An All-Too-Typical Entry

I've noticed two personal trends, one of which I've decided to try and stop.

First, I've become unable to express myself concisely.

I mean that I can't say anything quickly and accurately without using hundreds of delicious modifiers.

I mean that it now takes me at least half an hour (and usually longer) to write even the simplest email/blog/story, once I start thinking too much.

I mean that my obsession with being a good little writer (through self-conscious asides and rhetorical devices like repetition) has given me the English major's gift of endless blather at the expense of, well, something or other.

Let us remember Quentin, who thought too much. Although I did defend Kill Bill today, I don't mean that Quentin.

Secondly, while my writing become, in some respects, more elaborate, my vocabulary has shrunk: I'm unable to express myself verbally in a satisfying way.

I misspeak. I stumble. Even my sad little quips seem to be missing their mark lately. I'd blame Germany (I've found it very hard to abandon some very useful German words, though I assume that no one has noticed) if I'd had this trouble since I got back.

But it seems more recent. I suppose I could blame video games or, well, whatever else I've been doing more of lately (see the previous two posts).

(Perhaps I, like most bloggers, accountants, and teenage poets, actually have nothing worth saying at the moment; it would certainly explain my inability to write a short story for class.)

This, the second trend, is more dangerous, because it reflects poorly on me on a daily basis. My writing is, I believe and hope, more secluded from the ever-judging real world. Apathy should keep them at a safe distance, if nothing else does.

I've decided to think before I speak, or, barring that, to remain silent, spinning things instead of contributing. There's something about spinning that mesmerizes me of late.

This is, of course, the kind of thing you say to fill up space and push a few compromising pictures further down the page on your weblog.

Don't get me wrong, Dear Reader: it's all true, but I know very few people who are able to stay silent rather than risk sounding like a fool, perhaps because I wouldn't want to know such people.

Still, a little restraint is the key to checking my inaccuracy. Probably.

The first trend (loquacity) is, as you can see, apparently unstoppable.