Ur the best n i love u lots

Okay, so even if it had taken the maximum of fourteen business days to ship my tools, I still don’t have a good excuse for not having written.  My books and cds actually came pretty quickly (buy Amazon!); I guess it just takes a lot for me to stay encouraged even at the start of something like this.  I realize that this is not a personal project though, since I put myself on display like this.  Even if I’m not motivation enough for myself, I’ve got my dad to keep me going (it feels so nice to have someone so genuinely interested even if it is my dad and he has to be).  Please don’t anybody hesitate to kick (nag) me when I’m down (not writing), it makes me feel important.

Here’s my first thought on reading the first few of Ned’s letters:

There’s not that much writing done nowadays by non-writers.  Most people get along fine now by “text”ing the bare minimum to get a message across.  Or even communicating less by saying more (like that commercial where the dad is twittering about sitting on the porch).  It’s as though people looked back at all the wonderful writers who have gone before and decided that the new artistic writing style would be completely dull-everyday-self-centered.  We don’t write letters anymore, taking the time to pen exactly what we wish to convey, then apply postage and have to wait to see what kind of response will be awarded.  Rather, everything is instant, no prep time given or care taken.  The ease that technology has given to communication has made us lazy.  When my cousin Emily and I were kids, we used to write letters to each other.  I would give lots of thought to what I wrote and was always eager for her response.  I’ve read in her blog that she too misses letter writing.  I’ve read the letters Ned wrote from 1944 to 1951, mostly to his teacher Virgil Thomson, and even though the glimpse into his life is hazy and one-sided, there’s no comparing what we come up with in our text messages of 2009.  Among my most recent outgoing messages are: “I close today,” “Si,” “Ur the best n i love u lots,” “12:30,” and “7 tellers + 0 customers = slow aileen texting.  seriously though, this has killed about 15 minutes.”  Granted I’m really not much of a texter; those that I just shared with you probably span two months.  I’d like to say that I’ll start writing all my loved ones letters now, but I’m too lazy and this blog thing is going to be hard enough for me. 

I find it very difficult to write.  I discourage myself way to easily.  However, there were several other things I wanted to mention tonight that I have yet to write, so I guess I’ll be ready to write again tomorrow. 

Good night.

Tags: Ned Rorem, texting, Virgil Thomson, writing