My Cyber Monday

 

I went to Target yesterday to activate my new IPhone and see about getting an Apple Watch.  The salesperson said:  "It's Cyber Monday, so we'll match anyone's lowest price."  I was sold.  

The friendly electronics technician offered to set up my phone.  I noticed he had very long nails painted in one of those new colors they're wearing these days.  "Do you have trouble manipulating the phones?", I said.  

That opened up an interesting conversation in which he told me he was a technician by day, drag queen by night.  He gave me his stage name and showed me some pix of him as "her."

I had planned to go to the Geek Squad for help, but this happy moment had me with the "drag squad" instead.

Beyond Time

 

Are you tired of remembering the end-of-season meltdown of the White Sox?  Or the miserable start-of-season performance of the Bulls?  Here's a new idea:  Eternal Baseball.

A team is assembled from the stats of today and yesteryear.  The best of the best beyond the "mortal coil".  Your teams is matched against the other team's best, including some teams that moved around or disappeared.  I'm following the Sox.

Is this the reason "Finding Your Roots" is such a popular TV show?  Why people are submitting DNA to connect with the heroes (or villains) on their family tree?

Time has always been terrifying to us self-aware humans.  And so far, eternity has been beyond purchase.  So, why not have fun with Eternal Baseball.  Or, for that matter, Eternal Parents, Eternal Friends, or Eternal Leaders.

The Eternal White Sox of the American League won their first game.  Doc White pitched a four hit shutout to beat Eternal Baltimore 6-0.

Writers and Their Characters

 

I've carried around a fascination about when an author decides to end the life of one of his most favorite characters.  A character that has been lovingly followed through several books.  A character that has brought the author fame and fortune.

As I cry about the death, does the author cry too?  What goes into the decision?  My friend Rex, an author himself, says: "Maybe he just got tired. Ready to write about someone else."

But what about the connection?  The relationship?  Isn't the character "real" in some way?  Isn't it a "death?"

Walter Mosley killed off Easy Rawlins and went on to write a completely new series in a new town.  That takes some kind of confidence.

The writer owns the story.  The reader owns the story of his life.