Deny Me and Be Doomed: A Flock of Ponders

1. On Writing

Being a great writer has nothing to do with writing. Putting pen to paper - or finger to keyboard, in our technocratic age - is one of the easiest things to do. It's one of the first things that five year olds learn how to do in kindergarten.

The secret to great writing lies in the process that precedes the physical activity of writing. Good writers are blessed with a mastery of their language(s) of choice, an almost anal-retentive approach to grammar, an appreciation of the sublime, a gift with words and the audacity to put it to use. But not all good writers are great writers, and though what distinguishes a GREAT writer from a GOOD writer is infinitely complex, as well as highly subjective, in MY HUMBLE OPINION it boils down to two factors.

First, the writer must have a good sense of adventure; they must manifest a plethora experiences to inspire and influence their words. This usually involves traveling in some sense (be it locally or globally, through inner or outer space and everything in between) as well as lots of conversations with strangers (real or imaginary). Creative output, like dreams, is merely a collage of our prior perceptions; thus whimsical, fascinating, bizarre and absurd experiences are excellent story fodder. And when they collide with mundane thoughts and repressed memories and fantasies and whatever other crazy ideas are romping around inside that noggin, something amazing happens: A neuronymphonic symphony in the key of words.

Second, the writer must be a good storyteller. For what's the use of having stories if you don't know how to tell them?

2. On Dancing

Some dance to celebrate life; some dance to chase away the demons; others see no difference between the two.

3. On New York City

Question: How many New Yorkers does it take to screw in a lightbulb?

Answer: Three. One to actually screw it in, one to make sure that nobody else is watching, and one to make sure that everybody is watching.

4. On Peak Oil

The following playground taunt:

"I don't care what you say
You're gonna pump my gas someday!"

is slowly being rendered obsolete.

5. On Surviving

Keep your eyes open and your ears more open.

6. On Psychonautics

There is a fine line between transcendence and chemical dependence.

7. On Life and Death

If the unbearable lightness of being is the human condition, then when we die we can name it the bearable unbeingness of light. (So somebody is tending the end of the tunnel!)

If life is always easy, you have nothing to remember when you grow old.

8. On Self-Reflection

What does your brain feel like right... now?

9. On Alien Abductions

If space aliens captured you and offered to take you back to their homeworld, teach you their ways and technology, and bring you back to earth 100 years in the future (due to the nature of travel in the time-space continuum, would you take the chance?

The potential benefits and consequences are both extreme. Should you decide to gamble with destiny and take the free ride to the Final Frontier, it's hit or miss. On the one hand, you might acquire vast knowledge from the alien race, return to Earth and put it to use to aid human progress - a hero from the past AND another planet! On the other hand, you could return to Earth harboring the answer to all the world's problems, and instead encounter a cynical human race that doesn't believe your alien abduction story and ships you off to the loony bin. Worse than being considered mad, you would be alienated both from your old life - since everybody you once knew was dead - and your new life. Alien alienation in an alien nation - a fate worse than death.

10. On The Sun

Is the light from the sun the result of the sound of the sun? Light is the product of vibrations, which also generate sound. It's the chicken and the egg all over again: Does light generate sound or does sound generate light? Or do they lack a causal connection altogether? Are they merely coincidental byproducts of the same eternal vibration? Or are they simply companions, who prefer to accompany one another as they tour lightning, fireworks, and flourescent bulbs?