Post
by bedlam » Tue Dec 12, 2006 3:35 pm
jc, try to find nicer people to go with. there's this eplaya thing, and there might be meetings earlier in the year for people to meet up, just try to hook up with nicer people. if that doesn't work, then go with the ones you are with and just use your camp for it's resources and hang out at everyone else's camps.
when you are around the dickheads, just pretend it's All In The Family or some seventies sitcom, just think of it as a joke and laugh. Help weak people if you can but watch out for the passive-aggressive thing.
and for sure go spend a week all alone, talk to yourself, sing to yourself, read out loud, make speeches or just sit in silence. the first time i went to BM i took a tape recorder and for the first few days i made constant entries. I just listened to it again last night and i couldn't believe how much whining and bitching i did. if the only one whose feeling chafed by the sarcasm and sharp wit is you, then either get out or learn to enjoy it i guess.
don't feel lonely though, lots of people feel that. the really cool people i've met deal with it by open up more and more, by the time me or somebody tries to stab their heart, i'm already elbows deep in their heart, and i'm laughing and joking about the whole Big Scene thing. but those are the Walk-On-Water people, they are VERY fuckin rare.
personally, my strategy is strategic thermonuclear bombardment: as soon as they piss me off, i "unborrow" all my shit, pack up and sayonara suckers. just make sure you have enough good general gear to either get by on your own, or better yet, amscray to the cool place where you have gear they need and they are polite.
there is something to be said for breaking rules and laughing in the face of death and being an iconoclast and forging new ways of being big and smart and important.
there is also something to be said for having good manners and showing that ma and pa knew the difference between being polite and being pushovers.
it's easy to be a dick. it's very hard to be graceful when a dick pushes you around. and if it's that the dicks are pushing other people around, what are you waiting for Sir Galahad? This world needs knights in shining armor and lost causes by the bushel if we're gonna keep this industrial output going! Bread and Circuses, fight for your emperor, get all romantic and hi falutin! You don't have to be a hero to play one on TV and if burningman isn't fake, i don't know what is!
"A Criminal is a person without sufficient
predatory instincts to form a corporation." -- some dude i forget
either dance the cluster fuck or find a monastery.
or be a Ronin.
the open heart people are the real masters of this, though. there was one woman, i laid into her with everything i had, and inside of ten minutes, i felt like i was sitting at a table with my grandma while she made me breakfast.
it was thirty minutes later when i actually realized what happened and i cried like nancy kerrigan. and, as they say, there is nothing worse than watching
A Fat Man Weep,
Love,
bedlam
I want to run this past a few of you. I've been camping w/ a group of people for the past few years at BM. We have a great set-up. I enjoy seeing these old friends each yr. However, our camp is not the most loving. Several folks tend to point out the "negatives" in others we meet or see at BM. Even w/ each other there's sharp comments. It's kind of a sarcastic humor taken to the extreeme. I go to BM to leave the negativity of the world behind and meet all kinds of people. Last yr when something negative was said or done, I'd point it out. It didn't seem to help much. I'm thinking of joining another camp or setting out on my own in 07'. Or should I stay and try not to let it bother me? Obviously there's + & - w/ staying and going. What do yous think? 
Reply or take the Pole.
