You always act so stupid. You always talk so dumb.

[coco_palmolive]

I made the mistake of going back and reading old entries in this journal a few days ago, and now I am filled with crippling self-loathing and a strong sense that I used to be much more awesome four or five years ago and so maybe it is true what the young people say: OLD PEOPLE ARE LAME. ETA: I do not mean to imply that I am worried there is no way

Comments

[altricial]

I had to do an observation of teenagers in a public setting for a class. I've never felt so old in my life.

[coco_palmolive]

What conclusions did you draw about them?!

It feels like we get old so fast! I remember the first time I heard about some pop star (Debbie Gibson, ahem) that was younger than me and realizing that my time had already passed. I was 18 years old.

[altricial]

We had to highlight the developmental milestones and features of adolescence and a few of us spoke at length about how much we hate teenage girls.

I LOVED DEBBIE GIBSON. I think she was only very slightly older than me. I get very surprised when I find out any up and coming stars are actually older than me these days. WHERE HAS THE TIME GONE.

[coco_palmolive]

It's hard not to hate teenaged girls after you have been one yourself and know exactly what lurks inside our poisonous little hearts. I devour any and all literature that crosses my path about why teenaged girls are so fucked up, but I haven't ever heard a satisfactory explanation.

If I could start over again, I'd really like to study organizational psychology-- I am fascinated by the way we put ourselves in groups and the pathologies that naturally emerge. I don't get the impression this is a very profitable line of work unless you become an executive coach or something, though.

Well, you have to say it's better than a war.

[anonymous]

Oh, you. I love, love reading your journal. You always have something to say that feels important and universal and never boring.

I just talk about haircuts.

Also. The Jazz Butcher! :O:O:O:O:O

[tofty]

This is me! For some reason, my browser is not keeping me logged in, and I sometimes forget.

[coco_palmolive]

HAHA as if the commenter who could immediately place that quote would be anyone other than you. <333

Haircuts! I have been seriously pondering posting a poll in which I ask readers to help me decide whether I should grow my hair out again, with photos. The only thing that stops me is that the photos of my short hair are so much better looking than the photos of my longer hair that it would not be a fair fight.

Now you'll only want to go home in a taxi in disgrace.

[tofty]

Well! Without the pictures, I have to say that I always love you with short hair -- with long hair, you look equally beautiful, but less accessible. It's your dramatic coloring, I think? It makes long-haired you look impossibly sophistimicated. Or maybe it's just that the coco in my head always has short hair. :-?

I have always loved your hair, though, regardless of how short of long it is. I was thinking that on my way in to the hairdresser's, actually.

promise you will never leave me behind.

[kickthebeat]

i had a little paragraph here about realizing i'm now older than many of the athletes i cheer for, on both a college and professional level, but it was depressing me to consider. many of my friends are younger than me too, and yet my tastes in music keep getting older? move over, baby, i feel lame old people posts* are all that's left for me too.

i like the idea of hospital #2, it makes me happy you're working on an ad campaign for them. personally, i would be willing to give up a degree of speed and technology for nurses that brought me red popsicles, or sang to me. it's just the simple comfort you want when you're not feeling your best! especially if they have a decent chicken soup on the menu.

i owe you an email, and comments, and a rec post. a lot of things. but i'm glad you posted first; i miss you, and your posts, all the time.

* NOT THAT YOU HAVE EVER MADE LAME OLD PEOPLE POSTS. GOSH.

Losers lurgy.

[coco_palmolive]

Oh the athletes who are younger. If I didn't have Craig Biggio to kick around, I don't know what I'd do. EXCEPT WHOOPS HE IS RETIRING AFTER THIS SEASON and the Astros' magnificent battle for last place (which featured, this weekend, their suddenly giving up 8 RUNS IN THE TOP OF THE 15TH to fellow last-placers the Pirates after 14 scoreless innings. For those about to suck, we salute you.)

GOSH. On this week's episode of This American Life, Starlee Kine gets unceremoniously dumped by her boyfriend and spends (by my count) the next eight months wallowing in her heartbreak and listening to every pathetic sad song that has ever been recorded. And then she decides she is going to write her own heartbreak song and she consults Phil Collins, international pop superstar of yesteryear, for his advice.

KERI PHIL COLLINS BROKE MY HEART. He shared that his pathetic Against All Odds was the first real song he ever wrote, and it was inspired by the fact that his wife had just left him and he was a mess. It is the song that launched his entire

[octoberstory]

Well, if I thought you were boring, I wouldn't have come looking for you again. >:O Although I often feel old and Past It, myself, so...

How's my consolation going so far? Just checking in.

ANYWAY. There is certainly nothing boring about your entries, either; they are some of the pithiest, funniest things around these parts and I always look forward to reading them. So there.

I've been lucky enough never to have to stay in a hospital. So I don't know what I'd want, but your concept sounds very promising.

P.S. Actually, I thought about it and I do know what I'd want. I'd want someone to deliver my bad news with no equivocating. That probably wouldn't make for good ad copy, but I hate when people break news so vaguely that you're not even certain what you've been told.

[coco_palmolive]

The inherent danger of writing about the impossibility of writing is that people will feel compelled to assure you that you're doing fine when all you really meant to do was shake your tiny fists in rage. At the same time, if no one does reassure you, then you have to wonder if they're all out there saying, Well, at least she knows ... So thank you.

Re: Your P.S. I think a lot of people want that from a hospital. Right now, I have a headline that simply says, "I will tell you the truth" but I worry it's too abstract to sound genuine or that it's even a little frightening. Headlines like that nearly never make it past our account executives, who err always on the hearts and flowers side of the equation.