Yes, I am an Anne McCaffrey fan; or, blog as memory

Because I have a bunch of time on my hands right now, I've been going through old blog posts (slowly - I'm still in the first year!), figuring out which ones I still like to look at and which ones are not worth saving. Main criteria for deletion: the post is a to-do list; the post a meme; the post describes events involving other specific, identifiable people a little too closely.

But it's funny, too, because this blog has been very journal-like, and so there are posts describing events in my life that, at the time they happened, seemed quite ordinary but were more significant than I realized. In a number of cases, they presage some not-very-good things that I did not foresee happening.

What does this have to do with Anne McCaffrey? She has a novel called Crystal Singer (I'm not going to claim it's necessarily a brilliant book, but it is one of her earlier books, so it is definitely one of the stronger examples in the McCaffrey oevre). In it, people who spend enough time on a particular planet become infected/invaded by a silicon-based symbiotic spore (I think. I might have that wrong. But something along those lines). If they adapt successfully, their senses become more acute, they gain the ability to heal much more quickly, and they live much longer lives, aging only very slowly. The downside is that after a certain point, they lose their long-term (and eventually, short-term) memories, and have to make a conscious effort to record events in their lives, and go back to those recordings to remind themselves on a regular basis. The main character goes to this planet after being rejected from the only profession she's ever wanted to follow (music), and when she's first recording the events of her life for later reference, she realizes she can simply delete this miserable rejection from her life, by simply not recording it.

I am not losing my memory at any greater rate than anyone else my age (though as I get older I do think my brain fills up more quickly and has to jettison past knowledge!), which is not say, not particularly at all. That said, though, I don't dwell on unpleasant moments from my past, either. I am happy to forget.

Rereading my old blog posts, I am reminded of some of the events surrounding those unhappy moments, events and moments I had largely put behind me. Although there is much to be said for having a record of one's life, like McCaffrey's heroine, I find it immensely satisfying to delete those moments from my life, by deleting them from my blog.

 

 

FN: I consider this blog an honest representation of my life, in that I speak honestly in the posts I publish here. But I don't believe this blog has to (or even can) honestly represent my entire life.

Comments

[Nicoleandmaggie]

I couldn't read any more Anne McCaffrey after the main character in her third dragon riders book date rapes his girlfriend. (Ms. McCaffrey, no means no. Even if he helps clean up after.) Perhaps if I could forget that scene and not dwell on it whenever I hear her name I would be able to enjoy more of her work.

[New Kid on the Hallway]

Well, to each their own. I still like a lot of her earlier stuff (the later stuff is very poorly done).

[Janice]

Killashandra Ree! Yes, I thought it was interesting she went with such a prickly and even unpleasant personality in the story. It did make the psychology of her choice to excise the memories of her failure a little bit more intriguing, I think.

Not that you're excising failure when you get rid of posts that don't add much content. But you're also nothing like the abrasive Killashandra in personality!