A Blog Longer* Than Misschoos** posted 7/28/2009 9:06:55 PM | 5 kudos what's this?     report abuse

PsychoMagnet

There's no communication left between us
But is it me or you who's to blame?
There's nothing I can do, yes
you're fading out of view
Don't know if I feel joy or pain

“Casual Conversations” ~ Supertramp

I don't think I hear as well as I used to. I haven't had it checked but I think there's been something of a diminution in my ability to hear over the years. I attribute this to the natural vestige of becoming an old man and that Nazareth concert I went to when I was a young one. It's not something I worry about. In fact, there are times I wished I could turn it completely off.

Such was the case last Sunday morning at the laundromat. I'm fond of joking that “if it wasn't for the laundromat and Kroger, I'd have no social life at all.” But the fact is that I don't seek out conversation in either place. However, I couldn't help but overhear a conversation Sunday morning between two of my fellow laundry doers. A scraggly old fellow was telling a young woman how distraught he was over the price of disposable razors. She replied sympathetically citing the fact the her husband had gone to an electric razor as a more economical approach to shaving. I was loading three washers a few feet away while the two rambled on and on about the rudiments of frugal facial hair removal. I slammed my clothes into the washers, drop me quarters as fast as I could and went outside for a smoke. This was a much better choice than yelling “JESUS CHRIST!! WHO GIVES A SHIT????”

That's why the written word is king. If that old bastard had to express his thoughts on razors with the written word he would've realized that it just wasn't worth the effort. And the rest of us would have the opportunity to read or not to read depending on our interest. No one “overreads” anything. But it's much more than that.

I remember when people first started going online (WebTV and such). It wasn't long after that when we began hearing about an internet romance phenomenon. I must admit, at first I thought it was simply a matter of greater numbers – that it was completely a result of a technological advance. I no longer believe that. I don't think a highly advanced medium with which to communicate made men and women behave this way, but rather it was the primitive form of communication that this new medium demanded that turned them on. It was, I believe, the power of the written word. All of the sudden, the way one filled an empty screen became as important as the way one filled a pair of jeans (damn that's poetic).

But alas we see the return of the casual conversationalists/thinkers. Blogland and other sacred lands are being deserted as we see the rise of Facebook and the like where one can punch out a few words to let us know what they are doing – instead of a few paragraphs to let us know what they are.

* I couldn't do it.

** Misschoos with a big "M" 'cause that's the way I like it.

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Blogs by PsychoMagnet: The Final Post (part 6) The Final Post (part 5) The Final Post (An Introduction) The Final Post (part 4) The Final Post (part 3) The Final Post (part 2) The Final Post (part 1) MacPsycho's Park My Girl Why Can't We Be Friends? Boom A Blog Longer* Than Misschoos** Untitled My Blog, My Friend My Blog, My Bitch Code (end) Code (part 2) Code (part 1) The Rat Pack & Pack Rats T & A . . . gone tomorrow Blogging is Very Sweet, Brother . . . An Open Letter to the President of the United States Everyone Has One . . . Here's Mine 12 Days of Psycho (Day 12)