Contradiction in Terms
You say to-may-toe; I say toh-mah-tah. Deal with it.
Thursday, December 15, 2005

My Brain is Limited

Of course y’all are instantly protesting the title, because the majority of my readers are nice and trigger-happy with the compliments. (Not that I’m complaining, mind you.) But really, over the past 22 years of cognizance (I don’t count the first ten because I was basically in a vegetative state at the time. Let’s face it; we all were), I have learned that my brain rather inarguably has certain limitations. To wit:

1. It prefers to proceed in a linear fashion. Which is why I have the devil’s own time writing copy for websites. In which people can just jump! To any page! At any time! Thereby accessing information which has not previously been led up to by other information! What about foreshadowing?! What about repetitive resonance?! Obviously, a college education in Creative Writing does nothing to prepare one for such an endeavor.

2. I tend to think in words rather than pictures. Seriously, if you tell me that this guy you’re crushing on is cute, the first thing that will pop into my mind is literally the word “cute”. It will take me several mental steps before I can actually progress to visualizing the physical cuteness of said guy. This is why it has taken me a period of years to be able to write comics scripts with a modicum of assurance. My colleagues over at the Jam comics anthology think I’m some kind of whiz at it, but it has not come without effort, believe me.

3. My brain is static by nature. Since I started writing scripts by doing comics, I tend to think in snapshot scenes. Which is why I have trouble writing for TV or AVPs, because it’s hard for me to visualize motion in my head. It’s like cartoon animation instead: a series of stills that, if you run them together quickly enough, seem to move. Nowadays, I can just about write for Flash animation if I grit my teeth and hunker down to do it; but I’ll only do a video script if I really, really like you or you’re willing to pay the really ridiculous rates I charge for it.

4. I have the mathematical ability of a sixth-grader. And don’t think I’m exaggerating, because that’s exactly what my guidance counselor told me when we were reviewing my college entrance test results. I no longer remember what the exact category names were, but in the cases of both NCEE and SAT, it was something like: Language Ability = 100%, Science and Logic = 100%, Mathematical Aptitude = 69%. This implies that while I know the word for what I am is “innumerate”, there’s not all that much I can effectively do about it.

Luckily, though my brain may have its limits, my sheer bloody-mindedness is very nearly without boundary. Which means, if I have to wring every last tortured brain cell dry to get the job done, I can and will do it.

If I like you enough. Or you pay me enough. You see, there are some numbers which I do understand.
Nikki bit in at 4:01 AM :: ::
                give                
Double-click a word on this page to learn what it means.
                surf                 email

blogs

groups

Philippine Sites
LinksPhilippines

new

caveats


creative commons

Contrary to what the disclaimer says, you can ask me to design or revamp your blog, but there is a small associated fee.

This site is prettiest if you set your monitor resolution to 1024 by 768... but I won't hold it against you if you don't. Honest.

cred






illustration by El

Nikki Alfar is really not as sexy as El's illustration would have you believe... but she doesn't mind if you think of her that way.
My Photo
Name:
Location: Pasig City, Metro Manila, Philippines

class act/guttersnipe. tomboy/girly-girl. serious writer/comics hack. wife & mom/tart & tease. obssessive-compulsive/laid-back. sweetheart/bitch. all that.

shelf life

books, beauty, buzz

weather nixie

numbers

Who Links Here

etc.