Just nod if you can hear me

I take my son to a pistol range. I am not a gun fanatic but my reasoning is if there are tools in the world, it is better to know how to use them than it is to live in fear of them.

This range is new and state of the art with negative ventilation to contain the lead and powder gases that result from our practice. To accomplish this there are a set of heavy doors with reinforced glass. One door cannot open until the other is fully closed. 

My life is now in that small space waiting for one giant door to fully close so that I may open the second door to what is desired beyond.

...or at least one of them but which one.

Klotho spins the string of life so I don't believe I have a quarrel with her. 

Lachesis measures the string. I guess we all have a reason to resent this sister. Our time is too short or it was too short for a loved one. She also determines destiny so, more grudges from all of us with her on that too I suppose.

Lachesis cuts the thread, pushing us off the mortal coil to face what dreams may come. It's a shit job, I would imagine, but someone has to do it or it would be way overcrowded here by now.

I'm not sure I have any real argument with these three. The one I'm looking for is whoever is in charge of timing. Spin, Measure, Cut, nothing about shitty timing there.

No, my problem is to have the absolute perfect gift fall into my lap - finding the golden ticket - and then getting a notice for jury duty in the next envelope I open. (That's not quite right, jury duty was always looming, it was the golden ticket that followed and just happened to be for the same dates.) And the real kick in the balls is the show is closing. It's a limited time engagement and time is ticking by.

What is one to do? Of course one grabs the golden ticket and cashes it in and rides the ride for all it's worth. BUT it doesn't LOOK right! Who gives a crap about how it looks? I've got the golden ticket. But of course the answer is we all care how we appear in the eyes of others, especially those we care about.

The timing is bad, the look is bad but there is only one short strand we are given and no one knows when the snip will come so we owe it to ourselves to take that ride, see that show. Who cares what the neighbors think about the duty skipper? Or our families for that matter. Some odd looks at the neighborhood barbecue, some snide comments at Xmas dinner but what is that in the face of a chance at true happiness. The ride is scary and unpredictable and there is no guarantees of satisfaction but the promise of what MAY be is too strong. You grab that ticket and sprint to the gates. You rearrange what used to be your comfortable but monotonous to give you the best chance to grab the brass ring before the Carousel shuts down and they usher you out of the park.   

Every possible outcome playing backward and forward through time for every single possibility of every moment. Not the events and outcomes but the overlaying structure and infinity  of it all.

Goodbye

All my life I read between the lines
Held on too tight
You know I tried
But in the end it left me paralyzed
It's alright
Goodbye, goodbye
Seems like yesterday I was a child
Just a ripple in the folds of time
I wish you well I want to see you smile
It's alright, goodbye
Goodbye
Goodbye, goodbye, goodbye
I won't cry, I won't cry, I won't cry
Lord knows how hard we tried
Goodbye, goodbye, goodbye
So many things I want to say to you
So many sleepless nights I prayed for you
My heart's an ashtray and I lost my mind
You bring the smokes
I've got the time
I want to scream, I want to laugh
I want to close my eyes
I want to hide somewhere that's hard to find
Stop wasting time trying to shape your life
It's alright, goodbye
Goodbye, goodbye, goodbye
Goodbye, goodbye, goodbye
I won't cry, I won't cry, I won't cry
Lord knows how hard we tried
Goodbye, goodbye, goodbye
My pretty bird, my favorite lullaby
How'd I become the thorn in your side
All your laughter turned into a cry
It's alright, goodbye
Goodbye, goodbye, goodbye
Goodbye, goodbye, goodbye
I won't cry, I won't cry, I won't cry
Lord knows how hard we tried
It's alright, it's alright, It's alright
It's alright, It's alright, it's alright
Goodbye, goodbye, goodbye

Swinging for the fences, hanging from the moon
I cut my tongue on the rust of a silver spoon
I bet my billionth bottom dollar on a hopeless case
And now the devil on my shoulder has a knife to my face

[Chorus]
Sometimes the short end of the stick is the sharpest
Sometimes the only road to take is the darkest
Sometimes all you gotta say is “Daddy, make it go away”
Sometimes the only way out is as a carcass

[Verse 2]
Chimp with a cigarette in a fifty cent zoo
Thanks God he ain’t in the circus while he’s watching you
I’ve got too close to the furnace, I’ve been on both sides of the glass
But ain’t nobody made a monkey out my monkey ass

[Chorus]
Sometimes the short end of the stick is the sharpest
Sometimes the only road to take is the darkest
Sometimes all you gotta say is “Daddy, make it go away”
Sometimes the only way out is as a carcass
Sometimes you gotta finish what you shouldn’t have started
Sometimes you gotta shoot before you see the target
Sometimes Daddy’s gonna say, “You’re not worth the price to pay”
Sometimes the tunnel only leads to darkness

[Bridge]
You built this ship (You did, you did)
And you’ll go down with it

[Verse 3]
Racing toward the mailbox with a letter in your hand
But the postman’s gone away and you begin to understand
That you’re no hero to this story, you’re just another wretched pawn
Who bought his tickets to the sideshow and then slept through the alarm

[Chorus]
Sometimes the short end of the stick is the sharpest
Sometimes the only road to take is the darkest
Sometimes all you gotta say is “Daddy, make it go away”
Sometimes the only way out is as a carcass
Sometimes you gotta finish what you shouldn’t have started
Sometimes you gotta shoot before you see the target
Sometimes Daddy’s gonna say, “You’re not worth the price to pay”
Sometimes the tunnel only leads to darkness

[Chorus]
Sometimes the short end of the stick is the sharpest
Sometimes the only road to take is the darkest
Sometimes all you gotta say is “Daddy, make it go away”
Sometimes the only way out is as a carcass
Sometimes you gotta finish what you shouldn’t have started
Sometimes you gotta shoot before you see the target
Sometimes Daddy’s gonna say, “You’re not worth the price to pay”
Sometimes the tunnel only leads to darkness

[Outro]
You built this ship
And you’ll go down with it

Does an empty chatroom feel like an empty hotel ballroom on a Tuesday afternoon in March?

How is it possible for two objects of such pain to slam into each other and produce not a more intense misery but a joy for each resulting isotope?

Have you noticed when an article pops up in your feed about someone leaving a nasty note for a server in place of a tip that the handwriting usually looks similar? Are these stories just click-bait penned by the same person or is there something wrong with people that don't tip that shows up in their handwriting?

(Yes, I understand that tipping is largely a states thing because our servers are legally paid under the minimum wage.)

So, back in college in the late nineties when LGBTQ+ was not as open as now, I had gay friends who would not go to straight bars for fear of being beaten up or worse. So I would go with them to the only gay bar in town and the dance club that had a gay/lesbian night once a week. One because they were my friends and less nobly because if there was a fight to be had, I wanted to have it. I was (was lol) a bit of a dick but a noble dick I hope. Oh yeah, and the gay club had giant goblets of some red 1000 proof death juice very cheap and being a budget minded college student, it was a no-brainer.

Anyway, at the dance club I would approach the wallflower lesbians because you know, they were probably straight like me and just there to support their lesbian friends like me with my gay friends, of course. (I said I was in college, I didn't say I was smart.) Confusion ensued all around, except for the friends I showed up with.

So I tell that story to tell this. Now many, many years later while looking at profiles here I will see an attractive sub and the first notion is to contact them because of course they must have switch tenancies too, right? The one thing I guess I did learn in college was that no matter how attractive I find someone, I won't be changing them. Confusion no longer ensues but the want of the impossible still does. 

No idea how to quantify this, but anecdotally, if you were circumcised at birth are you more likely to have a private piercing or other body art "down there" to make up for what was taken?

Women, please weigh in as well because I'm assuming most of you will have a larger sample size than straight men.