THE OUTWARD APPEARANCES

On the first day off after working several days I am usually a bit frazzled. Consequently after a burst of activity yesterday, when I came back I didn't make any attempts at being a social creature till my apartment mate returned home. Because I'm not really a social creature.
That is to say, not socially adept, seldom socially inspired.

Some of my friends are equally apathetic about giddy whirling.


It also has a lot to do with the fact that we're smokers. In years past we could go to a coffee shop, like the Med in Berkeley or Caffe Trieste in North Beach, carrying a book to read while dawdling for hours over our beverages and briars. Good luck doing that now. The moment you light up at one of those places people start throwing soft tofu at you and whining about the little children and rampant colonial oppression you horrid monster.
The romance of indulging in poison in public is gone.

We hide under bridges now, and eat goats.


The other change is that our reading tastes have changed, our reference books to which we might require recourse are all at home (and usually under the bed or behind stacked tins of tobacco), and we don't carry a cellphone that would allow us to look stuff up with us when we leave the house. Because we don't wish to be reachable, have no intention of reaching, and actually rather wish that other people wouldn't reach in public either.

We're still wild animals in a way. We haven't gotten used to all of the modern age. Now more than ever subtitles on everything would be nice. With clickable links. Preferably to in-depth Wikipedia articles or technical journals.


So not so much what is being said, more like essential background information.

"Esmerelda, over there in the corner with the strident voice lecturing about the sanctity of animal life and asserting irritatingly in several repetitive ways about how humans should only eat or drink soy products and cauliflower, is a psychopath who thinks that she is special and gifted. Her best friend Starburst (real name: Betsy-Ruth Frunk) has accomplished nothing in life but shows off her meaningful tattoos and thinks that is more than enough.
They're both seeing junior techno-executives with mid-size dogs."

"One of them is destined to become an anti-vax PTA mom in a gated community in a few years. Click here to find out who."

(click) From Wikipedia: Psychopathy, or psychopathic personality, is a personality construct characterized by impaired empathy and remorse, persistent antisocial behavior, along with bold, disinhibited, and egocentric traits. These traits are often masked by superficial charm and immunity to stress, which create an outward appearance of normality.

Not very surprisingly they are drinking blueberry lattes.

They consider themselves enlightened.
And very spiritual.



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