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ATTACKS |
BRIDGE |
SILENT BACKUP |
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"You were in the Marines?" |
Much worse! |
I was a seagoing bellhop. |
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["Welcome back to the United States!"] "No problem." |
But better. |
Just starting off. |
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"Sure Not a problem." |
But better. |
You just keep going. |
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"No problem." |
But better. |
Every little thing adds up. |
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"You have a problem with that?" |
Totally useless. |
Never have. |
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"None of the other men I've been with used a mirror to shave." |
Totally useless. |
Your heart must be in shreds ... They're all the same, huh? |
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"I've got to kiss up to the sergeant." [At a Police Department coffee break] |
Totally useless. |
Got any cherry pie? That's the blood from my broken heart. |
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"I don't want my lawn to grow." [As the wind carries a light spray from your garden hose over onto their property] |
Much worse! |
At least you know what you're not missing. |
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"Oh, boy!" |
Much worse! |
Don't tell me what that means! |
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"Oh, shit!" |
Much worse! |
The theater is filled with treacheries. |
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"Oh, my God!" [A child looks into your not-so-evil soul] |
Much worse! |
It's stranger than you think. |
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Much worse! |
Nothing's right. |
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Much worse! |
What are you afraid of? |
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"Oh, go away!" |
Much worse! |
I don't want to hurt your feelings. |
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"Oh, fine, you're right ... I'm passive-aggressive." |
But better. |
The entire thing might be a lie, you know? [They're so tough & mean (to themselves!) they don't even know they're hurting other people] |
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"You are being controlling and passive-aggressive." |
Totally useless. |
Are you downsizing? |
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"Get away! You bother me, kid." |
But better. |
If this was fairy-tale land, the sky would have fallen already. |
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"Hello, boys." [Ignoring you, talking to your dogs] |
Spooky, huh? |
They're coming to get you! |
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[Someone leering at your wife or daughter in your presence] |
But better. |
You have no idea. |
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"You know, sometimes I think you're a faggot." |
Totally useless. |
Did a priest get you when you were seven? |
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"What are you, a faggot?" |
Totally useless. |
There aren't many straight arrows in this world. |
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"There's only one thing that's important, and that's looking at girls' heinies!" |
Spooky, huh? |
I'm not exactly a bathroom man, either. |
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"Let's get one thing straight: You live here because I say you can live here." |
Spooky, huh? |
Beggars can't be choosers. |
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"Do you want some candy, little girl?" |
Totally useless. |
Just checking out. |
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"Call some more cabs, asshole! The lot is empty." |
But better. |
I might try it. |
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"Faggot!" |
Totally useless. |
Drive yourself crazy. |
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"Hey, you faggot!" [High School students passing in the hall] |
Totally useless. |
No charge. |
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"YOU! I'm talking to you!" |
But better. |
Strong as a bull and twice as smart. |
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"Are you talking to my girl?" |
Spooky, huh? |
You're a spinning magnet in the coil of passion. |
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"I'm talking to you, asshole." |
But better. |
There are so many people now. |
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[A bully punching you on the shoulder as his posse stands around] "Do you have a problem with that?" |
Totally useless. |
It's preposterous. |
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"Was I talking to you?" |
Spooky, huh? |
What else is there to say? |
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"Well, I think it is a problem." |
Totally useless. |
I'll bet you do! |
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"Old man, come here!" [From a bunch of Japanese kids "disposing of society's trash"] |
Totally useless. |
Maybe on a really bad day. |
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"What the fuck are you talking about?" |
Much worse! |
You don't want to sell me death sticks. You want to go home and rethink your life. |
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"It was the thought that counts." |
But better. |
Just over the edge. |
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"They're so gorgeous They certainly don't look like you." [Your newborn twins] |
Spooky, huh? |
Buckets of light. |
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"I am embarrassed for you and consequently for the family as well." |
Spooky, huh? |
Can two spiders share the same web? |
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"I heard you're after a new girl here. It looks like you don't like the girl I recommended. Anyway, the girl you're after is not quite bad. She never rejected anyone before." |
Spooky, huh? |
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"That makes me look bad." |
Totally useless. |
You can really get in trouble. |
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"I feel bad." |
Totally useless. |
Just eating red meat. |
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["I'm not a nightmare, am I?"] "Just a bad dream." |
But better. |
You have to learn how to forget it. |
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"Not bad." |
Spooky, huh? |
Something real. |
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"You're a bad girl." |
But better. |
I wouldn't say that. |
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["I love you."] "How embarrassing." |
Spooky, huh? |
Who isn't and so what? |
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"I hate walking down the street with you It's so embarrassing." |
Much worse! |
Looking for fudge in all the wrong places. |
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"Not bad, for a girl!" |
Spooky, huh? |
It's the animal in me. |
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"It's good to see you did one thing right." |
But better. |
Don't say anything to anybody. |
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["Your warning sign is not where anyone would see it."] "That's not my problem." |
Much worse! |
Some things are right and some aren't. |
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"After twenty-four years, does the sex go bad?" |
Much worse! |
[After a pause] What do you do when someone insults you or tells you you're no good? |
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"Kansas That's not a bad place." |
Spooky, huh? |
It's blessed. |
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"Wow! Your neighbor's house is even nicer than yours." |
Spooky, huh? |
That's really living! |
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"Unfortunately, yesterday one of your partners at Yellow Cab 2829 got exasperated with the traffic and was driving very unsafely." |
But better. |
We keep him in a cage in the back. |
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"You're a wage slave." |
But better. |
I'm in for it. |
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"Hey! This tastes good for a change." |
Spooky, huh? |
The less you know, the better. |
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"Excellent." |
Spooky, huh? |
That's normal. |
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"I don't know where your partner is there He's probably off having lunch someplace." |
But better. |
What about making money? |
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"Cancer." |
But better. |
Everyone knows me Everyone hates me! |
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"If you had half a brain, you'd be dangerous." |
But better. |
Resourceful and spontaneous. |
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"It's kind of dangerous to be driving around in this all day." |
But better. |
My body is my temple. |
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"A little dangerous." |
But better. |
Over the edge. |
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[Finding your wife half under a blanket with someone else] |
But better. |
Hey! That's not fair! |
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"You can't copy me, man!" |
But better. |
Perfect form. |
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"What a guy! What a man!" |
But better. |
I'll let you think about that. |
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"I came back, man! It's cool! It's cool!" |
But better. |
Life is like a boat It's easy to drown. |
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"He kicked me out last time I was here!" |
Much worse! |
No reason for it. |
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"I'm not a dangerous person!" |
Spooky, huh? |
It's a skill. |
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"Do you think I'd hurt you?" |
Totally useless. |
I had a bad childhood. |
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"Hey, man, it's all right! I'm cool." |
But better. |
Once you realize we're all lunatics, you do all right. |
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"See ya', wouldn't wanna be ya'!" |
Totally useless. |
So low-class. |
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"We could stand toe-to-toe like this for hours, the way they did in old vaudeville routines." |
But better. |
Don't let frenzied sea creatures deter you! |
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"Girls can do anything." |
But better. |
The word is perfect. |
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"I don't go out with boys." |
Much worse! |
They take your life away, don't they? |
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"I'm sure you'll find plenty of other girls out there, so ...." |
Much worse! |
What a way to go! |
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"You remind me of Forrest Gump." |
Spooky, huh? |
I've arrived. |
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22-MAY-1999. SCHIZOPHRENIA: a condition that results from the coexistence of disparate or antagonistic qualities, identities, or activities. A part of a child's mind sees everything as the same. It loves its mom and dad, sees the food and shelter they provide as indistinguishable from its own life. When a deep part of a person's mind makes contact with that schizo inner child, it can come across as bitchy.
Everybody has a mean streak and it isn't terrible. A part of human intelligence is extremely incisive, able to cut right through things the way incisor teeth slice through flesh. This ability tends to make cows nervous, so they band together in little groups and bray at you. They're trying to make you bite your own tongue.
The surest way to give your mean streak some savvy is to see other people's psyches for what they really are: terribly gashed and wounded hearts trying desperately to hole up and heal. Disturb their wounds with even a rose petal or a reflection of the truth and they howl in anguish. Many people spin tall thin cones of pretension out of which they peep with beady eyes.
People with well developed mean streaks tend to value truth: "I speak the truth because I wish people to speak the truth to me, even if it hurts, or sometimes, especially if it hurts." The danger of this understanding is that it's really a rationale for naming things or pinning tags on life forms whose varieties of existence are as vast as Nature. When you encounter a real slimy-toed green tongued wart-eyed monster, you really don't have to mention it. Just light a cigarette and blow smoke in its face. Or beat a hasty retreat. Or shoot it.
Try to encompass your mean streak with an enormous sense of humor, and whenever you can, vivify your incisive perceptions and understanding with action instead of words. Remember, even healthy wolves don't like to be constrained by names. If you tell a friend, "You're the smartest wolf in the forest," he or she might turn on themselves some time in the future when they're not.
05-MAY-2008.
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As follows
CODE WORDS: bad, bother, boys, cancer, candy, Christ's, controlling, counts, [curses], dangerous, embarrassed, embarrassing, empty, excellent, faggot, girls, gorgeous, Gump, heinies, hurt, kicked, lawn, [leering], man, Marines, nicer, [oaths], oh, partner, partners, passive-aggressive, problem, recommended, sake, sergeant, shave, slave, talking, tastes, thing, toe-to-toe, [under], vaudeville, wanna
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