(This post originally appeared on 3/12/09--KJ)
There are two criticisms I sometimes get.
One is that I'm a loner.
The other is that I care too much about what other people think of me.
I've thought long and hard about those two criticisms, and, I've decided, the critics are right. So, I'm turning over a new leaf. No more being a loner, and no more caring what other people think of me.
Starting today, I'm joining every club, organisation, society, institution, federation, association, affiliation, team, league, lodge, order, fellowship, charity, cause, movement, party, group, gang, pack, clique, and tribe I can find.
Also starting today, I'm going to be as informative, pontifical, iconoclastic, challenging, critical, opinionated, judgemental, contrary, non-conformist, expressive, romantic, extroverted, dramatic, emotional, excitable, confessional, uninhibited, horny, discomfiting, disturbing, boring, eccentric, weird, strange, odd, goofy, neurotic, psychotic, and certifiably insane as I damn well please.
But first, I'm going to stop off at the Army-Navy store and get myself some body armor.
There are two criticisms I sometimes get.
One is that I'm a loner.
The other is that I care too much about what other people think of me.
I've thought long and hard about those two criticisms, and, I've decided, the critics are right. So, I'm turning over a new leaf. No more being a loner, and no more caring what other people think of me.
Starting today, I'm joining every club, organisation, society, institution, federation, association, affiliation, team, league, lodge, order, fellowship, charity, cause, movement, party, group, gang, pack, clique, and tribe I can find.
Also starting today, I'm going to be as informative, pontifical, iconoclastic, challenging, critical, opinionated, judgemental, contrary, non-conformist, expressive, romantic, extroverted, dramatic, emotional, excitable, confessional, uninhibited, horny, discomfiting, disturbing, boring, eccentric, weird, strange, odd, goofy, neurotic, psychotic, and certifiably insane as I damn well please.
But first, I'm going to stop off at the Army-Navy store and get myself some body armor.
What a great piece of writing, Kirk! I'm glad you re-posted it. And I GET you. Those who care about me are afraid I might bleed to death some day from sensitivity. It is said that I can sport a look on my face that makes people think I really might die from pain I'm feeling.
ReplyDeletei for one am looking forward to this. the body armor may not be necessary. liberation endows one with a certain amount of invulnerability.
ReplyDeletehey, what happened the first time you did this?
How do you live with such mutually opposing versions of you?
ReplyDeleteI'd chuck it out and make up your own mind. Though of course this could all be fiction. In which case I suspect you already have, chucked out other people's views, that is.
Wonderful writing as ever, Kirk.
@Limes--Glad you liked it. I try very hard to hide any sign of emotion from my face, but then people think I'm stoned.
ReplyDelete@standing--Do you mean the first time I posted this? I got a comment from Erin O'Brien, who, aside from a few relatives, was the only person reading my blog at the time. If you click on "loner" in the keyword section right below the post, you can read what she said.
@Elisabeth--How do I live with such mutually opposing versions of myself? Well, for starters, I write a blog...
Is it fiction? Let's just say it's a wee exaggerated.
Aw, Kirk, maybe the ideal is somewhere in between your stance and mine. You try to wipe all trace of emotion off of your face and I am unable to hide any of what I'm feeling. One doesn't want to take me to play poker or to be the neutral in a situation.
ReplyDeleteAbout the fiction/exaggeration in our blogs: a woman friend of mine was chewing my butt last summer. "You are actually two different people, aren't you? The one you really are and the one your show the world." I asked if she'd have me grovel in the gutter with a sandwich board displaying all of my worst sins. On the blog, I try to put a happier or more positive spin on things than is sometimes supported by the cold hard facts. But I try to balance that with saying, "I'm a flawed, imperfect human being" or "I'm having a pretty tough time with this".
I think if you, me, or anyone else showed their true selves to the world, what the world would get is stream of conciousness.
ReplyDeleteBut that's a whole different post, isn't it?
Yes, it is. A post you've done beautifully, but I have yet to attempt.
ReplyDeleteI apologize for plugging myself in the comment section. I just couldn't resist.
ReplyDeleteI enjoy you, Kirk. I really do!
ReplyDeleteWV = thipul. I walked 9 miles today and I think I injured myself. I believe I have a thipul.
@Limes--Just re-read your comment about groveling in the gutter with a sandwich board detailing your worst sins. I can identify with that expectation. You'll excuse me if I don't say exactly WHY I identify.
ReplyDeleteOh, Kirk, I don't think everything one knows needs to be expressed to others. Some things are better left unsaid. However, I'll say this. If someone forms their complete judgement of me based upon the list on the sandwich board, they missed a lot.
ReplyDeleteIs blogsona a word? Not like bologna sandwich board but like persona of a blogger.
ReplyDeleteIt's a blogger wearing a sandwich board while eating bologna.
ReplyDeleteNow does the sandwich board become the body armor?
ReplyDelete(I think I'm just getting silly, excuse me.
I'm new here, it's allowed isn't it?)
Kim
Silliness is definitely allowed, Kim
ReplyDeleteTo answer your question as to whether the sandwich board is body armour--not if you're being attacked by woodpeckers.
ReplyDelete(As i said, silliness is allowed)