snark v. wit

not a terribly shitty problem i've got on my hands, but a problem nonetheless.

the white house has asked me for some writing samples. i'm sending them an op-ed piece the LA Times rejected (fuckers), and 2-3 blog posts (cleaned up, grammatically proper, and toned-down snark) out of the 206 i've written before this one.

my goal in assembling this packet of samples is to strike a good balance between my spirit as a writer (some snark without going over the top) and my intellectual acumen (which essentially precludes any posts in which i'm falling down stairs or eating retard sandwiches).

if any of the 17 of you have any favorites, i'd love your opinion in the comment box below.

pretty please?

~k

p.s. kinda cool that, after spending months writing about wanting to be paid to write, the white house is looking at me for such a job. your help would be much appreciated.

mj's last day

dear day job, i promise to make up to you that i've spent today with the michael jackson memorial.

dear michael jackson, i'm sorry you suffered as you did, and i'm grateful for the magic you brought the world and the good times i've had in your honor.

goodbye michael.

~k

composing

never one to steer away from lofty goals, i set out to finish my second novel this year. it's so much different writing a second, than a first. there's part of me that still feels i haven't a damn clue what i'm doing when i'm pounding words into my keyboard. but this time, the words flow with much greater ease, and with a sense of purpose of their own. the words know that this is a dry run, and that 20 revisions will clean up its messes and fill its holes. the words lead me through character bios, pages and pages of character bio wound into a story unfolding. and this time the story is writing itself instead of following a timeline i spent years researching, drafting, and building plot to support.

this time i started with the name of princess i found in an era rich in intriguing and mysterious details, i've written her a particularly complicated personality, and i happen to have found enough relevant political history that i can weave in a good tale of bygone times.

or so says whatever muse has lingered about this weekend...

~k

regret

as a general rule, regret is a feeling i try very hard to avoid. for one thing, it's dumb. for another, and not entirely separate, i can't change my past, and frankly i don't want to. and as often as i exalt that any regrets to which i may succumb on my death bed will be for things i've done, as opposed to things i haven't done, i sure do wish i'd paid more attention when i was in school...

~k

a fabulous fourth

i went to a party today in the hills in echo park, like way up in the hills, with one of the coolest views anywhere in town. i had a few drinks, entirely too much food, spent half the night with half the party on the roof, and the other half engaged in a social experiment.

kind of.

there was a ladder leaning against the side of the house, the ladder we would later use to climb up to and down from the roof (from where we could see fireworks going off all over the basin). to get from the front courtyard into the house, each person had to decide between going under the ladder, which was remarkably easier, or going around the ladder.

it was interesting to watch the followers, those who wouldn't dare take the first step under the ladder, but wouldn't hesitate to follow someone else under it. or around it. there were those who would have climbed up and back down the ladder to avoid going underneath it, those who waited for someone else to make the decision for them, and others who never even would've stopped to think twice about some silly superstition.

i honestly don't know which of this holiday was more fascinating. the fireworks, the frightening number of people atop the roof, or watching the way people respond to a ladder in the way...

~k