Name Game

PBW posted a little writing exercise a few days ago and I decided to give it a go. The idea is you get a few random names (courtesy of Kleimo in this case) and write a short paragraph about the person with the random name. Then you write about why you gave him/her that particular personality. Then you flip it around and make the person completely opposite (or at least different). My paragraph is slightly longer than the ones she used as examples, but what can you do? So...

Maricela Ferrin wanted to dance. She sat at her table on the edge of the dance floor nursing the same pink fruity drink she’d purchased over an hour ago from the cute blond bartender. It was hard to stick to a budget and still have a social life. She kept hoping some interested man would send a drink her way, but so far no luck. She’d gotten up several times, intending to sashay onto the dance floor alone but at the last minute chickened out and pretended to straighten her skirt or move to a different table on the other side of the club.

The first thing that popped into my head when I saw this name was, “Maricela Ferrin wanted to trip the light fantastic.” The problem was, however, that I had no clue what that meant. So, I googled it. Apparently it means she wanted to dance. (Only it turns out no one wanted to dance with her. Poor girl.) Moving on...

Maricela Ferrin drained the last of her Tequila shot, slammed the glass down on the bar and strutted fearlessly onto the empty dance floor. She’d finally rid herself of Titus and was ready to shake her ass. And if she’d left him in a pathetic heap on the floor of their apartment crying and shaking a pill bottle at her as she took her suitcase and left, well, that wasn’t her problem. And if the thought of him doing anything crazy was eating her up inside, all she had to do was focus on the pulsing, blaring music and moving her hips, shoulders, arms. And if that didn’t work, there was always more Tequila.

The major differences in the scenarios are that while Maricela still wanted to shake her groove thang, in the first she was meek, shy, a little frumpy, and I kind of felt sorry for her. In fact I think she’s a bit clueless, not even realizing she’s in a gay bar. Maybe that’s why none of the men wanted to buy her a drink. In the second scenario Maricela was bold, if not a little skanky, and had an agenda that did not include meeting a man but rather forgetting one.