2/7/08
I'm stupidly lucky for something that happened a long time ago. It has nothing to do with sex, money, power or anything obvious. In a nutshell, I have a deep love for a variety of seemingly-goofy subjects. I actually care about a bunch of specific pursuits to the point of actual passion. At no point was I dissuaded, nor was I told I was being uncool by my family, and my bizarre obsessions were allowed to go unchecked. If there's any way I can do that for Lucy... simply get out of the way if need be, I'll be weightlessly happy.
Back in the Middle Ages, I went on many dates, too numerous to count, with women who had no unique passion for anything. I'd rephrase the question all night, and still get the same answer. I found that prospect so depressing that I couldn't fathom how they did it - what did they look forward to? What occupied all those oceanic stretches of time between the mundanities of everyday existence?
Perhaps I was being harsh. Maybe lots of folks simply don't need to be slightly preoccupied with passions and are more than content to exist from job to drink to sex to sleep without fussing about anything in between. Perhaps my own passions were the result of an American middle-class existence that allowed such luxury to exist. And yet, as shallow as it was, I couldn't hide my disappointment in someone who didn't really adore anything outside of human relationships.
As for me, throughout the ages, I've been stuck on:
- Peanuts cartoons
- shortwave radio and Morse code
- calligraphy
- bass guitar
- astronomy
- east Africa
- single-malt scotch
- meteorology
- woodworking
- solar and wind power
- vegetable gardening
- Karmann Ghias
- maps
- Carolina hoops
...to name a few, and in the last four years I've learned to ski, play drums, install ceiling fans, learn woodstove and flue technology, and get socks on a wriggling toddler. I don't put these up as miracle accomplishments, nor do I intend to brag (and would love to hear your own list below), but I do want to make a larger point: things don't have to be important to be fascinating. And while your fascinations may not be contagious, your glee sure as hell is.
Eric G. mentioned a book he's reading called "I Liked It, Didn't Love It" about the process of pitching and selling screenplays in Hollywood. The "liked it, didn't love it" phrase is the death knell for pretty much any project you've got going - in fact, you're almost better off writing a fucking disaster just to get noticed.
I'm not sure what the authors' advice is to turn your screenplay into "loved it!" but here's mine: foster your singular passions, indulge your thing. Include your bizarre obsession in the script somehow, and create something only YOU could have written. Perhaps execs say they "didn't love it" because deep down, you don't either.
Posted by Ian Williams at February 7, 2008 11:45 PMBrilliant, brilliant advice to write what you know -- and love. So true.
Ian, will you expound one day about your bass guitar passion? As a feldgling member of what Sting calls "the cult of bass", I'd love to read about how you came to play this so-often-underappreciated-yet-sublime instrument. Maybe you've blogged about it before and I missed it, but until your post about The Strike (way cool, btw), I had no idea that you and Bootsy Collins had something in common!
"Fledgling"! Oops. The copy editor in me cringes.
One of my interests is answering questions with the internet quickly. In the last 5 minutes, I've already listened to and read your morse code title with translators I found on the internet. I'm fascinated by everything that's at my fingertips. ... ..- .--. . .-. -.. --- .-. -.- ;-)
.--. ..- ... ... -.-- is my passion!
To combine one of my obsessions, Detroit Techno and Morse Code:
http://www.tigersushi.com/site/frameset.jsp?page=Rcd.jsp&RcdId=182
'Codebreaker' has messages in morse code embedded in the music. You can listen to it at the URL above.
That's one of the reasons I love my profession; librarians in general, and special collections librarians in particular have an inherent understanding of consuming passions.
Wow. Cool post. I am someone with numerous passions and I am attracted to ppl with passions, even if they aren't ones that I share.
Maybe I will blog a list of my passions, but for now, off the top of my head, I can offer -- roughly in chronological order from age 4 on --
Captain Kangaroo, cowboys/girls, the White Sox and Nelly Fox, Halloween, astronomy (telescope), horses, the Beatles, high school football, editing h.s. newspaper, Jimi Hendrix, my college alma mater, college hockey (watching and playing), art history espec French impressionism, rugby and the resulting acquaintance with my hubby, music in general, Irish music, dogs, wild birds, the ocean, being outdoors, drinking (oy), Annie Dillard's nonfiction, Ellen Gilchrist's fiction, religion (some 20 years of groping for my spiritual "home"), kids (to my surprise!), magazine writing and editing, the Middle East (5 year obsession), the Lymond novels by Dorothy Dunnett, the blues, Stevie Ray Vaughan, musical theater, movies, Star Wars, etc.
I have often wondered if I have some kind of obsessive disorder, because when I get into things, I get INTO them. It's sort of like being in love. I enjoy people who have high affects, who emote and share their own passions. It's probably why I've stuck around HERE this long. :-)
Years of fascination and glee proudly sponsored by:
-Peanuts Cartoons (!)
-Beat Poets
-John Cage
-small, beautiful rocks and shells
-all things glow-in-the-dark
-tennis
-minimalism
-making art objectsThanks for the great advice---it rings so true.
Good advice, Ian. I, too, am a man of many passions, several of which are pretty obscure. I share your love of shortwave radio (it was really the only way to keep in touch with the world in the sparsely-populated, cable-free wasteland in which I grew up). I've never shaken my affinity for early '80s Brit-pop, either, as my complete collection of OMD LPs will bear out. Great post. It's nice to be reminded to embrace my eccentricity every now and again.
My parents were just the opposite. I was discouraged from pursuing anything artistic because it simply wasn't "practical." They wanted me to be a rocket scientist or a brain surgeon. They feared I would waste all of my potential on becoming a "starving artist."
I think it's wonderful that you never had to endure that, and nor will Lucy.
This is only a fraction of what I've come up with so far...
-FASHION!
-Singing & Female Vocalists (I've been greatly inspired by Pat Benatar, Blondie, Melissa Etheridge, and Gwen Stefani)
-Toe-Rings & Poison Rings
-Being the first one of all my friends to find completely obscure new music/artists that they all beg me to make cds of for them.
-skincare & waxing
-movies with plots that haven't been done already
-photography
-making my Treo 650 into the only thing I'll ever need by customizing it with ingenius applications
I used to rephrase the same question on dates, and get the same lack of response, and I attributed it sometimes to the fact that men are taught that they are not ALLOWED to express excitement about most topics (boobs and sports excluded), lest they be tagged as gay (oh the horror). Oh, how I tried to burrow far enought o dig up something, anything, that would elicit some passion! These days, the only male terms allowed for being excited about something are "S-weet!" and "dude!" A youngish guy who says "wonderful" would be looked at like he has three heads.
That said, my geeky list...
"Bad" weather
Freight trains
Dogs
The Sound of Music
Road trips
Esso matchbooks
other assorted nerdy things
Ben.
I don't know Morse code, but...
you wrote "pussy," didn't you, Ben.
On Ace of Cakes recently, one of the decorator's was talking about how she's obsessed with Scrabble. Like seriously obsessed – goes to tournaments, wins tournaments! It started when an art school teacher gave them the assignment of becoming obsessed with something. Love that!
We (meaning one or more of us) are obsessed with the following:
-perfect pitch
-UNC hoops
-basketball4dad.com
-homework
-piano lessons
-the ever-widening elem. school skillset
-vacation
-where the toys are
-James Taylor
-laundry
-Hanna Montana
-epistolary correspondence
-not quite sure how to euphemistically put Ben's alleged feline OCDenominator
and...
-bluegrassHappy Weekend All!!
ian, this is something dear to my heart. my dad used to lecture at the hopkins center for talented youth programs, and his one piece of advice was "find your passion and work hard at it [no matter what it is]..." and this coming from one half of a rocket scientist duo. but the thing i love about my parents still is that they, too, indulged passions beyond physics...and, in so doing, showed me and my brother it was okay.
a select few:
- flipbooks
- decks of transformation cards
- mugs
- coffee
- art, art, art and children's illustration
- movies about mental illness (i know it sounds weird, but i taught a seminar in college on abnormal psychology and film)
- social psychology (esp of the 70s ilk)i don't know, i could go on. but it's interesting to ponder what pleases us so.
People who have no passions are generally pretty boring to me, and I used to feel a bit sorry for someone who didn't want to read books or learn new things, etc. but I'm not sure they feel they are missing anything. I have known a few people whose passion is to be a caring friend, spouse, mother, etc (do nice things for people, notice people, really listen). Maybe they aren't obsessed with specific things but they are true "people" persons. There is a place for that too, if that fits their character. I personally have to have something that's just "mine" to keep me sane, and I think for women (especially mothers) it's important that to embrace that and feel no guilt or shame about it.
The other thing this piece sparked in me was interest in what determines "eccentric" vs. disorder. Having obsessive interests is usually a symptom of high functioning autism (Asperger's) and some other mental health disorders but it's also a component of genius. The lines are blurry between "normal" and not when you start getting to the right end of the bell curve. I've always been fascinated with the complicated brain and how some can straddle the place of genius and "crazy" at times.
I've always attributed my broad set of interests to my ADD. It seems that the "extra" passions help add context and perspective to other endeavors.
Neva- I totally agree about moms needing something that is just for or about them. I do all I can to make it out to the barn to ride at least once a week and if I miss that ride time, I'm not half the mother, wife or friend I like to be. In my small Dook MBA wives circle of friends, only myself and my closest friend pursue outside interests without our kids or husbands. I think they look at us as selfish and I look at them like they have lost "themselves". However, each of us is happy doing what we do or don't do. I guess it's in our make-up, but I know for me to be happy,I have to follow my passion for riding. I followed my passion for teaching therapeutic riding to Texas and it led me right to my husband. And that's worked out pretty well so far.
Well put, Neva.
So what do you call it if your obsessive interest is high functioning autism? Double Asberger's? Having found no persons learned in that end of the spectrum, and living with my little boy (who's sleeping in a powder blue #50 jersey right now), my wife and I have devoured dozens of books on the subject in the last two years. Those books, and a lot of Australian red wine.
I was really struck by today's musings, have a look:
Nice, Erin! Great post. Although in self-promotional mode, I think my URL is wrong in the entry, but who's countin'?
Wyatt - we've been doing a lot of research on Asperger's for various reasons, and we have a documentary to send you, if you're interested. Email me...
-- -.-- / .--. .- ... .. --- -. ... / .- .-. . / ... .-.. . . .--. .. -. --. / .- -. -.. / - .-. .- ... .... / - ...-
Crap, forgot an "s" in one of the words above.
Hey. HEY!!!! HEEEEEYYYYY!!!!!! This post really should go in the "have you read any good books lately" post of a few days ago, but. . .
I just finished Bliss Broyard's "One Drop." Loved it. Was so caught up in the book that I could not put it down all weekend . . . which was hard to do since I had to attend to all my usual suburban mom errands and the book is nearly 500 pages, but it was EXCELLENT and laundry and groceries JUST HAD TO WAIT. . . I scooted my daughter to bed early just so that I could buy some extra reading time.
Sad to have reached the end of the book, I JUST READ THE ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS AND WHO DOES MS. BROYARD ACKNOWLEDGE BUT TESSA BLAKE (p. 477 to be exact). I ran a search of xtcian.com, and of course, you and Tessa are close personal friends with my newest favorite author. I had no idea of your association when I started the book -- I read all the rave reviews and got in queue at my local library -- and I just had to laugh out loud when I realized the connection. Once again, I am two degrees of separation from greatness! : )
All joking aside, you guys are seriously connected. The smarts and talent of you and your friends blow the roof off the house, know what I mean? Keep that in mind the next time a TV exec tells you that he "liked it, didn't love it."
If you have a chance, please tell Bliss Broyard that I thought her book was exceptional, in my opinion, her father would be very proud, and I am getting in queue at the county library to read "My Father, Dancing" TOMORROW.
P.S. - Has Lucy had any playdates with Esme?
LFMD - I just forwarded your comments to Bliss!
My current all-consuming passions:
-- collages
-- dioramas/model trains (I'm building a shadow box coffee table with a n-scale train inside and marauding Godzilla terrorizing the town.)
-- art car - we're covering my girlfriend's old Honda with bottle caps now that we're replacing it with a Smart Car. We have about 10,000 of the 14,000 required caps and extensive diagramming while waiting for the spring weather.
-- Smart Cars
-- a light fixture made of orange plastic prescription pill bottles
-- Toronto (we're honeymooning there so we can get "for real" married after our wedding)
-- composting
-- logic puzzles
-- relearning piano
-- geothermal heating
-- scavenger hunt planning
-- a photo blogI went on a first and last date with a girl once who wouldn't go with me to the art museum because, as she said: "I don't like art." what a conversation stopper. I wondered "what does she hang on her walls?" I found out later - two Melissa Etheridge posters on plain white walls, and nothing else. Not really a meeting of the minds between us.