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Beauty and writing, tfurrows (circumlunar.space), 5/22/2018
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If  you're not  in  the  mood to  read  a  long phlog  post,
at  least  check  out  the   end-point  of  this  post,  the
random-access  book "Variations"  by visiting  the following
link: https://10v24.net/cave

I love  to read.  I love  to read all  kinds of  books, and
non-books. But  before I  talk about that,  I want  to talk
about one of my weaknesses,  which is related to loving and
liking.

Some people,  I've noticed,  have the  super power  of being
able to remember  names. I've known people  that love music,
and  can  remember  the  names  of  songs  and  artists  and
composers.  I've  known  people  who love  movies,  and  can
remember the names of movies  and actors and directors. I've
known people that  love guitars and can  list guitarists and
guitar models and guitar brands.

This remembering  of names  is my  super weakness.  It's bad
enough when  I'm getting to know  people, to not be  able to
quickly and easily recall their name. It's horrible when I'm
integrating into a new group,  a congregation or a classroom
or a club. But the weakness impacts me in other less obvious
ways.

I love music,  with a passion. Specifically, I  love to make
music and I love to listen  to music. I've had an instrument
since  I was  young enough  to  remember, and  I was  likely
banging on toys to make music before that. There was a short
period  in my  adult life  when I  left and  didn't take  my
instrument with me. A few months later, I was suffering from
the oversight, more than I realized that I would. I've never
been without an instrument since.

Isn't that a love of music? Isn't that some kind of passion?

And yet, when  I'm around other people who  love music, they
are able to list off  name after name of amazing guitarists,
master  composers and  their  opuses  (opera? operas?),  and
other important names that prove their love is deep. I feel,
somehow, that my  love can't possibly be as  deep, because I
can't even recall the names of songs that I've listened to a
thousand times.  I can tell you  that in one of  my favorite
pieces  (alright, it's  by  Chopin, I  do  remember that  at
least, but only barely) there is  a bit that takes my breath
away and  transports me  to a different  place every  time I
listen to it, right around the 3:15 or 3:40 mark.

It pains me to think that I might not really love things the
way I think I love them. I'm not sure why I felt the need to
explore that before going on.

I  love  to read.  I've  loved  to  read  ever since  I  can
remember. My grandfather was an internationally best-selling
author of  a kind of book  that I have very  little interest
in:  health  books.  Our  family had  a  publishing  company
growing up, and my first real  job (I also picked berries as
a kid in Oregon) was packing books. We had a lot of books on
our shelves growing up, and I would read them.

As a kid, I  ran out of the books I liked and  I picked up a
copy of "Stone Bull" by  Phillis Whitney that happened to be
on the  shelf in my  house. If I  recall properly, it  was a
sort of  romance novel.  I cried  at one part  of it,  but I
can't recall  which. It was  dramatic, and I was  young. I'm
older  now, and  I  still  cry when  I  read sometimes,  but
looking back I think I might laugh at Stone Bull.

I've already shared  my point in writing today.  I wanted to
talk about  the non-book shell-access novel  "Variations." I
can't remember the name of  the author off-hand, but that is
because of  my own  weakness. I'm unwilling  to look  it up,
because the name of the author doesn't matter.

You read Variations by logging in  as a guest, or setting up
an account, on a private  server. The access is a restricted
shell which provides a few  functions, one being the reading
of a novel. The novel is  random-access; that is to say, you
don't read it in a linear fashion, from start to finish, you
read it in paragraphs that  have been randomized and are out
of order.

The title "Variations" is a  reference to a process that the
author went through, apparently while writing the book. I've
asked the author, but not  pressed, what the Variations are.
It's a  sort of mystery that  the reader is meant  to slowly
discover. There is no progress indicator while reading, so I
don't know  how far I've  gotten, but I haven't  figured the
mystery out yet.

I  really,  really love  reading  Variations  in the  random
order. It's different from things that I normally ready, and
I like  that too.  I suppose  I don't have  a method  to the
kinds of things that I read,  but even in my chaotic reading
habits, this book stands out.

Check out Variations  if you have the  time and inclination,
and see if you can figure  out the mystery. I'm worried that
I won't get it.

https://10v24.net/cave