In life, we can long for lots of different kinds of company. It can be platonic, physical or romantic, depending on your situation, and there are lots of different far-reaching branches of each type. What I’m looking for right now comes under the ‘platonic’ umbrella – specifically, company of the creative kind. I’m not talking about someone who’s an ‘intellectual equal’ or anything like that. I run a modest blog read by a modest (but loyal) handful of people, so I’m hardly one of the great thinkers of our age. In fact, I’d say that a lot of my attempts to say something profound have fallen a little bit flat, to say the least.

Nevertheless, I can’t deny that it would be nice to have – for want of a better term – a sounding board of sorts. A person, or group of people, who’ll listen to my daft ideas and gently guide me in the right direction without judgment. They might even offer up some of their own, so that I can return the favour. I went to that writers’ group a couple of times, yes, and I was made very welcome on each occasion – but there was something missing. I was surrounded by brilliant minds relating brilliant ideas, but I still didn’t feel completely comfortable for some reason. Perhaps it was difficult to relate to people who were double my age and had spent a life cave diving in Mexico, fascinating though that was. I also wondered if they’d find it tricky to relate to my 26 year old online ramblings, so I ultimately never presented anything to them. Overall, it was a very different experience to one of my Creative Writing workshops during my degree.

Harsh? Maybe, but I can’t help feeling that I need peers in that arena too, just I’d want friends or dates my own age. It might be time to give serious thought to making Third Time Enabled a group project again, and resurrecting the full band setup, as I’d always envisioned. I wonder if Will, Emily or Alex are busy at the moment? Or perhaps I should press on writing the lyrics I’ve promised to show a friend of mine, even though I hate them with a passion in their current draft form. There are a few options to consider, as you can see…

Mason