What you can expect.

The next woman who takes me on is gonna light up like a pinball machine and pay off in silver dollars.

edit:
that is from "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" he was referring to his electroshock therapy.

Inspirational Bible Quote

1 Corinthians, Chapter 11

¹ Be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ.

² Now I praise you, brethren, that ye remember me in all things, and keep the ordinances, as I delivered them to you.

³ But I would have you know, that the head of every man is Christ; and the head of the woman is the man; and the head of Christ is God.

⁴ Every man praying or prophesying, having his head covered, dishonoureth his head.

⁵ But every woman that prayeth or prophesieth with her head uncovered dishonoureth her head: for that is even all one as if she were shaven.

⁶ For if the woman be not covered, let her also be shorn: but if it be a shame for a woman to be shorn or shaven, let her be covered.

⁷ For a man indeed ought not to cover his head, forasmuch as he is the image and glory of God: but the woman is the glory of the man.

⁸ For the man is not of the woman: but the woman of the man.

⁹ Neither was the man created for the woman; but the woman for the man.

So, women have only two choices: cover your hair or go bald.

Hitchens on Orwell

"The remarkable thing about Orwell is this- he's not a genius. He lived only 46 years, he never went to university, he never had a steady job, he usually didn't have a steady publisher, but he will never be forgotten because he managed to disprove imperialism, Stalinism, and fascism in one lifetime and make some imperishable raids on its territory that no one is ever going to forget--all of the time ill, all of the time poor.
It shows how much difference a person of really average intelligence, integrity and education can make, if they have a little courage, and a little intellectual honesty."

Strain

I feel like I'm pretending to be a human being.

Everyone else seems to have the capacity to accept social norms as though they are natural laws. I can't. I do observe that this capacity seems to ease the social interactions of more normal people.

I want to achieve this, at least I sometimes do. So I try to turn off the voice that says, "Why do things this way?"

Hemingway said, "An intelligent man must sometimes drink, so that he may tolerate his friends." His life didn't end up so well. Just a lot of misery and posthumous esteem that he probably wouldn't care for.

So I want to develop a persona that tells people, "I'm different, and it's okay."

Pretending I'm like other people is just going to wear me down. Although I also wonder if the problem is that I'm still just guessing at what "normal" behavior is. In that case I should develop a persona that makes people comfortable talking about themselves, so that I can learn more about them, and hopefully what they expect from me.

So... dealing with other human beings is rather like plotting the invasion of Normandy for me.

Anyhow, I may have committed a social blunder this week. I have to decide if I care. I don't care, but maybe I should try to?

Well, this thought is unraveling, and I don't know any way forward, so I'm going to keep going as I have been, until this narrative finds its end.

My passionate sense of social justice and social responsibility has always contrasted oddly with my pronounced lack of need for direct contact with other human beings and human communities.

- Albert Einstein, The World As I See It (1949)

Fine...

"By persistently remaining single, a man converts himself into a permanent public temptation."
--Oscar Wilde

This is consolation? A suggested strategy? A message to the viewers?

Explain this quote to me. What does it mean? What am I saying by posting it? What do I know?

Heaven

"Got to Heaven for the climate, Hell for the company."

Mark Twain

Emerson

To laugh often and much;
To win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children;
To earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends;
To appreciate beauty, to find the best in others;
To leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch, or a redeemed social condition;
To know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived.
This is to have succeeded.

– Ralph Waldo Emerson

Wilde

One can always be kind to people about whom one cares nothing.

Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray, 1891