Life in the Lowcountry

NaNoWriMo

So here is what I’m working on for National Novel Writing Month. It’s a very rough draft, mostly thoughts and old journals but I think I’m finding my voice. Comments are welcome!

So I’m new to this MacBook and I’m trying to write in the Nanowrimo. I don’t know how to make this work just yet but figured I needed to start somewhere. It’s easy to just find a place to type and start typing.

I have no idea what my novel is going to be about. I think I’ll probably recreate my diaries that are still in existence and take some of my blog material and put all that together in a pseudo-diary/blog format for the novel. Anyway, that’s what my thought is tonight. If that is the way I end up going then this whole thing is really going to go easily because I’m not really giving it much conscious thought, just kind of going with the flow. It’s been so long since I’ve really written anything that I’d forgotten how difficult it can be!

This stream-of-consciousness writing is helping me. I feel like an idea may come from this after all. I just need to keep writing and not stopping. I really want to be witty and clever but things at work have gotten the better of me in the past few weeks and I feel as though my humor is eluding me. Listening to comedic podcasts is helping. I love listening to Kevin Smith and Scott Mosier in Smodcast. They never fail to make me laugh. The other one Kev does with Ralph Garmin cracks me up! Hollywood Babble On is one of the funniest podcasts that I’ve found.  I’m way behind on my Marc Maron WTF? podcasts and Kevin Pollack’s Chat Show as well but hope to catch up on those now that I have my Mac and will be taking lunch breaks. Full one hour lunch breaks. I hate eating alone and all these men are very good company!

I’ve been tweeting a lot lately. Just tonight 11/4/10 I noticed that I have almost tweeted 3,000 times. #2,097 was “Closing in on 3,000 tweets. Still haven’t said much.”

I do interact with a few people on a fairly regular basis, and it makes the whole experience a little less creepy. Except for this one time. Dude in London sent me a DM (direct message) and asked me to bend over and then asked my name and age, then asked to see me naked. I thought he was joking, but apparently not. Supposedly he’s some big deal in the London area but to me it’s just creepy to ask a complete stranger something like that.  The funny ones, like this actor who blogs, an actor/singer/painter, a college kid and a computer geek are very often just nice guys who have no agenda except to use the social media as it’s meant to be used. I will call out one of the funny guys, @sadknob because he’s a genius director and so smart and wry that I am constantly amazed by him. He’s got a blog that would rival most that I’ve read and he’s extremely talented. He is someone I would very much like to meet.

OK, it’s been 25 minutes and boy did that go fast! My twitter buddy Patrick says that setting 25 minute goals has helped him with Nanowrimo so I’m going to try it tonight, and through the weekend. So it’s break time, back to twitter and the Nanowrimo site to update my word count.  LATERZ!

9:16pm update:

I am in the running. I have put myself on the nanowrimo website with word counts and a synopsis of my satirical novel. Now have to write said novel. And according to website am 4 days and many words behind. Uh oh. Just took a shower so am going to dry my hair and then continue on with nanowrimo writing and word counting. But first, a thought about the counting, isn’t it a bit pushy? Discuss, whilst I coif. My hair. Two more words leading to a few more, nay, many more inconsequential words. Off to blow-dry! (Are hyphenated words considered singular words by Nanowrimo standards? Note to self: Check FAQ or Frequently Asked Questions for answer to: ‘Are hyphenated words considered singular in the word count of the Nanowrimo book standards?’)

9:39 update:

Am still unclear about the word counts but typing ‘the word counts’ must mean something. So the stream of consciousness continues. Not so much as I’m feeling more unconscious as I try to get back up to my goals as dictated by this Nanowrimo site. It’s like a Gizmo sitting on my Fred Flinstone shoulder screaming in a Harvey Corman voice, “You must write things down and get your words out there!” Not that that is a bad thing. Maybe because I am drunk. Or maybe because writing gives me the freedom to edit myself in realtime and I’m choking here. I really liked Harvey Corman, I still like Tim Conway and now my references to the Carol Burnett Show and all are showing my age. Shit. My 25 minutes are up. Gotta run now or my 25minute experiments will have been in vain. And really, they were. Too typed to drunk. Drink! Escuse me.

11/6/10 – /Saturday evening

Today I decided to go for the dream and re-transcribe my existing diary with little editorializing or fictionalizing. That’s my focus for the next three weeks. All the twitter stuff aside.

Here it goes: Set the stage, and the date:

Setting the stage: I was living in High Point, NC for some years and I’d been keeping a diary of sorts because I didn’t know that in the future a ‘blog’ would be invented and I’d not have to write on legal pads and in notebooks before attempting to get published. OH but I did own a desktop computer and I’d been training myself on computers for some years before this all came about but to me, writing was about ‘handwriting’  with pen to paper. I’m really glad I did because I had beautiful penmanship then and it has since gone to shit. But thankfully I have a few remnants of my pretty writings preserved for no one at all. I have some of my old ‘journals’ as we used to call it, but not all of my journals. This is due to a miscommunication between me and my well-meaning parents. See, it all started back when I was a fetus…

I am adopted.

-tell the story from an adopted child, ie., YOUR story but start here.

-include the shitty parts as well as the great parts where you always knew you were adopted so that the adoption thing isn’t perceived as abnormal, as opposed to the life you were brought into.

-try not to be condescending as the fact that you were raised in a privileged household could be held in a negative light AGAINST YOU if you portray it as anything but privileged. Even if that isn’t the truth.

– do not blame your parents. everything that has been a part of your life is not the fault of your parents but in fact, has been a direct response in the way that you YOURSELF handled the situation.

– keep in mind the nature vs. nurture argument and see where that leads you. I believe it will still lead you back to who you are is who you are regardless of familial ties but I’ll argue myself into a corner with the fact that I still see so much of Mom and Dad in me…it’s just too hard to argue with yourself.

– Having noted this much it’s time to stop procrastinating and time to start transcribing!

My life began on October 15, 1970. At the time of this writing I am 40 years and 21 days of breathing on this planet. I type “of breathing on this planet” because I choose to. There are those that say life begins at 40 and so I’m 21 days into life. Yay, me! But for 40+ years I’ve had some experiences and that’s what I’d like to write about and share with you. I’m a Republican by means of parental influence, a Democrat by means of realizing I’ll never be as rich as my parents and a Libertarian by means of realizing that government doesn’t work, currently. I vote. And I vote for candidates I believe in, even if my beliefs don’t match yours. I am adopted, I support abortions and I vote for the most qualified person.

My God! Who is this person who has gay friends, with and without AIDS? Who is this person who can see the good in everyman and recognize the evil that plagues them? Well, it’s not me, but I inherently see good in everyone. Case #1: How many times have you gotten into a cab in NYC with the same cabdriver on two different days? Day 1, get a taxi from LGA to the Millennium Hotel in Times Square. The driver is from Liberia and I noticed this. My junior year suitemate’s grandfather was the President of Liberia and so I struck up a conversation with him. We talked Liberian politics and life and what it’s like to be a NYC cabbie for the 30 minutes it took to drive us into Times Square. Mom and Dad were horrified (Republicans) that I was talking so intimately with a stranger, (and being Southern, a “Blackman”) God, this is just rambling… get to the transcribing…

-mention the move to Memphis and the throwing away of the majority of the diaries….this is important!

TRANSCRIPTION:

<undated>

I ❤ Italians

I ❤ Italy

I ❤ Names ending in Vowels!!! 🙂

“Freaky Thoughts” 9/26/96

Funky drum beat

Cuban Rhythms

Love olive skin

Love to write.

Stir my drink

With an elegant finger

With apologies to

John Mellencamp ~

‘Tis not what we think

So much as how we ARE.

Come on,

Cry to me;

Everyone else does –

Why should you be

Any different?

Dr. Timothy Leary

Frozen in cryogenics –

Where is our hero?

Who will speak out

For those of us

Wo have no voice?

Too many vices

Not enough pleasure.

Where comes the justice?

When do I get my social “SECURITY?”

Who will give me

Peace O’ mind

In my retired age?

When shall I retire?

Can I have a single-income

HOUSEHOLD?

My children will have

2 parents. They will

have sit-down meals.

2 adults – x # kids…

1 Male (Father)

1 Female (Mother.

That’s not so horrid.

I know i’s possible.

My parents did it.

They also have a house

That I can only hope

To inherit, for I’ll never

Make that much $ in

My lifetime.

So what do I have to dream of?

Where’s my sweet reared?

It’s i my heart & HERE.

~

9/26/96

Going to Maryland to visit my 2 most favorite Christins. Fitz and Pennoyer! Playing in DC & Annapolis 🙂

Can’t wait.

Making a mix tape and bored. Haven’t packed shit. Not washed shit. Tired as shit. Got to PACK! Find $. Bills due. Life is great, RUN AWAY!! 🙂

~

This next page in my journal is from a conversation I had with a close friend and cannot repeat it here. I’ve spent half an hour debating whether to put it in or take it out and it ultimately only made me want to do the Hokey-Pokey and just shake it all about. So your secrets are safe with me for the time being.

1/17/97

(Thought there was a page missing but upon inspection, may have been drunk when composing this next entry. And upon reviewing said ‘beautiful penmanship’, am quite sure I was obliterated.) Here goes:

Thinking this is for Dan –

How could you leave me hanging? How could you let me dangle so precariously on the edge? O was it I, who left you- on the edge?  ‘I am in the heat of battle w/in myself…I know YOU left ME. But why was it MY fault? Did I drive you away?

See how unfair this is? You left…POOF… no explanations – no repercussions…SO EASY FOR YOU… So hard for me. I don’t know why you hated me or couldn’t tolerate me.

I am so desperate to know. What did I do wrong, Dan? You were what I wished for. Why did we part? What did I do? I know it had to be me. I am at fault. Forgive me?

<HAHAHAHA, ed. note.> –this was your insecurity at age 26, not his fucking fault, but yours. What are you apologizing for? IDIOT.

~

2/22/97

Went to Rocky Mount. Left work Friday early, in a huff. Work hasn’t been good lately. Lots of pressure, lots of stress. So much so that I made myself sick.  So I left work at 2:30, went home  packed my shit and hit the road. When I got home Mom and I went to pick up “Pisser” aka, Yo-yo but he was still zonked from the anesthesia (he had his teeth cleaned!) and so we had to leave him overnight. Mom and I had a good talk. Dad had come home for dinner @ 7:00 (but it was  7:30 :)) and we had a good steak sand. w/veggie soup.  Dad gave me advice on what to do about work – (“Do what you can afford to do.”) And asked me what I wanted to do. I told him, graduate school, but I couldn’t afford it. Also, for what, I don’t know.

~

2/27/97

I had a WONDERFUL first date, blind date tonight. It wasn’t  truly blind, we’d been talking for a week or so. So much came up when we tried to get together that tonight was the first time we had a chance to get together. I met Mide at Red Lobster on Wendover and I wasn’t the least bit nervous until I saw him. He’s 5’7″ or 5’8″, slim, blond, blue eyes…very handsome. So strange- I don’t usually like blonde/blue, but he’s  SO charming! 34, not a professional in the sense that I was looking for (Doctor, Lawyer, etc.) but he has a steady job – he owns a house, he has a great sense of humor, he has a cat… He paid for dinner, he kept smiling at me. He’s got great eye contact! He said he was a nice guy and he is. His so genuine. God forgive me BUT… he has dirty fingernails. That’s not a completely bad thing, but I don’t know if it’s for me. He doesn’t seem like the traveling type. I COULD BE WRONG. My defenses are in high gear, so he must have hit something in me.

Michael Lloyd… he has a daughter in Wilmington. He sees her on holidays. He works shift work. He thinks I am “smart and funny.” He wants to see me again. He says he’ll call. I’ll wait and see. Honestly, I kept looking at him, watching him and he made me smile. He’s not much on conversation, but that’s probably just nerves. He’s too smart to be so dumbfounded. I bet he’s very opinionated. That’s great if he is! I don’t know if I will ever meet such a sweet soul. I hope we will always be friends, no matter what happens. He is so great!

~

3/12/97

About Michael Lloyd. I was wrong – he is sweet and cute and caring but he’s not that great with conversation, he laughs like an hyena and… he’s a STONER. So sweet. Such a stoner! He wanted me to come visit his “crib” tonight. I am reluctant to go to any single man’s house  whom I don’t know very well, but More so when it’s their “crib”. Anyway all of this is compounded by the fact that I have met someone else.

Mike Gulas. He’s 33, single, never been married, no kiddies, smoker, writer, songwriter singer, music guy… humorous, witty, he’s just like me but still different enough. I called him Monday night at 7 and we talked until 1 am. Tuesday night he called me and we were on the phone until 10. He kept trying to get me to go to Raleigh and see him. He’s so kind! We met through Match.com and he picked me! (smiley face)

~

3/13 -3/14/97

I was hoping to write more before I met him, but it’s too late for that now! I left work at 4:30 and had to go home to get Mike’s # which was saved on my computer. I finally got on the road and called him from the airport exit. I had tuned in to the radio station he works for (850 am) and they were talking about ME! The host of the show said that “Smelly Williams” had met this girl through the internet – but that she’d probably show up and be a FAT TRANSVESTITE. “Of course real women don’t go on the internet because women don’t know how to use the computer.” said the host. I got it and was laughing. So when I got closer to Raleigh I called Mike. When he answered I said, “Hey, this is the FAT TRANSVESTITE calling.” He said, NOTHING. He was shocked that I’d heard the bit. He just kind of laughed it off.  I was a little suspicious at that point but we had agreed to meet and I wasn’t going to drop out because of some comedy bit on AM radio. Please! But then again, how desperate am I?

We met at Darryl’s Restaurant. He was very cute! He sang me funny little songs, talked the talk and even kissed me when I left. And I haven’t heard one worked since then. Son of a bitch! It was all for naught. Why do I keep setting myself up like this? First I’m too trusting and then I put my guard up. Then I let my guard down and trust that it’s OK to just be myself and get out there and meet a nice guy only to be disappointed AGAIN. This is tough. And my parents wonder why I’m still single. I’d like to see them try it all over again in today’s world. They had it easy.

Let me tell you my parents’ story. Both in college, Mom is a sophomore and Dad is a senior. Mom and her best friend were walking down this path and Dad and his best friend were driving by. Dad and friend decided to follow Mom and her best friend and that’s how those two couples met. Mom married Dad and their respective best friends got married. How fucking easy was that? I have to go on Match.com just to try and get a date.

~