Thursday, August 23, 2007

Ping-pong, according to my earliest memories of the game, was always a contest of strength, an extended dialogue to see who could whack the ball over the net the hardest. Turns out this is how actual tennis operates, at least in my current competency, and table tennis really involves a small plastic ball only a few grams heavy. In place of power is a quick exchange, a complex round of rock-paper-scissors where finesse stews–marinates, even, during the good rallies–in pure focus until someone caves.

I’ve been thinking about the why behind this self-betterment plan recently because there are other, seemingly wiser ways to spend my free time, such as going out and meeting some people. But the need to pretend to want more acquaintances is overridden by the desire to produce something great, which here defined is product that outlives its maker to affect others in a profound way.

That’s the plan: to do all these different things, hopefully well, until the creative spark takes hold and sets things in motion. The list itself has changed, of course, and I can tell you straightaway cooking something substantive isn’t going to happen anytime soon. These days, dinner à la carte is oatmeal, cooked in what the Germans call Der Microwaven. The full course includes another Germanic delicacy, Die Poppen Cornung, pioneered by German luminary Orville Redenbacher.