7 February 2002
Submitted by eve on Fri, 02/08/2002 - 12:28am. Wisdom
"When does life become worth living?"
"...Whenever you say so, darling."
--A pretentious sounding girl and a rather sarcastic guy who sounded like he wasn't paying attention to her, outside Cafe Nefeli
Sorry about the previous lack of description in this post. Updated now. This was most definitely not a sweet moment. :-)
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Posted by Anne Onymous on Mon, 05/13/2002 - 1:10pm.
Archived comment by bubba:
Life becomes worth living when you are no longer afraid to die.
Posted by Anne Onymous on Wed, 03/13/2002 - 5:57pm.
Archived comment by Passerby:
That comment was also on a stall wall in the girls' bathroom on the main floor of Tolman, near the Ed/Psych library. Heheh.
Posted by Anne Onymous on Thu, 02/21/2002 - 10:33pm.
Archived comment by umrguy:
Ya know, it seems to me that it shouldn't be considered a run-on sentence if the reader can still remember what in the hell the original subject of the sentence was.

'Course, don't take my word for it, I'm currently reading and typing while intoxicated...
Posted by Anne Onymous on Thu, 02/21/2002 - 8:16pm.
Archived comment by triticale:
The following was posted to alt.fan.wednesday several years ago by Koos in response to Christy's question as to what constitutes a run on sentence:

That's a sentence which keeps going on and on and on and can even change subject within the sentence and start about something totally different like what my cats have been doing lately which is having some trouble with making turns in my living room since the floor is a bit slippery for them and at a given moment in the sentence you start wondering where it started and if and where it will ever end because you'd really like to see a little dot behind it so you can stop building a stacktrace about what the sentence started about and which word refers to which subject before that and which subjects where passed along the way like sentences in really bad legalese documents like the Dutch drivers license which describes the whole ruleset for the 'B' license (motorcar) in one sentence which is pure poetry if you read it in the correct mood and background music and lighting.

One of my prized possessions.
Posted by Anne Onymous on Thu, 02/21/2002 - 10:45am.
Archived comment by Arlene:
Oh dear. You thought the same thing that I did? Be afraid, Penny. Be very afraid.
Posted by Anne Onymous on Wed, 02/20/2002 - 2:23pm.
Archived comment by Penny:
Ha! Arlene, I thought the same thing!
Posted by Anne Onymous on Wed, 02/20/2002 - 1:01pm.
Archived comment by Arlene:
The dictionary? How, bizarre.
Posted by Anne Onymous on Mon, 02/18/2002 - 5:20pm.
Archived comment by Passerby:
Life is worth living in Webster...supposedly. That's what their motto is.
Posted by Anne Onymous on Tue, 02/12/2002 - 7:41pm.
Archived comment by Matt:
Montygirl, I'm not easily amused, but you made me chuckle aloud and brought a lingering smile to my face. That alone should negate the need to borrow such a wonderful, decadent item.

Besides, my bad day at work is soon to be negated by half a (25oz.) bottle of Chimay Grand Reserve and good company.
Posted by Anne Onymous on Tue, 02/12/2002 - 6:03pm.
Archived comment by Honey:
Deb gets cool points. Marvin was the coolest.
Posted by Anne Onymous on Tue, 02/12/2002 - 3:31pm.
Archived comment by Montygirl, a.k.a. bittergirl:
Matt, wanna borrow my bittergirl cape? It might cheer you up. It's sparkly. And it's your color, too.

And as far as the Hemingway Haters Society, I'd rather give blood than read "The Old Man and The Sea" again!
Posted by Anne Onymous on Tue, 02/12/2002 - 10:37am.
Archived comment by steff:
cool obscure points if you get this: "bulls, eh. everything hemmingway did is overrated." and, since someone brought up the incomparable d.a., did anyone see the 'big thinkers' with him on tech tv? i have it ultimate tv'd but haven't seen it yet.
Posted by Anne Onymous on Tue, 02/12/2002 - 7:10am.
Archived comment by jcharles:
Matt - I have fond memories of Hemingway. You know how everyone has that one Teacher Who Changed His Life? Mine was my eleventh grade English teacher, and she hated Hemingway. Told us so every day we were studying him. I still worship the memories of that class, and get a warm fuzzy feeling every time I remember studying Hemingway with the incomparable Mrs Nacca. It helps that she made us read "The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber," one of the finest short stories ever written, just for balance.

She also introduced me to my favorite author. Cool points and my undying admiration if you guess who it is.
Posted by Anne Onymous on Mon, 02/11/2002 - 10:23pm.
Archived comment by Deb:
First time posting...

Honey - A Hitchhiker's Guide reference! Whee!

Do I get cool points? ;)
Posted by Anne Onymous on Mon, 02/11/2002 - 9:52pm.
Archived comment by Honey:
Life. Don't talk to me about life.
Posted by Anne Onymous on Mon, 02/11/2002 - 6:15pm.
Archived comment by Matt:
No such thing as too much Faulkner.

Now obviously this is just my opinion, but too much Hemingway? That's easy. If you get into the double digits with him, that's too much. Ugh.
Posted by Anne Onymous on Sun, 02/10/2002 - 7:56pm.
Archived comment by steff:
matt? *squint* are you sure you're not MY matt? i swear, he writes just like that... he's even been accused of reading way too much faulkner (though i don't think he has). when in doubt, add a comma but for God's sake don't let the reader take a mental breath! it actually has a certain appealing rythym for some subjects. but i'm biased. =) if it wasn't for your lack of reference to explosives, i would be all kinds of freaked out right now. thank goodness for distinguishing characteristics, huh?

yeah, i think this sounds like a 'yes, dear'. he probably didn't sound like he was listening because he WASN'T - he now has no idea why she continually tells him that now, his life is worth living. because she says so.
Posted by Anne Onymous on Sun, 02/10/2002 - 7:43pm.
Archived comment by Matt:
Well, thank you, but I actually don't qualify for the award. True, the entire post is only two sentences, but it follows all the correct rules of grammar, so it's not a run-on. In the style of William Faulkner to be sure, but according to Webster, "a run-on sentence (sometimes called a "fused sentence") has at least two parts, either one of which can stand by itself (in other words, two independent clauses), but the two parts have been smooshed together instead of being properly connected."

So mine doesn't qualify.
Posted by Anne Onymous on Sun, 02/10/2002 - 2:58pm.
Archived comment by Denise:
I would have to "second" umrguy's nomination. Out of curiosity - I counted. 268 words and 20 commas before a single period.

Beyond that, though, I heard the message.

I just finished "About a Boy" by Nick Hornby (High Fidelity) this morning - and there's a whole passage in there about people who ask about "the point" of life. How even people who have good lives.. spouses... families.. children.. money... still always want to know, "What's the point?"

It's a messaged up question that just begs for sarcasm.
Posted by Anne Onymous on Sun, 02/10/2002 - 2:34pm.
Archived comment by umrguy:
Well, Matt wins the Award for Best Run-On Sentence in a Post.

And in a semi-related issue, I was on retreat this weekend, and came up with the phrase: "Life is something to be outlived." Heh. Figure that one out...
Posted by Anne Onymous on Sun, 02/10/2002 - 9:32am.
Archived comment by Mike:
So, Matt, which path are you on right now? ;^)

What makes you guys think these two are a couple? If I was in a relationship with a girl who implied that death was preferable to staying with me, I'd be pretty curt, too.

I was thinking the guy just overheard her, and was somewhat tired the gloomy self-absorbed type. Or maybe it was a first date or something. Eve, were they even sitting together? (Weird how much information you need in cases like this.)
Posted by Anne Onymous on Sun, 02/10/2002 - 7:54am.
Archived comment by Josie:
Yeah, that relationship's over. He's bored, she's reaching, he's probably skirting around behind her back with someone he works with... Hey! I have a hole in my head too! :)
Posted by Anne Onymous on Sun, 02/10/2002 - 7:36am.
Archived comment by micacabin:
This guy, for what ever reason (for fear of a decent conversation, just thinking she won't like his answer,or maybe even that he has never thought about that question at all before) refused to talk about this. And this was his easy out. Sounds polite, while dodging the question completely. Man, too bad that people don't understand that just conversation can be strengthening, atoning, respectable,sexy..on and on..
Posted by Anne Onymous on Sun, 02/10/2002 - 12:11am.
Archived comment by ?:
cant recall where i heard it, 'life -the ultimate std'
Posted by Anne Onymous on Sun, 02/10/2002 - 12:01am.
Archived comment by Matt:
Life becomes worth living when you figure out that the part of your brain that felt like it was a big empty hole, a place where all the bad feelings you've ever had, fester and breed and grow take up an increasingly painful amount of space, until finally one of two things happen. Either you find that person/activity/job that fills the hole so successfully that instead of forcing the pain and hurt and bad feelings deeper and deeper inside of yourself, compressing it into a tight little ball of torment that constantly nags at you at all the wrong times, when you're most vulnerable, transforming you into the kind of terror-inducing old person who is the bane of the entire neighborhood and hates their family for being such a bunch of losers and disappointments, that same little ball is used, in the way fertilizer is the basis for growth, so that the hole is not only filled, but overflows with a sense of accomplishment and meaning of presence on this planet which, although happiness is too grandiose a word, brings about a kind of contentedness and satisfaction with your life choices that enables you to approach your iminent death with the confidence that can only come of knowing that although nothing in human life is perfect, things turned out pretty well, in the big picture, or you end up spending the majority of your life wishing for a quick and painless death, counting the hours at your job until the day ends, waiting all week for the weekend, waiting all year for that vacation, and counting the years to retirement, only to find out, painfully enough, that you never really lived at all and now the peak vitality of life that could have been used to do such amazing and diversely interesting things in life are out of reach now, because of how age has ravaged your body.
Posted by Anne Onymous on Sat, 02/09/2002 - 6:17pm.
Archived comment by Nikki:
i dont know why people say life is short. Its the longest thing there is. what is longer than life id like to know (still born babies discluded of course) I mean my parents are in their 50's. even if they died tomorrow i dont know one thing thats lasted longer for them than their 50 years. Unless its THEIR parents 80 YEARS!!!
Posted by Anne Onymous on Sat, 02/09/2002 - 4:04pm.
Archived comment by daen:
Unless she's in labour. The instructors in one class I took explained that the only correct response is "I love you, honey." To anything.
Never, ever, when she says "WHAT MADE YOU THINK I COULD DO THIS?" answer in a reasonable tone, "We discussed this, remember?" Not unless you're in favour of bedpans flying in your direction.
Posted by Anne Onymous on Sat, 02/09/2002 - 6:41am.
Archived comment by Josie:
Philosophizin' is kind of cool, but this is just the mark of a well-trained man. The answer to everything is, "Yes dear."
Posted by Anne Onymous on Sat, 02/09/2002 - 12:42am.
Archived comment by Saint:
"It's not that life is so short.... It's just that death is so damn long...."

I can't remember where I heard or read that but it sure did stick. I'm not qualified to hand out cool points, but I sure would appreciate someone helping me remember where this came from.
Posted by Anne Onymous on Sat, 02/09/2002 - 12:05am.
Archived comment by Larry Hosken:
Life becomes worth living on Saturdays.
Posted by Anne Onymous on Fri, 02/08/2002 - 7:36pm.
Archived comment by Jae:
...this almost sounds like my parents...they've never been lovey-dovey, but now that they're getting older they're getting REALLY patronizing.

"Hi Honey, what's cookin'?" (and then my mom laughs...she'll have none of that in her house...LOL)
Posted by Anne Onymous on Fri, 02/08/2002 - 5:29pm.
Archived comment by enough with the whining, alrea:
I have to admit I sympathize with the sarcastic guy. During my relationship with someone whose constant lament was "What am I going to do with my life - it all seems so hopeless," I'm afraid my replies became harsher and harsher. At some point, you just get fed up with someone who pretends to be deep, thoughtful, and troubled, but in reality is just plain morose and unimaginative. Get over it and live your life, for Pete's sake - it's a lot more fun than depressing everyone around you!!!
Posted by Anne Onymous on Fri, 02/08/2002 - 3:23pm.
Archived comment by jamie:
life becomes worth living when you stop watching sappy movies, or at least stop buying in to them. (which just may never happen)
Posted by Anne Onymous on Fri, 02/08/2002 - 3:06pm.
Archived comment by Montygirl:
Life becomes worth living when you realize you're not fond of the only other option.
Posted by Anne Onymous on Fri, 02/08/2002 - 1:53pm.
Archived comment by Harlequin:
?: "life becomes worth living only right before you die."

Uh-oh...

(And only yesterday I was complaining that I needed six lifetimes to do all the cool things I want to do, preferably seven.)
Posted by Anne Onymous on Fri, 02/08/2002 - 11:58am.
Archived comment by Phil:
"...as soon as I stop dating depressed drama junkies, darling."
Posted by Anne Onymous on Fri, 02/08/2002 - 9:40am.
Archived comment by Flyhalf:
For her, when she dumps him.
Posted by Anne Onymous on Fri, 02/08/2002 - 7:39am.
Archived comment by Denise:
I'm snappy comment-less.

"Awwww..." is all I got.
Posted by Anne Onymous on Fri, 02/08/2002 - 6:42am.
Archived comment by Jos:
Yep, life is always worth living. It's just too short. And it's so interesting. That's why we get out of bed in the morning... just to see what's gonna happen.
Posted by Anne Onymous on Fri, 02/08/2002 - 6:31am.
Archived comment by ?:
life becomes worth living only right before you die.
Posted by Anne Onymous on Fri, 02/08/2002 - 5:39am.
Archived comment by Xandra:
Life becomes worth living when you FINALLY get out from under your domineering parents' rule...
Posted by Anne Onymous on Fri, 02/08/2002 - 5:31am.
Archived comment by WendiWolf:
Should I be gagging at how sweet that sounded? I'm guessing the guy wasn't being sarcastic sounding. (Eve usually denotes this...)
Life becomes worth living as soon as you realize that you will never be a kid again and should enjoy things while you can...
Posted by Anne Onymous on Fri, 02/08/2002 - 4:50am.
Archived comment by FuzzyMpb:
Well...think of the alternitaves...
we get to deal with THAT eventually, so live while ya can !
Posted by Anne Onymous on Fri, 02/08/2002 - 2:15am.
Archived comment by Passerby:
i hate people.
Posted by Anne Onymous on Fri, 02/08/2002 - 12:35am.
Archived comment by Julia:
For me, life is always worth living. I consider myself to be very fortunate.
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