"I'd tell you all you want and more, if the sounds i make could be what you hear."

"Infinite Jest"

David Foster Wallace

[MuddyBoots]

“Holding on to anger is like grasping a hot coal with the intent of throwing it at someone else; you are the one who gets burned.” -Buddha (?)

[sarahsweets]

“Don’t walk a mile in my shoes, that’s boring. Spend 30 seconds in my head and you will freak the f out “

[wolftrap]

Originally Posted by sarahsweets

“Don’t walk a mile in my shoes, that’s boring. Spend 30 seconds in my head and you will freak the f out “

@sarahsweets is this yours? It's great!

[wolftrap]

Originally Posted by whatever2013

"I'd tell you all you want and more, if the sounds i make could be what you hear."

"Infinite Jest"

David Foster Wallace

@whatever2013 I've begun this book a few times but couldn't get very far. Perhaps I don't have the attention span. I understand that he was bipolar and/or clinically depressed. I flipped through the book and the way he structures it and the way he writes strikes me as someone who has either or both.

@wolftrap: I'm not a very sturdy reader either. I just got thru this book the best i could the first time. It's meant to be read more than once. I've read my favorite parts ten times or more. I've memorized parts. Maybe try reading the passage that starts on page 17, the marijuana debauch. It's a short story that goes on for ten pages and is written in common words and the style of good old-fashioned story-telling. I laughed so hard i could barely breathe!

There are parts of the book that i skipped like the two political operatives talking on the mountainside. It's so hard to get thru the book the first time because there are long passages that just seem to go on forever. It's hard to keep going when you don't know when they'll end. Subsequent times thru are easier because you know what to expect.

I quit this book a bunch of times when i first read it because there are passages that are downright horrifying. But i'm glad i hung in there for the parts that are ethereal, poignant or just very funny. I learned things too, like how he says self-loathing is narcissistic. That really struck me. I guess whether you hate yourself too much or love yourself too much, either way you are overly-involved with yourself.

Wallace had depression and said he wrote the book in a style designed to reflect the fractured nature of reality.

One of my favorite quotes might not work out of context, but here goes:

"[The] drunk and the maimed, both are dragged forward out of the arena like a boneless Christ, one man under each arm, feet dragging, eyes on the aether."

[wolftrap]

@whatever2013 that's quite a quote. Clearly, I must try again. My library is semi-closed due to Covid, but I will try to take it out. I've always wanted to like Wallace, just like I've always wanted to like Murakami (whom my daughter loves). I've tried M. with more perseverance than I've tried Wallace. M. didn't click for me, but I'll try to pick up on p.17 with Wallace.

[*Beth*]

Both of my (adult) children are wild over Murakami. I've tried twice to read his work and flat-nothing.

[wolftrap]

Right??? I don't get it!

@wolftrap: My favorite short story is also by David Foster Wallace and it has some bearing on this forum as it's called "The Depressed Person." It's available online here. It's eight pages. It sounds like your library might be a challenge so this is another option. Enjoy!

[sarahsweets]

Originally Posted by wolftrap

@sarahsweets is this yours? It's great!

I would love to take credit for it but it was a random meme. Ive adopted it though!

[wolftrap]

Originally Posted by whatever2013

@wolftrap: My favorite short story is also by David Foster Wallace and it has some bearing on this forum as it's called "The Depressed Person." It's available online here. It's eight pages. It sounds like your library might be a challenge so this is another option. Enjoy!

Thanks @whatever2013, I will read it, and my library just informed me they have the Infinite Jest. I'll let you know how it goes.

[wolftrap]

Midway upon the journey of our life, I found myself within a forest dark, for the straightforward pathway had been lost.
― Dante Alighieri, The Divine Comedy

[wolftrap]

So I'm letting it go again

I'm halfway full on
Left my meds on the sink today
My head will be racing by lunchtime

Don't sleep behind the wheel at the stoplight
Can't sleep behind the wheel as you're driving home
You keep coming down the hill as you're falling
You keep falling from the hill as you're coming down
Can't sleep behind the wheel at the stoplight
Can't sleep behind the wheel as you're driving home

So I'm holding her hand again
My palm sweats
Hold on
Think I've had too much coffee
I'm manic as hell
But I'm going strong


- Stone Temple Pilots, "Bipolar Bear"

The former lead singer had bipolar and struggled his entire life. Unfortunately, he refused medication. But I kinda feel this song.

[Crook32]

I been scarred and battered.
My hopes the wind done scattered.
Snow has friz me,
Sun has baked me,

Looks like between ’em they done
Tried to make me

Stop laughin’, stop lovin’, stop livin’–
But I don’t care!
I’m still here!

—Langston Hughes

I really like a couple lines from Alanis Morissette's song "Joining You." In it she lists all sort of things that if they were the reason for living she'd join the suicidal character she's writing to. She sings:

"If we were our culture /
If we were our leaders /
I'd be joining you"

That really helped me at the time because i was doing political activism (this was twenty-five years ago) and getting more and more depressed. I heard these lines and thought: yeah, i'm not suicidal because of the NATO war in the Balkans. I'm suicidal because of my own problems. I don't need to go borrowing trouble.

So for that and other reasons i abandoned political activism and never looked back. I'll always be grateful to Alanis and that song.

[wolftrap]

Take it slow
Make it last
Take it easy
Not too fast

- Def Leppard



I think it's hilarious that a heavy metal band wrote these lyrics. I've remembered them since high school!

[*Beth*]

Originally Posted by wolftrap

So I'm letting it go again

I'm halfway full on
Left my meds on the sink today
My head will be racing by lunchtime

Don't sleep behind the wheel at the stoplight
Can't sleep behind the wheel as you're driving home
You keep coming down the hill as you're falling
You keep falling from the hill as you're coming down
Can't sleep behind the wheel at the stoplight
Can't sleep behind the wheel as you're driving home

So I'm holding her hand again
My palm sweats
Hold on
Think I've had too much coffee
I'm manic as hell
But I'm going strong


- Stone Temple Pilots, "Bipolar Bear"

The former lead singer had bipolar and struggled his entire life. Unfortunately, he refused medication. But I kinda feel this song.

I absolutely LOVE this song

[busymomof5]

In the depth of winter, I found there was in me an invincible summer. Albert Camus

[*Beth*]

Originally Posted by busymomof5

In the depth of winter, I found there was in me an invincible summer. Albert Camus

What a mind Camus had!

[wolftrap]

Good one @busymomof5. I've never read Camus. I'll have to do so.

[wolftrap]

Originally Posted by whatever2013

I really like a couple lines from Alanis Morissette's song "Joining You." In it she lists all sort of things that if they were the reason for living she'd join the suicidal character she's writing to. She sings:

"If we were our culture /
If we were our leaders /
I'd be joining you"

That really helped me at the time because i was doing political activism (this was twenty-five years ago) and getting more and more depressed. I heard these lines and thought: yeah, i'm not suicidal because of the NATO war in the Balkans. I'm suicidal because of my own problems. I don't need to go borrowing trouble.

So for that and other reasons i abandoned political activism and never looked back. I'll always be grateful to Alanis and that song.

@whatever2013 It's taken me a while to 'grok' this. I listened to the song and I finally get it. That's a powerful song.

@wolftrap: Thanks for listening to the song. I'm glad you think it's powerful. So do i. I so wish i could be a musician and write powerful songs like this. But alas, i am a mediocre Scrabble player instead, who helps no one.

[Moose72]

Originally Posted by whatever2013

@wolftrap: Thanks for listening to the song. I'm glad you think it's powerful. So do i. I so wish i could be a musician and write powerful songs like this. But alas, i am a mediocre Scrabble player instead, who helps no one.

I wish I could write songs, too, but alas I can't.

[*Beth*]

I, too, would love to write song lyrics. As for the music itself...it would be amazing to write music, but way over my head!