Of all the things I've lost....

J

JAMESBJOHNSON

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I miss my mind the most.

I cannot remember nuthin. So I'm lying in the bed a while ago, reading a David Goodis story, and the plot and end of my new story crystalizes in my brain. I wanted to finish reading the Goodis story but know the other would vanish from my noodle if I didn't write it down.
 
I miss my mind the most.

I cannot remember nuthin. So I'm lying in the bed a while ago, reading a David Goodis story, and the plot and end of my new story crystalizes in my brain. I wanted to finish reading the Goodis story but know the other would vanish from my noodle if I didn't write it down.
Is that what this lump of stuff is I found on my coffee table? I can mail it back, if you can remember your address. :D
 
The Goodis story sucked by the way. THE CARAVAN TO TARIM. I'm guessing he was 8 when he wrote it.
 
I've lost everything, but I wasn't really looking for it.

If losing stuff is bad, why do people brag about losing weight?

"Loss" implies a zero-sum game. There are alternatives.

I lost my mind ages ago. No loss.
 
I'm sorry to hear about your loss. Welcome to the fricking club, Jim. :) C'est la vie. Be nice.;)
 
P Sherman 42 Wallaby Way Sidney

"Ew, that is my most favorited movie in forever and ever. Can we watch it? And then when it's over we can maybe watch it again, and then.. maybe we could go get some ice cream and McDonald's and then come home and watch it again!?!"



Of all the things I've lost... that childish mesmerism that will let them sit there and watch the same movie five times back to back.


Okay fess up Patientlee, how many times have you had to sit through the Lion King, Finding Nemo, and Cars?
 
"Ew, that is my most favorited movie in forever and ever. Can we watch it? And then when it's over we can maybe watch it again, and then.. maybe we could go get some ice cream and McDonald's and then come home and watch it again!?!"



Of all the things I've lost... that childish mesmerism that will let them sit there and watch the same movie five times back to back.


Okay fess up Patientlee, how many times have you had to sit through the Lion King, Finding Nemo, and Cars?

I can recite Cars. I have two boys.

Finding Nemo stresses me out. When Marlin realizes that Nemo is gone, I still feel a little sick to my stomach. Lion King? Not so many times. My daughter is a pansy. She doesn't like the stressful or scary parts. I don't know if she's ever made it through The Little Mermaid.

Cars has always been a family favorite though.
 
"Ew, that is my most favorited movie in forever and ever. Can we watch it? And then when it's over we can maybe watch it again, and then.. maybe we could go get some ice cream and McDonald's and then come home and watch it again!?!"



Of all the things I've lost... that childish mesmerism that will let them sit there and watch the same movie five times back to back.


...

Just wait a decade or two and soon you too will be able once again to watch the same favorite again and again ... and each time it will seem new and fresh.
 
I miss my mind the most.

I cannot remember nuthin.....

This is the perfect scenario for a second rewrite. You let the story sit for a week or two and when you pick it up again it's brand new.

The downside is losing your vocabulary.
 
This is the perfect scenario for a second rewrite. You let the story sit for a week or two and when you pick it up again it's brand new.

The downside is losing your vocabulary.

My dogs know more words than me.

Maybe I'll sample some LIT writers to see what the average LIT vocabulary is. 200 words?
 
Could be. I know a lot of words, but I don't use most of them.

Its already been done back in the 50s.

50 common words handle half of our expressions, 3000 common words handle 98% of it.

On tv today I heard some PhD dummy say MUCH MORE QUICKLY, when FASTER is the word you want. I wondered if we shouldn't prune the dictionary.

I may examine 30 high ranking LIT stories to measure their vocabularies and readability.

Anybody wanna donate a story for dissection?
 
My everyday vocabulary can often be reduced to an episode of The Soprano's. I mean, fuck is an extremely useful word, isn't it?
 
My everyday vocabulary can often be reduced to an episode of The Soprano's. I mean, fuck is an extremely useful word, isn't it?

Indeed it does. I imagine fuck, all by itself, could replace The Gettysburg Address.
 
Indeed it does. I imagine fuck, all by itself, could replace The Gettysburg Address.

Mea culpa: I don't watch TV. But I heard of, and then uTubed, a scene from a current cop show -- what's that one set in Baltimore? -- where three criminalists examined a death scene, in an apartment. They looked for body position, bullet trajectories, etc. The entire trialogue consisted of each saying FUCK in various tones of voice. A masterpiece of expression!
 
Its already been done back in the 50s.

50 common words handle half of our expressions, 3000 common words handle 98% of it.

On tv today I heard some PhD dummy say MUCH MORE QUICKLY, when FASTER is the word you want. I wondered if we shouldn't prune the dictionary.

I may examine 30 high ranking LIT stories to measure their vocabularies and readability.

Anybody wanna donate a story for dissection?

I'm not afraid of dissection, but I don't have anything "high ranking" to offer. If you lower your standards, you may help yourself to any of my stuff.
 
I'm not afraid of dissection, but I don't have anything "high ranking" to offer. If you lower your standards, you may help yourself to any of my stuff.

I need 30 for a valid sample. I am curious to see if LIT writers conform to modern 'classic' writers practices. It'll be interesting to see word lists etc. Thanks.
 
I need 30 for a valid sample. I am curious to see if LIT writers conform to modern 'classic' writers practices. It'll be interesting to see word lists etc. Thanks.
If I do it would be entirely by accident.
 
50 common words handle half of our expressions, 3000 common words handle 98% of it.

I have been told, by a Chinese who went through the program, that there was a guy in San Francisco who taught newly arrived Chinese an 850 word vocabulary and also the structure of the English language. Most of the Chinese were deficient in pronunciation but they knew the structure of the English language better than native born.
 
I have been told, by a Chinese who went through the program, that there was a guy in San Francisco who taught newly arrived Chinese an 850 word vocabulary and also the structure of the English language. Most of the Chinese were deficient in pronunciation but they knew the structure of the English language better than native born.

Exacto. Don't waste time, master the basic essentials. Its what babies do.
 
50 common words handle half of our expressions, 3000 common words handle 98% of it.

Just for the fun of it, I often subject my stories to Microsoft's Spelling and Grammar review. They usually score a Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level score of about six or seven. I don't like things to be too complicated. :)
 
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