—HELLO, TEMPORARY CRISIS

  

…If this was a bad idea, you would tell me, right? I mean, would you really? Or would you be one of those people who are so polite they let you talk for an hour with a sprig of lettuce stuck between your front teeth?

 

…The more I know, the less I think I know.

 

…There are a lot of positive things to be said about being an introvert. One is, you listen, and pay attention, more than the next guy.

 

…I’ll just go ahead and admit it. I’m suspicious of people who, 1.) don’t like to read,  2.) don’t like dogs and,  3.) don’t like children.

 

…If I love you, no one’s ever going to love you like I do. Nope.

 

…We only get to hold the future for a little while.

 

…“Each of us is born with a box of matches inside us, but we can’t strike them all by ourselves.” Like Water for Chocolate

 

…I have a weak heart. That’s not a metaphor. My heart is literally, actually, like, not strong. I AFibb a lot, which is so unnerving, and really any day I could have a stroke and that’d be it. So, consequently, I think about death a lot more than you probably do. I don’t want to die, but if I do, I know I’ll have been one of the lucky ones. I got way more from life than I ever thought I would, and way more than I deserved, that's for sure.  

 

…I’m scared, too, but Fuck it. Let’s go.

 

…When I was a store manager, we’d often declare Fridays “No Negative Day,” meaning, for the entire day, you couldn’t say anything that sounded pessimistic or critical. It was about not saying that to your co-workers or to yourself. It was a lot harder to do than you might think. Just try it, if you don’t believe me. It’s amazing, the horrible things we say to ourselves, about ourselves, over and over.

 

…It’s a fact—there aren’t many people who can give you a hug and make you feel like they really mean it. 

 

…They say you can’t, but I think you can—teach an old dog new tricks. It just takes a little more patience and practice.

 

…Sometimes when you finally get what you want, you realize it’s not really what you wanted after all.

 

…Only miserable people will tell you that love has to be deserved.

 

…Even after all this time, I can still remember the name of almost every teacher I’ve ever had, going all the way back to 3^rd grade. How about you? It’s pretty extraordinary, the impact a teacher can make on a person’s life, good or bad.

 

…I know a lot of things I tell myself about myself—the not so nice ones—aren’t true, so why do I believe them?

 

…You can be 50 or 80 or 101, yet it’s true—high school never ends.

 

…It’s pretty hard to beat a sunset on a lake. There’s the ocean, of course, but it’s not quite the same. On a lake, at sunset or near-dawn when the light's just peeking through, it’s like you just heard Jesus say something you can’t quite make out, so you lean in.

 

…Who’s going to tell you when you’re being a fool?

 

…We could both be wrong, but at least we’d be wrong together.

 

…I’m uncomfortable and everybody knows, except they don’t, how could they?

 

…Sometimes nothing is the best thing you can say.

 

…What’re you going to do about those things that still haunt you?

 

…Last week 1,200 people died from an earthquake in Afghanistan—one thousand and two hundred lives—but you had to really search the news to find anything out about it. If five people died from an earthquake in America, it would be plastered everywhere.

 

…The answer to all the big shit is hidden in all the small print.

 

…“The heart is the toughest part of the body. Tenderness is in the hands.” The Country Between Us

 

…The (literal) human heart is a strange thing to see. It looks like some prehistoric jellyfish, and to watch it beat is to wonder how it manages such a thing, day after day.

 

…A person who can hold something you’ve told them in confidence is a person I want on my side.

 

…I’m not sure if there’s any room for more doomsday stuff inside my head.

 

…Aren’t immigrants just people, too? Aren’t they just struggling, looking to somehow make a better life for their family? Yeah? So, why do you hate them so much? They're no different than us.  

 

…You’re there with open arms, but I’ll still put up my guard.

 

…It’s true—when you grow up poor, you’re always poor in your head, like Forever poor, even if you have everything you could’ve ever dreamed of. 

 

…Even though they’re obnoxious most times, you can make a case for optimists. 

 

…Sometimes it seems like nothing ever changes. And yeah, I know how cynical that sounds.

 

…I’m not always like this.

 

…Sometimes I’m a lot more confused.

 

…“I try not to think too much about what I post—it’s easy to agonize over everything, to overthink how people might interpret it. I just try to be as authentic as I can, and if they get it, great. If not, so what?” Martin Luke Brown

 

…Most people would love more time to just sit and think, while I would like a lot less of it.

 

…I’ve got to learn how to “gray rock” certain people.

 

…Just say what you need to say. I’ll hear it, or I’ll try my best to hear it just as you meant it to be heard.

 

…Stay focused and kind.

 

…It seems like, when you stop thinking it won't get better, is when you’re in real trouble.

 

…Well, if I’m going to die, I might as well Fucking try.

 

…I forgot that you were so intimidating.

 

…It might not seem like it, but I’m really rooting for you. I am.

 

--Do you have advice for beating writer’s block?

--Write lots of bad songs. Bad songs are better than no songs. It’s better to write and learn, than to not write, and not learn at all.

 

…“I was reading a book about pleasure, 

how you have to glide through it 

                                   without clinging, 

like an arrow 

pressing through a target,

          coming out the other side and going on.” Tony Hogland

 

…I wish there was such a thing as extra credit you could do when you get older, kind of like in school when you needed some insurance to get that grade you wanted. I could sure use some extra credit about now.

 

…I haven’t smelled anything in seven years. I suppose, of all the senses, that’d be the best one to lose. But you can’t really taste food, so it’s like a two-for-one loss. 

 

…You gotta let the birds fly and the bees sting, otherwise you’re just messing with how things were always meant to be.

 

…Nothing weighs more than somebody else’s belief in you. 

 

…I guess that’s life, right? Somedays, you couldn’t care less if it was over, then some days are so nearly miraculous that you’d beg to live forever.

 

…I know he’s done some bad things he wishes he hadn’t, and I also wish he hadn’t done them, but I forgive him, I hope you do as well, because he’s still one of my all-time favorites, as is this, simply a masterpiece, in every conceivable way…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4FIw7ERlVxU

 

…I can’t wrap my head around the idea of someone getting outfitted in the morning after breakfast, packing gear, driving to a remote area in nature, then aiming a rifle, sighting it, and killing a deer that’s just standing there, eating leaves or some grass or something else, this gorgeous animal God somehow managed to create. If you can actually do that—kill a deer—I’m unclear about everything else you’re capable of, but I do know with certainty that I don’t want you anywhere near my life.  

 

…“To me, a relationship is about loving another human being; their gender is irrelevant.” Gillian Anderson

 

…Yep. You got me. That was all my fault. I just didn’t pay attention.

 

…“Wait.

Don’t go too early.

You’re tired. But everyone’s tired.

But no one is tired enough.

Only wait a little and listen:

music of hair,

music of pain,

music of looms weaving our loves again.”

Galway Kinnell

 

…I know I bitch and moan a lot on here, but I also realize that I’m the luckiest man I know. And you're lucky, too? Do you know that? 

 

…Sometimes it all feels exceedingly pleasant, which is a bit of a curse.

 

---You seem really small right now.

---I know. Just fucking look at me.

 

…Here’s where I always get into trouble.

 

…But why would you say it if you knew you really didn’t mean it? That’s what I want to know. I don't understand. You must have really meant it somewhere inside of yourself.

 

…People always say, “It’s not a contest,” but maybe it is. I mean, what if it actually is a contest?

 

…When I’m listening and they say something awful, I just have to remind myself that it’s only their insecurity talking. They probably don’t really mean to be such an asshole. They definitely don’t know they’re sounding like an absolute asshole.

 

---Why do you feel awful?

---Because you feel awful.

 

…It’s all right. It’s all I’ve ever known.

 

…It takes a lot to save me from myself.

 

…It’s not weird until you say it out loud to someone else.