4.08.2009

The Most Depressing Things

I was early to a talk at the Center for Cultural Studies earlier and it looked like it was going to be really sparsely attended. Happily, I was just off by 15 minutes and plenty of people showed up. It reminded me, however, of the things I find most depressing in quotidian life:
  1. When a band plays to a nearly-empty venue. This brings to mind one of the greatest Onion headlines: "Ska Band Outnumbers Audience." I was in just that situation more than a few times back in the skinny-ties-and-bari-sax days.
  2. Those people who stand on streetcorners with signs for things. The most egregious example of that was the people who would stand on corners around tax time in Portland wearing Statue of Liberty outfits for a tax preparation place. I just...cringed every time I drove past. It also hits a new level of humiliation when the sign people DANCE. Oh. My. Dear. God.
  3. Social outings someone diligantly organizers to which no one shows up. A lot of that shows up on my new favorite website, Fuck My Life. Last night was a near-miss on this score, as B and I were the only people who showed up for tacos for what was supposed to be a history grads outing. Thankfully, we ended up having a fine time kicking it with the organizer, N, who was so ruthlessly betrayed by the rest of her first-year cohort. Shame on them.
All of the above are examples of one of my most deep-seated convictions: failure should be carefully hidden so as to not make me feel awkward.

7 comments:

Elizabeth M. said...

Shouldn't it be awkwardly?

Sorry, I couldn't help it

:)

noncoupable said...

Dude. I think some of us might show up post-MA thesis due date on April 20.

I'm just saying...

Colin said...

None of the N's cohort showed up? Damn; that's weak.

kungfuramone said...

I *know*!!! :P

Rachel said...

I think people have nightmares about that... planning social events and everyone cancelling. Okay, so *I* have nightmares about that. I agree with your last statement... and also that it's an adverb (-ly).... ;)

kungfuramone said...

No, see, that was a joke. The same Elizabeth advised me *against* using the adverb, when I thought it should be -ly.

Grad student grammar exchanges...the end times are at hand.

Rachel said...

hmm... I can see where the difficulty would be. Because feel isn't a very good verb for this example. I suppose you could legitimately get away with using an adjective with the verb "feel."

I like grammar. :) I also taught ESL for two years, so ... I guess that's good. :D haha... the end is nigh!