what if Vincent had had the internet?
“Had, had? Is that grammatically correct?” Typist squinted at the screen and heard… only the tick of the clock. “Muses? A little help here?”
“Beats me,” said Cal.
“I’m not sure,” said Urania.
“Want me to look it up?” asked Thalia.
“Yes, please,” said Typist. “I now consider us to be at the beginning of the beginning of making something serious. Van Gogh wrote that to his brother in, ummm… 1887. He said myself instead of us.”
“Isn’t it lovely that Typist includes us in every conversation?” asked Cal. All three muses and Typist nodded up and down.
“If we begin every day with a beginner’s mind — we’re limitless. We can see beauty in the old and new. We’ll weave, connect, and bridge the simplest things… like Van Gogh did,” said Typist. “Even Steve Jobs recognized losing his position at Apple was like biting into a freshly plucked September McIntosh. Beginning again freed him from success and unleashed a torrent of creativity,” said Typist.
“Found it!” Thalia looked up from the screen. “The past perfect form of have is had had. We’re good!”
Yesterday my Mayo Medical Meanderings consumed most of both my day and my energy, so a day late but not too many words short. More and more I have come (present perfect?) to appreciate your thought processes, rationales, and creativity to accomplish this one part, BFN, of your life's journey. Here's a small post-publication editorial question: was Steve Jobs leaving Apple really "losing his position" or rather handing the reins to his long-time associate, Tim Cook, in light of his illness? I think this illustrates the influences on our behavior, the Zeitgeist from which we operate to the available minutes to complete a task. Sort of macro/micro. Last, the quote of Van Gogh, "... consider us to be ..." raised the question of whether that was the object form of "Imperial We" that is used in the subject form? As you continued, you referenced a source that indicated "myself" as the actual version. Singular, just as the Imperial We is also singular, or "I", when used in the subject portion of a sentence? No, there was neither brain degradation nor enhancement during my Mayo sojourn yesterday.