I got teary eyed thinking about Cash the other day

[Cassius Clay]

(I don't mean money, you fools)

Anybody know how his fam is?

I've spent the last 3 years trying to get to know my estranged father in Africa. Turns out he's a highly intelligent, but manipulative/dishonest person. He's a career politician in Nigeria. My mom used to warn me about him because she knew I had him on a pedestal...she knew I had to see it for myself to understand. He knows I'm smart, but doesn't realize how smart...because I've been doing this thing where I play dumb and pretend I don't see/understand shit when someone is trying to play me...because it makes people unwittingly reveal their character to you...thinking they're fucking smarter than you. And, funny enough, we just had a conversation about how good he was at that particular skill...giving people enough rope to hang themselves. But it's like he doesn't realize I've been doing exactly that with him...and with my estranged brother who is exactly like him. I've been surrounded by selfish, dishonest, callous people who think they're smarter than me and always trying to play me(including cousins, my father's employees, my step mother...doing things including theft, deception, manipulation, etc). Just been a very disappointing experience. I realized that's why I was spending so much time with the kids in the family because they haven't been corrupted yet.

I called up a friend that I used to be really close with, and we talked for like 7 hours. Didn't realize how much I needed to speak to an intelligent, genuine person. I actually broke down in front of him for the first time. Reminded me that you can be a really genuine person, and still be extremely intelligent. Because it's like everyone here uses they're intelligence for deception. Got me thinking about the smart, genuine/kind people I've known in my life and Cash was one of the people that came to mind. Which got me thinking how strange it is that there are people I knew/I've known for over a decade now but in an anonymous context...so we don't really know each other, but we kinda do.

[Gendo]

I always think of him when someone mentions Woody Guthrie. I'm guessing no one we know has had any contact with his family; if it's anyone it would be Aels. He was definitely a great person.

And dammit this reminds me that I need to make another thread about something....

[Monk]

Sorry to hear about the familiar issues. Sounds like a very toxic environment.

I think of Cash/Brandon periodically. Often in situations where I check my biases about gun owners. Several people we've "known" online have passed. DAd, Cash, PulpFiction, and now Sulla. I'm sure there are more I'm forgetting. The mourning process is strange since in many cases, I never actually "knew" any of these people, yet emotionally can still feel traumatic when they're gone.

[Gendo]

I hadn't heard about PulpFiction I don't think. The name is quite familiar but I don't know if I remember who it was really...

[Gendo]

JetsToCanada comes to mind.