Angry Spirits
Sep. 9th, 2004 10:40 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
pjthompsonSome months back, I was ranting about a development going up in the last remaining wetlands along this part of the Southern California coast. A few months later, I had to retract retract my rant because I'd discovered my basic premise was, well, in a word, wrong. Ahem.
Anyway, I was oh-so-innocently scanning Yahoo! news [broken link] the other day when I came across an article about the very development project I'd been ranting and retracting about. It seems that during their excavation for the project, they've uncovered an...Indian burial ground.
My golly, that's almost proverbial. What's really bad is that they've put these bones in a shed until they decide what to do with them. Even if I had been interested in buying one of these gracious living joints at Playa Vista (even if I could afford one), this would probably queer the deal for me. I do not need any disturbed spirits taking out their anger on me. It's like Mark Twain said, "I do not believe in ghosts, but I am afraid of them."
Except on alternating Mondays and Sat-Sun matinees, I think I kind of do believe in ghosts. Sometimes. But maybe not. But that's a whole other journal entry. In fact, one of my first.
p.s. On a writing note: I know I owe a ton of crits, and I feel really guilty about that, but between crashing to get my rewrite done by the end of September (when I expect a serious disruption of my writing schedule) and being busy at work, I don't seem to have much left over except for the occasional irrelevant journal entry. I keep setting deadlines for myself that I fail to meet and it’s really torquing my mind into uncomfortable positions—but there isn’t much I can do about that now. I’m feeling rather forsworn, to use an old-fashioned term. Sorry. I'm downloading everything posted and hope to get to everything eventually either online of through email. But I am not setting any more deadlines for the time being.
Anyway, I was oh-so-innocently scanning Yahoo! news [broken link] the other day when I came across an article about the very development project I'd been ranting and retracting about. It seems that during their excavation for the project, they've uncovered an...Indian burial ground.
My golly, that's almost proverbial. What's really bad is that they've put these bones in a shed until they decide what to do with them. Even if I had been interested in buying one of these gracious living joints at Playa Vista (even if I could afford one), this would probably queer the deal for me. I do not need any disturbed spirits taking out their anger on me. It's like Mark Twain said, "I do not believe in ghosts, but I am afraid of them."
Except on alternating Mondays and Sat-Sun matinees, I think I kind of do believe in ghosts. Sometimes. But maybe not. But that's a whole other journal entry. In fact, one of my first.
p.s. On a writing note: I know I owe a ton of crits, and I feel really guilty about that, but between crashing to get my rewrite done by the end of September (when I expect a serious disruption of my writing schedule) and being busy at work, I don't seem to have much left over except for the occasional irrelevant journal entry. I keep setting deadlines for myself that I fail to meet and it’s really torquing my mind into uncomfortable positions—but there isn’t much I can do about that now. I’m feeling rather forsworn, to use an old-fashioned term. Sorry. I'm downloading everything posted and hope to get to everything eventually either online of through email. But I am not setting any more deadlines for the time being.
no subject
Date: 2004-09-09 06:51 pm (UTC)The way I figure it, if ghosts do exist, you won't offend any by believing they do. But you will offend them by believing they don't. Better to be on the safe side.
no subject
Date: 2004-09-09 07:06 pm (UTC)angry spirits and angst
Date: 2004-09-10 05:04 am (UTC)As for feeling foresworn: Real Life often gets in the way, and you're right to put your own writing first.
If my chapters are some of the ones you're feeling bad about, please don't. If you get a chance to do those crits someday, I'm sure they will be welcome, and if not... I, for one, certainly understand. I'm sure the other writers will too. You don't need to carry angst about this.
Re: angry spirits and angst
Date: 2004-09-10 05:32 pm (UTC)But that's developers for you. :-)
>>You don't need to carry angst about this.<<
Thanks! I do seem to be freaking myself out here. It was a frustrating week--I struggled all week on two chunky chapters that still needed rewriting rather than just winnowing. They're better, but I'm not completely happy--I've just reached the "oh well" stage with them. But I think struggling with them only increased my freak quotient.