Lame O
Posted August 31st, 2006 by Nathan DeGraaf
Here's the thing.
Every weekday morning, you wake up and you look out the window and you see the world as you expect it. You go to work and you do your best (or relatively close to your best) and then you go home. Maybe you write a little, maybe you drink a lot. Maybe you put on a ballgame because you grew up thinking that sports were about the most important chunk of entertainment in life. Then you go to bed, wake up and do it again. Occasionally, you mix in a piece of pussy, or a wild night out with people who seriously entertain you and (on occasion), people who have earned your trust. You do this over and over and over and over again. And, as you age, everything becomes less and less important. Work starts to suck less, the girls all start to blur together, the drinks have less of an effect on you and the victories and defeats of your local sports teams begin to feel less important, less appropriate to the grand scheme of life than they were when you were a kid and everything was just so damn interesting.
And you start remembering things in a different way.
Memories, which are most often linked to smells, sounds and sights, become linked to emotions, to raw feelings that you clearly miss experiencing.
And then the next thing you know, you're cheating on your wife, or you're fucking a midget, or you wind up jacked up on cocaine in a strip club filled with willing whores who swear to Christ that you haven't lived until you've fucked on heroin.
And because you long to feel something raw and new, something insane and fun, like you did when you were a kid robbing medical supply centers or running from angry police or playing football on acid, you decide to do something insane. Something you've never done before and something you will never do again.
Only thing is, you can't figure out what the hell to do.
The adult part of your brain and the kid part of your brain are fighting with one another. The adult part wants to rate each new experience as some kind of balance between risk and reward. And the kid part just isn't cooperating.
So you sit down on your couch and you pop a beer and you turn on the ballgame.
And that feeling of wanting something more just lingers and lingers and lingers until it's practically a rock in your shoe in the long walk of life.
And that's what it's like to grow up, kids.
God help me. I'm getting lame.
Every weekday morning, you wake up and you look out the window and you see the world as you expect it. You go to work and you do your best (or relatively close to your best) and then you go home. Maybe you write a little, maybe you drink a lot. Maybe you put on a ballgame because you grew up thinking that sports were about the most important chunk of entertainment in life. Then you go to bed, wake up and do it again. Occasionally, you mix in a piece of pussy, or a wild night out with people who seriously entertain you and (on occasion), people who have earned your trust. You do this over and over and over and over again. And, as you age, everything becomes less and less important. Work starts to suck less, the girls all start to blur together, the drinks have less of an effect on you and the victories and defeats of your local sports teams begin to feel less important, less appropriate to the grand scheme of life than they were when you were a kid and everything was just so damn interesting.
And you start remembering things in a different way.
Memories, which are most often linked to smells, sounds and sights, become linked to emotions, to raw feelings that you clearly miss experiencing.
And then the next thing you know, you're cheating on your wife, or you're fucking a midget, or you wind up jacked up on cocaine in a strip club filled with willing whores who swear to Christ that you haven't lived until you've fucked on heroin.
And because you long to feel something raw and new, something insane and fun, like you did when you were a kid robbing medical supply centers or running from angry police or playing football on acid, you decide to do something insane. Something you've never done before and something you will never do again.
Only thing is, you can't figure out what the hell to do.
The adult part of your brain and the kid part of your brain are fighting with one another. The adult part wants to rate each new experience as some kind of balance between risk and reward. And the kid part just isn't cooperating.
So you sit down on your couch and you pop a beer and you turn on the ballgame.
And that feeling of wanting something more just lingers and lingers and lingers until it's practically a rock in your shoe in the long walk of life.
And that's what it's like to grow up, kids.
God help me. I'm getting lame.







7 Comments
Oh, honey, I'm sorry. It's always a sad day when somebody figures that one out.
lame, or insightful? the only thing is, once you do find that thing to do, that you'll never do again...youll need to find something else , because that will only fulfill you for now.
This, my friend, is what's known in the textbooks as Mid-Life Crisis. If you're lucky (and still breathing), you'll hit two or three of these periods within a normal adult lifetime. They're the catalyst for continuing the post-20-something journey through life when all else seems most bleak and unfulfilling.
Savor them, Nate -- they're worth the (temporary) anguish.
-Allen.
I dunno. Maybe if you cared about someone else, maybe then you would have a purpose other than mere self entertainment. Maybe you need to have illegitimate kids already.
Maybe you need to start listening to God, and stop talking so much.
Maybe you live in your past. Maybe you need to reinvent yourself.
Maybe you're just now realizing that somewhere along the way, you dropped/traded/abandoned something that was important to you. Maybe you need to get it back.
Maybe people encouraging you to just ignore what plagues you are people who don't know what's best for you. Maybe you're expressing this feeling for a reason. Maybe you're reaching out.
God, you've been depressing lately.
Then again, maybe you're just plain tapped out of ideas, and when in doubt, you bitch. Maybe that's human.
And maybe, just maybe, I need to shut the hell up.
Yep. I'm pretty sure it's the last one.
Happy Labor Day.
Wow, that last one was harsh. I love these posts, like "the soft road" and can't wait for the book.
hahaha, well hopefully we can catch a cards game while your up here and that'll do it fo ya.
and to not your bitch, all I can say is maybe.
damnit, posted to fast, tha was meh above =P
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