Something like five years ago--my first year in graduate school--a
couple of other English majors and I founded a trivia team that would
(weekly) come in second or third place in round one and last place in
round two. I'll blame it on the ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-alcohol. This bar,
Charley O'Corley's, gave us pitchers of Amberbach for some stupidly low
dollar amount (like $4.00 or something), and we would buy one (each)
upon arrival. By the time intermission rolled around, things were
getting swishy in my eye-holes.
Being a bunch of English nerds, we all always had pens nearby (I wore
mine over my ear, lid off, point back). So one night, and I'll never
remember which one, we started writing on cocktail napkins. I'm sure
Andy still has them in his little black, spiral-bound--the napkins from
that first night. I know that a lot of the napkins were covered in jokes
and puns while others were conversations we would have when the music
was too loud for our vocal subtlety.
It's been several years, and I've kept up that tradition. I'm sure I'm
not the only one. I'm sure we aren't the only group. But those napkins
have seen some of my worst moments (phone numbers never called or phone
calls never returned), but they have also seen some of my best ideas
(like the time I finally articulated my master's thesis in one
sentence). So, while this blog will in no way replace the cocktail
napkins that are stuffed into my real life journal, it will be a place
for me to scratch out ideas in a different space, which is really what
the napkin is all about. You take writing and you put it in as many
different places and modes and genres as possible, and you're bound to
hit on something eventually.
Until next time,
-Shane
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