Calling Bullshit on Myself
…but not right away. Fun dinner party with Kim’s friends from Brooks. Normally I am not a dinner party kinda guy. I am one sentence away from embarrassing myself and my family. I guess I am always one sentence away from doing that whether I’m at a dinner party, out with friends, blogging….
…or even at home by myself trying to pry a fireplace poker out of my ass after reenacting that famous fight in the First Congress (I think).
See, there was the sentence.
Part of the reason I had a good time at this dinner party was that I didn’t know it was a dinner party. Kim told me that the hosts were serving dinner after I had already stuffed my face with hot dogs and this spicy chicken dish from the other night. I thought we were just drinking which I am always in favor of…
The other reason I had a good time is everybody was laid back and I could just kind of be myself. Sometimes I pretend (and lie) and act like I am sooooo comfortable in my own skin. I think I said somewhere on this blog that I have never been more comfortable in my own skin (since turning 30). While that is true, it is a sort of deceptive truth since, for most of my life I have been soooo uncomfortable in my own skin I did things that made me see bugs on my skin and blah blah blah. This turned out to be the kind of crowd where I could be myself.
I had a minor dust up with one of the folks there as to whether or not the Catholic church bears primary responsibility for the decline of European art from the so-called Dark Ages to the Renaissance. The person I was arguing with had a good sense of humor and didn’t mind that I said “Do you think that bishops got up and said ‘The Lord wants us to paint like shit’.?!?! If God wanted perspective in art then he wouldn’t have made the world flat heathens!!!!’” The Dark Ages, if they were all that dark were that way because there were no centers of learning and art comparable to that of the ancient world…and high art and learning were on hold since the decline of the Roman empire because civilization was sort of on hold. While it is an oversimplification to argue that the Church held everything together neatly…it is a greater oversimplification to suggest that the Church suppressed development in learning and the arts…the decline and stagnation accompanied a variety of forces…and when the good shit returned (maybe) w/ the Borges (not Victor, sorry Dad) in Florence…its because the Florentines had the dough and the instability had more to do with external conflict and political assassinations (which made for a nice combo of opportunity and strife) helping to provide stability on one hand and maybe some inspiration on the other.
I don’t know and I am sort of calling bullshit on my analysis…but I still say bullshit to all sides of the argument. By the way, I would’ve taken the same damned position before I tried to be a serious Catholic. Maybe it’s the contrarian in me, maybe I’ve worked in university too long, but there is nothing more tiresome than listening to arguments that reduce the history of the West to following the $$ and the sins of the Catholic church. War, decline, invasion, corruption, disease all the ingredients of the so-called Dark Ages…they are legion, they are like the Hydra – they’ve got plenty of heads so there’s lots of blame to go around.
Oh, the dinner party right…yeah I ended up having a good time. K and K, our host and hostess are cool and I like hanging out with them. It’s funny, when we dropped Alex off at the PDawg’s (by the way thanks and much love to PDawg and Luke for hanging out with the boy) - - I was complaining about being a grown up. What is my problem? We all had fun. I think I told a few stories that I shouldn’t’ve’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘’ ‘
Hey, that made me feel like less than a grown up so I guess it is a good thing. One of the K’s told me about a Buddhist temple that was having a picnic to celebrate it’s new parking lot. That is pretty cool. He proposed a field trip. I wasn’t able to go (it was today) because I was golfing. Maybe I am more grown up and boring than I pretend to be.
What?
Tonight Alex and Luke are partying at our place. We watched the original King Kong. It was epic. The boys were both sad when Kong fell at the end. We all agreed that they should have just left him on Skull Island to fight the dinosaurs in peace.
I was going to call bullshit on myself for something else, but I have conveniently forgotten what it was.
Everything’s coming up Milhouse.
…or even at home by myself trying to pry a fireplace poker out of my ass after reenacting that famous fight in the First Congress (I think).
See, there was the sentence.
Part of the reason I had a good time at this dinner party was that I didn’t know it was a dinner party. Kim told me that the hosts were serving dinner after I had already stuffed my face with hot dogs and this spicy chicken dish from the other night. I thought we were just drinking which I am always in favor of…
The other reason I had a good time is everybody was laid back and I could just kind of be myself. Sometimes I pretend (and lie) and act like I am sooooo comfortable in my own skin. I think I said somewhere on this blog that I have never been more comfortable in my own skin (since turning 30). While that is true, it is a sort of deceptive truth since, for most of my life I have been soooo uncomfortable in my own skin I did things that made me see bugs on my skin and blah blah blah. This turned out to be the kind of crowd where I could be myself.
I had a minor dust up with one of the folks there as to whether or not the Catholic church bears primary responsibility for the decline of European art from the so-called Dark Ages to the Renaissance. The person I was arguing with had a good sense of humor and didn’t mind that I said “Do you think that bishops got up and said ‘The Lord wants us to paint like shit’.?!?! If God wanted perspective in art then he wouldn’t have made the world flat heathens!!!!’” The Dark Ages, if they were all that dark were that way because there were no centers of learning and art comparable to that of the ancient world…and high art and learning were on hold since the decline of the Roman empire because civilization was sort of on hold. While it is an oversimplification to argue that the Church held everything together neatly…it is a greater oversimplification to suggest that the Church suppressed development in learning and the arts…the decline and stagnation accompanied a variety of forces…and when the good shit returned (maybe) w/ the Borges (not Victor, sorry Dad) in Florence…its because the Florentines had the dough and the instability had more to do with external conflict and political assassinations (which made for a nice combo of opportunity and strife) helping to provide stability on one hand and maybe some inspiration on the other.
I don’t know and I am sort of calling bullshit on my analysis…but I still say bullshit to all sides of the argument. By the way, I would’ve taken the same damned position before I tried to be a serious Catholic. Maybe it’s the contrarian in me, maybe I’ve worked in university too long, but there is nothing more tiresome than listening to arguments that reduce the history of the West to following the $$ and the sins of the Catholic church. War, decline, invasion, corruption, disease all the ingredients of the so-called Dark Ages…they are legion, they are like the Hydra – they’ve got plenty of heads so there’s lots of blame to go around.
Oh, the dinner party right…yeah I ended up having a good time. K and K, our host and hostess are cool and I like hanging out with them. It’s funny, when we dropped Alex off at the PDawg’s (by the way thanks and much love to PDawg and Luke for hanging out with the boy) - - I was complaining about being a grown up. What is my problem? We all had fun. I think I told a few stories that I shouldn’t’ve’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘’ ‘
Hey, that made me feel like less than a grown up so I guess it is a good thing. One of the K’s told me about a Buddhist temple that was having a picnic to celebrate it’s new parking lot. That is pretty cool. He proposed a field trip. I wasn’t able to go (it was today) because I was golfing. Maybe I am more grown up and boring than I pretend to be.
What?
Tonight Alex and Luke are partying at our place. We watched the original King Kong. It was epic. The boys were both sad when Kong fell at the end. We all agreed that they should have just left him on Skull Island to fight the dinosaurs in peace.
I was going to call bullshit on myself for something else, but I have conveniently forgotten what it was.
Everything’s coming up Milhouse.
posted by edP | 8:50 PM
3 Comments:
Great post. One of my favorites I do believe. Catholicism, aging issues, King Kong - brilliant.
Don'tcha love it when everything comes up Milhouse?
It all sort of worked out by the end. The boys have finally settled down and I am chilling at the computer. Life is good.
Bullshitting your way through an argument is a lot of fun. The most important thing to remember is that if you get caught you must fess up immediately to avoid looking like a total asshole. I have stuck to my bullshit guns more times than I'd like to admit and I got hung out to dry for it.
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