pinback wrote: I hope to hone this language down in the coming weeks so that others can more easily understand, and hopefully embrace this process, this approach to life.

I hardly know you, and I have no problem with you making a major change in your life. My only questions are about your last sentence. Why do you feel it necessary that others do what you did? Isn't what you are inextricably wrapped up in who you were? It seems unlikely that an approach that worked for you would work for someone else with totally different experiences and a totally different personality. Don't people naturally want to be happy, and do what they can to put themselves in a more comfortable and fulfilling position? Also, what of your past interests and goals? Why have they all (seemingly) become subsumed by this process/approach? A process or approach is just that, a process or approach on the way to someplace. The means should not become the end, eh?

Just curious,


looper

I suppose this was my mistake. I didn't make it clear from the get go how very serious (and seriously excited) I am about this. And I see how it might look a little "over the top", when a guy you've come to know as being someone seems all of a sudden to be totally different...

Trust me on this, though, this wasn't that sudden. It took a long time, longer than I ever thought (or would have hoped) to get to where I am. The fact that I've just now "exposed myself" to you folks is just due to the fact that this was the right time for it. That I'd made enough progress with the *foundation* of my new life that I felt I was ready to let the rest of you "in on it". I couldn't have done this any earlier, believe me. It takes time to get to know the "new you", when you undergo this sort of thing. And it's hard to let anyone else get to know you before you do yourself.

I didn't express that well, but that is why I started the new website. I hope to hone this language down in the coming weeks so that others can more easily understand, and hopefully embrace this process, this approach to life.

ok, ok, from the looks of some of these other threads, he is being a bit over the top. I didn't realize. I know you think we're sick of this, Robb, but we're not; really! What do you think gives with pinback? I thought he was seriously, you know, happier, plus being sarcastic when people complained. I still haven't ruled that out. Hell, he could be having a good laugh on us!

woops, okay, so that last post was me, looper.

bruce wrote: Buke "sweet and sugary?" WTF are you talking about? "Shakespeare Never Did This," as an example, is not sweet and sugary, and was written late in his life.

Ok, I admit I was resorting to hyperbole. I do remember, though, reading a book of poems of his from late in his life in which he seemed very muted, compared to his earlier stuff. And that wasn't a bad thing. I'm not saying all his stuff from late in his life was calmer or less vitriolic, just that it seemed a greater percentage of his stuff from that time period was calm (or in fact dwelled on his realization of his approaching death, as opposed to dwelling on something else).

I guess my greater point is that Bukowski, vitriolic as he was, was obviously a sensitive human being who felt pain and noticed beauty etc. etc. just like anyone else. I mean, some of his work was enjoyable because he was so crazy and forward and drunk, and some was enjoyable 'cause it was just about noticing beauty--which was usually painful, and involved being drunk; a lot of times all of these things were wrapped up in one poem or story.

In other words, he was never a single-faceted bile-spewer, and in my recollection he did mellow out somewhat in his old age. So why the hooplah over pinback doing same?

bruce wrote: I used to want to <i>be</i> Hank Chinaski.

Me too. :)

bruce wrote: Pinback, even at his most vitriolic, never, IMHO, had the level of sheer fuck-you-ism that Bukowski radiated.

Yeah, when I said he reminded me of noone more than Bukowski, I was being serious, but then again, all I know of pinback is from electronic media. But yeah,

1) they're both quite literate
2) they've both been known to be vitriolic
3) they both drink!

Ok, so it's a stretch, but hey!

Oh. Well, please shine away, because they're not problems anymore. They are solutions!

Nonono, you see, its *me*. *I'm* the cold-hearted bastard who's doing his best to shine a spotlight on your personal problems. :P

My intention was not to put a "spotlight" on it, although I am so excited by this change, and the wonderful gifts that I now know it has to offer, I guess I AM happy if this engenders a reaction. Because the more reaction it gets, the more likely it is that one or more of you may start to appreciate the things I'm telling you, and start to become more interested in making it work for your own lives.

It's as if someone just threw a lightswitch in my head, and where there was darkness, there is now light. Except I know that the "someone" was ME, and if I have the power to heal myself, I may also be able to do some good for others.

Mmm-hmm, mmm-hmm, *suuuuuuure*, Parrish.
Well, yes, we *could* have just calmed down and embraced JC like normal, but I find this change sufficiently amusing that I am doing my utmost to keep it in the public spotlight as much as possible, mearly because I enjoy, as I am sure you do Mr. Parrish, the response it ingenders. And, let's be real here, its not like anyone else on here have *lives* to get back to or anything.

James Bond, theoratition wrote:Parrish: please, sir, do not tell us the reason for your change. I find it much more entertaining to let everyone guess.

Wow! I guess you could say I'm a little surprised at all the hubbub that seems to have surrounded my simple decision to embrace the beauty of life rather than harp on the ugliness. I really didn't mean for it to become this big a deal... I was hoping we could all just move on, have a good time here, and get back to the business of making the JC BBS the most fun place to be on the internet.

As far as "letting you guess" the reason for my chance, there's no reason, for I have already told you! In this very message, in fact, and in several of my previous posts here. There's really no insidious plot behind it. I just think this is a much healthier, much more enjoyable way to live, and I encourage you to join me on this life-affirming voyage!

looper wrote:I would just like to say that Mr. Ben Parrish reminds me of noone so much as the late, talented Charles Bukowski, poet whom the movie Barfly was based on, and Mr. Bukowski got pretty damn sweet and sugary in his old age, right about the time he ran out of liver, and if Ben wants to get all sweet and sugary when he's 32, more power to 'im.

Buke "sweet and sugary?" WTF are you talking about? "Shakespeare Never Did This," as an example, is not sweet and sugary, and was written late in his life.

I used to want to <i>be</i> Hank Chinaski. Although I haven't really read Bukowski since The Breakup that caused me to put a lot of my past into metaphorical cardboard boxes held shut with way more metaphorical duct tape than any sane packer would reckon they needed, shoved under the metaphorical basement stairs of my metaphorical life, with a big old padlock on the outside of that particular metaphorical door.

Pinback, even at his most vitriolic, never, IMHO, had the level of sheer fuck-you-ism that Bukowski radiated.

Bruce

I would just like to say that Mr. Ben Parrish reminds me of noone so much as the late, talented Charles Bukowski, poet whom the movie Barfly was based on, and Mr. Bukowski got pretty damn sweet and sugary in his old age, right about the time he ran out of liver, and if Ben wants to get all sweet and sugary when he's 32, more power to 'im.

In this very thread, we shall disuss all possible reasons to explain what has come over poor Pinback. Possibly, if this thread grows to immense proportions, we may easily take a pole on this very issue.
There are several possibilities that come to mind rather at once, and many to be as easily discarded. One of these is demonic or alien posetion. If this is so, then it isn't very good demonic or alien posetion, as the demon or alien responsible has made himself obvious by making such an attitude change. Another possibility is mind-altering substances, although Mr. Parrish has lent no creedence to this theory. It is, however, possible that he has been drafted secretly, by some sort of scientific research program, and is the willing or unwilling victem of some sort of testing that has erased his memory of the event. What the event may be, ranging from a drug that creates euforia to a drug that artificially creates multiple personality disorder, is something which speculation may still run rampant on, as well as whether said drugs are unrelated and this is a side effect or unwanted washover effect. It also could be that Pinback has been drafted or, dare I say it, willingly gone over to some sort of cult or religeon. There are two more possibilities which I feel I should relate. First, it is possible that our friend Pinback has been to some sort of counceling; some sort of psychiatric facility, and is doing this at the behest of his psychologist. Finally, I come to the last theory: Parrish is doing this in a deliberate attempt to either get our attention or take revenge on an as-yet unidentified third party for as yet unidentified reasons.
There you have it, gentlemen, the possibilities which I have been able to scrownge from my admitedly strange mind. I would like to add that these theories have taken me approximately two minutes more than it has taken me to write them down, and so there may be some lacking details. As a last note, I would like to make a request to Mr. Parrish: please, sir, do not tell us the reason for your change. I find it much more entertaining to let everyone guess.