Real men know that women are like fine wines, with age comes complexity and a slow sense of pleasure that tickles the palate, then hightens the pulse in anticipation of what is to come, and then satisfaction from a truly unique and wonderful experience that only time can bring to the wine.

WildGravity. Shouldn't be embarrassed about your post. Please don't remove it. I enjoyed it and am much too boring and mundane to try and express myself creatively. I love reading others' writing, though, and appreciate the effort and flavor. I am anxious to read the rest of the Dubliners. As I said, I loved "Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man"--absolutely loved it. I think I read it as a senior in HS, and the religious/poetic changes he was going through described my own experiences far more eloquently than I ever could. This was one of the great "gotcha" moments of reading great literature for me. Joyce exactly described what I felt I was going through.

I am sorry to say, that I am embarassed now. And now feel great apprehension in writing how I feel, even if honestly, about Joyces writing, or The Big Mans (Ray bradbury) writing.

I hope the sense of embarrassment and apprehension will leave. Here are a couple thoughts from Bradbury:

"If you are writing without zest, without gusto, without love, without fun, you are only half a writer. It means you are so busy keeping one eye on the commercial market, or one ear peeled for the avant-garde coterie, that you are not being yourself. You don't even know yourself. For the first thing a writer should be is--excited. He should be a thing of fevers and enthusiasms. Without such vigor, he might as well be out picking peaches or digging ditches; God knows it'd be better for his health. . .Time enough to think and cut and rewrite tomorrow. But today--explode--fly apart--disintegrate!..."

--Zen and the Art of Writing. Ray Bradbury. pp 4, 7.

What's the point? I think Bradbury is right. Write what you're thinking and feeling with passion. It is like a brainstorming session. Don't evaluate (that can come later) but trust your self and your feelings, and write.

Trust that and you'll be fine.

That does make me feel better

Wow! Have been gone for a few days and I must apologize to Wild Gravity for opening a can of worms, so to speak. What I meant by my remark was that I was quite impressed with the depth of your expression, this coming from a young lady (exact age not pertinent) but much younger than I but having a breadth of understanding and expressing complex ideas very well.

Again, I ask for your forgiveness of the chagrin you have experienced.

Chagrin is a good word.

Blasted quick-witted British!

I actually briefly thought about saying that chagrin was a bad word, but thought better of it.

Blasted is a good word. (Properly pronounced with a long A, as in father.)

Blahst!

Continuing on this rabbit trail, Phil - do you pronounce "chagrin" the American way, i.e. "Shuh-GRIN"? Or "SHAH-grin"? Or even "sha-GRAHN" like the French?

Me, personally? I don't think I've ever had to say it out loud. However, I'd probably go for "shuh-GRIN".

Hey fellows (Doug and Phil and Braling II), as much I enjoy your conversation regarding the prounciation of the word chagrin I was hoping to hear a response from Wild Gravity as to her possibly forgiving me for my untoward comment about her age.

Wild Gravity, may I hear from you?

Untoward is a good word - ah ha!

quote:

Originally posted by biplane1:
Hey fellows (Doug and Phil and Braling II), as much I enjoy your conversation regarding the prounciation of the word chagrin I was hoping to hear a response from Wild Gravity as to her possibly forgiving me for my untoward comment about her age.

Wild Gravity, may I hear from you?

Its alright, Biplane I suppose I just missunderstood your remark.. no hard feelings