Current Post On Trae’s Blog:
So I'm just going to come out and say it: My favorite episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation is "Conundrum." It's episode fourteen of season five, and I just deeply love it.
I don't know if it's because I literally just assumed Erich Anderson's Commander McDuff was a random Enterprise officer of the week (which we saw quite often during the show) when I watched it as a kid during the original run, so the twist actually worked on eleven year old me. I don't know if it's because I just like a good "everyone has amnesia" story. I don't even know if it's just because it's a good Ro Laren episode. I don't know if it's just because we learn that Starfleet doesn't give a crap about lasers.
I just like it. It's neat.
And I rewatched it last night, and feel that it holds up -- which is why I found it deeply weird that the folks who wrote the episode actually think it's not that good. My favorite episode of the entire seven season run of the show was a failure according to the folks who wrote it.
And maybe, as a writer and creator, I should remember that.
Like the hardest part of releasing creative works to the public is that often, after a while, I'll start to judge those things far more harshly than when I first made them. Or I'll compare it to the potential I thought an idea had in my head. And if I don't reach that potential, I'll think of it as "bad" -- when it might just be slightly different than that idea. I have one hundred percent published stories that I thought were just sort of okay and later had someone tell me how much it meant to them to read it.
*cough*I Hate November*cough*
So I should make sure I remember Conundrum. That one of my favorite things to rewatch is considered one of those failures by its creators. That the things I make might have value, just not in the way I originally thought they should.
It's just sort of how things work out.
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I admit the guy’s kinda flaky…but man Sarah is laying down the hate kinda hard?
H
When you look at their meeting, not so much really no. He was an huge ass beyond any remote shadow of a doubt. However, she seems to see him as “I like to be a jackhole rrrar rrar yay” when it more comes off as “I am stupidly straightforward with my thoughts, and simultaneously socially clueless as to how to present this and not sound like a jerk.” – at least to me it does. Shrug.
Honestly though. I mean, I get that she dislikes him because of their initial meeting, but you have to admit, I think she is taking her levels of general dislike and raising it to outright loathing a BIT far.
The problem is, their first meeting was horrible. Sarah deciding then that he needs to be lit on fire is perfectly normal, and the fact that she has to keep associating with him only makes it worse. That said, the dude is actually trying to be polite now, so Sarah’s current behavior doesn’t seem like it will improve anything.
I’ve been the Terrence in these sort of conversations for a different reason. Hate is a very powerful thing. Hate is not just a strong dislike. It takes a lot to get me to hate someone or something. This is obviously not true of others and I have found from time to time that there are people all riled up about some momentary thing that really, I just can’t be arsed to get worked up about.
I leave you with a zen story:
A senior monk and a junior monk were traveling together. At one point, they came to a river with a strong current. As the monks were preparing to cross the river, they saw a very young and beautiful woman also attempting to cross. The young woman asked if they could help her cross to the other side.
The two monks glanced at one another because they had taken vows not to touch a woman.
Then, without a word, the older monk picked up the woman, carried her across the river, placed her gently on the other side, and carried on his ?journey.
The younger monk couldn’t believe what had just happened. After rejoining his companion, he was speechless, and an hour passed without a word between them.
Two more hours passed, then three, finally the younger monk could contain himself any longer, and blurted out “As monks, we are not permitted a woman, how could you then carry that woman on your shoulders?”
The older monk looked at him and replied, “Brother, I set her down on the other side of the river, why are you still carrying her?”
Does anyone else feel that Sarah’s the sort of asshole they’d hate to have to work with on staff at a con? I’d rather have ten Terrences instead. How many con staffs have been damaged by the Sarahs whose very presence and abrasive attitude discourage many volunteers from staying on?
He did refer to her as “it” in their first conversation. It’s not like she’s totally unjustified.
Yes it is. The level of response is completely disproportionate to the causal event.
Yeah… go around referring to people as “it” and then instead of ever apologizing tell them how little you care about their existence. We’ll see how well that goes for you.
Go around showing a complete lack of forgiveness to people for what could well have been an accident. We’ll see how well that goes for you. Personally, I’d much rather be the one who shows forgiveness in the absence of an apology than the one who is spiteful and hateful in the same circumstances.