tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9156334464585894857.post733637053334883720..comments2023-10-25T05:30:54.507-04:00Comments on Oh Get A Grip!: "The Black Mirror" A personally demonic story Ashe Barkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03390519279886657608noreply@blogger.comBlogger12125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9156334464585894857.post-62755063926879509412015-09-24T00:47:25.932-04:002015-09-24T00:47:25.932-04:00Well, the "personal demon" of wondering ...Well, the "personal demon" of wondering if someone else will accept you seems universal. I remember being single, wondering if I would be stood up (by a date or a new "friend"), and feeling like a loser when it happened. I agree that the guy who brags loudly about going to Dubai is as messed up as the narrator -- if he is really having so much fun, why does he have to shout it to the world? Marvelously realistic scene, Garce.Jean Robertahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08805088081675965859noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9156334464585894857.post-51118828826153840762015-09-21T05:39:39.543-04:002015-09-21T05:39:39.543-04:00It takes an author's ear to catch that kind of...It takes an author's ear to catch that kind of thing. And, as you say, you have to be prepared, notebook at ready.<br />Lisabet Saraihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05162514190572269660noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9156334464585894857.post-70444505118346156792015-09-20T17:00:58.847-04:002015-09-20T17:00:58.847-04:00I guess lately I've been surrounded by people ...I guess lately I've been surrounded by people who can't get their proverbial act together once becoming adults. Though life throws enough BS at us, but there are too many who manufacture their own. I'm beginning to lose sympathy for those who allow non-issues to become mountains just for something to do. Daddy Xhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12927663248424944119noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9156334464585894857.post-51133445854659691082015-09-20T08:18:05.760-04:002015-09-20T08:18:05.760-04:00Hi Daddy X!
Owwwwoooooooo . . .
Well. Don;t b...Hi Daddy X!<br /><br />Owwwwoooooooo . . . <br /><br />Well. Don;t be too hard on the poor schmuck, Daddy X. He's at least partly me.<br /><br />Thank God people can't read our minds andy time they want. What would we discover? <br /><br />Hah!<br /><br />GarceGarceushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11160407485298015371noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9156334464585894857.post-72538058648667558892015-09-20T08:15:20.376-04:002015-09-20T08:15:20.376-04:00Hi Lisabet!
That loud guy is fun compared to the ...Hi Lisabet!<br /><br />That loud guy is fun compared to the sad sack narrator whose whining thoughts are only a modest exaggeration of my own. His demons are mine, and truly the narrator is me laughing at myself.<br /><br />I must admit to a little bit of writer's luck in his case. I was in a coffee shop with this loud and aggressively optimistic guy near by. I whipped out my pocket notebook reserved solely for creative work (every writer must carry one of these at all times like a kind of silent prayer to the muse) and just took dictation almost word for word.<br /><br />Not hard to write at all when the Universe writes it for you!<br /><br />GarceGarceushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11160407485298015371noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9156334464585894857.post-10187912134974083332015-09-20T08:09:29.261-04:002015-09-20T08:09:29.261-04:00Hi Sacchi!
The loud guy character was fun to writ...Hi Sacchi!<br /><br />The loud guy character was fun to write, he was based on a guy I actually know or at least eaves dropped on.<br /><br />Women - some extras besides? I've been reading Erica Jong's latest novel "Fear of Dying". Now there is a book that lays out a lot of women's inner demons as well including that growing sense of mortality.<br /><br />GarceGarceushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11160407485298015371noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9156334464585894857.post-15446633669240473722015-09-20T08:05:56.942-04:002015-09-20T08:05:56.942-04:00Hi Fiona!
I'm sorry I'm getting back so l...Hi Fiona!<br /><br />I'm sorry I'm getting back so late, what a week.<br /><br />Well, we're all aging. Internally I feel young, but I feel the changes moving inside me, see people I've known all my life dropping dead around me. More than anything I get a sense of the world changing around me. As though the world itself were aging and moving on, and the world that I have lived and moved in over the years is going away and being replaced. I wonder if it was like that for generations in the past when things changed more slowly? Our grandparents or great grandparents, did they experience this head long plunge? Is it inevitable that we will have to struggle to stay relevant and prove to ourselves we are still desirable and lovable? <br /><br />I had always imagined aging and people of a certain age as being wise or strong, but what I experience and observe is that we are forever as fragile and complicated as teenagers. More insecure about everything than ever. But with aging comes a spiritual dimension also which in my case I find is rooted in my own ambivalent sense of mortality. Not so much a source of sadness as a source of wonder and questioning of everything as much as ever as when I was a kid.<br /><br />Garce<br />Garceushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11160407485298015371noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9156334464585894857.post-59569595994376363082015-09-20T08:02:14.484-04:002015-09-20T08:02:14.484-04:00This comment has been removed by the author.Garceushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11160407485298015371noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9156334464585894857.post-7489197624776610042015-09-18T11:01:50.309-04:002015-09-18T11:01:50.309-04:00As usual, Garce, you have portrayed another emotio...As usual, Garce, you have portrayed another emotionally crippled individual. And as usual you have portrayed the character quite well. Pathetic guy. No wonder he can't get a date. I've known people like him, both men and women. It's all about him. What others perceive about him. He blames everyone else for his shortcomings. Sorry, but I can't work up respect for someone so selfish, weak and needy. Plus, they make nasty partners if they ever do find someone who sticks with them. They're so needy that they become the dominant in the relationship because they're so fucking tender and sensitive and special the mate has to handle 'em with kid gloves. Well-defined character but not a sympathetic one for this reader.Daddy Xhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12927663248424944119noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9156334464585894857.post-74295695302286437092015-09-18T09:57:01.690-04:002015-09-18T09:57:01.690-04:00This is so well done, Garce, such a brilliant illu...This is so well done, Garce, such a brilliant illustration of how demons lurk in the most mundane of circumstances. And I agree with Sacchi-- that rich guy is at least as messed up as the narrator.<br /><br />And by the way, that guy's speech is just perfect:<br /><br />“I’m living it, goddamn right. Now you get it. You get it. I got this working. I got that working. I got the mojo working. I’m having fun. This is what life is all about. Can’t beat this shit with a stick. Get that! Just pay it. Just pay it, just go. Life is joy, why don’t people get that?”<br /><br />Wish I could write like that.Lisabet Saraihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05162514190572269660noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9156334464585894857.post-8074841424088246592015-09-16T23:05:39.202-04:002015-09-16T23:05:39.202-04:00We are certainly our own demons, and I think that&...We are certainly our own demons, and I think that's as true for the guy going to Dubai as for the viewpoint character (most of whose thoughts can be equally true of women, with some extras besides.)Sacchi Greenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10801164916418570059noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9156334464585894857.post-42612238636836618122015-09-16T22:58:04.595-04:002015-09-16T22:58:04.595-04:00Ah, the existential angst you portray! The insecu...Ah, the existential angst you portray! The insecurities of being single, the difficulty of being a man, how hard it is to age and be alone. The flip side, of course, is that you can be even more alone when tied to someone with whom you once shared something, but it's long dead...or you "settled", when you should have kept on looking. <br /><br />Garce, you are a master at the inner dialogue.Fiona McGierhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13495707848048468428noreply@blogger.com