Sunday 9/15/24
A lot of "writers" think that writing is making content for Instagram.
People who colorize things that were in black and white are always dopes.
Everyone who has ever gotten anywhere has had a lot of people trying to make that happen for them and many people working in concert to get that person somewhere, seen, and known as something. No one has ever done it on their own. No one has ever done it with just their ability. No one has ever done it with everyone who is aware of them trying to stand against them.
During Beethoven's lifetime, there were many who tried to build up this idea of Beethoven which became the Beethoven brand. So many favorable, legend-making things were written about him, and many were untrue and written with the aim of making Beethoven's name. He had people doing that for him.
People who write, "Smash that like button!" always sound rape-y to me.
You have all of these people with all of these contemplative photos of themselves. They were off in the distance on a beach, deep in thought, or off in the distance at the cliff's edge, deep in thought. Their online accounts feature dozens of these photos. How do they come about? They are obviously calculated. So this person says to another, "I'm going to go down the beach a ways and strike one of my deep-thought poses and you get a photo like usual, okay? Get a bunch so I can pick the best one." Because that's how it has to work, right?
People have been staying with my mom. The daughter of one of her best friends is getting divorced from this violent, out of control alcoholic. He was cheating on her, he's increasingly unstable, dangerous, driving 100 mph down the road, lost his job because of his rage and alcoholism. His visits with his two little kids were supervised. He gave my mom the finger once. (She's never even spoken to him; she was just there watching the kids.) Brags about how he could have any woman at the gym. A disaster of a person.
Anyway, he threatened physical harm to the soon-to-be-ex-wife and her mother--my mom's friend--so the friend, her husband, the daughter, and the daughter's two kids have been staying with my mother until a protective court order could be secured though those don't really stop anyone from doing anything if they're crazy or rage-fueled or whatever enough to do something. This guy should take himself out. There are many people you can say that about. Nothing good will ever come from them being around, so just go.
They were all over my sister's house the other day--or at least a number of these people--and the little boy wanted to play with trains. his grandfather has a big train set in the basement. He's a train aficionado. My mom told me that my nephew was really nice to this boy and built train tracks with him for several hours. That made me feel good about the young man.
Got a haircut yesterday. The number one and the number two on the razor settings. There are no scissors involved.
It's September 15 and I figure that if the Red Sox won all of their remaining games they'd have about a thirty-five percent chance to make the playoffs. That's not favorable math. If they'd gone 6-1 v. the White Sox instead of 4-3 and shaved off two of their terrible losses things would be different. So many teams are in on this at the end that even if someone you need to be losing is losing someone else is winning.
I didn't expect BC to beat Mizzou yesterday down in Missouri but I was hoping to see a close game. That, to me, would have been progress. It was close--BC only lost by 6--but maybe not quite as much as the final score indicated. BC had been up 14-3 but that was misleading, too, on account of a broken play--the snap was on the ground--that BC ended up turning into a long touchdown play. Fluky. Ended up working like the perfect fake but it was an accident.
Then Mizzou scored 21 unanswered points and BC tacked on a touchdown late. Still, if they had held Mizzou on a third down play on the next--and final--possession, they would have gotten the ball back with a chance. Didn't think BC played great for them or anything. The running game wasn't there. The offensive line needs to be making a push for BC to be good. Has to be an identity thing.
BC hung with Mizzou and they played hard all game. You never thought they were overmatched or would be run off the field because of SEC speed. They're not as good as Mizzou but they looked like they belonged out there. Then again, Mizzou wasn't that great in this game and I see that Florida State fell to 0-3 with a loss to Memphis so BC's season-opening road win over FSU looks more and more ordinary.
The BC quarterback had a couple of interceptions--one which was pretty bad--and he missed a number of wide-open, pitch-and-catch type of throws. If he had cut those mistakes in half, you might have had a different outcome. If he hadn't made those mistakes at all, I think you would have. Then again, BC's second touchdown had a big degree of luck to it and as I said, Missouri is the better team. BC also didn't have as much urgency as I would've liked on their final possession late in the first half and Mizzou got the ball back and kicked a long field goal. I think Mizzou was going to do what they needed to win so if BC had done such and such then Mizzou would have done their such and such, but it was an encouraging game for the BC football program. Progress.
The list of veterans candidates or whatever it is called for the football Hall of Fame was released the other day. There are a number of players in the various sports whom I'm a staunch backer of and I think there's no way they shouldn't be in. That's different than guys I think should be in or would like to see in. To me there are certain no-brainers and these make for bad omissions. In baseball, Bill Freehan and Ken Boyer fall into this category for me. But in all of the sports, there may be no more glaring an omission than Roger Craig.
How on earth is Roger Craig not in the Hall of Fame? Someone want to explain this to me? He might have been the best running back--overall--in the 1980s and he's no worse than, what, third? Who is better from that decade? Walter Payton? Eric Dickerson? He was a huge part of a dynasty-type team. This guy had a year where he went for over 1000 yards rushing and receiving. He should have been in as soon as he was eligible.
Other guys on the list that should be enshrined: Ken Anderson, Stanley Morgan, Karl Mecklenburg. I've gone into some of this before. Stanley Morgan didn't play in a pass-friendly league for the most part, and as revered as Steve Grogan is by New Englanders who were around at the time, he was not a proficient passer, and yet Morgan was racking up all of these big-gainers. He excelled at going deep and making the catch and he wasn't spirited on his merry statistical way because Steve Grogan was this precision downfield threat, but this guy still got those numbers on run-heavy teams and playing his fair share of weather games.
Is there anyone who writes about football who has a clue how kick off and kickoff work? It goes something like this:
"The Patriots are going to kick off."
"The kickoff is at 1."
I look online for a second, I see something like this, which is meant to be smart and provocative:
"Paul McCartney is our generation's Mozart."
Really? Do you know anything about Mozart? I feel like you probably don't know anything about Mozart's music and it's just a name you're using to try and make yourself sound smart. What if I know everything about Mozart's music? Then it's like we can't really do this. By which I mean, just say things. Also, that's not what the word "generation" means.
Here's another one from someone "explaining" the appeal of jazz. A person just steps in like they're this expert here to set everything straight, when they're just going to talk out of their ass like everyone else because no one knows anything.
"Jazz is math and poetry on a really good edible."
That's not at all what jazz is. That's what an idiot gets online to say that jazz is in an attempt to feel a certain way about themselves and to win the online favor--as expressed by the hitting of the like button and insipid comments--of other idiots.
Then others are going to write things like this
"Nailed it."
because the first thing was so stupid and wrong, and people like things that are stupid and wrong more than they like things that are smart and correct because whatever they say is stupid and wrong so it's a form of self-ratification and they're such simpletons. A simpleton thinks the thing that is basic and melodramatic is deep, and the thing that is not basic and is wisely salient is lost on them.
You have to look at it this way: Would the thing be deep to an eleven-year-old? Would it be funny to an eleven-year-old? Because that's the intellectual level most people are on. They don't progress beyond that. I look back on being thirteen and saying, "So and so is the best band ever!" and it was like some bad band that would cause an inexperienced thirteen-year-old to think like this. Blurt like this. I think about this often, because my doing that at that age can be extrapolated over the full course of most other people's lives. They are what I was then in these matters, but not even. So when I think about how people think, I often look back on how I thought when I was like ten or eleven or somewhere in there. Because mentally that's where they're at but, again, not even.
Saw this from someone claiming to be an expert on giving up alcohol, who coaches people.
"Failure is part of the process. No one successfully quits the first time."
I did. So am I not real? I don't exist? Am I like that friend of Big Bird's that no one sees? But no one else in the world could do it? Just Colin Fleming? No one else ever but Colin Fleming could do it?
Huh. Good for me, I guess.
What a defeatist attitude. But that's an expert. What an expert.
Why take away the hope? Someone is ready to go, ready to make the change, and this asshole is telling them they'll be drinking again later no matter what?
Fuck that. I hate this defeatist shit. Of course you can quit. You can change so many things that you're doing and that you're not doing. There's basically no one in this world who knows anything, so don't listen to them. You can listen to me, though. I know things.
Then I saw this guy--different person now--who also tries to make money by being a give-up-alcohol coach. He's "two years sober." With "zero cravings." That's in his business profile bio.
What is it with this world? Is there any sanity in it?
You sure get a lot of alcohol and gambling ads pushed at you in this country. I'm constantly clicking "hide ad" or something of that nature.
Fast food chains really hammer away at the lowest common denominator of American society in their advertising. Wendy's with their "Nuggs," for example. If someone said, "I'm hungry for some Nuggs," I'd think they were both crazy and stupider than an earthworm. Arby's with the "We have the meats!" guy. I can see idiots loving that. "Yeah, they got them meats. Meats are the best." Then the out-of-tune Burger King singer guy, with what has to number among the most irritating series of ads in American history, of which there's no shortage. If I ate the food that is horrible for you at these places, I'd stop eating that food as a result of being offended by this level of stupidity and not wanting those companies to have my money.
People who say, "I stopped caring what people thought long ago" in actuality care more than ever about what other people think. They're just using a different approach to try and get people to care.
The way that people talk about weight loss drugs you'd think there was no other manner in which they could lose weight. That anyone could lose weight. That weight loss is even possible without these drugs. It's like it never occurs to anyone to get off their ass. To put forward any effort. To eat and drink differently. Or it occurs to them and it's just "Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha there is no way I'm every going to do any of that, are you nuts?"
Recently in the Monument, I hit the top step, turned around, and up comes this guy I had passed a couple times. He's, I don't know, mid-thirties. People were sitting at the top, as people do before they eventually descend. As I'm going back down, I hear the guy say to these people, "That's some workout."
It's not a workout, brother. You went up some stairs once, very slowly. With breaks. What it is is a problem that you're in the shape you're in. The same as it's another problem that you have no idea what a workout is.
I also read about all of the money people shell out for these weight loss drugs and things that really aren't even supposed to be weight loss drugs but get used as such. These are not people so large they can't move. These are lazy people. Stairs are free. It costs $0 to go up them. Not eating that thing you're eating also costs $0. What a deal, right? Can't be any cheaper than free now, can it?
I also read sad stories that say, "My insurance doesn't cover those weight loss meds."
Ah, but your insurance covers stairs. And your insurance covers eating better. These things are always covered. They're covered by not being a lazy, excuse-making lump.
There are people will think those words are cruel because most people just wish to be enabled and lied to.
Friend of mine today is like, "I'm going to do the Monument with you!"
No you're not. A number of people have told me words to this effect. You got no shot. You physically won't be able to do it. If you go for a while and work at it and build yourself up, then sure, in time, you can do what I do.
Here's a Monument truth: Someone who doesn't run stairs who is in good shape can do two circuits in the Monument. If you try to do more than two, then either the next day or the day after, you won't be able to walk. You won't be able to lift your legs. Two is the cut-off for that. And if you do it twice, you will struggle to walk. Three and you won't be able to. But in terms of your breathing, you won't be able to do it five times regardless of how your legs feel. The legs in the Monument feel like jelly, but your big leg problem is after a night or two.
If I stop running stairs for six months and then try and resume, I'll have the same problem. I've been running stairs--somewhere--most days since 2017. Before COVID, I pretty much stuck to the Monument. In the winter, the Monument would close, sometimes for months. When it opened again after, I would just do it once at first. I understood what would happen otherwise. I'd build up over a week. I was Monument-dependent for stairs. I didn't have to be, but I let myself be, rather than seeking out other spots. I ran on flat ground during those times.
COVID shut the Monument down, and that's when I started running stairs at other places. At City Hall, at that big hill out in Brookline, at BC. The result being, that with COVID, I became someone who ran more stairs, not less, because there were fewer days of zero stairs. Everyone else was like, "COVID made me fat, it's COVID's fault," whereas I got stronger and fitter and healthier both during COVID and now after, with the Monument being open once more. Now I have all of these different places to run stairs, and I understand so much more about running stairs, but the Monument stairs are the best of all stairs. If I get to where I'm going, win this war, change this world, then they will be a part of the reason why.
I always chuckle about this other friend who once said to me, "I wish I had a Monument in my neighborhood, I'd be going up and down it every day," and it's like, no you wouldn't. He'd try it, but he wouldn't stick with it. There isn't anyone else who does this. All of these years I've been doing it and it's just me. People know about it because of me. Or, more people do now than before. And local people.
But no one else even tries it as a workout thing. You think someone is going to do that? They're not going to do that. It's hard. It takes dedication. Running stairs is different than running on flat ground. I feel like you have to be a whole different type of animal for stairs. A lot of people run outside. That doesn't mean they're built for stairs. And it's more than being built a certain way physically. We're also talking mentally and spiritually. Running stairs isn't like any other physical activity. It's like a physical philosophy, too.
I do have to confess that I would like to go in the Monument with my first friend and have him try to keep up with the whole workout.
I should issue a disclaimer: I believe in pushing one's self. I've written about the bag skate. That's just who I am. If you had any idea how I spoke to myself internally, the terms I use, the demands I make, you'd call the police. Taskmaster in the extreme. Punishing. Insulting. Terrifyingly vulgar. Unrelenting. You've never heard anything like this. It doesn't bother me. Things coaches said to me--horrible things--never bothered me. Those were the coaches I liked best. I just wanted to get better. And I love to compete.
I want every single writer who has ever lived to look at what I write and not be able to carry on and to have it feel like their very soul is leaving them. To know they could never come close if they lived a trillion lifetimes. And that's putting it too lightly. I want to atomize you. And I can. Doesn't matter who you are. If we're talking a level playing field. Or just when we put that work next to mine in the interim before I make this field level through my sheer will and drive and my cause being where it is smack in the middle on the side of the just. And courage and faith and un-killability. And the work. Above all.
Anyway. I gave my friend the above breakdown about how it works in the Monument. The truth is, you can do it, but you have to work up to things. I'll tell you who did a great job in there a bunch of years ago: My sister. She did it twice. My nephew also did a super job a few weeks ago. He knew that his mom had done well and so he wanted to have a good showing. He ran the first 100 stairs and the walked a steady pace for the remaining 194. Really, really impressive first showing. But that's once. We have a saying: Anyone can do it once. In theory. But to go up and down, up and down, up and down--that's different.
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