Passing Thought

Posted 5:00 AM by Gerald So

As a fan of mystery and crime fiction, I'm wary of the genre trivializing things like murder and gun violence, the inciting incidents for many stories. Later in my time with the Short Mystery Fiction Society, I proposed changing the group logo, a derringer illustrated by a past president's relative after the Society's Derringer Awards.

Well before my time, the group had chosen the derringer pocket pistol as a metaphor for the short story. I grew concerned the public would primarily see the gun and assume it represented a gun rights group. Members spoke up dismissing my concern. I left the Society in 2021 and the awards and logo remain, but I still hope they change one day.

To what, you ask. How about clocks, reflecting short stories' brevity and the overall sense of urgency that mysteries need to be solved? What, then, would the awards be called? The Stoppers, short for stopwatches and stopping crime, not capitalizing on it.

The current physical Derringer awards are neck badges with the illustrated logo in the center. The physical Stopper awards could be wall clocks with "Short Mystery Fiction Society" and/or "Stopper" stylized in the center.

Why Don't I?

Posted 2:00 AM by Gerald So

My post yesterday mentioned a life avoiding alcohol, tobacco, and firearms. This extends to caffeine and drugs, including performance enhancers.

Why? As I wrote for Disability Pride Month, I want to see what I can do without it all. I don't want it to impair me on top of cerebral palsy. I want to think and move as well as I can, whenever I may need.

To show I'm not overthinking, a memory:

During Bouchercon 2013 in Albany, a police officer stopped me walking from my hotel to the con venue around 7:30 AM.

"What's your name?" he asked.

"Gerald," I said.

"Gerald?"

"Yes."

And he drove on.

I'll never know, but I guess he took my gait for drunken.

Showing Myself

Posted 6:00 AM by Gerald So

A YouTube video about Botox's effect on Hollywood actors and acting inspired this post.

Photo by Gerald So

Growing up in the time of instant film cameras, I recall posing for or taking few photos, denying countless shots where I blinked, looked away from the lens, or had my hand over my face. Unlike the hypothetical average person, I don't own a smartphone. Only two years ago did I start bringing my 2014 Kindle Fire HD7 outdoors, taking my own social media profile photos.

I correct the photos' lighting and color, but nothing to change my face besides a shave. I think I look good. A life avoiding alcohol, tobacco, and firearms has helped. I may give my cartoon avatars darker hair, but that's another realm.

Unlike me, actors and other on-camera personalities feel pressure to maintain youthful appearance to be considered for more roles. Besides, they may want to make changes for life beyond the business. Does it affect their acting? I don't know. Their faces or bodies haven't pulled me out of shows or movies.