I love words.
I love rich, chocolaty words like filament. I love the famed phrase, cellar door.
I love song lyrics and impressions and accents and books. I've been itching to write another one, but until the proper inspiration strikes, I thought I'd share a selection of my favorite words here.
When Smash was on the come-up I made a lot of sacrifices. I routinely bled for it, every day I sweat for it, and on more than one occasion I wept for it. I lied about it, fought about it, and far too often complained about it. The early years were a constant struggle. But it was a pleasure, through and through, just to be a part the movement. If competitive SSBM had died in 2008, as it nearly did, I would have wrapped up my controller with dry eyes, proud and contented. But it didn't. Everything that has happened in the past few years has been a fantasy, and fantastical. I'd even call our good fortune a blessing, if I weren't an atheist. For me, it has been thoroughly unexpected, profoundly humbling, and . . . well, I often catch myself grinning like an idiot.
Who is Johnny Kim? I wouldn't go as far as to tell you I'm obsessed with Johnny Kim, though it's not hard to imagine why a person might be. I am however decidedly fascinated by him. And every other Sunday Johnny Kim endears himself to me a little more. He appears to be entirely unflappable and just generally immovable. Is he high when he competes? Has he seen some serious shit on the street? Or does he just enforce upon himself a rare kind of discipline, a personal code, not handed down to him but developed out of necessity, which includes three inviolable rules, one of which is "always play with your cards close to your chest"?
Do you know what the worst word is? Should. Found in sentences like "I should go out tonight." Should, assassin of individuality. Should, enemy of the id. Should masks our true feelings and convinces us that the choices others would make are better than the choices of our own. Should is powerful, seductive, and righteous; watch out for this poisonous word when it attempts to convince you to live by a code other than your own.
Juggleguy tells us that 2014 has seen 60 SSBM tournaments with 100+ entrants. And he reports that the previous record, established in 2007, right before the Smash bubble burst, was 14. This kind of growth would be impeccable, if it were growth. But it's not growth, it's explosion. It's not evolution, it's the phoenix out of the ashes. It's not measured expansion, it's a sudden and violent chemical reaction. How can we possibly know how to properly leverage the opportunity we have been gifted? To answer this question, we'll need many great minds, strong coffee, and lots more (proverbial) paper on which to write.