Tuesday, March 14, 2006
I'll confess that I truly enjoy verbal sparring.
That is not necessarily a bad vocation, I'll admit. However, there's not many people worthy of that kind of competition, as either they are incapable of sustaining the parry and thrust of wit and sarcasm, or they are too quick to take offense at what they perceive to be slights or insults to their person.
Chengwei, I'll admit that you're fun to have a verbal duel with. Well, I'm more effective duelling online than I am in person, since I type more accurately than I talk, and typing prevents me from stumbling over my words as I'm wont to do when I'm speaking. Not to mention that typing allows me to lay out my ideas and thoughts in a more coherent manner than the casual inaccuracies of rapidfire speech.
Of course, true masters have no problem in presenting their ideas clearly and directly whether in speech or print. I confess to a lack of skill in the verbal department due to my sad lack of confidence when it comes to dealing with actual people face to face. I can communicate when I am at ease with the person, but if I am not, which is true with most people, I stutter and end up either mangling the truth of which I had intended to present, or not speaking at all.
I recognise that my language of choice in this blog post is of a more convoluted form than it usually is, an effect achieved by reading a novel which has a timeline set in the early 1600s of England. I acknowledge that whatever I read beforehand always seems to have a direct impact on my thought and even speech patterns for hours afterwards. I blush to admit that if one were to hand me a Shakespearean text to read for an hour or two, I would be spouting flowery language full of thees and thous in no time afterward.
Unfortunately the converse is true when it comes to uncouth language. Reading the Resident Evil novelisations (yes, I have the novelisations for both movies) tends to put me in a more disagreeable frame of mind. A variety of swear words tend to make their appearance in my thoughts and inevitably my writing in the aftermath of reading such texts. It is regrettable, naturally, but I find the crude violence sometimes useful when I need to convey such brutality into my own writing.
Likewise when I read romance stories, I end up feeling like a knight of the court. Don't ask why I have never felt like a lady instead, I have no real conception of how that came to pass. Apparently my real gender has little to do with the identity I assume after reading any story.
Since I'm on the topic I might as well cover my reaction to the Bible. Reading the Gospels tend to calm me, but reading Revelations tends to make me lose all faith in the world. And oh yes, my speech patterns do subtly take a turn towards ecclestical bombast that can either inspire or put people to sleep. Usually the latter is more in evidence, although I have put it to good use in one of my fledgling stories earlier in life. Religious pomposity can be useful when one is attempting to weave a certain mysticism into a legend one is attempting to create for background purposes. I believe it is referred to as the fantasy tone, or even the voice of the fable.
Alright, I should stop boring all and sundry with my twisted logic couched in language that seeks to drain all active energy out of its spectators. It must be said that I have enjoyed myself tremendously in expelling my thoughts in such a fashion. It is most entertaining and I may choose to repeat this performance at a later date.
Already I can hear the outraged screams of those still awake at this point. It must be noted that such responses are received with a certain glee from this blogger. If that betrays a certain amount of sadism it cannot be helped.
Hail and farewell then. It has been a most enlightening encounter.
]
That is not necessarily a bad vocation, I'll admit. However, there's not many people worthy of that kind of competition, as either they are incapable of sustaining the parry and thrust of wit and sarcasm, or they are too quick to take offense at what they perceive to be slights or insults to their person.
Chengwei, I'll admit that you're fun to have a verbal duel with. Well, I'm more effective duelling online than I am in person, since I type more accurately than I talk, and typing prevents me from stumbling over my words as I'm wont to do when I'm speaking. Not to mention that typing allows me to lay out my ideas and thoughts in a more coherent manner than the casual inaccuracies of rapidfire speech.
Of course, true masters have no problem in presenting their ideas clearly and directly whether in speech or print. I confess to a lack of skill in the verbal department due to my sad lack of confidence when it comes to dealing with actual people face to face. I can communicate when I am at ease with the person, but if I am not, which is true with most people, I stutter and end up either mangling the truth of which I had intended to present, or not speaking at all.
I recognise that my language of choice in this blog post is of a more convoluted form than it usually is, an effect achieved by reading a novel which has a timeline set in the early 1600s of England. I acknowledge that whatever I read beforehand always seems to have a direct impact on my thought and even speech patterns for hours afterwards. I blush to admit that if one were to hand me a Shakespearean text to read for an hour or two, I would be spouting flowery language full of thees and thous in no time afterward.
Unfortunately the converse is true when it comes to uncouth language. Reading the Resident Evil novelisations (yes, I have the novelisations for both movies) tends to put me in a more disagreeable frame of mind. A variety of swear words tend to make their appearance in my thoughts and inevitably my writing in the aftermath of reading such texts. It is regrettable, naturally, but I find the crude violence sometimes useful when I need to convey such brutality into my own writing.
Likewise when I read romance stories, I end up feeling like a knight of the court. Don't ask why I have never felt like a lady instead, I have no real conception of how that came to pass. Apparently my real gender has little to do with the identity I assume after reading any story.
Since I'm on the topic I might as well cover my reaction to the Bible. Reading the Gospels tend to calm me, but reading Revelations tends to make me lose all faith in the world. And oh yes, my speech patterns do subtly take a turn towards ecclestical bombast that can either inspire or put people to sleep. Usually the latter is more in evidence, although I have put it to good use in one of my fledgling stories earlier in life. Religious pomposity can be useful when one is attempting to weave a certain mysticism into a legend one is attempting to create for background purposes. I believe it is referred to as the fantasy tone, or even the voice of the fable.
Alright, I should stop boring all and sundry with my twisted logic couched in language that seeks to drain all active energy out of its spectators. It must be said that I have enjoyed myself tremendously in expelling my thoughts in such a fashion. It is most entertaining and I may choose to repeat this performance at a later date.
Already I can hear the outraged screams of those still awake at this point. It must be noted that such responses are received with a certain glee from this blogger. If that betrays a certain amount of sadism it cannot be helped.
Hail and farewell then. It has been a most enlightening encounter.
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