I Like You

Okay, now that I've shaken the kudos tree clean, now that I'm a super-secure full-of-esteem no fear writing machine, now that my head is swollen so big I can't get it through the doorway, now that I no longer need to spend every second of my day obsessively staring at my hit counter testing your devotion to me, now that I've got blog groupies and I get comped and I spend all my time lounging around those darkened rooms behind the velvet ropes off the dance floor, now that I'm feverishly laying the groundwork for one of those cautionary tales of destructive excess that will someday serve as a fitting epitaph for my one sweet brief taste of success and security, now, only now, am I ready to send you to Scamper.

Ronnie Cordova, he of Sublethal fame, first pointed me to Scamper:  "Have you read Scamper? His are like little glittering stories, just perfect."  No, I hadn't, so I clicked on over and within a minute realized I was in the presence of a master.  The Master.  Ronnie was right; they are jewels, his pieces, highly-polished, multi-faceted, incredibly strong.  Except they're free.  I should hate him for being so good, but I don't, or at least I don't anymore, for today I am sufficiently secure in my writing that I believe I can happily spend the rest of my days writing away in his shadow. 

He doesn't post that often -- three or four times a month, maybe -- so you'll still have plenty of time to kill between his posts, and it wouldn't kill you to kill a little of that time back here at Outer Life, would it?  Thank god he doesn't post more often.  If he did even I wouldn't return to Outer Life.

If you need me, I'll be spending the next few months reading through Scamper's archives, savoring as I go.  If you stop by be sure to say hello:  I'll be prostrate on the floor in obeisance to the master, shaken and stirred but mostly frozen in awe.  You can start anywhere, but you might as well start with "Compulsion" then "Being You" then "Awkward" then everything else.

Hey, this is fun, recommending other sites.  I should do it more often.  In fact I will.  Every other week or so I'll pen a paean to one of the many sites I slavishly follow, for I like you, I really do, and I want everyone to know it.

Comments

[Quicquid]

You're overrating him. The you that emerges from your writing is a lot more interesting than the him that emerges from his.

[Jen]

I "met" Scamper early in 1998 due to a weird e-mail glitch, and we've been e-mail buddies ever since. His creative sense -- always left of center -- has long been admirable, even inspiring the rest of us to stop procrastinating and get busy. It has also been encouraging to find familiarity in his viewpoints, so that I don't feel so alone in my own reactions to this world-gone-mad.

Even without all of that, he's quite an interesting person and a good friend. That's my story, and I'm sticking to it.

[lennox]

I completely agree that Scamper's an amazing writer with a rare and unique perspective. I love reading his work, and often find myself laughing out loud when I do. The you and the him are both fascinating...

[Enoch Soames]

And where, pray tell, is my link? I never took you for an Eggs Benedict Arnold...

[Grubby]

Blog groupies? Blog GROUPIES?!

[Inkling]

I'm with Quicquid here. Scamper has his amusing moments. But you're more consistently excellent. (And no, that's not a challenge, merely an observation.)