I am good at snarky responses though. My humors are much quicker than my serious and thoughtful thoughts. But even then I have chameleon-like tendencies--depending on whom I'm around I unconsciously tweak myself ever-so-slightly. I haven't drummed up a Boston accent, but on a couple words I've developed subtle similarities to the enigmatic Bostonian speech. Like "yesterday"--currently with me it comes out more like "yestiday." Not blatant like with native New Englanders, just a little bit. Is that allowed? Am I some kind of cultural poser? Or is it more like "all things to all people," ala Paul. The one who wrote most of the New Testament. Or part of it. Something.

Now if this is the case, this could be a problem when we move to the frozen nothern-Midwest. Depending on the location, we might end up near the Canadian border, and then I'd be guarding against sounding like I stepped out of "Strange Brew." Eh.

Time's up...I guess that wasn't so bad. I wish I could come up with something profoundly hilarious, but that would take some soak-time.

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