I was flipping through an old notebook and saw this line from a novel by the great Scottish writer Denise Mina. I’m sure I made note of it because it resonated powerfully on a personal level. However, no matter my strangeness or bafflement, I don’t compare with this fat yellow Pug-like hillbilly we call Shrek.
However strange he seemed on the outside, it was nothing compared to how baffled he was on the inside.
On December 28, 2009, Ian told his great-grandfather about the hamster he’d received for Christmas. Ian was asked if it had bit him yet and Ian said no. This is how McKinley Weems responded. He was only 88 at the time.
My pet squirrel used to bite me. You should’ve seen the blood spray.
On April 15, 2012, McKinley Weems said this as he showed me his new iPad. He was only 91 then.
I got to brush up on my typing on account I’ve never done it before.
Minutes ago, my nephew was told that his video game was “too loud.” Sagely, he replied.
That’s how the world works. It’s too loud.
I think Sarah likes this quote.
I ain’t quiet – everybody else is too loud.
“Our entire society’s based on discontent: people wanting more and more and more, being constantly dissatisfied with their homes, their bodies, their decor, their clothes, everything. Taking it for granted that that’s the whole point of life, never to be satisfied. If you’re perfectly happy with what you’ve got – specially if what you’ve got isn’t even all that spectacular – then you’re dangerous. You’re breaking all the rules, you’re undermining the sacred economy, you’re challenging every assumption that society’s built on. That’s why Rafe’s dad throws a mickey fit whenever Rafe says he’s happy where he is. The way he sees it, we’re all subversives. We’re traitors.“
Boys throw stones at frogs in sport. But the frogs do not die in sport,
they die in earnest.