Comments on: Gloom and Competition

By: DJRainDog

DJRainDog — Fri, 24 Aug 2007 21:11:51 +0000

I’m here. I’m with you. I’m feeling it. Some days, I’m concert/recording reviews; some days I’m political rage; some days, I’m porn; some days, I’m disjointed bits of thought that make my friends who read me REALLY uncomfortable. I always wish there were more people reading, just like I always wish there were more people watching/listening when I sing, when I read, when I play, whatever. In the end, this space is for whatever you want to put in it. It’s yours. Just be true to yourself. That is all.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Fri, 24 Aug 2007 02:25:17 +0000

We’re all beautiful messes.

Take consolation in that.

By: Daniel

Daniel — Thu, 23 Aug 2007 13:02:58 +0000

I have the exact same response as you do. If someone has something that I want but don’t have, it’s much easier for me to hate and resent them — and also hate the assets in question — than to do anything for myself to achieve them. I am unable to stop comparing myself to others: no matter what the situation, I can always find some way that someone else is better than me. They may have more money (a BIG issue!), a better body, a better relationship (or no relationship, which amounts to the same thing in my books), a better job, etc.

If it’s any consolation, I’m envious and resentful of you. Your blog is only part of it — you’ve written some very insightful posts and you have a lot of commenters. I have neither.

But let’s talk about boredom and loneliness. You live in Manhattan for God’s sake, and you’ve got a boyfriend that from all appearances on this blog you get along very well with. I live in a God-foresaken suburban wasteland in Westchester with a “partner” with whom I no longer have anything in common. But we can’t break up because we have dogs and a mortgage and we can’t sell the house because our entire savings are caught up in it and market stinks. So I’m trapped.

I encounter people like you and it’s like there’s a whole new wonderful world — that I am perpetually forced to view from the outside looking in. Perhaps this is just a greener-grass issue, but that doesn’t change the fact that your life is a million times better than mine.

I’m sorry to hear that you’ve been feeling down. When I’m in that place — which is pretty often — I find that escaping with a good book helps. Or better, a savage game of RISK or Axis & Allies over a few glasses of brandy.*

*Yes, I know that in more ways than I really care to admit I identify with Arnold Rimmer.

By: Mipiel

Mipiel — Thu, 23 Aug 2007 03:45:01 +0000

Jerry Herman got it right. Just sing a chorus or two of “I Am What I Am,” and recognize that indeed you are what you are. Therapy can, perhaps, make you happier being what you are, but it can’t change your basic nature. Just accept it and try to enjoy it.

Eat some chocolate, since that’s always good for depression. If you can’t eat chocolate, a show tune is the next best thing to banish boredom and loneliness (even if you’re neither gay nor Jewish).

By: Matt

Matt — Thu, 23 Aug 2007 00:00:47 +0000

Don’t forget, I did offer to let you help me with room inspections on Sunday… ;)