TTAC Open Forum: Let's Talk About the Elephant in the Room (and Everything Else)

@WildcatMatt To quote Travis Bickle, "You talking to me?" Because just yesterday Jack and Nate tried (probably successfully, still weighing how it might work) to submit some of my stuff, based on a throwaway last line I wrote for Jack's horrifying Laguna Seca ending, where he was essentially a sitting duck for a couple of minutes, as drivers (and I use that term loosely here) continued to roar by him under a yellow flag. In the end, he went against normal crash etiquette and chose to get the hell out of Dodge, before Dodge became obliterated, with him in it. The last several seconds were Jack wandering up a small embankment on the other side of the tire wall, captured by his onboard camera. A bit later that night (wee small hours, long night upgrading multiple apps and O/S patches on multiple systems), I fell into a mood that keyed off someone else's joking pronunciation of Louisville. That caused me to segue into an old memory of an old summer spent in central KY, complete with a winning longshot on Derby Day, breakfasting with my work buddy at the governor's Derby breakfast, and finding a brief but intensely entertaining rebound relationship that was more than a rebound relationship...two people with only one thing in common, and an acute awareness that that time would exist for a while and then be gone forever. I can see where someone might think that this was an attempt to spin a Jack-like DG/VMcB tale, or some such. But it was in fact none such...it was a sudden intrusion of a memory of a relationship that was intense and out of the blue, for just a few weeks, two people with only one thing in common, but that one thing strong enough to be unfazed by anything else in our divergent lives. But it was not an attempt to be Baruthian...instead, it was an attempt to process a thirty year old memory of a brief but intense interlude that echoed across my mind and my memory from a distant past, before I finally met the love of my life, and "settled down", or something like that, and I had a new life begin. If that either seemed to you an attempt to replicate Jack's writing, or made you feel awkward, I can assure you that my intent was neither. It was an attempt to face head-on, and deal with, a strong but long nearly forgotten memory of something brief (just weeks), irrational and mutually compelling. But its re-appearance in the foreground of my memory was itself awkward, and my writing was an attempt to deal with how it was strange and awkward to have this memory, long since voluntarily relinquished, reappear as I sat at the kitchen table of my home and family for the last two and half decades. As I noted there, it was like a Bob Seeger "...heard the sound of distant thunder" kind of a moment. And writing about it was my way of trying to put that sudden memory of a past time and place into perspective. But it was not written as an attempt to emulate some other style, or even to raise and answer any question for any readers...it was entirely an attempt for me to grab on to something that once again came to the foregrond of my memory. It was and is my hope that by sharing the strange power of that relationship and the memory of it, that I might find some way to come to terms with it. The only relationship to Jack's way of doing things and writing about them that that story had, was that I suspect that both he and I believe in the existence of the random intense relationship between a man and a woman that makes no rational sense, and yet is something that must be dealt with when it occurs, whether it is convenient or not. To me, that is one of the great mysteries of life, such irrational but compelling encounters driven by nothing but an electromagnetic coupling which, from the beginning is known not to be permanent, yet is something that cannot, will not be ignored. That it came to mind keyed by a local pronunciation of the name of a nearby city, from across a distance of more than a third of my life, seemed to be one of those quirks of memory that could either be pushed back down, or taken out and examined. I chose to examine it, first because it would not go away, and second, because I hoped that by reviewing it, I might make some new sense out of that time and that relationship, either to myself or to some readers, or both. But I no more emulate styles than I would go get a haircut or buy some clothes to try to look like someone I admired or idolized. To the extent that I might ever have, that was a characteristic that may have crept into my persona in my youth. But I have been far too busy finding and being who I am for the past decades, to want to or be able to emulate some one else. Admire, yes. Emulate, not hardly. I am busy enough being myself, and writing (communicating) what is inside my own head...and there is enough in there that I don't need to, or choose to, scavenge for material, or styles of writing, from someone else. On the other hand, this site seems to attract a high concentration of alpha males of diverse interests and accomplishments, and it does not surprise me that there are so many bits and pieces of peoples' lives that get shared here, and that resonate with adventures related by Jack, or other good writers around here. I will not wade into the deep end of the pool by trying to name who I think those other good writers on TTAC might be, or so I intended. Actually I would like to do that. None if the following is meant to imply that I think other writers and members of the B&B are not talented. These are just the people who have struck me as being very gifted in their ideas and/or their way of expressing them. Writers: JB, Cameron, Sajeev, a lot of Steve Lang, Bark, Mental and after that, for me it is hit and miss. B&B, in no particular order: bball40dtw, 28Cars, Nate, Arthur Dailey, JohnTaurus, and a lot more whose handles I can't recall off the top of my head. And if your comment about emulation was not in reference to what I have written lately, then I will depart leaving behind the words of the immortal Emily Litella: "Never mind!" But "TTAC is dead. Long live the new TTAC!". And I do hope it evolves into a more feature-oriented site. It is a noble goal. But it is a long way from setting a goal to achieving it. Inquiring minds will be inquiring.

@VolandoBajo Actually no, it was not that piece.

@WildcatMatt Oh, well then. Carry on.

@VolandoBajo Nice post, thanks for the complement.

@28-Cars-Later Seconded.

@WildcatMatt Sorry about that...I had no way of knowing a priori that you were referring to another piece, and I had just penned a personal piece spontaneously, that had been triggered by a comment Jack had sent to me. But as I said, I admire Jack's writing, but can only be myself. But I am still curious as to what that piece might be that you saw. Inquiring minds want to know.

@danio3834 "As you were".

Did you miss your naptime today?

@28-Cars-Later I just want follow through on statements around here!