They Put You In A Corner

The way stupid shit starts on Facebook is a six-step process.

1. I post an innocuous status update about a frequently aired television commercial that I think is stupid.

2. I get a stream of comments from people who think my comment is either on-target or is itself rather stupid and unnecessary.

3. My friend's father responds with an out-of-leftfield political comment that has nothing whatsoever with my original post (although I think he thinks it does).

4. Several more people post comments arguing his point and ridiculing it.

5. My phone predictably rings, bringing Facebook into real life, where it doesn't belong.

6. I get exasperated and give up.

Ironically enough, this was the highlight of my weekend.

Gesture

Three months of taking on some challenges of my own showed me two things.

1. I can make it on "the other side." It's not ideal, but life goes on.

2. You were right and I was wrong. I took some of your suggestions and have come to the conclusion that there's no sense in continuing to stick to an unloaded set of guns.

You didn't have to thank me. I just wanted to do one thing to not be thought of in perpetuity as an asshole. It's a good thing you're doing, and I'm proud of you.

Back

I was in a very bad bar last Friday night. I’m not going to tell you which one, but it’s in the Financial District, adjacent to the Occupy Wall Street protest’s base of operations, and it sucks. The service sucked, the music sucked, and beer after beer, no matter which ones we tried, seemed to come, as my British friend said, from a “dodgy line.”

I didn’t get drunk.

I really don’t get drunk very often anymore. That’s a nice change. The last time I was drunk was at a Yankee game two months ago. I was celebrating finding out about the free New York Waterways boat from South Street Seaport to Yankee Stadium. I started drinking at 10:30 in the morning and finished up approximately sixteen hours later at a bar on the Upper West Side.

I didn’t curse at anyone, lose my phone or wallet, or get in a fight. My bladder held up well. I was relatively coherent when I made it home. Life was good. It seems to be staying that way.

Update

Sorry I haven't been writing much lately. I mean it. I actually am sorry. It's kind of a generic, bullshit excuse, but I have the stereotypical "lot of shit going on." I've been getting home really late a lot for the past few weeks, and it's kind of hard, in that case, to sit down and do any writing-for-pleasure. It sucks, because I enjoy doing this, but that's life right now, I guess.

Tomorrow (today) I'll try writing some shit from work and see how that works out.

We'll see. In any case, all is well. Very well, in fact.