Almost three years ago, I got laid off from a job and company. I got lucky with getting a replacement job within a couple of weeks, so the story isn’t a tragedy. And I’m still at that “new” job.

What with the economy in the sad, sick state it’s in, my “content adviser” has suggested that I repost that story. It’s still a timely tale within the context of the nation’s employment numbers.

At the time of the lay offs, I actually posted two stories: the one I was then going through, and one I had gone through several years earlier.

If you’re interested, here they are again, for revisting:

Introduction

Private Lay Off

Public Lay Off

Bullgrit

I just randomly happened to catch this show coming on The History Channel: You Don’t Know Dixie.

Oh Lord, I loved this show. It’s great, it’s accurate, and it’s funny. Here are a couple of examples:

The Southern accent:

College football:

Catch the show if you can. It’s worth the time.

Bullgrit

Personally, I’ve never dressed up in any costume outside of Halloween. But I do love looking at cosplayers’. They always look like they’re having fun, and would be fun to just hang out with. Here’s a bunch at the London Film and Comic Convention last month singing and dancing to Pink’s Raise Your Glass:

I could only identify about half the characters; my knowledge of fantasy/sci-fi characters has fallen behind the times. Having put together some Halloween costumes, (not bought off the rack), myself, I can imagine how much time and effort they put into some of those more elaborate outfits, and many of the results are impressive.

Bullgrit

There is an old tale about Ernest Hemingway writing a “six word story.” It tends to go like this:

Ernest Hemingway was dining with several fellow writers, and claimed he could write a complete story in less than 10 words. Bets were placed against him, and he took the challenge. On a napkin, he wrote: “For Sale, Baby Shoes, Never Used.” Hemingway won the bet. His story was complete, as it had a beginning, a middle, and an end.

Though this tale is fairly well known, even among people who only know of Hemingway by reputation, it is specious. The six words are, no argument, evocative, and somewhat reminiscent of Hemingway’s style of writing. But there is no evidence Hemingway ever made such a bet or wrote these words.

Plus, the usual claim that the “story was complete, as it had a beginning, a middle, and an end,” isn’t correct. The six words are a description, not a story. There is no beginning, middle, or end. Though there is a story suggested, there’s no actual story. There’s no actor, no action, and no setting.

But, even with the spurious nature of the story, it is an interesting idea: writing a story in six words. I don’t think it is truly possible to write an interesting complete story (beginning, middle, end) with an action and an actor. Sure, you can write an actor and an action in six words, (e.g. “The man picked up the apple”), but a beginning, a middle, and an end?

Now, writing an evocative idea in six words: that’s possible, and a fun exercise. For instance, here’s some I came up with in a few minutes:

Being dead is not fun anymore.

When the tree fell, someone heard.

Tonight the stars went out early.

He screamed, she ran, it smiled.

Some fish can’t take a joke.

The coconut fell out of style.

Time for a calculated home run.

Don’t come home without more ammunition.

It’s like writing poetry in haiku. The tight constraints open many possibilities. But it can become a habit.

Bullgrit