Glad I subscribed. (Been a reader since 1P5 days.) Perhaps one day I’ll have something more compelling or interesting to say than this, but you’re just a fine writer.
You just blew my mind, Steve. What a gift! What happened to your writing? Is it AI "unbeknowst"? If so, keep on using it, "unbeknowst". If it's AI-free, you're at the top of your game and AI just met its match.
I do not want to turn your head, but that was "beautiful." I read every word (and as you know, I can barely read any more because my aging eyes give out before I'm ready to stop reading). And I want MORE. So, what to do? Write an autobiography entitled "My Life Thus Far." Ah, I think that title may be taken. "From Here to Eternity." Damn, I'm not much in the imagination department. (Did I just curse? On St. Paddy's Day?) Name it something that indicates "I'm not through yet, sequel to come."
And just think: THE MOVIE RIGHTS. That's where the real money is made.
I would like to include a song to accompany that wonderful description of your 1995. Is there a song centered on 1995, as is appropriate? If there is, I'll circle back. You included some song references yourself. Great.
Then you're giving Tolstoy (my favorite fiction writer) a run for his money. Now doesn't it irk that what you just wrote will be fed by people like Sam Altman into their infernal coding algorithms and you don't get any royalties for teaching AI gremlins how to write like you? The fellow in Altman's outfit (Asian Indian genius programmer named Suchir Balaji,) who was high up and turned whistleblower, railing that copyright laws were being broken in the company (Open AI), recently died under very suspicious circumstances. These whistleblowers are being harmed left and right.
I look forward to reading about Steubenville. If I were young again, I would go either there or Catholic University of America--probably CUA since I lived in McLean, VA nearby (with my family), had no money, and worked (part time) for the Department of Interior (Park Service), a cushy (secretarial) job. I actually COULD have gone to CUA back then in 1971, but went to Georgetown University instead. That is a long story.
Ah, and did I have an encounter with God's greatness there? Yes. A Jesuit priest. Too long a story, he made a difference, but only in hindsight. "My memory has a second sight" (sometimes), and looking in the rearview memory, that Jesuit priest theology prof (who I scoffed at at the time, being a know-it-all fallen-away Catholic) planted a seed that sprouted about 20 years later into an oak tree of "renewed" belief.
And also 20 years later, I encountered a FRANCISCAN priest in a RCC confessional (finding myself lost in the "deep wood of error" at age 38), and that priest was a "high priest" (didn't know about that, "that was another country", song attached). And you know that story. And that led my becoming a Third Order Carmelite, which has been quite a spiritually enchanting engagement.
‘Heartbreak’ just sounds like hyperbole until you actually experience the tangible, physical sensation of it. Similarly, “you never forget your first love” just sounds like some schmaltzy truism, except that it isn’t. Great story.
Glad I subscribed. (Been a reader since 1P5 days.) Perhaps one day I’ll have something more compelling or interesting to say than this, but you’re just a fine writer.
Thank you!
You just blew my mind, Steve. What a gift! What happened to your writing? Is it AI "unbeknowst"? If so, keep on using it, "unbeknowst". If it's AI-free, you're at the top of your game and AI just met its match.
I do not want to turn your head, but that was "beautiful." I read every word (and as you know, I can barely read any more because my aging eyes give out before I'm ready to stop reading). And I want MORE. So, what to do? Write an autobiography entitled "My Life Thus Far." Ah, I think that title may be taken. "From Here to Eternity." Damn, I'm not much in the imagination department. (Did I just curse? On St. Paddy's Day?) Name it something that indicates "I'm not through yet, sequel to come."
And just think: THE MOVIE RIGHTS. That's where the real money is made.
I would like to include a song to accompany that wonderful description of your 1995. Is there a song centered on 1995, as is appropriate? If there is, I'll circle back. You included some song references yourself. Great.
Keep on writing. What happened at Steubenville?
Thank you Anne. Happy to report that AI didn’t come within 100 yards of this one.
Then you're giving Tolstoy (my favorite fiction writer) a run for his money. Now doesn't it irk that what you just wrote will be fed by people like Sam Altman into their infernal coding algorithms and you don't get any royalties for teaching AI gremlins how to write like you? The fellow in Altman's outfit (Asian Indian genius programmer named Suchir Balaji,) who was high up and turned whistleblower, railing that copyright laws were being broken in the company (Open AI), recently died under very suspicious circumstances. These whistleblowers are being harmed left and right.
I look forward to reading about Steubenville. If I were young again, I would go either there or Catholic University of America--probably CUA since I lived in McLean, VA nearby (with my family), had no money, and worked (part time) for the Department of Interior (Park Service), a cushy (secretarial) job. I actually COULD have gone to CUA back then in 1971, but went to Georgetown University instead. That is a long story.
Ah, and did I have an encounter with God's greatness there? Yes. A Jesuit priest. Too long a story, he made a difference, but only in hindsight. "My memory has a second sight" (sometimes), and looking in the rearview memory, that Jesuit priest theology prof (who I scoffed at at the time, being a know-it-all fallen-away Catholic) planted a seed that sprouted about 20 years later into an oak tree of "renewed" belief.
And also 20 years later, I encountered a FRANCISCAN priest in a RCC confessional (finding myself lost in the "deep wood of error" at age 38), and that priest was a "high priest" (didn't know about that, "that was another country", song attached). And you know that story. And that led my becoming a Third Order Carmelite, which has been quite a spiritually enchanting engagement.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5rwiUHFLbMA
‘Heartbreak’ just sounds like hyperbole until you actually experience the tangible, physical sensation of it. Similarly, “you never forget your first love” just sounds like some schmaltzy truism, except that it isn’t. Great story.