Tuesday, July 29, 2008

I should contrast NJ/NY with Toronto, but am I not Memo?? Yes, I am. Therefore, I will talk about Sandman. About Absolute Sandman. Recently Matt, the RG client, gave it to me as a gift. I think I will start a new tradition here. You may not know it, but I love Sandman dearly. Who am I kidding? Anyone who actually knows me, knows that. It is my favorite book. Both because of its content, and because of the story behind me getting it.
I'm almost sure I most have told this story before, but don't stop me. As time goes a person changes so this might not be the same version. This is the story I told myself nowadays. ...Once upon a time, there was this boy studying his career. He loved math, philosophy and computers. Even though he was smart as no one, at least that's how he felt, he wasn't thinking anything exciting. What a waste of dreams and intelligence. He cared to be better in each conceivable way, but he thought that math was the ultimate way to sharp his mind. The truth is he felt lonely in that pseudo-intelligent sphere.
One afternoon while browsing the almost new world wide web, he read a story. A sand tale. It was beautiful. It felt good. It felt old, and tribal. All the right things were there. That was my first reaction. The second was kind of personal. Years ago I wrote a little story poem and it was very similar. Though mine wasn't as good, it was more sad. That's when I investigated all about Sandman. I could have easily download one or two pages. But no, something inside me dissuaded me. I had only read a transcript, so I hadn't actually met the book.
At the time I wasn't economically solvent so I had to save my pennies. I made myself a quest, to buy the first issue and see what it was. My life slowly changed. I was becoming less math oriented, more story oriented. You could say that's when I started dreaming about having a good story to tell to my grandsons. The first issue was good, but not life shacking. It didn't include this tale I found, so I continued. Slowly at first, but eventually it grew to be a rich philosophical garden. What are the endless? Why is Delight gone? Are really Despair and Desire irrevocably twins? I wasn't new to philosophy but Sandman provided me a common language to dream and talk with friends. In time this friends would become my dearest friends. And I personally believe without Sandman they wouldn't be so near, so dear. Sandman became our High Language, especially with pollo.
Trade Ppaper Book after TPB, I bought them all. It took me all my college years to have enough money to buy them all. Now this sounds laughable, but every one of these issues cost me, and I was happy for the bargain. I bought the tenth issue with the money I got from my official first paycheck. And a circle was closed.
Back to present times. Now RG is the place where I am going and I am. So... what if I go for a new quest, acquiring these absolute volumes from RG's success? Life is a funny little story, isn't?

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