March 27, 2004
The Stretch In Between
So much for endings. Beginning are always more fun. True connoisseurs, however, are known to favor the stretch in between, since it's the hardest to do anything with.
That's about all that can be said for plots, which anyway are just one thing after another, a what and a what and a what.
Now try How and Why.
- Margaret Atwood
I think I'm getting a new camera for my birthday. OK, I know I am. It's odd, really, because I only started looking at them for fun. My parents never buy my brother or I expensive things. He's a little bitter, sometimes. They thought the Band of Brothers DVD set, which he asked for last year, was too expensive, and got him Minority Report, instead. (He hated that movie.) Our little half-sister received a digital camcorder for Christmas, and our little half brother got a Game Cube. I'm beyond caring. Or maybe I'm just happy that my parents are paying part of my tuition. It's hard to tell, really.
But this year, I'm getting a new camera. It's possible that my parents have decided to spread the wealth among us now. Maybe my little brother and sister have been bad recently, which, I suppose, makes me seem good. It could be because I let my Dad claim me as a dependent this year, which saved him almost $2000 on his taxes. Whatever it is, I'm getting a new camera.
I'm excited. I know nothing about photography, save that it's the art of photographs, but I see so many incredibly photoblogs, and so many incredible photos, and I want pictures of my own. I want pictures to supplement my words, to redefine my words, to speak my words. I want to write less, and say more; I want to write about less, and speak about more. I want something different here. I don't know How, I don't know Why-- I just want something different.
But not too different. I like this. I like it here. I look back over my archives, and this has become more and more what I want. And that's it, I guess: I don't want something different, I just want something more: more complex, more meaningful, more me. I don't want a new beginning; I want to work on the stretch in between.
And me, too-- I want more. Not more things, not more stuff-- not more of more. I want more of less, more of this, more of me. I want more of the stretch in between.
I walked a mile and a half to the waterfall. I walked a mile and a half back to the road. In between, I saw the waterfall. It's that stretch in between that makes me think, that makes me live, that makes me want more.
It's that stretch in between that we find the How and Why.
Posted by Sean at March 27, 2004 02:33 AM