by syaffolee

Writing in public? I feel very self-conscious. I know that as writers, we should all have this “screw you, I’m driven by art to write” mentality, which in its very arrogance would demand respect from non-writers, but truthfully, I can’t be that arrogant. Oh, I may try looking the part by turning myself into a hermit, but all that would grant me will be strange stares by passersby.

What I’m deathly afraid of is that someone I know who’s in science will stumble onto my little hobby and not understand. Scientists should be solely obsessed with science. No one really says it, but I always get this impression that if you’re not stuck in lab for every minute of your life, you’re not truly dedicated to science. But damn it, I’m not that single-minded. I would like to be a little more complicated than a simple slave to science. Feynman, for instance, played the bongos and womanized in his spare time.

Well, I don’t play the bongos and I certainly don’t womanize, but I do write. But maybe I’m really content with this little neurosis about being accused of not being serious when I’m occupied with this compulsive hobby. I certainly gain a bit of elicit pleasure when I’m hiding behind a textbook in the laundromat to take notes when I’m actually writing instead.