People (don't always) Make Me Sad

Some people delight and sadden me at the same time. What? I’m Bi-polar. Don’t judge me. Terry Pratchett is a prime example. He’s a brilliant and insane human being. He is, dare I say it, a genius. I wait with baited breath for each of his new books. I buy them in hard cover which I don’t do with any other author if only for the fact that they’re a bitch to lug around. I then buy them in paper back as well. Why? Portability is key. I read them in one sitting. They make me inordinately happy. They also depress me.

Every time I read one of his books I end up thinking the same thing. “Damn. I wish I’d written that.” The strange thing? I’m not a writer. Never have been. Don’t intend to be one. It’s just something about his structure and sense of humor that makes me mental. He’s got a laser beam in his head pointed directly at the weird and mockable in the world and he never misses. Well, I guess he wouldn’t what with the laser sight and all.

I feel the same way about Dorothy Parker. It’s like when you see a really good movie and you think, “Wow! I wish I’d been in that.” Wait. Other people think that right? It’s not just me. Can’t be. I refuse to believe it. The movie example is rare . . . . And getting rarer these days. In fact I can’t think of a recent example to give. Usually these days it’s not an entire movie so much as one good role. Which is sad. Are movies getting worse? I feel like they don’t deliver as they used to. But Mr. Pratchett? Every time. Every damn time.

“God does not play dice with the universe; He plays an ineffable game of his own devising, which might be compared, from the perspective of the players, (ie everybody), to being involved in an obscure and complex version of poker in a pitch-dark room, with blank cards, for infinite stakes, with a Dealer who won't tell you the rules, and who smiles all the time.”
--Terry Pratchett

"Everything starts somewhere, although many physicists disagree."
--Terry Pratchett