Spotted Mind

I watched Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind last night. That's the movie starring Jim Carrey in which he undergoes a medical procedure having all memory of his girlfriend erased after a bad relationship.

Or was it a bad relationship? Halfway through the procedure, he decides that he might not want her erased after all, but there's nothing he can do about it. The movie is thought-provoking, surreal, and takes a hard, intimate look at our need for relationships.

I watched it with my friend Drew, and afterwards he turned to me and said, "I would have all memories of Aaron erased."

Yeah, that's great Drew.

Aaron, of course, is me. I know my profile simply says "Reinman." And I realize that I'm not really protecting myself against anything or anyone--97.9% of the people who read this see me at least once a fortnight--but, as the old quote goes, "Anonymity is like a warm blanket."

But I was forced to give it up. You see, I had a quote to write.

And the number one rule for writing quotes is: "Don't change a word (unless no one can verify it.)"

But Drew could verify his quote, so I had to get it right. Thus, I had to keep my name in. I suppose I could have used brackets--which serves as the writer's substitution for a word.

In which case, the quote would've looked like this, Drew: "I would have all memories of [Reinman] erased.

But that would be bordering on excessive. All that would do is insinuate extreme paranoia on my part, and cause my readers to wonder why I'm so secretive. Their curiosity would become so great, bordering on obsession, that they would read this site 20 times a day--searching for hidden messages or clues. Plus they would tell all their friends.

Hmmm.

Maybe I'll just go back and change the original quote. Or, better yet, I'll just have someone erase your memory of it.

Yes, that sounds much easier.