Some Words and What I Remember About Them.

Some words I like and where I first encountered them.


Ensorcelled
To enchant or bewitch. I had never heard this word until it was used on The West Wing by Bradley Whitford’s character Josh Lyman. Of course, Aaron Sorkin wrote the wrote into Josh’s mouth and – as is his style – he used it like a diamond and then tossed it off, with nary a moment’s thought. That small, singular moment of glimmering is what language can do best. It only lasts for just the second, but that second can burn with the heat of a nova if the chemistry of words is in the right order. Anyway, I was bewitched by this word. Speaking of which . . .

Ephemeral
Lasting a very short time. This is one of those words that seems to come up every day when you’re an English mjor but which is never encountered out in the wide wilds of the world. While it is only meant to describe something as fleeting, I have always understood it to imply a grandness and a sadness all at once. As if in describing something this way, we are remarking on how saddened we are to see it go.

Cloying
My Ex, Violet, used this word in an email once and I had to rush to a dictionary. She was describing herself and her fear that she was being cloying, but simply by using the word, it made me love her more. That was back in the good old days.

Autodidact
A self-taught person. I first heard this word in Professor Martin Pousson’s class at CSU Northridge (Pousson is a phenomenon of nature in and of himself, both flamboyantly and badassedly gay all at once, he invents his own paradigm). He used this word to describe Jorge Luis Borges and when I heard it I felt like I had finallt been given a proper Christian name. I used to make the lame English Department joke that I was an autodidact but I had to go back to school to learn that word.

One-off
One of a kind or limited to a single time. One of my bosses at work has a habit of saying this when she is talking about something unique and since I had never heard it before this job, I had no fucking idea what the hell she was talking about. Unfortunately there is a part of my brain that thinks it would be rude to be all, “What the hell are you trying to say right now?” Apparently its derivation is wrapped up in English slang. Anyway, I use it all the time now.



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Aimee Bender Loves Me, and Other News . . .

So hello dear blog. I have missed you. It has been a busybusybusy week, but I have thought longingly of you during the calm and quiet moments and I have longed to caress these keys and to be near you.

And stuff.

Anywhoo, so last Friday Violet and I went to a literary pub crawl in Silver Lake (which for those of you who aren’t totally hipster and cool like me, is the most hipster and cool part of LA. Jenny Lewis still has an apartment out there). We went because my most favoritest professor was one of the readers (world-renowned badass Martin Pouson). You want to know who one of the other readers was? Calm down, I will tell you! It was Aimee Bender! She is one of my favorite authors and she has always been special to be because her collection “Girl in the Flammable Skirt” was one of those books I read when I was still trying to figure out how I write. It is one of those books that made me go, “You’re allowed to write like this?”

Anyway, I love her dearly and while I have seen her speak before, I have never seen her read. It, and she, was delightful.

Also of note, this was my first night out drinking since I stopped drinking and, I am happy to say, I did not drink. I really didn’t even have the urge to. Well, that’s not totally true, but it’s true enough. What I did was drink Red Bull on the rocks all night so not only was I not drunk, I was on the complete other end of the spectrum of sobriety. I was super-not-drunk. Now at some point we will have to have the conversation about how I am just tricking my brain with a different but no less stimulating mixture of chemicals, but we will do that some other time.

OH! Also of note, ended up at this awesome bar called the 4100 Bar and let me tell you, between the low light and the leather booths and the actually good music being played too loud, it is like one of my favorite places. It is also, quite sadly, within walking distance of the place I used to live in Echo Park. If only I had known about it then maybe I wouldn’t have been so bitter and lonely when I lived there. But alas, it doesn’t matter now. But if you ever have the chance, check it out.

I have to head off to class now (History of the World from 1945) but I will meet up with you again later dear blog.

I am done editing the college literary journal (The Northridge Review, on stands March 12!) and my accelerated health Science Class ends in a few weeks, so soon I will be with you much more often.

TTFN.

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