Two Friends!

Woke up dizzy. Don't know if this cricket-shicket is affecting me that much. Then I meet two acquaintances who I haven''t met in a long time.

The first is a former colleague and a very good writer. I used to envy his talent, the turns of phrase, the simplicity, the conciseness of his prose, the humour, in fact, everything about his writing. Morning, morning, he is there, waiting with his daughter for her school bus. I had one of my most elevating and informative editing experiences with him. I was given some gobbledygook to edit and I couldn't make either anterior or posterior of it. Sitting with me he explained: "Read this, what they actually mean is this. But it is not coming out of their thick skulls addled with advertisements, television serials and newspaper journalism."

So? Is that it? What he means to say is that I have to get inside the thick carapace of the (under-developed) writer's skull and think like he does (after all, we are a people that pride ourselves on the abject poverty of our syntax and verb agreement (me included!). That's what editing is all about. Thanks friend for that lession.

The other acquaintance has the best job in the world. You won't believe it if I tell you. Especially my son Ronnie won't believe it. This friend's job is to watch MTV all day. Don't let your jaws drop Ronnie (I know, for you MTV is like GOD TV is for me!)! Yes, that's his job - watching MTV all day. He is a lawyer and his job is to watch MTV and see if there is any objectionable content in it. Isn't that a wonderful job? Eh? Eh? I know I would give my right hand to be in that job in which I can tell that pest Cyrus to get off his Bakra (sheep). Or, is it VTV, or something?