{"id":7163,"date":"2010-03-24T15:57:36","date_gmt":"2010-03-24T19:57:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/?p=7163"},"modified":"2010-03-24T15:57:36","modified_gmt":"2010-03-24T19:57:36","slug":"apostrophizing-the-enemy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/2010\/03\/apostrophizing-the-enemy\/","title":{"rendered":"Apostrophizing the Enemy"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>[Image at right from the Celestial
\nHeavens\/Might and Magic site]<\/em><\/p>\n

In a comment<\/a> the other day over at the Querulous Squirrel’s treetop lair, I ad-libbed a suggestion for people facing what are commonly called “nervous breakdowns”: name<\/em> them. Please forgive the self-citation (which feels to me like a breach of Interweb etiquette):<\/p>\n

Every “nervous breakdown” should have its own term, because every one is different from every other — and its, um, its significance is too great to let it go unnamed.<\/p>\n

Somewhere, no doubt, someone has collected the names of all the demons and imps of Hell. Maybe every one of us who’s had a “nervous breakdown” should consider assigning it the name of a demon…<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I did some looking around and found just such a (brief) collection. It’s here<\/a>. As I described it in the rest of that comment:<\/p>\n

…names and descriptions to fit many moods and ways of regarding a breakdown, from the scary to the wry. There’s even a Leonard. “When I first met Leonard, he scared the living crap out of me. Now I know he’s just the biggest jerk I ever met.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Then today I encountered, at Colleen Wainwright’s communicatrix<\/em> blog, a post<\/a> about (in part) remembering trying times gone by. In that post, Colleen referred to someone she called “The Resistor.” As you can see for yourself in her post, The Resistor is\/was not one of her best friends. His or her story — what The Resistor had done to Colleen in the past — just sounded too interesting<\/em> to ignore. I had to learn about that “that rat bastard” for myself, so followed the link she’d conveniently provided… and discovered that The Resistor wasn’t a person<\/em>. The Resistor was (is?) a feature of Colleen’s own internal landscape.<\/p>\n

I’ll turn the mike over to her for a moment:<\/p>\n

The Resistor needs no one and nothing — except something to push against, and everyone else does a damned fine job of providing fodder. The Resistor is very well developed, very smart and very, very strong…<\/p>\n

It is indifferent to pain, although it seems to find it interesting or even amusing. But it doesn’t derive pleasure from causing pain. Far from it. It enjoys pushing back, period. Hence, the Resistor’s particular gift at shape-shifting (and, perhaps, a wee bit of pride in its highly refined abilities in this area.)<\/p>\n

…[My hypnotherapist] tried every way he knew of to bring the Resistor to the side of Light, much to the amusement of the Resistor, who patiently, if a little condescendingly, kept insisting that was not a possibility.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Can I possibly tell you how much I love this picture of The Resistor?<\/p>\n

(While you’re there, by the way, be sure to visit via her generous linkage her posts on the other denizens of her self, as revealed through hypnotherapy: Monkey Brain, The Edge, and the rest.)<\/p>\n

In arguments and debates, we’re constantly told, we shouldn’t make things — or take them — “personal.” We’re supposed to keep things rational and objective. We’re not aggressing; we’re… we’re discoursing<\/em>. Because humans are, after all, creatures of reason.<\/p>\n

Haha: I know<\/em>. Just kidding! But whether or not anyone actually follows those rules of delicate engagement, I think you can<\/em> turn personalization into a weapon, maybe even a potent one.<\/p>\n

As a real-world example: years ago — maybe still — one of the chief tools which programmers had for assuring the quality of a program (and\/or its design) was called the walk-through. You’d invite a couple other people from your project team, and maybe one or two others from outside, to a meeting. Beforehand, you’d distribute copies of the program code, logic, design, whatever. And at the meeting, after presenting your understanding of how the code (etc.) solved whatever problem was meant to be solved, you’d ask these other programmers to pick holes in your baby.<\/p>\n

Sound familiar, writers? Sure — it’s like a writer’s workshop, or a crit group. And as with them, a walk-through had one fundamental rule: talk about the product, not the person who produced it. You could say, for example, “This section might work better if the program had already read a record from the file, so it wouldn’t have to keep re-reading the same one.” The off-limits version would start something like: “I think you made a mistake here in lines 12 through 31…”<\/p>\n

See? If you personalize the advice, you risk putting the work’s creator on the defensive — making it harder to accept the advice, no matter how reasonable or well-intentioned, how useful<\/em> it may be.<\/p>\n

The other side of this coin, though, is that personalizing can come in handy when you WANT to rattle someone<\/em>. Who do all writers have in common that they’d like to unnerve, throw off-balance, send packing?<\/p>\n

Procrastination. Obsession with minutiae. Distractability. Discouragement. Envy.<\/p>\n

(Who knows — there are five right there; maybe you can get the number up to seven, not merely naming them but shrinking them to the stature of quirky little people who live in a cottage.)<\/p>\n

Ever try naming these opponents? Leonard, say? Or the ominous-sounding Resistor? Darth? Or the names of demons, succubi who affix themselves to you and suck the life out of you at times when, damn it, you need all the life you can muster?<\/p>\n

Not what, but who<\/em> is the biggest enemy you battle in your head? What’s his name? Name the enemy, and assert a measure of control over him.<\/p>\n

I choose (today!) my damned willingness to be sidetracked from what matters. I name this demon… Marko<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Marko, you lazy bastard: I’m tired of picking up after you all the time. Get the heck out of my way. And take your dirty socks and your computer hardware and “cool software,” your springtime birdsong, your smartphone, your anthologies of trivia — take it all, load it into the car, and just… just <\/em>go.<\/em><\/p>\n

How ’bout you? You have somebody to chase out of the house that’s in your head?<\/p>\n

_____________________<\/p>\n

PS: This seems like a perfect occasion, for a number of reasons, to introduce this song from Ry Cooder’s Bop Till You Drop<\/em> album:<\/p>\n

[Below, click Play button to begin. While audio is playing, volume control appears at left — a row of little vertical bars. This clip is 4:57 long.]<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

[audio:troubleyoucantfoolme_rycooder.mp3|titles=’Trouble, You Can’t Fool Me'”|artists=Ry Cooder]<\/div>\n

Lyrics:<\/p>\n

Trouble You Can’t Fool Me<\/strong>
\n(by Ry Cooder)<\/em><\/p>\n

Trouble you can\u2019t fool me
\nI see you behind that tree
\nTrouble you can\u2019t fool me
\nTrying to get the ups on me
\nTrouble you can\u2019t fool me
\nI see you behind that tree
\nYou want to jump on me<\/p>\n

Work hard for living, wanted just to get paid
\nBut, sure\u2019d be stealing for a year and a day
\nWould like to see a little sunshine, just to guide my way
\nWould like to have a little peace of mind
\nThat\u2019s why I wanna say you better look out !<\/p>\n

Trouble you can\u2019t fool me
\nI see you behind that tree
\nLook out! Trouble you can\u2019t fool me
\nTrying to get the ups on me
\nTrouble you can\u2019t fool me
\nI see you behind that tree
\nYou want to jump on me<\/p>\n

Trouble taught me a lesson I never never will forget
\nNow, he took my love, she ain\u2019t paid it back yet
\nI had to find another just to take her place
\nAnd I sure do love her, I said we\u2019re doing okay<\/p>\n

So look out!
\nTrouble you can\u2019t fool me
\nI see you behind that tree
\nLook out! Trouble you can\u2019t fool me
\nTrying to get the ups on me
\nTrouble you can\u2019t fool me
\nI see you behind that tree
\nYou want to jump on me<\/p>\n

Well, you know, everyday can\u2019t be Sunday [That\u2019s right!<\/em>]\nIt\u2019s a funny thing, it seem just before daylight is your darkest hour
\nAnd you know one thing [What\u2019s that?<\/em>]\nBehind every silver lining, there isn\u2019t a dark cloud
\n[And you just ain\u2019t got time to go \u2019round
\nSubtracting and adding \u2019cause you\u2019ll just be too late<\/em>]\nYou know one thing? [What\u2019s that?<\/em>]\nEvery time you get around a tree,
\nYou better stop and grab a brick [Why?<\/em>]\nOld man Trouble…
\nLaying and waiting on you<\/p>\n

That\u2019s what I wanna say…
\nTrouble you can\u2019t fool me
\nI see you behind that tree
\nLook out! Trouble you can\u2019t fool me
\nTrying to get the ups on me
\nTrouble you can\u2019t fool me
\nI see you behind that tree
\nYou want to jump on me<\/p>\n

Trouble took my money, Cadillac\u2019s gone
\nBest suit of clothes, all raised up in the closet, oh Lord
\nBut I\u2019m so glad
\nTrouble don\u2019t last… always
\nYou can\u2019t fool me…<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[Image at right from the Celestial Heavens\/Might and Magic site] In a comment the other day over at the Querulous Squirrel’s treetop lair, I ad-libbed a suggestion for people facing what are commonly called “nervous breakdowns”: name them. Please forgive the self-citation (which feels to me like a breach of Interweb etiquette): Every “nervous breakdown” […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","h5ap_radio_sources":[],"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"activitypub_content_warning":"","activitypub_content_visibility":"","activitypub_max_image_attachments":3,"activitypub_interaction_policy_quote":"anyone","activitypub_status":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[247,37,5,50],"tags":[512,1164,1700,1701,1702,1703,1704],"class_list":{"0":"post-7163","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-ruminations","7":"category-onlineworld","8":"category-06_writing","9":"category-language-writing_cat","10":"tag-ry-cooder","11":"tag-querulous-squirrel","12":"tag-apostrophe","13":"tag-names","14":"tag-personalization","15":"tag-communicatrix","16":"tag-enemies","17":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6kZSG-1Rx","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7163","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7163"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7163\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7172,"href":"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7163\/revisions\/7172"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7163"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7163"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7163"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}