Preface To Weeping: What Is The Difference Between Weeping & Crying?

There does appear to be a difference.  According to these people over at English forums, "Weeping accompanies grief, loss, & intense sadness, whereas crying can result from a wider range of emotional states - rage or frustration, for example."

A good example on the page is the use of the word "weeping" when describing an upset child.  You say, "The child is crying" not "The child is weeping" - that verb makes no sense when it's not something related to actual sorrow.

Is there a continuum of crying?  Is it sobbing, crying, weeping?  What about blubbering, whining, bewailing, keening, whimpering, sniveling?  Perhaps this week's Self Help Radio will attempt to create a flowchart!

Oh nos!

Well, don't I feel a little like an idiot.  Let me tell you, as often as that happens, it never feels great.  Ever.

Do you remember a few days back when I went on & on about my 1400th post?  No?  Well, anyway, funny story.  I was relying upon the numbers in Blogger, which say things like, "1397 posts, last published [date], etc."  It told me that I had 1400 posts.  It did!  I swear.

Then I noticed something yesterday - for whatever reason, I had seven "drafts" on the posts page.  Looking at them, they weren't what you'd call drafts - most were from before 2009, & most looked like blog entries that I just titled & didn't write anything in - you know, I thought I had something to say but then thought better of it.

Well! said I.  I shall delete these weird drafts as they make absolutely no sense!

But.  Then.  Oh no!  My total blog count went down by seven.  The stupid blog was counting the drafts as well as the published blog posts!  Therefore - the 1400th post hasn't happened yet.  What a fool!  What a maroon!  What an idiot!

I should've known there was a reason my count was always off.  Well, another reason besides the obvious one: "user error."

The good news is, there'll be a 1400th post soon!  For you to ignore!  Again!

Books I'll Never Write, Part I

Once upon a time, I wanted to be a writer.  I know, I can feel you shaking your head in embarrassment for me.  I was unusually smart & wised up & realized I wasn't a very good writer, but it's something that's still in me, not the desire so much, but the thinking about stories & ideas for novels & all that.  (I also wrote poetry but, really, the less said about that the better.)

I didn't write terribly autobiographical stuff - I was barely in my 20's, I had very little life to write about.  But when I think about writing these days, it is autobiographical, since I have a few decades of life behind me & probably less before me.

One book I was thinking about writing these past couple of weeks is about my father.  I know virtually nothing about him - he & my mother were divorced when I was four, & he was an alcoholic who appeared intermittently throughout my childhood.  By the time he kicked the booze, I was in high school, & he showed no interest in getting to know me, & I guess I was too self-involved to care.  He died I believe in my last year of college.  I wasn't sad at his funeral, unlike my sisters, who were devastated.

The book would be called something like "All The Times I Saw My Father," & I would just tell the stories of my (strangely few) memories of him.

But I don't think I'll write such a book, for a couple of reasons.  One is, of course, that I'm not a good writer.  But the other is that it would be a lot of hard work.  A lot of digging through memories that I might not have any more - not to mention trying to contextualize those memories.  I don't think I have the persistence & wherewithal to pull something like that off.

I can think about it, though.  & write about thinking about it.

Don't Be Afraid!

I'm afraid I'm late posting this.  I should've done it yesterday, but I was gripped by an illogical & incomprehensible terror - in a sense, I saw the eternal Footman hold my coat, & snicker - in short, I was afraid.  Weird, right?  To be afraid to post a show about being afraid?  What could go wrong?

Nothing went wrong, despite a shabby show made more tiresome by my own tiredness.  Still, I have put the show over on the Self Help Radio website.  Hey!  If you are afraid of strange websites & don't want to try to find it amongst my myriad shows, you can download the first part here & you can download the second part here.  & so you're not afraid of what might be on the show, what I played is below.

Being afraid is silly!  Enjoy the show!

(part one)

"Who's Afraid" How Do I Learn? _How Do I Learn?_
"So Afraid" Flare _Metamophosis_

"Afraid Of Everyone" The National _High Violet_
"I Am Afraid" A House _The Way We Were: The Best Of A House 04.85-02.97_
"Too Afraid" Thee Headcoats _In Tweed We Trust_
"I'm So Afraid Of You" Damien Youth _Alchemy_
"Afraid To Dream" Louis Prima _Louis Prima (1937 - 1939)_

"I Am Not Afraid" They Came From The Stars (I Saw Them) _Lo & Behold!_
"Don't Be Afraid, You Have Just Got Your Eyes Closed" Múm _Finally We Are No One_

(part two)

"Are You Afraid To Die?" The Louvin Brothers _Satan Is Real_
"I Was Afraid Of That, Pt. 2" Blind Blake _All The Published Sides_

"Been Afraid" P.O.S. _Never Better_
"I'm Afraid Of Americans" David Bowie _Bowie At The Beeb_
"Who's Afraid Of The Big Bad Wolf" Ben Bernie & His Orchestra _Brother, Can You Spare A Dime? Great American Songs Of The Depression_
"Who's Afraid Of Thunder" Dorothy Collins _Experiment Songs_
"Be Afraid Of Your Parents" The Indelicates _Songs For Swinging Lovers_

"Girl Afraid" The Smiths _Hatful Of Hollow_
"Don't Be Afraid" The Smoking Popes _Get Fired_
"Not Afraid" Small Factory _Suggestions 7"_
"My Baby Is Afraid Of Sharks" Herman Düne _Next Year In Zion_

Whither Afraid?

I'm sorry, this blog is not available at this time.  This blog is on its way back from Nashville, Tennessee.  This blog may well be listening to songs about being afraid in a desperate attempt to have the radio show ready by tomorrow morning, a show for which this blog has done very little work.

It may be a mess, but this blog recommends you listen to the potential train wreck that will be this week's Self Help Radio tomorrow morning at 8am on 88.1 fm WRFL Lexington.  On the web page, linked previously, there is a stream you can listen to anywhere there's an internet.  Also, the show will be archived shortly thereafter on the Self Help Radio website.

Unless something happens on the Bluegrass Highway.  Oh no!