coffee for the apocalypse

If you were old enough to read in the ninties, or old enough to look at cartoons I guess, you’ve probably seen Gary Larson’s work even if you don’t remember it. Larson is a cartoonist for the weirdos among us. A lot of people didn’t get the humor because it was so screwy. I love it and obviously anything with a foreword by Stephen King is, in my opinion, worth a read.

I got this particular book when I was probably 10 around 1995. I was spending a weekend with my godparents, F and K, who had become close friends with my mother’s parents (Mema and Papaw) when F and Papaw met in Africa and then introduced their wives. They all ended up in Austin because of Bergstrom Air Force Base and they were friends until Mema died in 2007. I still hang out with K and F at least a couple times a month and I consider them another set of grandparents.

Anyway, I was staying with them and they have both always been voracious readers like me so naturally they got me a book. I love this thing. It’s traveled all over the world with me, from Catania, Sicily to Scarborough, Maine then back on home to Austin, lots of books got left behind or lost but this one stuck around.

While I think it’s funny I also relate to it in ways. I like the skewed vision of the world that Gary Larson shares with us. I often feel like I am skewed or weird or an imposter. While I hear this is very common, it doesn’t really make me feel better during times that I’m really getting down on myself.

I seriously have days where I feel like I’m the handsome man coming down the aisle there. Like I am strange and off-putting and I just want to keep my head down and power through the day… so that’s what I do. I have social anxiety as well so sometimes I am very quiet around others because I feel like nothing I say would be of any interest to them. (Now here I am doing nothing but crowing about what I think, get fucked negative thoughts!)

If you feel this way a lot or just a little, if you’re nervous and quiet around others or think that at any minute the people you work with are going to realize you’re full of it and fire you… please know that your brain is lying to you. There is nothing wrong with you. Sure, you might not be everyone’s cup of tea but that’s fine!

Sharing these words of wisdom that I am learning and memorizing and reciting to myself on the regular are not a magic bullet. Me saying this to you will not suddenly make you a social butterfly or the life of every party but if you can keep them in your mind and repeat them to yourself on those off days slowly you can believe it.