Writing on the train

When I said I would be able to do a lot of my writing work on the train that was just a ploy to keep myself from getting nervous about doing Senior Project in tandem (correct usage?) with such a busy work week. But I've actually been very productive, I completed a large chunk of my opening sequence yesterday on the train. Who knew?
( I suspect this little old man with crazy white-hair and an old briefcase is my muse. Before I continue I need to perfectly describe him. He looks like a college professor but he doesn't seem to have that intense weariness and general air of deceleration that elderly teachers get when they near their retirement. The top of his head is mostly bald, the majority of his mane grows around the sides and sticks out a few inches, like it is constantly caught in the wind, or perhaps struck by lightning. He wears a short-sleeve white button-up, with pens in the pockets, and little oval spectacles, not big bottle-cap lenses, nothing flashy. He's a few inches shorter than me, so 5'6"-5'8" range, but he stoops, so his little head reaches forward a bit. I heard him talking on his phone once, he has a wispy voice to match his hair. Not raspy like a long-time smoker, more high and quiet, like muted white noise. Maybe on my last day in New York I'll get him a cupcake, or a book of one-liners as a token of friendship. We could be buddies and hang out on the weekends. He could tell me what it's like being old, I could teach him how to use twitter. )

Oh, how I get carried away...
Back to the task at hand-

Burt is the only character featured in the first few pages, as we go through a portion of his daily routine with Puck, and get a taste of his character. I really want to make Puck unlikable, but how do you make a dog unlikable? It's impossible, they're too awesome... but it is a problem that will be solved. I like a challenge.

One-uppers

I'm not old enough to be able to convincingly dispense wizened platitudes, but I can say for certain that "one-uppers" are a plague on society.

Everyone has met them; people who listen to a harrowing anecdote or hilarious experience only long enough to respond with an even more outrageous or terrible story of their own. Instead of digesting your words and replying with a comment tailored specifically to you, they spit up an often exaggerated tale that makes your own seem bland and juvenile.

Examples include:

"... when my grandmother died I was shaken up for a while. It was my first funeral."
"One-upper: Oh that sucks, my grandma died in my arms two days after my grandpa lost a year-long battle with cancer. We had to cancel my graduation party."

or

"My boyfriend got me flowers for the anniversary of our first day. I can't believe he remembered."
"One-upper: My boyfriend took me to New York to see 'Wicked' for our anniversary because the day we met I mentioned I had always wanted to see it. Oh, and we met Idina Menzel afterward..."

Burt's a one-upper, which is partially why he got involved in dog-breeding to begin with; it was one of the only arenas he could find that he could succeed without having to exert any physical effort or improve his own character in any way.

Interesting find.

Physicians have the highest incidence of suicide of any profession.

Treatment

I wrote my treatment during my lunch break yesterday. I was in a fervor, it must be the heat. Usually I write on the train but I kept falling asleep, then waking up to the middle-aged actor in front of me cracking jokes about napping to his young lady friend with the phlegmy black lung voice. I suspect they were making fun of me because I was drooling on myself, but I could just be paranoid and extremely self-involved.

New Project

Ah, it's time to start my senior project.
Maybe writing about contemporary people will be easier than trying to conjure up historical swordplay. I think my life has been too cushy to properly inhabit the brain of plague-ridden peasants. I'd rather write about people who breed show-dogs.

More to come.