Conversations with crazy people... What do you do?

[ygmir]

I had a poolside conversation with a tweaker lady. She was tedious and I had better people to talk to. In fact the better person brought me a glass of wine and I said "thank you dear". Well the tweaker didn't get the hint. She was talking at two of us, and I got up to throw something in the trash, glimpsing the other normy with a sad look in her eye, like "you're not leaving alone with this weirdo?" Tough choices.

So invite an acquaintance over, tell them that the tweaker has something interesting to say about the secret civilization on Pluto, then pretend to see a friend in the distance, and say "I'll be right back!"

yeah, Dougly, I'd still be waiting for you to come talk, if the event had not ended.............and, leaving wolf to visit with me was cruel............

[Ugly Dougly]

Wolf isn't THAT crazy.

Crazy people need love too. Just not from me.

[ygmir]

Wolf isn't THAT crazy.

Crazy people need love too. Just not from me.

I mean Wolfe was the "sane" one, that, you pawned me off on..............

there's a quote here on eplaya, somewhere, about "loving" crazy people............

[Ugly Dougly]

So now you realize that you're the crazy one we've been trying to get rid of. Little Flower, did you tell him? Awkward!

[AntiM]

When I was 18, I moved to San Francisco. I looked far younger than 18, and my sweet little face screamed "take advantage of me". However, I could out-crazy talk the crazies, and out stoner talk the stoners. The Bad Men steered clear of the weird chick. I was only grabbed once, and then I bit. It worked. I was also very, very lucky.

[theCryptofishist]

Nothing like the mormon pioneer upbringing to give you survival skills.

[swampdog]

I used to be fascinated by crazy people. What if there is a world where 2+2 = raspberry? I'd listen to them, try to hear their logic. After a while i realized there wasn't any. This one woman in west LA years ago was putting up these crazy flyers, the kind with writing in every direction, squeezed in like a brain explosion. I'd seen the flyers before and thought they were cool. I expected to see this mighty figure like Michelangelo's Moses, but it was this small rabbity woman. I stopped to talk with her and realized that her mind was broken, she had some trauma that she kept circling around obsessively then ZING, she'd get too close and slingshot out in a random direction. I realized, no, she's just fucked up, the poor woman. She seemed well enough dressed that I could convince myself she had someone caring for her, so I just walked away.

I guess now my sequence of thoughts encountering a crazy person is something like:
Is this person dangerous?
Does this person need immediate help? Can I give it or steer them to it?
Is this person entertaining me?
If not, do I feel socially obligated to exit gracefully? If so, make an excuse and leave. If not, just leave.

[Apollonaris Zeus]

there are normal people on the playa?

[Elorrum]

Mentally imparied folks sometimes they have savant sort of leaps of logic I enjoy, even paranoid sort of scenarios can be quite intricate and interesting. High people are more the norm on the playa and those ramblings can be interesting but repetitiveness can get trying. Same with drunks, but exuberance is fun as well. If I feel my interest is being abused or they are oblivious to my input, I make a polite expedient exit. If the conversation is held in a spirit of friendliness, I always enter into it in kind. Hale fellow, well met, and all that. Some of my most memorable and repeated phrases have come from impaired friends. Respect is a commodity all people crave and I try to offer that.

[knowmad]

...If I feel my interest is being abused ...

Thanks! You made me think differently about "My Interest" It is now a shareable noun.

[Elorrum]

Main Entry: 1in·ter·est
Pronunciation: \ˈin-t(ə-)rəst; ˈin-tə-ˌrest, -ˌtrest; ˈin-tərst\
Function: noun
Etymology: Middle English, probably alteration of earlier interesse, from Anglo-French & Medieval Latin; Anglo-French, from Medieval Latin, from Latin, to be between, make a difference, concern, from inter- + esse to be — more at is
Date: 15th century

1 a (1) : right, title, or legal share in something (2) : participation in advantage and responsibility b : business, company
2 a : a charge for borrowed money generally a percentage of the amount borrowed b : the profit in goods or money that is made on invested capital c : an excess above what is due or expected <returned>
3 : advantage, benefit; also : self-interest
4 : special interest
5 a : a feeling that accompanies or causes special attention to an object or class of objects : concern b : something that arouses such attention c : a quality in a thing arousing interest

[Elliot]

Jesus, if it weren't for women like that, some of us would never get laid.

Yikes, now I remember why I don't even try to get laid any longer!