he read that Soren Kierkegaard born with a twisted spine(didnt know that) and mocked cruelly for it(no surprise  people are people no matter the era) . . . considered it a matter of principle to throw people off their stride . . . anything to goad the person into seeing what he meant by the 'passion' of existence

Existence precedes essence  Sartres estimate

he had a fond appreciation of their concepts  but he was a goader toohe knew it  he lashed it around like a bullwhip whenever he felt a good goading was necessary

he might have felt it was necessary too often

or better yet it occurred to him that he refused to let the slightest provocation go   he couldnt help himself   however he also recognisedhe didnt take it for granted that if he were thrown off stride by someone hed be peeved  

although inevitably his sense of humour warmed  it used a corkscrew on his angst pulled its stopper  he would see himself being called out and laugh at his misstep  No onenot a fuckin soul was perfectFar from perfect

then inclusive was the necessity of balance  payback   and he was under no illusions that he wouldnt suffer some kind of payback  and hopefully it would be proportionalproportionality  wasnt  an American quality

hence his familiarity with No good deed go unpunished

he made a casual remark to a man in the dry sauna who was reading the LA Times whose headline regarded the unprecedented firing of the countrys Acting Attorney General of the United States 

he said to the man Disorienting times huh

and the man without looking up from the paper said No  Theyre orienting times

Orienting  How

Its about time

Its about time isnt an answerHow are the times orienting to you

Im an oilman  he didnt need breathe another word but of course he did   Its about time we quit playing around as a nation with our energy needs

Spoken like someone whose needs need to be more flushed No matter the expense to the earth the land  or the neglect of others

folding his paper in half leaning forward he extended his hand Your name

Joe  accepting his hand Yours

Rich

Of course it is immediately Richie Rich filled his eyes

he at least had a sense of humour and parlayed Thats rich

turning on his hip he lifted his feet up and set them on the bench beside him knees up  Bullshits getting deep in here  

You really feel oriented

I feel the times are right as rain

Acid rain  The pipelines  In Canada through First People land  The Dakota Access Pipe Line through Sioux land  Risking the headwaters of the Missouri  The death and Deepwater Horizon in the GulfExxon Valdez its squalor in the pristine Prince William Sound 

he should have seen it cominghe did see it coming  Rich brayed You wanna make an omelet you gotta break some eggs

Not proportionalnot the same thing  It seems when it comes to making money theres no consideration taken into account other than making the money

That Americas lifeblood

Blood  You got that right   he turned his hips again and set his feet back down on the lower bench

Not concerned about the rising bullshit

As long as you admit the bullshit is rising  Cuz eventually youll drown in it just the same as everyone else  You cant stack the bodies high enough to save your lilywhite ass  And Id say most of oil production is headed up by lilywhite asses

maybe Rich sized him up or nothe didnt look like the kind of guy who did dirty worklacquered fingernails  he cleared his throat and standing up he said Its gettin hot in here

Yeah  The saunas warm too

Been an interesting conversation

Yes  It nice to have a look behind the curtain and see how the other halfNo  No   How the other one or two percent liveI got a lifetime award for the health clubsued my employer  otherwise I couldnt afford to be here

he paused before leaving  As I said  Interesting conversation     Joe

Rich

a fleshy woman bobbed and bobbed up and down in the second lane of the swimming pool

the lane could be reserved but if the other two lanes were being used the second lane had to be shared

while the woman bobbed another woman tried swimming in the lane with her

the fleshy woman didnt pay any attention to herdidnt move forward to let the swimmer pass behind her because she was too involved in a conversation with yet another fleshy woman who bobbed directly across from her in lane one 

the water surged to their bobbing 

it wasnt that big a lap pool

he looked up at the clock on the end wall and saw he had five minutes before he would be swimming in lane two

he wasnt going to share the lane with the bobbing fleshy woman

she saw him look at her

she registered his expression

she was entitledshe had to be  you didnt eat to her size without considerable entitlement

they bobbed and talked  and bobbed and talked   and bobbed and talked

with a minute to spare he got up out of the whirlpool where he was working the stiffness out of his lower back and walked over and stood across from the bobbing woman in lane two  Excuse me  she ignored him  he saw that the woman in lane one heard him but also ignored him  Excuse me   she continued bobbing but looked up at him   Ill be swimming in lane two and youll have to move out of my way  she suddenly looked as if someone shit in her mouth  the other woman turned  she looked like someone shit in her mouth too

swallowing the mouthful of shit she sneered Lane two . . .

. . . Lane two has to be sharedyoure going to say  But lane two has to be shared with another swimmer and you aint swimming

the fleshy woman in lane one said Well I never . . .

. . . Obviously he said

he walked down to the end opposite the clock and dropped into the water  then leaning back against the pool wall he cinched up the tie of his dragsuit so he wouldnt swim out of it

as he began swimming she bobbed under the floatline separating the lanes and exited the pool at the stairs located there

both women exited

the air in the indoor pool rocked and rolled with them

a week later he exited the dry sauna and stepped around a large woman who was in the shower immediately to his right 

a shower was maintained so people could rinse off ostensibly before entering the pool or rinse off after getting out of the chlorinated water or leaving the sauna in a heated sweaty mess

she was washing her hair

she had on the halfwall separating the shower from the main course of the pool adjacent to the steps for getting in or out a shampoo bottle and a conditioning bottle

he thought to himself How audacioushow rude

then the woman turned to rinse the soap off the back of her headFleshy lane two

opening her eyes she saw him standing there

she tried hard not to register an expression that she recognised him  but a perverse smile slipped

she then put conditioner in her hair and slowly worked it through her hair  she had short hair  perhaps to her chins

then she rinsed her hair under the shower

                               and as she did he smiled to her ample backside You hippopotamus he thought

Ill bet all of Richie Richs money cartoon character or notRichs money that youre gonna condition your hair a second time

its payback

she did just that

she probably thought she was irritating him

he laughed quietly but if someone could see him inside his head he was reeling off its convex walls laughing howling kneeslapping hysterically

paybacks a bitch if you let it be 

fuckin hilarious

1350,  Monday,  27  2. 17

1206,  Friday,  24  2. 17

1397 days remaining or less

Sarah Bakewell  At The Existentialist Café

Richie Rich  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oz7zon0QUbw