Blog of a Ridiculous Man

One thing that irks me about my early writing is that there are all these clever puns and brilliant wordplay, to the complete detriment of substance. It's an echo-chamber of an artist who has little else to speak of save for art itself. Jetsam from a high-IQ individual obsessed with creative genesis and process to the detriment (often to the deliberate detriment) of end product. I had this essay in high school where I used a run of twenty-six consecutive words each (you guessed it) starting with a consecutive letter of the alphabet. When I found this essay in my archives, I was blushing and couldn't bear to find the passage. I got a perfect score with the substitute who graded it saying, "Yeah, your command of the English language is much greater than mine, and I have no right to judge it." There was some truth to that statement, but, like not all that much. I wasn't that smart. I was intelligent and knew a lot of words, but I wasn't communicating intelligently: I was pontificating and stretching the limits of how I could use language, more like a 5-year-old learning to knead dough than someone who cared about the bread at the end. I was writing for the sake of writing, trying to find my own voice, and in the process of process, I became embarrassingly self-indulgent and substanceless, which would've been fine if there wasn't also a lump of perfectly round dough that I was proudly presenting to others as if I'd solved world hunger. Heh. In and of itself none of this is a bad thing. Figuring out what makes you go, figuring out what you're capable of, figuring out how many voices you can fit into that fugue? Yeah, it's important stuff. And in the end tally, some of it was honestly pretty decent, or at least salvageable as more than archive.

It's Not That Easy...

Apologies to everyone that has ever lived for this. Credit to Joe Raposo (songwriter of "Bein' Green") and the Muppets. Also: Sorry. Heh.

It's not that easy as RJ.
Having to spend each day on a young-and-dismal team
When I know it would be nicer on the Spurs, or purple and gold
Or someone more competitive... like that.

It's not easy as RJ
It seems you blend in with so many other ordinary wings.
And the rookies tend to pass you over 'cause you're
Not standing out like flashy Barnes from UNC
Or stars like Steph Curry

But RJ's a sharpshooting wing
And RJ can be sweet at slashing
And RJ can dunk like it's no thing, or lead like a king
Now a veteran, he mentors a team

When RJ's all there is to be
It could make you wonder why, but why wonder?
Why wonder? I am RJ and it'll be fine. I am Richard Jefferson.
And I think that's what I want to be.