The Happiness Thread

I love my profile pic. It makes me happy.

 

I just finished a chapter/scene that I skipped and put off for a while.

 

All deck furniture is officially out.

 

So I know I can be a bit insufferable at (most of the) times to put it lightly, but man, right now I'm feeling alright. I mean, I've had quite a few beers, mixture of Sapporo and Bell's Two Hearted, but it is what it is. I ain't even worried. Played some video games tonight with the bros, I've got a professional working on the couches in my living room. My job yesterday was actually pretty good for once, and I'm hoping today it's more of the same. A little slow, but steady and easy as Hell. Let's get it. I hope everybody has a good day today. Get just one thing significant thing done today. It'll feel good, trust me. Let's go.

Time to round off the night with a couple shots. That should get me just before the point where "the spins" hit me. Fall into bed, pass out and wake-up with plenty of time to get to work.

Congratulations on the grandson making it another year, and those of us who are making some writing progress. 2020 is what we make of it. Don't let the masks and gloves hold you back. Don't let the new widespread sickness define this year. That's all bullshit. I'm not saying it's not real or it doesn't matter, because it IS real and it certainly does matter, but don't give up like that. Get out there and work around it. Let's accomplish some goals in spite of these weird times.

 

My favorite Chinese bakery is finally open. Time to buy some fried chicken curry bread and taro coconut.

It'll be good to see the workers again, too.

 

*happy dance*

 

Outstanding! Congratulations!

 

@Link the Writer

 

Man, you submitted a blank page and got it published?!?!? That's some Warhol level balls and success, I shoulda thought of that.

Just kidding, seriously congrats dude!

 

The state of emergency in my prefecture has been partially lifted. Bars and gyms are still closed, which is a bummer, but most businesses (which have been open the whole goddamn time anyway) will now be legitimately open.

And there's no open container law, so you can get shitfaced in front of the 7-11 anyways. Who needs bars?

 

Listening to some of my favorite music and singing as loudly as I can. So far it's been My Chemical Romance and Amy Winehouse.

It's been a while since I've gone all out like this, so my voice will give out soon, but till then... I am rather happy.

 

Got myself permabanned from a poetry forum

 

Must have been an awful place.

 

I tried to get banned from a forum once, but the management just didn't give a shit.

Yet another in a long line of failures on my part

 

I hadn't even visited it in 3 years, but it's one of those places where telling someone that their poetry is garbage is considered "honest critique." To be fair, they have this warning on their forum banner and it's pretty much true:

Spoiler

WARNING! We're mean. We're nasty. We're merciless. We're cruel. We're vile. We're heartless.
We'll slash your soul to ribbons. We're an evil clique conspiring to annihilate your self-esteem. Ready?

Here's the asshole critique that I got banned for criticizing. Maybe it's not a big deal but it set me on edge. No wonder the forum's dying.

Spoiler

Assuming that you're actually here to begin to learn something about the basics of poetry writing, here's a standard-issue critique of beginner's rhyming work: This is dreadful doggerel. Forget writing in rhyme until you've learned (a) what meter is, (b) how to use it correctly, (c) why rhyme doesn't work without meter, (d) what forced rhyme is, (e) why you should have avoided it, and (f) why falling out of rhyme when it becomes too difficult to maintain a set pattern (which is what the use of rhyme virtually always requires) is typical only of the rawest beginner. You will not be able to use rhyme effectively until you have learned to write natural lines in correct, accurate meter, something you can't do now. Meter is a complex skill all its own and has to be learned independently of other skills. Rather than taking on tasks far beyond your ability at the present, you need to focus on developing the fundamental skills, beginning with meter. You need to study meter, to write meter, to live and breathe meter for several months until you can write naturally and easily without distortion in meter. The basic way that's done is through the study and practice of writing blank verse. You need to obtain a copy of Tennyson's Idylls of the King and spend several weeks reading it aloud so that you can begin to develop that absolute necessity for anyone writing in rhyme and meter: an ear attuned to the subtle nuances of metrical English. You need not only to study blank verse but to practice writing it; frankly, you need to spend the weeks/months necessary to develop the basic metrical skill while writing 600 - 1,000 lines of metrically correct and unforced, unstrained blank verse. Only after you have acquired this skill should you even begin to think of adding in the separate complication of rhyme. You also need to spend time reading current metrical poets to understand how langauge, meter, rhyme, and form are being handled now; this includes such poets as Richard Wilbur, Mark Jarman, Marilyn Hacker, Don Paterson, Frederick Turner, A. E. Stallings, George Szirtes, Rhina Espaillat, Sophie Hannah, R. S. Gwynn, Seamus Heaney, Wendy Cope, Maura Stanton, Alice Oswald, Timothy Steele, Kate Light, Charles Martin, Deborah Warren, and Gregg Williamson, to mention only a few.

Here are some basic resources for the study of meter that could not help but be useful to you under the circumstances:

Introduction to Meter,

Basic Iambic Pentameter,

and

Standard Substitutions in Iambic Pentameter.

You should also study thoroughly one or both of the following:

Transition Triage: Scanning Blank Verse

Transition Triage: Writing Blank Verse

Then you'll need to invest in Mary Oliver's Rules for the Dance: A Handbook for Writing and Reading Metrical Verse, the best basic introduction to meter.

* * *

And ( yes,it's in the rules: specifically, Commandment 3) all work posted here is to use correct punctuation and syntax throughout.

 

The recommendations were sound, but the meter, pace, and syntax of the critique has consigned the individuals to burning hell... not a single rhyme? Discordant repetition? What the literary Fuccadactyl?

 

Sorry, shall I delete my posts?

 

Drinking bottle(s) of wine while watching The Temple of Doom was a riot.

 

There is something incredibly satisfying about a thunderstorm that lasts a while.

 

Josh Cellars Pinot Noir.