Pretentious Pontification Corner: BRB Blathers About the Internet (As Well As Some Old Book He Read)
February 23, 2010 in Alive In The Public Eye, Gawker, Literature
A long time ago, in an internet far far away, there was once a place called (yes, I’ll say the name out loud! I’m not scared of you, Voldemort NickAlan! The cash fan-shaped scar between my eyebrows is proof enough of my valor, thank you very much!) Gawker. I used to hang out there all the time, like many of you and unlike many others of you. At one time, it was a Big Fucking Deal that one its past editors left and was subsequently maligned and then became embroiled in an imbroglio revolving around things like “oversharing,” “narcissism,” “betrayal,” and (after the parsing became exhausting), over-performed internet “yawn”-ing by studiously disinterested interested observers.
In other words, it was a typical internet contretemps; indeed, at the time, it struck me as maybe an archetypical one. Why did I care? Why did anyone? To answer these questions, I did what any self-respecting internet citizen does – I wrote an unreadably long, meanderingly idiosyncratic post about it on my completely unread blogspot-powered personal blog!
I want to wish all of my fellow Wordsmokers a very healthy, happy, and prosperous 2010! I’d also like to thank the redoubtable ChillbearLatrigue for covering the Smokies duty for me while I was on a sensitive assignment to secure passage of health care reform legislation. Our schedule will likely be altered again later this month while Chillbear is here 
Betty had invited me to her Christmas Eve party weeks ago, and I had given her my usual noncommittal assurance that I’d be there. We were friends from long ago, going all the way back to college. She was an energetic, whip-smart, sassy, and all-around caring person, who saw through the bull of ordinary life with some kind of inner X-ray vision. Nothing seemed to trouble her, and I envied that immensely. She could brush off the downturns in life, and revel in the good times, having a knack for knowing how to have a good time in any circumstance. I knew her party would be a happening affair, with booze, and conversation, and games, and all sorts of interesting happenings.
In which we say goodbye to Jenny and the details of her life…
In which Jenny tells us the details of her life…
