Spitball Army

I participated in National Novel Writing Month this (just past) November. It was mainly an excuse to spend time generating piles of text that, if I get the time to edit and re-work it in the future, will become a jumble of words completely unrecognizable from its source. I enjoyed doing it. It was the second time I had taken part in the event, and the first time I reached the 50,000 word goal. This makes me a “Winner,” using the NaNoWriMo parlance (and I’d say that it’s applied pretty loosely, but the virtual cheerleading is welcome).

Anyway, the NaNoWriMo website displayed some word clouds that a few writers had generated from their NaNoWriMo drafts at the Wordle site. Wordle takes the hundred or so most used words in a document and arranges them randomly, allowing you to determine visual features such as font, color and vertical/horizontal orientation. I tried it, and the result is below (rotated 90º to the right from its original layout).

My draft is above 67,000 words at this point, so most of the words in this cloud are “connective tissue.” Nonetheless, a few colorful words do make an appearance, but not a lot of “action” words. I think this could be a useful tool for writers looking to spice up their texts, but it doesn’t account for imaginative prose styles, sentence structures, or encyclopedic vocabularies (not that I feel I have any of these).

Can you get an idea about what is happening in this work-in-progress by reading its word cloud?

[Written to Alice in Acton, Indiana.  Return addressed: Richard, U.S.N.H., St. Albans, L.I., N.Y.  Postmarked at Jamaica, N.Y., on 26 Mar 1946 at 1 P.M.]

Mar. 26, 1946

Hello Sweetheart,

     Ten minutes till eight and all ready the ward is in a hub-bub.  Maybe the weather has something to do with it.  We have really had some swell weather the last week or so.  Spring is really here.  It is really nice out.  Going and coming from chow this morning I walked outside.  It was swell.  A shirt is pretty plenty to keep you warm in the day time but at night you need a little more.  I woke up shortly after six this morning and the sun was just beaming in the windows.  “In Spring a young man’s fancy turns to thoughts of love.”  Truer words were never spoken.  I love you so much Sweetheart.  With the weather as it is this morning, there is one thing, primarily, that I would like to do.  I’m very homesick to see the Purdue golf course with you Sweetheart.  Don’t misunderstand me Sweetheart.  I didn’t say whether we would play – – – play golf that is.  Although I would like to get in a game of golf, there are more important things to catch up on than golf.  Do you agree?

     I got a letter from your mother yesterday and she was very low in spirits when she wrote it.  She wrote it the 21st.  How was she over the week-end?  Did she seem happy or should I answer her letter as it was written?  If she seemed happy, I don’t want to write about those things and remind her of them.  It might make things worse at the time.  I’m looking for a letter to-day. Will I be disappointed?  I hope not.  I love you.

     Good-night Sweetheart
          I love you with all my heart
               Pleasant dreams
                    Goodnight Sweetheart
                                        x x     ‘Nite

1976 NYC school trip. One goes Broadway to see Pacific Overtures. The chaperones crash. The rest get drunk and watch hotel porn.

Card is titled:  “Antoine’s Restaurent, 713 St. Louis St., New Orleans.”

Printed on the back of the card:

ANTOINE’S RESTAURANT
Established in 1840
The Oldest French Restaurant in New Orleans
In The Heart of the Vieux Carré
                    Roy L. Alciatore, Prop.

No publishing information.

Postcard has been mailed with a 3-cent stamp and postmarked in Chattanooga, Tenn. on 17 Jun 1960 at 6:30 P.M.  Addressed to Lt. Col & Mrs. J.H. Peacock, 1709 Sun Valley Road S.E., Huntsville, Alabama.

Text of written message on back of card:

Fri. June 17 – 1960.

Dear Ruth & James,

     Now you may open the package.  I arrived home today at noon.  Leave again Sunday afternoon for a week at camp.  Am at this place Wednesday night.  Enjoyed my short stay in New Orleans.  A large and interesting place.

     Love,
          Margaret

Christmas music. Everyone has their own idea about what the best Christmas music is, how reverent it ought to be, how early in the season one should be allowed to begin playing it. My favorite Christmas recordings tend toward those made before I was born, especially from the 1930s and 1940s; I give equal time to Santa and baby Jesus; and I can’t abide Christmas music being played until after Thanksgiving. There you have it.

Approximate playing time: 80 minutes.

1. Eric Reed “Lo, How a Rose E’er Blooming” (2003)
2. BBC Dance Orchestra “The Santa Claus Express”
3. Tex Williams “The Winter Song”
4. Al Bowlly “Ev’ry Day’s a Holiday”
5. Pearl Bailey & Hot Lips Page “Baby, It’s Cold Outside”
6. Yogi Yorgesson “I Yust Go Nuts at Christmas” (1949)
7. Harry “The Hipster” Gibson “The Only Thing I Want for Christmas / I Don’t Want a Lot for Christmas”
8. The Louvin Brothers “The Friendly Beasts” (1961)
9. Garrison Keillor “The Twelve Days of Christmas” (1994)
10. Linda Ronstadt “Xicochi Xicochi” (2000)
11. Nat “King” Cole “A Cradle in Bethlehem” (1961)
12. Bing Crosby “Happy Holidays (Beef Wellington remix)” (2003)
13. Mr. Bob Francis “That Swingin’ Manger” (1995)
14. Josh Rouse “Christmas with Jesus” (2002)
15. Teddy Thompson “Christmas” (2008)
16. Ron Sexsmith “Maybe This Christmas” (2004)
17. Harry Nilsson “Remember (Christmas)” (1972)
18. Simon & Garfunkel “Comfort and Joy”
19. Chris Thile “Bring a Torch, Jeanette Isabella” (1996)
20. Hem “Peace at Last” (2006)
21. Mary Chapin Carpenter “Hot Buttered Rum” (2008)
22. Butch Thompson “Deck the Halls” (1994)
23. Fats Waller “Swingin’ Them Jingle Bells” (1936)
24. Kate & Anna McGarrigle with Rufus Wainwright “Some Children See Him” (2005)
25. The Cambridge Singers “Myn Lyking” (1987)
26. Edward Gerhard “Coventry Carol” (1991)

[Written to Alice in Acton, Indiana.  Return addressed: Richard, Ward 11, U.S.N.H., St. Albans, L.I., N.Y.  Postmarked at Jamaica, N.Y., on 19 Mar 1946 at 8 P.M.]

Mar. 19, 1946

Hello Sweetheart,

     Well, here I go.  I want to and I don’t want to write but I think I can manage.  If you could only get letters from me and I wouldn’t have to write.  I know how it is though.  I like to get your letters.  I was looking for one this morning but it just didn’t materalize.  Maybe this afternoon –

     Dr. Anderson took the other 4 stitches out this morning.  He thought it was looking good and he told me I didn’t have to carry it in the sling any longer.  My arm is pretty stiff and I can’t straighten it out very much but it will come around in a few days.

     I give up Sweetheart.  I started this letter an hour ago and this is as far as I could get.  My mind seems to wander all over the place.  I can’t seem to keep it on my writing.  I’ve done a lot of dreaming about my wife.  I guess that is about the biggest reason I can’t get a letter off to my Sweetheart.  I love you so much, Sweetheart.  You know that.  And in case your memory is failing — I’m yours completely Sweetheart.  I love only you and you are all I want Sweetheart – – – – – even if I don’t write much or often.

     Good-night Sweetheart
          I love you with all my heart
               Pleasant dreams
                    Goodnight Sweetheart
                          x x
                               ‘Nite
                                     Winkle  xx

Her client’s thinning scalp reveals an asymetric brown spot. He thanks her lavishly for the alert; she considers it job insurance.

I step into the early dawn, waving my arms furiously to escape the invisible webs sewn overnight, wiping my face, shaking my head.

[Written to Alice in Acton, Indiana.  Return addressed: Richard, Ward 11, U.S.N.H., St. Albans, L.I., N.Y.  Postmarked at Jamaica, N.Y., on 11 Mar 1946 at 2:30 P.M.]

Hello Sweetheart,

     I’m in a very strange mood tonight Sweetheart.  In a way, there isn’t anything strange at all about it but it is strange to me how I got into it and to what affect it has on me.  I played cards for about an hour this afternoon then I went to sleep right after chow.  I must have been pretty tired because I slept for almost three hours.  I just woke up about a half hour ago when they wheeled a piano in the ward.  A girl is now playing and it’s her music that has put me in this mood.  She plays classical and semi-classical.  Right now, it’s “The Man I Love.”  Her music – ever since she started – has really struck a chord in me.  The songs are very beautiful and she plays them very well.  (“The Blue Danube”)  For some reason, tears came to my eyes shortly after she started playing and all I have been able to think of is you, Sweetheart.  I can’t decide just what my feelings are.  I’ve either been very close to you or I’ve wanted to be with you so bad that I could hardly stand it.  I can’t understand why the music should affect me so – we have never spent much time listening to that type of music.  It’s beautiful though – I guess that is what reminds me of you Sweetheart.  It seems that you are right beside me enjoying it with me.  There is a spot in my chest that seems to be aching.  it isn’t like a pain – it is just an aching desire to be with you Sweetheart.  I love you so much Sweetheart that it actually hurts.  I don’t mind it at all – I’m very happy loving you Sweetheart.  She is now playing a number that I requested: – “Prelude in C Sharp Minor.”  She didn’t know it all the way though, but she played quite a bit of it.  I feel as if I could listen to her play all night but I don’t think I could stand it.  The music is so beautiful but I want you so bad that it hurts.  If I could just hold you close to me and and listen to the music, I would be so happy.  I don’t think anything else would matter.  I love you with all my heart, Sweetheart.  Darn it, there doesn’t seem to be much I can do about it here though.

     She just left, Sweetheart, and the lights are going out in a few minutes.  As soon as she left, some of the guys started laughing and joking and playing the radios.  My mood is flying away from me Sweetheart.  I still miss you and want you so bad I can almost taste it but I’m getting so I can’t write it as I think it.  I guess I’ll close.  Maybe this will make up for that sad attempt I made at a letter this morning.  Number 7 on the Hit Parade is now playing.  “I can’t begin to tell you how much you mean to me.”  I can’t, Sweetheart.  The words just won’t come out.  I’m very proud of my pretty little wife Sweetheart.  I’m so glad she is mine.

     Good-night Sweetheart
          I love you with all my heart
               Pleasant dreams
                    Goodnight Sweetheart
                                          x x     ‘Nite

[audio:Jeff_Lankov___The_Man_I_Love.mp3]
George Gershwin’s “The Man I Love,” performed on piano by Jeff Lankov

[audio:Linda_Gentille___Blue_Danube.mp3]
Johann Strauss Jr’s “Blue Danube” waltz, performed on piano by Linda Gentille

[audio:Vladimir_Ashkenazy___Rachmaninoff_Prelude_C_sharp_minor.mp3]
Sergei Rachminoff’s “Prelude in C sharp minor, Opus 3, Number 2,” performed on piano by Vladimir Ashkenazy

[audio:Dick_Haymes___I_Cant_Begin_to_Tell_You.mp3]
“I Can’t Begin to Tell You,” sung by Dick Haymes (c. mid-1940s)

The garden is stagnant in drought, but one herb grows like a weed. The neighbors call it “Basil,” as if it is a Holmesian mystery.