Aberrant Lucidity

(Updated - Originally published 4/23/15)  Where is the beauty in the news?  Local news isn’t even local anymore.  All of the stations have the exact same stories; stories designed to create fear and paranoia.  It may seem hilarious when late night shows do a montage of allegedly independent local news stations using the exact same verbiage all across the nation, but it’s really creepy. “Tune in tonight as we remind you of a young woman that was skinned alive and raped 20 years ago.  We’ll discuss the gruesome details with the son of the perpetrator who confessed on his deathbed.  And later, is vanilla or chocolate ice cream healthier for your heart? ” "Fact not fear!  Tonight we tell you how many people have died from Covid without providing any context whatsoever and leave you to wonder if everyone you love will be dead in two weeks time!" It bleeds, it leads.  It  doesn't  matter where the bleeding occurs as long as white ...

My ex-girlfriend could be very… expressive when she was upset.  She also  didn't   get things the way other people would. I told her we were breaking up, I  couldn't  see her anymore and she needed to get her things and leave.  She was upset, naturally.  She said, “I  can't  believe  you're  breaking up with me over this puddle on the kitchen floor.” I shook my head and said, “You can’t?  Really?  First of all, dear, even though I had much more important issues to attend to you refused to clean it up.  Second, it was a lot of blood. Third, you fucking stabbed me over using the last of the ranch dressing!"

In general, my advice would be "Don't have regrets." For the most part, there is very little I regret as long as I learned something from it.   We all have skeletons though that we'd rather not dig up ourselves, let alone admit to others. My advice for those is that you can regret them, but forgive yourself for them. I once knew this girl. We shared a bond (no, really), an experience etched in time spanning approximately 48 hours. It wasn't anything sordid; I was 14 at the time. You get to know someone pretty well when you're sitting next to them on a bus for 20 hours having both realized you helped save her life. When you're both 14 there really isn't that much to know.  She'd just gone through a traumatic experience. She had nearly died from dehydration and heat stroke. As I recall, she had lost her stuff when they took her to the hospital. My chaperone had grabbed a sleeping bag at random from under the bus and it happened to be mine. I...