{"id":8610,"date":"2020-12-24T00:45:32","date_gmt":"2020-12-24T00:45:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/?p=8610"},"modified":"2020-12-24T01:36:47","modified_gmt":"2020-12-24T01:36:47","slug":"the-social-distancing-champion-thrives-in-the-pandemic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/the-social-distancing-champion-thrives-in-the-pandemic\/","title":{"rendered":"The Social Distancing Champion Thrives in the Pandemic"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

I have a T\u2011shirt with a quote by F. Scott Fitzger\u00adald on it. The quote reads, \u201cYou don\u2019t write because you want to say some\u00adthing. You write because you have some\u00adthing to say.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is the rea\u00adson why I so sel\u00addom write blog entries: because I usu\u00adal\u00adly don\u2019t have any\u00adthing to say. Well, now that I\u2019ve been liv\u00ading through COVID for the past sev\u00aden months, I final\u00adly feel like I have some\u00adthing to say. Here goes\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I spend next to no time online any\u00admore, so I don\u2019t know what oth\u00ader peo\u00adple have writ\u00adten about their year in the time of COVID. How\u00adev\u00ader, I imag\u00adine there have been more than enough posts about how hor\u00adri\u00adble life has been this year\u2014how COVID has pre\u00advent\u00aded peo\u00adple from trav\u00adel\u00ading, see\u00ading their fam\u00adi\u00adly and friends, and in gen\u00ader\u00adal dis\u00adrupt\u00aded their lives.

- <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Edit\u00ading some Big Book pages on the back porch ear\u00adli\u00ader this year.

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The pan\u00addem\u00adic and the uncer\u00adtain, com\u00adbat\u00adive polit\u00adi\u00adcal cli\u00admate this year has remind\u00aded me that most of Life is out of my con\u00adtrol, which is why I\u2019ve spent the major\u00adi\u00adty of the past nine months focus\u00ading on two things I can<\/em> con\u00adtrol: my writ\u00ading and my fit\u00adness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Com\u00adpared to oth\u00ader occu\u00adpa\u00adtions, many of which have been severe\u00adly dis\u00adrupt\u00aded by COVID, mine as a nov\u00adel\u00adist has actu\u00adal\u00adly ben\u00ade\u00adfit\u00aded from the pan\u00addem\u00adic. The rea\u00adson is the lack of dis\u00adtrac\u00adtions. I haven\u2019t been able to go any\u00adwhere, so every day I\u2019ve sim\u00adply risen ear\u00adly, sat down at one of my eleven type\u00adwrit\u00aders (yes, I got a few more this year), and con\u00adtin\u00adued work on one of the five nov\u00adels I have in progress.

-<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A Smith-Coro\u00adna Coro\u00adnet elec\u00adtric type\u00adwriter I picked up this year for $50. I\u2019d always want\u00aded a gold\u00aden type\u00adwriter, and I found this one serendip\u00adi\u00adtous\u00adly.

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I got this Olivet\u00adti Stu\u00addio 44 from my go-to type\u00adwriter guy, Mr. Type\u00adwriter, a.k.a. Dan Puls of Floris\u00adsant, Mis\u00adsouri.

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The orig\u00adi\u00adnal sales slip was in the case for this Roy\u00adal Futu\u00adra. I paid $79 at an antiques store for it; that was exact\u00adly what the orig\u00adi\u00adnal own\u00ader paid. Pos\u00adi\u00adtive\u00adly MINT con\u00addi\u00adtion.

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Hon\u00adest\u00adly, this year it\u2019s been far eas\u00adi\u00ader emo\u00adtion\u00adal\u00adly to bury my head in the metaphor\u00adi\u00adcal sand by buy\u00ading type\u00adwrit\u00aders and focus\u00ading on my writ\u00ading. The social and polit\u00adi\u00adcal unrest, the vio\u00adlence, the protests, and the restric\u00adtions and incon\u00adve\u00adniences of COVID have all made me want to utter\u00adly ignore the \u201creal world,\u201d and instead escape each morn\u00ading into a fic\u00adtion\u00adal world that I cre\u00adate and (to some degree) con\u00adtrol.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

* * *<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Besides the stag\u00adger\u00ading COVID num\u00adbers and the deaths caused by the pan\u00addem\u00adic, there was news this year of oth\u00ader deaths that affect\u00aded me deeply, caus\u00ading me to feel nos\u00adtal\u00adgic for my long-gone child\u00adhood and remind\u00ading me of my own mor\u00adtal\u00adi\u00adty, which in turn spurred me to write more, and faster.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cArs lon\u00adga, vita bre\u00advis. <\/em>Art is long, life is short.\u201d \u2014 Latin trans\u00adla\u00adtion of a Greek state\u00adment by Hip\u00adpocrates.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWork, work, for the night is com\u00ading!\u201d \u2014 Michelan\u00adge\u00adlo<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n


For dif\u00adfer\u00adent rea\u00adsons, the deaths of the fol\u00adlow\u00ading peo\u00adple had a sig\u00adnif\u00adi\u00adcant impact on my out\u00adlook, in some cas\u00ades send\u00ading me to bed, depressed, for a cou\u00adple days:

-
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cov\u00ader from the DVD of MISCHIEF.
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Kel\u00adly Pre\u00adston<\/strong>. I loved her as the sin\u00adgle mom in For Love of the Game<\/em>, as the dri\u00adven, man-eat\u00ading, emas\u00adcu\u00adlat\u00ading girl\u00adfriend in Jer\u00adry Maguire<\/em>, and in Stephen King\u2019s Chris\u00adtine<\/em>, but the nos\u00adtal\u00adgic side of me loved her most in the obscure teen sex romp Mis\u00adchief<\/em>, from 1985. It\u2019s a great com\u00ading of age sto\u00adry about a teenage boy in the 1950s, and Kel\u00adly Pre\u00adston plays the sexy teenage Alpha girl per\u00adfect\u00adly. Over the past four years, while I\u2019ve been writ\u00ading my own \u201cteen epic,\u201d the antics in Mis\u00adchief<\/em> have giv\u00aden me fre\u00adquent bursts of inspi\u00adra\u00adtion.

-
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cLand\u00adscape with Pond\u201d by Elaine Sad\u00adof\u00adsky.

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Elaine Sad\u00adof\u00adsky<\/strong>. The moth\u00ader of my best friend, Mrs. Sad\u00adof\u00adsky was, in my opin\u00adion, a great painter\u2014particularly of water\u00adcol\u00ador still-lifes. She had con\u00adsid\u00ader\u00adable dif\u00adfi\u00adcul\u00adties man\u00adag\u00ading moth\u00ader\u00adhood (par\u00adtic\u00adu\u00adlar\u00adly try\u00ading to raise a genius son like Jason), and was lack\u00ading in some life skills, but I always found her to be warm and com\u00adpas\u00adsion\u00adate and artis\u00adti\u00adcal\u00adly inspir\u00ading. I\u2019ll nev\u00ader for\u00adget the first day I vis\u00adit\u00aded Jason after school at his family\u2019s apart\u00adment (on the oth\u00ader side of our devel\u00adop\u00adment, Green Hills of Glen\u00adham in Fishkill, NY). When I went in the door, three things struck me: one, Mrs. Sadofsky\u2019s warm smile; two, the fact that the apart\u00adment was a ter\u00adri\u00adbly clut\u00adtered mess; and three, most of all, the stacks of her paint\u00adings all over the liv\u00ading room, includ\u00ading an easel with a paint\u00ading-in-progress on it. My moth\u00ader always loved Mrs. Sadofsky\u2019s art\u00adwork, and one of my few regrets in life was nev\u00ader hav\u00ading bought a paint\u00ading from Mrs. Sad\u00adof\u00adsky for her. Although I had\u00adn\u2019t seen her for many years before her death, I will miss her.

-<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Me, on a walk the morn\u00ading I learned of Eddie Van Halen\u2019s death.

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Eddie Van Halen<\/strong>. When he died in Octo\u00adber, my mind was flood\u00aded with mem\u00ado\u00adries of all of those great Van Halen songs from my teen years, and I\u2014a man my wife says is per\u00adpet\u00adu\u00adal\u00adly about 14 years old\u2014instantly felt my age. Back when I was 13\u201317, I kept Van Halen cas\u00adsette tapes in my cas\u00adsette clock radio, so I could wake up every morn\u00ading to songs like \u201cI\u2019ll Wait,\u201d \u201cPana\u00adma,\u201d \u201cHot for Teacher,\u201d \u201cRun\u00adnin\u2019 with the Dev\u00adil,\u201d and \u201cAnd the Cra\u00addle Will Rock.\u201d Indeed, Van Halen\u2019s music plays a major role in my \u201cteen epic\u201d Big Book, star\u00adring 16-year-old Avery Craig. Here is a \u201csneak peek\u201d from a scene in the nov\u00adel that men\u00adtions the dear\u00adly depart\u00aded Eddie Van Halen:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Avery went over to the juke\u00adbox, dropped in a quar\u00adter and select\u00aded Van Halen\u2019s \u201cAnd the Cra\u00addle Will Rock.\u201d The song opened with a wal\u00adlop. To Avery, its killer open\u00ading gui\u00adtar work sound\u00aded like an elec\u00adtri\u00adcal storm, and its swanky, dri\u00adving beat made him imag\u00adine super\u00admod\u00adel Elle Macpher\u00adson sashay\u00ading down a cat\u00adwalk in noth\u00ading but high heels and a skimpy string biki\u00adni. Singing along with David Lee Roth, Avery swag\u00adger-danced like Roth back to the counter, where he stomped his heel to the music and skimmed the \u201cCos\u00admo Quiz.\u201d \u2026 At the pre\u00adcise moment Eddie Van Halen launched into his scorch\u00ading gui\u00adtar solo, Cait\u00adlyn slinked half a step inside, held the saloon doors open and stood still with one knee seduc\u00adtive\u00adly bent for all to admire. Avery\u2019s eyes widened, his breath\u00ading stopped, his heart quaked in his chest. An over\u00adhead light shone down on her, mak\u00ading her hair sparkle red, as if there were small rubies in it. Her Blow Pop was gone, but her smirk\u00ading lips were as volup\u00adtuous and slip\u00adpery-look\u00ading as ever.<\/em>

-
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sean Con\u00adnery as Bond, intro\u00adduc\u00ading him\u00adself in DR. NO with the immor\u00adtal line, \u201cThe name is Bond\u2026James Bond.\u201d
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Sean Con\u00adnery<\/strong>. Any\u00adone who real\u00adly knows me and has known me for a long time will tell you that I\u2019ve been a Bond fan since I was sev\u00aden or eight years old. When I was a lit\u00adtle kid, I was enam\u00adored of the James Bond por\u00adtrayed by Roger Moore, but when I became a teenag\u00ader, it was all about Sean Con\u00adnery and the Bond from the nov\u00adels. Indeed, my bed\u00adroom at ages 13 to 17 had a poster of a still from GOLDFINGER: Sean Con\u00adnery in the Alps, lean\u00ading on the front fend\u00ader of his Aston Mar\u00adtin DB5. I can admit now to watch\u00ading cer\u00adtain Con\u00adnery scenes over and over, try\u00ading to fig\u00adure out exact\u00adly what made him so damn cool<\/em>. It was just that: Con\u00adnery was the epit\u00ado\u00adme of cool. What\u00adev\u00ader char\u00adac\u00adter he was por\u00adtray\u00ading in a movie, he gave the role author\u00adi\u00adty, style, and mas\u00adcu\u00adline strength. Besides the Bond movies, I loved (and still love) him in The Great Train Rob\u00adbery<\/em>, The Untouch\u00adables<\/em>, and even the oth\u00ader\u00adwise for\u00adget\u00adtable, mod\u00adern action flick, The Rock<\/em>.

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<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Diana Rigg as Tra\u00adcy Bond in ON HER MAJESTY\u2019S SECRET SERVICE.

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