What are the five greatest things to ever happen in your life?
For me..... (in no order)
1. The fact that my father didn't give a rat's ass about my decision to completely ignore sports in high school and instead be a drama club nerd. Those of you who are familiar with the deep south know what a monumental thing my father did for me.
2. Bob Dylan. Discovering his music and using it as a diving board to leap off into everything from Mississippi John Hurt to The Delmore Brother to John Prine is responsible for bringing me more joy and shelter from a loud, cruel world than anything outside of my relationship with Lelia.
3. Befriending Dr. John Fleming at Auburn University. He was by far the best and most engaging professor I had during undergrad and his encouragement of my writing saved me from suicide during the worst, loneliest four years of my entire life.
4. Eugene O'Neill's Long Day's Journey Into Night. This play, and the 1962 film adaptation, is a major source of inspiration in my life and I have used it to measure every single artistic endeavor/abysmal failure that I've undertaken.
5. Lelia.
5 Greatest Things
you know, i just tried to come up with only five. i can't do it. i can't do JUST five. there's no way of knowing which merits the list more, getting into and getting to go to William and Mary, or being able to move to Boston and make my way here. 'cause hey, there are other things on the list too, like getting told to sweep the floor at the community theater when i had been sitting there for a half hour waiting for someone to tell me what i could do - it was my first day there, and the director was pissed (but not at me) that no one had taken me in and shown me anything. she found me a pushbroom, and i swept. thus began a journey that acquired me dear friends in the twin cities and pals in boston when i thought i had none.
five just isn't enough.
'cause there's more vying for the list. but i'll shut up now. must word proces or something useful.
five just isn't enough.
'cause there's more vying for the list. but i'll shut up now. must word proces or something useful.... name the stars and constellations,
count the cars and watch the seasons....
count the cars and watch the seasons....
In no order:
1. Getting a guitar for my 17th birthday - this has been a source of much joy for me.
2. College - at least the last 2 years when I was at UE. I met my best friend Amy and several professors I had a lot of respect for. Plus I got away from home for awhile.
3. Going to England for 6 weeks last summer - I had the chance to see a lot of places that I would otherwise have not had the chance to see.
4. My first job - while as a job it generally sucked, it did give me a glimpse of the world outside of high school, which for me was a really horrible 4 years. I met some really great people, not to mention, got to make a few bucks.
5. All the people who have meant something to me have changed my life for the better, so Im going to cheat and lump them into 1 - From friends I met at college to professors who had a real impact on my life, to people I met through work and travel and even people Ive come to know from this board. The people I care about are an extremely meaningful part of my life.
1. Getting a guitar for my 17th birthday - this has been a source of much joy for me.
2. College - at least the last 2 years when I was at UE. I met my best friend Amy and several professors I had a lot of respect for. Plus I got away from home for awhile.
3. Going to England for 6 weeks last summer - I had the chance to see a lot of places that I would otherwise have not had the chance to see.
4. My first job - while as a job it generally sucked, it did give me a glimpse of the world outside of high school, which for me was a really horrible 4 years. I met some really great people, not to mention, got to make a few bucks.
5. All the people who have meant something to me have changed my life for the better, so Im going to cheat and lump them into 1 - From friends I met at college to professors who had a real impact on my life, to people I met through work and travel and even people Ive come to know from this board. The people I care about are an extremely meaningful part of my life.
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A rope leash
- Posts: 1835
- Joined: Fri Jun 13, 2003 6:47 pm
- Location: southern misery, USA
Fun Fun Fun
Circa 1971: Moves with family to southern misery, completely eliminating any hope of a decent upbringing. Shortly thereafter, smokes first joint, gets first blowjob, then second blowjob, then some actual intercourse. Worries incessantly about childbearing capabilities of young girlfriend, and disasterous ramifications of an unleashed manhood. Learns to take care.
Circa 1977: Enters an armed force, gets married, gets California orders, finds Elvis, finds paradise, gets bored, gets antsy, gets some strange, gets divorced, gets low, low, low. Learns it's a dog's life, occaisoned by a cat.
Early '80s: Enters small college, finds muse, finds own superhuman ego forced out upon the sheet through intrepid fingers. Learns what he wants, eats little, gets drunk, falls out.
Circa 1985: In a drunken stupor, marries a dead woman in Reno, NV. This, a gross error of incompetent direction aided onward by a voracious appetite for brutal substances and feeble circumstance, led to a long and horrible decade-long "learning" debacle that left him sour on women and religion, and keen on truth, and not really all that sour on women.
Late '80's: Immediately after recieving a lucid vision explicitly instructing him not to travel, takes job in another town, begining there the life of a land shark, always moving, never resting, ever jesting. Finds a career in plugging things in. Learns to work the garden, fetch the stick, bite the hand slowly.
Would you like the X-rated version?
Circa 1977: Enters an armed force, gets married, gets California orders, finds Elvis, finds paradise, gets bored, gets antsy, gets some strange, gets divorced, gets low, low, low. Learns it's a dog's life, occaisoned by a cat.
Early '80s: Enters small college, finds muse, finds own superhuman ego forced out upon the sheet through intrepid fingers. Learns what he wants, eats little, gets drunk, falls out.
Circa 1985: In a drunken stupor, marries a dead woman in Reno, NV. This, a gross error of incompetent direction aided onward by a voracious appetite for brutal substances and feeble circumstance, led to a long and horrible decade-long "learning" debacle that left him sour on women and religion, and keen on truth, and not really all that sour on women.
Late '80's: Immediately after recieving a lucid vision explicitly instructing him not to travel, takes job in another town, begining there the life of a land shark, always moving, never resting, ever jesting. Finds a career in plugging things in. Learns to work the garden, fetch the stick, bite the hand slowly.
Would you like the X-rated version?
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HungupStrungup
- Posts: 371
- Joined: Sat Jul 26, 2003 12:14 pm
- Location: NE USofA
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Jackson Doofster
- Posts: 531
- Joined: Tue Jun 03, 2003 4:25 pm
- Location: Some far flung Canadian Club
1. The births of my children and everything they have done over the last 4-6 years
2. Meeting Mrs Doofster - changed my life forever and saved me from the depths of my own pointless existence
3.Discovering mastubation in the bathroom aged 12 (ironically Pump it Up was on the radio at the time - not kidding). A great hobby is worth a thousand doomed relationships and allows you to have sex with a different person every day.
4. The most amazing oral sex with a complete stranger from Dublin at the Feile Festival in Thurles in 1991 - I was bored with The Farm. Michelle - I'd never marry you, but anytime you're in England....
5. Buying TYM - well....the rest is history...
2. Meeting Mrs Doofster - changed my life forever and saved me from the depths of my own pointless existence
3.Discovering mastubation in the bathroom aged 12 (ironically Pump it Up was on the radio at the time - not kidding). A great hobby is worth a thousand doomed relationships and allows you to have sex with a different person every day.
4. The most amazing oral sex with a complete stranger from Dublin at the Feile Festival in Thurles in 1991 - I was bored with The Farm. Michelle - I'd never marry you, but anytime you're in England....
5. Buying TYM - well....the rest is history...
"But they can't hold a candle to the reciprical war crimes which have plagued our policy of foriegn affairs."
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selfmademug
I'm going to skip the individual people-related ones, because although those are probably the most important ones, I couldn't limit to five, nor, if I did, would they be the ones they're 'supposed to be'.
With that disclaimer...
- Discovering headphones. I recall the very minute it happened, at my friend Jane Paxton's house, when I was maybe 9. It was a Carpenters' record (!) and I literally turned my head as a reflex because I couldn't believe the source of the sound wasn't somewhere right around or behind me. I know that sounds positively unbelievable, but headphones were only just becoming common to anyone outside a recording studio, and you see we had only heard music from a diffuse source, whether live or recorded. (Okay, it's official, I am a million years old... ) Anyway, music in headphones became the most important refuge and the most faithful source of pleasure in my life, and remains so.
- Going to YWCA summer camp in South Jersey with kids from Philly, Camden and elsewhere, and learning that not everyone is white, not everyone is upper middle class, not everyone has two parents, and that a lot of grown-up female camp counselors seemed, well, *awfully* masculine, wink, wink. Totally revised my view of the world.
- Finding and attending the tiny funky liberal arts college I attended, Simon's Rock. Saved my life, more or less literally.
- Getting a job at a Boston architectural school in 1987 where I met: my husband; the other two people with whom I co-own a 2-family house; at least three additional friends who live within a few blocks of me because we all love each other so much that we can't bear to be apart, one of whom is ~15 years my senior and whose daughter, ~15 years my junior, is now my best friend ever. (Did you follow that? Don't worry, you get the idea.) This came on the heels of having lived in Boston for a year, hating it, and, on my 25th birthday AND first day of this same job, being dumped by the boyfriend I moved up here to live with. So, QUITE a turnaround. These things happen!!
- And, just for the hell of it, I'll add this one: while crying my eyes out on a Cape Cod beach on a late August night because I'd spent a summer entirely by myself, my family was falling apart, and I was about to spend an academic year in France with a boyfriend who had dumped me (different one, don't bother keeping track), a sort of chubby ten-year old boy approaching me and saying, "Hey. Isn't this a beautiful shell? Here. It's for you." And then walking away. An angel. The shell was entirely ordinary; I still have it.
,,,just realised THAT is an 'individual-person one'. Just can't avoid it!
With that disclaimer...
- Discovering headphones. I recall the very minute it happened, at my friend Jane Paxton's house, when I was maybe 9. It was a Carpenters' record (!) and I literally turned my head as a reflex because I couldn't believe the source of the sound wasn't somewhere right around or behind me. I know that sounds positively unbelievable, but headphones were only just becoming common to anyone outside a recording studio, and you see we had only heard music from a diffuse source, whether live or recorded. (Okay, it's official, I am a million years old... ) Anyway, music in headphones became the most important refuge and the most faithful source of pleasure in my life, and remains so.
- Going to YWCA summer camp in South Jersey with kids from Philly, Camden and elsewhere, and learning that not everyone is white, not everyone is upper middle class, not everyone has two parents, and that a lot of grown-up female camp counselors seemed, well, *awfully* masculine, wink, wink. Totally revised my view of the world.
- Finding and attending the tiny funky liberal arts college I attended, Simon's Rock. Saved my life, more or less literally.
- Getting a job at a Boston architectural school in 1987 where I met: my husband; the other two people with whom I co-own a 2-family house; at least three additional friends who live within a few blocks of me because we all love each other so much that we can't bear to be apart, one of whom is ~15 years my senior and whose daughter, ~15 years my junior, is now my best friend ever. (Did you follow that? Don't worry, you get the idea.) This came on the heels of having lived in Boston for a year, hating it, and, on my 25th birthday AND first day of this same job, being dumped by the boyfriend I moved up here to live with. So, QUITE a turnaround. These things happen!!
- And, just for the hell of it, I'll add this one: while crying my eyes out on a Cape Cod beach on a late August night because I'd spent a summer entirely by myself, my family was falling apart, and I was about to spend an academic year in France with a boyfriend who had dumped me (different one, don't bother keeping track), a sort of chubby ten-year old boy approaching me and saying, "Hey. Isn't this a beautiful shell? Here. It's for you." And then walking away. An angel. The shell was entirely ordinary; I still have it.
,,,just realised THAT is an 'individual-person one'. Just can't avoid it!
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uselessbeauty?
- Posts: 21
- Joined: Thu Aug 28, 2003 9:29 pm
- Location: greensboro, north carolina
in no particular order of course. maybe subconsiously
cigarettes-say what you will about the sticks of evil. they'll get you through some rough times and all you have to pay is three dollars and cancer later in life
the poetry of david berman-probably my favourite writer of all time. his band the silver jews are also my favourite band. how can you not love a man who writes things like...
Confederate States of America, Departement of State, Montgomery, ...18'b
by David Berman
This morning I had a yard sale to organize.
Motor court ashtrays and cub scout trophies,
sticky teddy bears with traces of polio
Here was a gift for Mr. + Mrs., an encyclopedia
that described a dead world part by part
a greek dictaphone that hadn't worked since 1979
a battery operated smokeless ashtray. There was
a cardboard box full of joysticks and momma's
dresser mirror, a portrait that revised itself
every morning until she died.
"I WAS BORN TOO LATE" I heard a man
wearing a black quiet riot visor say.
"all the doctors, even my mother, were fast asleep. I had to crawl out myself.
I've been on the streets ever since, trying to think of a bad ass nickname for myself."
the music of bob dylan-how can one man be so talented?
my best friends little brothers reaction when we told him we were going to watch out for him since his brother left for new york-"oh goddammit why?"
groucho marx movies[/i]
cigarettes-say what you will about the sticks of evil. they'll get you through some rough times and all you have to pay is three dollars and cancer later in life
the poetry of david berman-probably my favourite writer of all time. his band the silver jews are also my favourite band. how can you not love a man who writes things like...
Confederate States of America, Departement of State, Montgomery, ...18'b
by David Berman
This morning I had a yard sale to organize.
Motor court ashtrays and cub scout trophies,
sticky teddy bears with traces of polio
Here was a gift for Mr. + Mrs., an encyclopedia
that described a dead world part by part
a greek dictaphone that hadn't worked since 1979
a battery operated smokeless ashtray. There was
a cardboard box full of joysticks and momma's
dresser mirror, a portrait that revised itself
every morning until she died.
"I WAS BORN TOO LATE" I heard a man
wearing a black quiet riot visor say.
"all the doctors, even my mother, were fast asleep. I had to crawl out myself.
I've been on the streets ever since, trying to think of a bad ass nickname for myself."
the music of bob dylan-how can one man be so talented?
my best friends little brothers reaction when we told him we were going to watch out for him since his brother left for new york-"oh goddammit why?"
groucho marx movies[/i]
i knew they were going to fire me after i stole the eighteen wheeler. so i quit first.
true story
true story
My five greatest things are (in no particular order)
Finding Red Hot Chili Peppers music in high school. Until then my music world had been very SMALL and SUBURBAN and hearing them and loving them just changed my mind in a million ways and began my crazy love of music.
Moving cross country when I was 21. It made me realize where I really needed and wanted to be.
Going to summer camp. I went to the same camp from 10 to 17 and I still have dreams about it all the time. It made me myself.
Getting a massive crush on a stupid French man. It's hard to explain the how and why but it was life changing. Stupid French man.
I am saving number five for another time, cause right now I can't decide.
Cheers.
Finding Red Hot Chili Peppers music in high school. Until then my music world had been very SMALL and SUBURBAN and hearing them and loving them just changed my mind in a million ways and began my crazy love of music.
Moving cross country when I was 21. It made me realize where I really needed and wanted to be.
Going to summer camp. I went to the same camp from 10 to 17 and I still have dreams about it all the time. It made me myself.
Getting a massive crush on a stupid French man. It's hard to explain the how and why but it was life changing. Stupid French man.
I am saving number five for another time, cause right now I can't decide.
Cheers.
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SoLikeCandy
- Posts: 499
- Joined: Tue Jun 03, 2003 8:06 am
- Location: Indianapolis, IN
- Contact:
1. Janée, my 12 year old sister. A brilliant, sweet, beautiful little girl with a wicked sense of humor and an incredible way of looking at life. Will be president of the US some day.
2. My dad. Not a perfect man, but the best man I know. He and my mom sacrificed a lot for us, and he has only wanted good things for us. Funnier than holy hell. Plays the hell out of the guitar. Calls me "Pecan Pie", cuz I'm brown and sweet. Sings like an angel. Makes the best fried chicken on planet Earth.
3. Working at Sweetwater Sound for 1.5 years. Music was my passion, but business was not. What a waste--a company full of wonderful, talented people whose lives were being sucked from them by money hungry bastards. But, the parties kicked ass, and I met some of my best friends there. Developed my taste for men who look like Walter Becker there, too.
4. Chris, my first boyfriend. He is, and always will be, one of my best friends--I learned what love was from him, and that it's okay to be weird, and that "it feels different when someone else does it". (Horribly funny inside joke)
5. Last but not least, my Grama Ruby. The strongest woman in the world--she raised 5 children alone and earned 2 degrees, ran a battered women's shelter, a soup kitchen and a "help house" for decades before having a massve stroke. Her doctors gave her 6 months to live--she's been with us for more than 2 years. The woman is love and strength personified. Can't speak much at all, but her first words after her stroke were "Go to hell." Yep, that's my gram.
2. My dad. Not a perfect man, but the best man I know. He and my mom sacrificed a lot for us, and he has only wanted good things for us. Funnier than holy hell. Plays the hell out of the guitar. Calls me "Pecan Pie", cuz I'm brown and sweet. Sings like an angel. Makes the best fried chicken on planet Earth.
3. Working at Sweetwater Sound for 1.5 years. Music was my passion, but business was not. What a waste--a company full of wonderful, talented people whose lives were being sucked from them by money hungry bastards. But, the parties kicked ass, and I met some of my best friends there. Developed my taste for men who look like Walter Becker there, too.
4. Chris, my first boyfriend. He is, and always will be, one of my best friends--I learned what love was from him, and that it's okay to be weird, and that "it feels different when someone else does it". (Horribly funny inside joke)
5. Last but not least, my Grama Ruby. The strongest woman in the world--she raised 5 children alone and earned 2 degrees, ran a battered women's shelter, a soup kitchen and a "help house" for decades before having a massve stroke. Her doctors gave her 6 months to live--she's been with us for more than 2 years. The woman is love and strength personified. Can't speak much at all, but her first words after her stroke were "Go to hell." Yep, that's my gram.
If there's one thing you can say about mankind--there's nothing kind about man
Okay, fine..
1. Going to England for 9 months. I got to live in another country and experience another culture. I got to be independent. I got to travel to tons of places I had never been to before, such as Ireland, Italy, France, and Spain. And most of all, I met my girlfriend.
2. Teaching myself to play the guitar when I was 14. Playing the guitar has offered me so much. I could go on forever, but let's just say the guitar is a good friend when friends seem sparse and nowhere to be found. It's also an endless supply of musical entertainment.
3. Indian Food. Holy crap is this stuff delicious! It makes almost every type of food seem bland, although I am still a fan of many other ethnic varieties of cuisine.
4. Bob Dylan. If I could take the entire CD catalog of one musician to a desert island, it would definitely be Dylan. His music has done more for me than anybody else's.
5. Smoke-Free Bylaws. I don't care what any of you smokers say. The bottom line is it's unfair to go out for dinner or an evening of entertainment and have cigarette smoke blown in your face, whether it's intentional or unintentional. Having a smoking section in a restaurant is often like having a peeing section in a swimming pool. It just doesn't work. So smokers, if you gotta light up, do it at home, or in an outdoor area away from non-smokers. We have rights too, you know!
1. Going to England for 9 months. I got to live in another country and experience another culture. I got to be independent. I got to travel to tons of places I had never been to before, such as Ireland, Italy, France, and Spain. And most of all, I met my girlfriend.
2. Teaching myself to play the guitar when I was 14. Playing the guitar has offered me so much. I could go on forever, but let's just say the guitar is a good friend when friends seem sparse and nowhere to be found. It's also an endless supply of musical entertainment.
3. Indian Food. Holy crap is this stuff delicious! It makes almost every type of food seem bland, although I am still a fan of many other ethnic varieties of cuisine.
4. Bob Dylan. If I could take the entire CD catalog of one musician to a desert island, it would definitely be Dylan. His music has done more for me than anybody else's.
5. Smoke-Free Bylaws. I don't care what any of you smokers say. The bottom line is it's unfair to go out for dinner or an evening of entertainment and have cigarette smoke blown in your face, whether it's intentional or unintentional. Having a smoking section in a restaurant is often like having a peeing section in a swimming pool. It just doesn't work. So smokers, if you gotta light up, do it at home, or in an outdoor area away from non-smokers. We have rights too, you know!
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laughingcrow
- Posts: 2476
- Joined: Tue Jul 29, 2003 8:35 am
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double dutchess
- Posts: 146
- Joined: Tue Jun 03, 2003 11:01 am
- Location: New York
OK, here i go...
My father getting a job with the Air Force when I was 5. It got us out of Flint, MI (and if any of you have seen Roger and Me, you know what I'm talking about), and I was exposed to quite a lot of things I may never have gotten to see.
One of those "things" was Europe, when we moved to England when I was seven. My sister and I went to an American school, but we lived in a village and had little exposure to other Americans outside school. It was an incredibly valuble experience to immerse ourselves in another culture, particularly at such a young age. My parents took advantage of our proximity to the continent, and we travelled extensively during our three years there. To this day, I have wanderlust to a ridiculous degree, and I blame my parents .
I went to a horrid little private school in IL for three semesters, and although I ended up growing disgusted with their way of doing things, I do appreciate my experience of having been there. It was nice to be away from home, and the fact that it was only an hour away from Chicago by train made it slightly tolerable. I also learned quickly what would become of me if I did not outgrow my adolescent attitude, and how absured "nonconformity" is when you think about it.
While at that school, I met a boy. He and I fell in love, and we spent about one happy year together, followed by one and a half years of screaming fights and impassioned pleas. Although it ended badly, being with him taught me a lot about myself, and what works and does not work in a relationship. (It also taught me that I can be a very tolerant person. Maybe too tolerant.) But it's all over now, and I can honestly say I'm a stronger and wiser person for it.
The guy at the Pentagon who didn't answer his phone for whatever reason on Sept 10, 2001 when my dad called him to set up a meeting for the next morning. He called my dad back early the next day, but the meeting never happened. It still makes my skin crawl.
My father getting a job with the Air Force when I was 5. It got us out of Flint, MI (and if any of you have seen Roger and Me, you know what I'm talking about), and I was exposed to quite a lot of things I may never have gotten to see.
One of those "things" was Europe, when we moved to England when I was seven. My sister and I went to an American school, but we lived in a village and had little exposure to other Americans outside school. It was an incredibly valuble experience to immerse ourselves in another culture, particularly at such a young age. My parents took advantage of our proximity to the continent, and we travelled extensively during our three years there. To this day, I have wanderlust to a ridiculous degree, and I blame my parents
.I went to a horrid little private school in IL for three semesters, and although I ended up growing disgusted with their way of doing things, I do appreciate my experience of having been there. It was nice to be away from home, and the fact that it was only an hour away from Chicago by train made it slightly tolerable. I also learned quickly what would become of me if I did not outgrow my adolescent attitude, and how absured "nonconformity" is when you think about it.
While at that school, I met a boy. He and I fell in love, and we spent about one happy year together, followed by one and a half years of screaming fights and impassioned pleas. Although it ended badly, being with him taught me a lot about myself, and what works and does not work in a relationship. (It also taught me that I can be a very tolerant person. Maybe too tolerant.) But it's all over now, and I can honestly say I'm a stronger and wiser person for it.
The guy at the Pentagon who didn't answer his phone for whatever reason on Sept 10, 2001 when my dad called him to set up a meeting for the next morning. He called my dad back early the next day, but the meeting never happened. It still makes my skin crawl.
I wasn't born the sharpest thorn