A foil. That, I realized is what I needed. It is all well and good to have a friendly argument with someone. And I have to confess, that sometimes I enjoy argument. I am my father’s son. I am told that my father would sometimes spend the first half of a party or gathering arguing one side or another of some contentious dispute, then switch half way through to arguing exactly the opposite.
While it is good to air genuine disagreements where they exist, it is not a good idea to pick on any one person. Especially not if you genuinely like and respect the foils you’d be most inclined to pick. And want very much to stay on good terms with them. So I said to msyelf: ”Wait a minute here, buddy. You’re a WRITER. Create a character. Breathe life into him. Make your readers BELIEVE in him!” And of course it IS a good idea. And this blog has in fact been classified as a Personal Journal, above and beyond all of the Topics I sometimes talk about. What could be more fitting for a personal journal than an imaginary friend.
Mr. Everything is a fairly new social media manager. He comes from an educated and professional class, and while he is very smart he is a bit newer to building online communities than some others and doesn’t always know as much as he thinks he does. If you told Mr. E that you’ve been a social media manager for 20 years, it’s 50/50 whether he realizes you are talking through your hat vs worrying that you have so much more experience than he does. Mr. E LOVES the game playing aspects of Empire Avenue and frequently brags about his score, except when he is in a Kumbayah sort of mood and insists that he is all about helping others.
Please remember again that Mr. E exists ONLY in my imagination and is NOT a reference to any of my Facebook friends. And the picture is obviously not of the fictive Mr. Everything, but rather of his breakfast. And it is linked to the MySpace page of someone whom I don’t know and have never met. Who used This picture and the words Mr. Everything in some way that the big G liked.
