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Re: [OM] 12 is enough

Subject: Re: [OM] 12 is enough
From: Marc Lawrence <montsnmags@xxxxxxxxx>
Date: Tue, 10 Mar 2009 16:41:49 +1000
Andrew Fildes wrote:
> I lived in London in the late sixties. I don't think the word 
> commitment had been invented at that point, or at least it had been
>  forgotten for a while. A loose network of intimate relationships was
>  the norm in my circles. It sounds Utopian these days.

Dylan Moran (born 1971 to my 1970) does a line about sexual mores
through different generations in one of his stand-up routines. It goes,
"When it came to my generation it was, "DON'T F**K ANYONE OR YOU'LL DIE!"".

Your "Utopian", yes, I can maybe see that (in a Brave New World way?) 
and so I recall from a different time that at age 23, in Sydney, and two 
years into a "commitment" (now 18), the close proximity of sex and death 
wasn't always for me just about an incurable disease informed loudly in 
copywrit symbolism, and I remember that time as being one in which I 
didn't have the will to off myself, even though I self-indulgently 
tortured myself with the inclination. Then again, perhaps "a loose 
network of intimate relationships" is not compatible with my apparent 
neurotic introversion, which might prefer "anonymous" to "intimate" if 
ever it was unconstrained by my singular, emotional dependency.

No, I was not fond of 23, nor much of my twenties beyond it (though my 
twenties before were quite wonderful), and I was certainly not fond of 
the awkward pain and claustrophobia of the teenage years. My thirties 
have been eventful, with a string of the inevitable tragedies of age and 
disease amongst family, and a sea change, informing the decade's 
otherwise generally comfortable mediocrity. I still hold hope for my 
slow-coming 40's, though sometimes I think contentment is barely even 
trying to fight the battle against cynicism, meloncholy and a desire for 
hermitage, though it at least seems to have curmudgeony by the neck and 
is dragging its thus-enforced silence down with it.

Yes, now, come to think about it, I believe Watanabe was quite right - 
12 was quite enough for me, but I'll concede a special and significant 
highlight for me at 21 too.

> Some fond  memories indeed and very uncomplicated but I wouldn't have
> the stamina for it now, never mind the opportunity. But damn, I miss
> it sometimes. And a darker view from a melancholic moment while
> revisiting...
 > http://www.pbase.com/afildes/london_again

I'm aware of some few of your writings outside of this list, but I still 
remain surprised by them. Thanks.

Cheers,
Marc
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