I I I have become...comfortably numb

[nematoddity]

I keep forgetting it's "Comfortably Numb" I'm listening to...you listen to the original and it's dark, and vaguely dismal, and creepy in an entirely disconnected way...and then you jump to the Scissor Sisters' version, and you're stuck in a disco set on spin, and the flashing lights are in your eyes, and you're trying to make sense of it all while

Comments

[lit_melissa]

we have a railroad overpass like that in my (former) hometown. at least once a month, usually once a week, a truck would get stuck. finally, someone, somewhere decided to investigate the problem. they found two major issues: first, with the repaving every year, there was 3inches less clearance than the sign stated, second, the road leading to and away from the overpass was at such a steep angle, that there was that clearance directly under the bridge, but about a foot less 18 - 20 ft. out. so, yay for figuring out the problem. except that bridge was there long before i was born. efficiency of government at work, no?

[nematoddity]

Exactly.

Hadn't thought about the repaving bit, that may have been part of the problem with a certain railroad overpass in Spokane. Part of why I posted that pic is that it could have been snapped in Spokane, because the layout is the same. There would be times where the bus would drop me off just ahead of the overpass, and I'd walk underneath to wait for the light to change to cross the street, and if a train happened to be going by, I'd sit and watch rust flakes sift down off the iron bridge. Gee. That's safe. :)

[themoonlady]

My parents were headed to pick me up in Boston once, and got stuck behind a truck that can opened itself on a low clearance. Top of the truck just peeled right back off, and the truck itself got stuck.

They were 4 hours late, because it shut down the whole highway, and removing the truck was...aparently...difficult.

America also got hated for a cartoon (about muslims I think?) drawn by someone in Denmark or something, and posted in their papers. We never saw the cartoon until AFTER someone sent it to the middle east and we looked over and said "Wait...what? Why do you hate us now? Hey! We didn't even do that one."

I don't know where the root is, and I don't want to walk down that path anyway. Maybe we were the bad guys in the past. But at this point, I don't think it matters what we do, we're the bad guys. If we get involved, we're "bullys" if we DON'T get involved, we're apathetic and don't care about the rest of the world, ....

[nematoddity]

Yeah, we're definitely hip-deep in Catch-22, and sinking fast.

Thing is, we were always self-aggrandizing, pushy, arrogant assholes--it's part of our nature, I think, how most of us are raised. :) But somewhere along the line, rising violence everywhere got blamed on American influence. Quality dropping in products of large-scale manufacturers got blamed on America. Dictatorships coming into power, dictators falling were laid at our doorstep (and, let's be honest, a lot of the backyard power-plays were launched and controlled by us, so it's a valid point).

At this point, most of the world thinks we need to be taken down a notch, if they're on our side, and those who aren't with us are thinking in terms of total devastation, salt the earth, pray to anyone listening that the Americani don't return.

It's scary, being universally hated, just for breathing American air. It's really scary.

[delicarose]

Mick Jagger scares me.

I sent the SS version of Comfortably Numb to R and she said it sounded like the BeeGees. It really does. It makes me giggle. That was.. for whatever reason, the theme song for my prom. How funny is that? (the original I mean)

[nematoddity]

Mick Jagger scares me.

Yes. He's entirely too...stringy.

I sent the SS version of Comfortably Numb to R and she said it sounded like the BeeGees.

See, I disagree, mainly because I'm still waiting for all the BeeGees to die, so that the music will eventually never be heard again.

*koff*

What were we talking about?