"everybody thinks lesbians are cool until his girlfriend turns into one."

just now outside it is sunny and lightly raining on me at the same time. which i like, always; is a rare kind of juxtapositional beauty via madame nature. also, because i am in a quasi-reflective sort of state -- the kind my writerly end is wont to make too much of -- nature's simultaneous beauty tells that now is the time to lay down a history of how i came to think of myself as a writer; to feel with certainty that writing was something i was called to do. (i haven't mapped it out in my head and so do not know if this will be long to the point of tedium. if so, please accept my apology in advance.)

January 1996
- mark decides not to pursue a minor after all. he realizes that "minor" is a word he is already adequately acquainted with; as such, he does not need an official transcript to remind him of this familiarity.
- so now he has a bunch of credits available; mark deems that he will take english classes that sound fun. one of these is Introduction to Creative Writing.

February 1996
- mark finds himself at hot spots coffee shop -- an all-night place where he often goes to study and flirt unsuccessfully. on this night, he is to write his first short story, due the following day.
- he has not the slightest idea how to begin and so just sits there, feeling increasingly useless and dirty. he decides to write this; hence, the opening lines are
- god i need a shave. a shower and a shave. a shave and a shower. whichever.
- the rest of the story -- about a dude who discovers, after the fact, that his girlfriend has broken up with him so she can date girls -- follows immediately and with ease.
- upon completion of the assignment, mark feels a tinge of self-satisfaction that his studies have never before granted him.
- mark sleeps only briefly but wakes up feeling fresh. sharp.

March 1996
- mark has his first office visit with dr randy, his creative writing professor.
- in that meeting, dr randy kicks his feet up on the desk, flips through the story, and sets it down with a smile on his face. he says that
- mark's writing reminds him so strongly of beck lyrics and asks if mark knows beck?
- beck's current album has not left mark's stereo in 9 weeks.
- mark decides to dedicate his life to writing, which right away he begins referring to as his craft.

..so, yeah: in all earnestness, that is how long it took. now i will go back inside so i can listen to beck's guero record some more.