"hey man, do you wanna fight?"

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a question put forth to me today by two teenage boys as they walked past me and rounded the corner to disappear (forever?).

― jess (dubplatestyle), Tuesday, 10 June 2003 04:19 (twenty-two years ago)

i must admit i DID want to fight, but then i was in a bad mood.

― jess (dubplatestyle), Tuesday, 10 June 2003 04:19 (twenty-two years ago)

instead i went grocery shopping.

― jess (dubplatestyle), Tuesday, 10 June 2003 04:22 (twenty-two years ago)

and bought cd-rs from target.

― jess (dubplatestyle), Tuesday, 10 June 2003 04:22 (twenty-two years ago)

maybe they were just doing a survey

― oops (Oops), Tuesday, 10 June 2003 04:22 (twenty-two years ago)

i think this is the basic difference between big cities and small towns: people in small towns will hassle you directly, but there will be no real consequences; people in big cities will mostly keep to themselves, but there's a greater chance of being mugged in broad daylight.

all rules vary of course.

― jess (dubplatestyle), Tuesday, 10 June 2003 04:23 (twenty-two years ago)

when drunk one time i stumbled about asking people how many dicks they thought carly simon could fit in her mouth and tried to pass it off as a "survey for college" when pressed by the police

― jess (dubplatestyle), Tuesday, 10 June 2003 04:25 (twenty-two years ago)

i see two outcomes for this thread: 9 responses before it falls off new answers or 285 new answers by tomorrow morning and its the new "shouting at people from cars"

― jess (dubplatestyle), Tuesday, 10 June 2003 04:26 (twenty-two years ago)

Depends on who gets insulted first, I spose.

― Trayce (trayce), Tuesday, 10 June 2003 04:28 (twenty-two years ago)

and bought cd-rs from target

sooo, jess?

― gaz (gaz), Tuesday, 10 June 2003 04:32 (twenty-two years ago)

gaz, you never emailed me back and told me whether you got them or not! i suppose this means you didnt, however.

― jess (dubplatestyle), Tuesday, 10 June 2003 04:33 (twenty-two years ago)

RE: carly simon...don't give Calum any thread ideas

― oops (Oops), Tuesday, 10 June 2003 04:34 (twenty-two years ago)

do you glare at people or something?

― James Blount (James Blount), Tuesday, 10 June 2003 04:35 (twenty-two years ago)

one's probably enough at any given time

― electric sound of jim (electricsound), Tuesday, 10 June 2003 04:35 (twenty-two years ago)

(in any event g, email me yr address again as i'm sure the napkin or whatever it was written on was lost by now)

― jess (dubplatestyle), Tuesday, 10 June 2003 04:35 (twenty-two years ago)

no! i tend to keep my eyes focused away from people at all times when outside (learned habit, i guess) and i normally have my headphones on so i'm off in my own little world anyway.

― jess (dubplatestyle), Tuesday, 10 June 2003 04:36 (twenty-two years ago)

who in hell is 'carly simon?'

― g--ff c-nn-n (gcannon), Tuesday, 10 June 2003 04:36 (twenty-two years ago)

apparently this makes people think i'm "surly"

― jess (dubplatestyle), Tuesday, 10 June 2003 04:37 (twenty-two years ago)

one of the most common statements i hear 6 mos. after i become friends with someone is "i thought you hated me the first time i met you" ?!?!

― jess (dubplatestyle), Tuesday, 10 June 2003 04:37 (twenty-two years ago)

i'm just shy dammit! i just wanna be loved and appreciated! < /connoroberst>

― jess (dubplatestyle), Tuesday, 10 June 2003 04:38 (twenty-two years ago)

i suppose this means you didnt, however.

o no! i didn't :-(

― gaz (gaz), Tuesday, 10 June 2003 04:40 (twenty-two years ago)

i thought you hated me jess

― gaz (gaz), Tuesday, 10 June 2003 04:41 (twenty-two years ago)

http://figures.nohomers.net/Customs/Custom_Surly_Duff.JPG

― electric sound of jim (electricsound), Tuesday, 10 June 2003 04:41 (twenty-two years ago)

I feel like I should come up with a thoughtful answer to this, cos I grew up in a small town and now live in a biggish city, and I've never been hassled in either

(...except situationally in high school and shit: "hey, you talkin shit bout my 'xplorer?" = spoken by a guy nicknamed Fetus who insisted my friends and I has spoken ill of his SUV.)

― g--ff c-nn-n (gcannon), Tuesday, 10 June 2003 04:41 (twenty-two years ago)

you got hassled by Jim Thirlwell?

― electric sound of jim (electricsound), Tuesday, 10 June 2003 04:42 (twenty-two years ago)

i can't tell if it's either a. olympia or b. i'm just a magnet for rednecks, jocks, & sundry mooks, but i've never been hassled as much as i have been in the last year or so. (i don't really consider today's "confrontation" hassling.)

― jess (dubplatestyle), Tuesday, 10 June 2003 04:44 (twenty-two years ago)

that sucks, small towns can be really terrifying.

― g--ff c-nn-n (gcannon), Tuesday, 10 June 2003 04:46 (twenty-two years ago)

yeah, it's weird. there's probably plenty of threads about it already heh. i'm endlessly fascinated by those who would make my life hell were it not for the thinnest of social constructs keeping the peace.

― jess (dubplatestyle), Tuesday, 10 June 2003 04:48 (twenty-two years ago)

also most small towns don't have gay film & art festivals and sex workers art shows so the (mostly working class) townies are pretty embattled already

― jess (dubplatestyle), Tuesday, 10 June 2003 04:48 (twenty-two years ago)

sign on van today: "war isn't an answer, it's a CURE"

― jess (dubplatestyle), Tuesday, 10 June 2003 04:49 (twenty-two years ago)

jesus alive, my hometown almost brought out the torches and pitchforks when they city opened up the swimming pool on sundays.

― g--ff c-nn-n (gcannon), Tuesday, 10 June 2003 04:51 (twenty-two years ago)

fite that was 'won:' the tourist-friendly old-timey laws made Wal-Mart use a smaller, unlit sign and McDonalds build a "Dutch" looking restaurant.

― g--ff c-nn-n (gcannon), Tuesday, 10 June 2003 04:55 (twenty-two years ago)

Olympia's not really that small.

― Dan I. (Dan I.), Tuesday, 10 June 2003 05:25 (twenty-two years ago)

the next time someone pulls this ask one of them if his name is Brice like you maybe recognize him or something and then when he says no ask them if there's 'a chili's or something around here cuz I am hun-guh-ree I tell you what'.

― James Blount (James Blount), Tuesday, 10 June 2003 05:30 (twenty-two years ago)

yes.

― That Girl (thatgirl), Tuesday, 10 June 2003 05:32 (twenty-two years ago)

one of the most common statements i hear 6 mos. after i become friends with someone is "i thought you hated me the first time i met you" ?!?!
My reply: yes, and the feeling hasn't changed.

― nathalie (nathalie), Tuesday, 10 June 2003 06:16 (twenty-two years ago)

I was THIS close to starting a fite with someone at a show tonight just cuz I didn't like the looks of her (that and she pushed in front of me TWICE) (my compromise: I "accidentally" spilled some beer on her). She just looked really stupid; she was pissing me off.

― Jody Beth Rosen (Jody Beth Rosen), Tuesday, 10 June 2003 06:21 (twenty-two years ago)

Jess, you should have responded with "No, I want to fuck you". Then start laughing all maniacally like Vincent Price.

― donut bitch (donut), Tuesday, 10 June 2003 06:31 (twenty-two years ago)

Actually, that's a great way to solve a lot of problems.

― donut bitch (donut), Tuesday, 10 June 2003 06:35 (twenty-two years ago)

must be a West Coast thing, I remember this used to happen to me in Vancouver on a near-nightly basis. NYC and London, no. weird, as Canadians are supposed to be nice and they smoke so much weed in Vancouver, can't figure it out

― dave q, Tuesday, 10 June 2003 06:43 (twenty-two years ago)

I always think everyone hates me when I first meet them, I'm so shy and self-concious. Well almost always (I didn't think Jim hated me when I met him, heh heh).

Shy boys are cute, jess! Dont be a-worrying!

― Trayce (trayce), Tuesday, 10 June 2003 06:48 (twenty-two years ago)

Anyway what is it about small towns that make people think stuff like "whatdafugyoulookingat, moite?" is like, The Done Thing to say to complete strangers? My high school was just like that. Ugh. The old men at the pub would also spit at me when I walked by, because I was a goth. Yay.

(PS I'm not a goth now, I'd expect derision if I was these days, heh)

― Trayce (trayce), Tuesday, 10 June 2003 06:50 (twenty-two years ago)

maybe a small town feels enough like a panopticon as it is? (this is schadenfreude btw, not attempting to understand)

― dave q, Tuesday, 10 June 2003 07:49 (twenty-two years ago)

*note to self: do not fuck with Jody Beth*

― Chris Radford (Chris Radford), Tuesday, 10 June 2003 09:19 (twenty-two years ago)

seven

― chris (chris), Tuesday, 10 June 2003 09:49 (twenty-two years ago)

Sorry, Dave, that post is way over its alloted vocabulary weight limit. You're going to have to unload either panopticon or Schadenfreude.

― Colin Meeder (Mert), Tuesday, 10 June 2003 13:50 (twenty-two years ago)

one year passes...

I nearly got into a fight the other day on the tube. I was on my way to a party, alone, really tired and in a bad mood from having worked all day. And this gang of really obnoxious teenage guys started harrassing me, pulling off my headphones, sticking their filthy little fingers in my bag, and I just lost it. First I just shouted to the worst guy to FUCK OFF really loud, then they started commenting on my ass. That was when I stood up and screamed at him "HOW OLD ARE YOU ARE YOU TWELVE YEARS OLD" (I'm not very verbal when angry), and "WHAT, YOU WANNA FIGHT OR WHAT, WANT ME TO HIT YOU???!!!". I was very close to smacking him but then the train stopped at my station and I just got off, but stayed on the platform and gave them the finger through the window.

That was so un-like me. And SO STUPID, they could easily have just, well, killed me or something. We were pretty much alone in the train. Oh well. The adrenalin kept me going all night.

― Hanna (Hanna), Friday, 10 September 2004 08:41 (twenty-one years ago)

Fuck them, you did the right thing

― Dadaismus (Dada), Friday, 10 September 2004 08:44 (twenty-one years ago)

also singling out one of them instaed of adressing the whole group was definitely the best way to handle this.

― :| (....), Friday, 10 September 2004 09:56 (twenty-one years ago)

I think the argument in favour of eugenics grows stronger by the day.

― Donnie Smith The Quiz Kid, Friday, 10 September 2004 10:03 (twenty-one years ago)

Yay hanna!

― PinXor (Pinkpanther), Friday, 10 September 2004 10:40 (twenty-one years ago)

bernie goetz lives on in our hearts

― jess (dubplatestyle), Friday, 10 September 2004 10:50 (twenty-one years ago)

wednesday i was sitting having a smoke outside work (which is in a very well-populated strip mall) and these two mooks (who had been in the store earlier) came up to me and said "hey, what kinda cigarettes do you smoke?". i took my headphones off, and asked him to repeat it. i said "camels, why?" he just made a "pfft" noise, because he was that rarest of commodities, a choosy begar. so i go to put my headphones back on and after they were about 10 ft away he turned around, like an afterthought, and goes "and don't get fucking smart!" and keeps walking.

people are really odd.

― jess (dubplatestyle), Friday, 10 September 2004 10:57 (twenty-one years ago)

I love that, when ppl ask for stuff & then turn their nose up at it. I had some skanky bitch at a festival once ask if she could have a beer, so I offered her a stella & she said 'have you got anything else'?

― PinXor (Pinkpanther), Friday, 10 September 2004 11:01 (twenty-one years ago)

That's one of the biggest advantages of smoking menthols, I don't know how many times cigarette beggars have turned down my delightful green package!

― Hanna (Hanna), Friday, 10 September 2004 11:04 (twenty-one years ago)

My favorite is from groups of scouse scally lads.

them: Eh Mate, gor any biftas (cigs)
me: No, I don't smoke
them: Much Laughter

WHY THE LAUGHTER?

― Jarlr'mai (jarlrmai), Friday, 10 September 2004 11:18 (twenty-one years ago)

'Cos they're rock and you're a poof

― Dadaismus (Dada), Friday, 10 September 2004 11:18 (twenty-one years ago)

damn my healthy lungs.

― Jarlr'mai (jarlrmai), Friday, 10 September 2004 11:21 (twenty-one years ago)

scallies/charvers always laugh at people who are different IN ANY WAY WHATSOEVER from themselves, like I had a bunch of them laugh at me b/c my bike didn't have full suspension and theirs did! they ate my fucking dust, motherfuckers!

― Pashmina (Pashmina), Friday, 10 September 2004 11:21 (twenty-one years ago)

They're in love with life, love, laughter

― Dadaismus (Dada), Friday, 10 September 2004 11:23 (twenty-one years ago)

Why do they listen to uplifting trance about love and building castles in the sky and other architectural impossibilities yet project an unflinchingly menacing persona?

― Jarlr'mai (jarlrmai), Friday, 10 September 2004 11:30 (twenty-one years ago)

dude came up to my friend in a bar asking to buy a smoke for 50 cents. except he was holding up a quarter with a nickel behind it. friend says no. i swear it was like a western when someone mentions bad bart's name or whatever and the whole place goes quiet.

― g--ff (gcannon), Friday, 10 September 2004 12:25 (twenty-one years ago)

i was walking to work the other day and on a sidewalk big enough for 10 people, a big fucking 6'4 ex-thug looking guy threw an elbow at me. i just walked away, kinda lauged to myself that people are so fucked and kept looking over my shoulder to see that he wasn't coming to get me.

― JaXoN (JasonD), Friday, 10 September 2004 17:42 (twenty-one years ago)

I get that, someone who deliberately walks towards you, and you try to avoid them, but they are determined. I get this quite often - this is a rough area, and it happens with two categories of people, in my experience: late at night it's usually young black guys (this street is mostly black), and then since I live near a football ground it's often football fans, almost always young white men. Actually it's more often one person taking this confrontational approach while they walk with one or two friends. I'm a 5'7 45 year old, and must look a very easy mark for such bullying. I give them a smile that clearly says "Fuck you - come and try it," and invariably (so far!) their jaw drops slightly, their grin vanishes and they move aside. One of these days it will probably start a fight, and if there are a few of them I won't stand a chance, of course, but I loathe that kind of bullying, and I think it's a good thing when they can be made to back down. I hope it makes them think twice on future occasions.

I've just recalled the one time in recent years I took the other approach: I was walking down beside Highbury Fields with some other ILXers, and there was a group of young men quite deliberately blocking the pavement, and offering looks that meant "What are you going to do about it?" It's one thing getting confrontational when it's just me, but I wasn't going to risk involving friends in that sort of thing, so I just walked in the road.

― Martin Skidmore (Martin Skidmore), Friday, 10 September 2004 22:00 (twenty-one years ago)

i didn't know that jess works in a strip mall. that explains a lot.

― amateur!!st, Friday, 10 September 2004 22:02 (twenty-one years ago)

is that some weird, overly intellectualized version of "do you wanna fight?"

― jess (dubplatestyle), Friday, 10 September 2004 23:16 (twenty-one years ago)

amateurist in mook-in-professors-clothing shocker

― jess (dubplatestyle), Friday, 10 September 2004 23:16 (twenty-one years ago)

don't get fucking smart!

― manthony m1cc1o (Anthony Miccio), Friday, 10 September 2004 23:17 (twenty-one years ago)

not to worry

― jess (dubplatestyle), Friday, 10 September 2004 23:19 (twenty-one years ago)

haha boy they really got my number tho, didnt they

― jess (dubplatestyle), Friday, 10 September 2004 23:19 (twenty-one years ago)

i must be wearing a sign that says "full of impotent, frustrated sarcasm"

― jess (dubplatestyle), Friday, 10 September 2004 23:19 (twenty-one years ago)

i.e. "works in mall"

i have gotten (surprisingly?) little flak in Brixton. one time some guys asked me for a cigarette an i gave them one and then they were like "how about another one?" When i automatically gave them the "nice try" look and started walking away they were like "i should should take it off you" to my back. that's when you do not turn around.

― You've Got to Pick Up Every Stitch (tracerhand), Friday, 10 September 2004 23:56 (twenty-one years ago)

is that extra "should" a typo or some strange brit-slang?

― jess (dubplatestyle), Friday, 10 September 2004 23:57 (twenty-one years ago)

Brixton ruffians be stammering.

― Alba (Alba), Saturday, 11 September 2004 00:02 (twenty-one years ago)

double-should is basically like "yr arse be grass"

― You've Got to Pick Up Every Stitch (tracerhand), Saturday, 11 September 2004 00:03 (twenty-one years ago)

this little jagoff leaned out of his car and called me a faggot when i was driving out of the gas station today. i really wanted to stop the car to start a fite, but i felt distinctly unthreatening and emasculated as my mouth was stuffed with hostess snowballs like a squirrel hoarding for winter.

hey isn't jess like 8 feet tall, i wouldnt want to fuck with homey!!!

― \(^o^)/ (Adrian Langston), Saturday, 11 September 2004 00:36 (twenty-one years ago)

yeah but i am thoroughly non-imposing

― jess (dubplatestyle), Saturday, 11 September 2004 00:40 (twenty-one years ago)

in fact i am anti-imposing if thats even possible

― jess (dubplatestyle), Saturday, 11 September 2004 00:42 (twenty-one years ago)

i've had kids throw rocks at me on occasion. i am the elephant man.

― joseph pot (STINKOR™), Saturday, 11 September 2004 00:44 (twenty-one years ago)

we're like the island of misfit toys

― jess (dubplatestyle), Saturday, 11 September 2004 00:45 (twenty-one years ago)

If only the Elephant Man had had ILE. His story might have turned out so differently.

― Alba (Alba), Saturday, 11 September 2004 00:46 (twenty-one years ago)

The film would be even worse though.

― Alba (Alba), Saturday, 11 September 2004 00:47 (twenty-one years ago)

this was the first time i've ever been fucked with like so outside of HS, it was pretty jarring!! I almost wish I was still fat, ppl were more intimidated by me then

― \(^o^)/ (Adrian Langston), Saturday, 11 September 2004 00:49 (twenty-one years ago)

christ just fight them

― cinniblount (James Blount), Saturday, 11 September 2004 04:35 (twenty-one years ago)

jess: i didn't mean it in a bad way! i mean if i were working in a strip mall i'd probably be pretty fed up with certain things too! i mean i understand some of your (acknowledged) bitterness and frustration!

it's unfortunate that you insulted me, but i understand how you might have interpreted my comment as an insult. it wasn't meant as one, i assure you.

― amateur!!!st (amateurist), Saturday, 11 September 2004 04:38 (twenty-one years ago)

i have to be careful you see. my missteps are being painstakingly catalogued by messrs. dean, gygax, et al, i guess for reference after their successful putsch and the subsequent show trials.

― amateur!!!st (amateurist), Saturday, 11 September 2004 04:40 (twenty-one years ago)

If only the Elephant Man had had ILE. His story might have turned out so differently.

-- Alba (albab...) (webmail), September 10th, 2004 8:46 PM. (Alba) (later) (link)

"i am not an animal! i am a human being!"

"GET A LIFE, FAGGOT"

― amateur!!!st (amateurist), Saturday, 11 September 2004 04:54 (twenty-one years ago)

I need to take up kung fu or boxing or something. Whenever I go to a pub like I did tonight all I do is look for some shithead who's acting like a dick so I can run into him and start something. There were plenty of them tonight but I decided to relax. Some 23 year old kid my size would likely pound me into a meaty pulp but it'd be fun to try one out. No one fights here anymore. I do realize there's a drunken asshole in me, but he never really gets to come out. Normally I'm very gentle and nice but sometimes...perhaps when they see a 6'3" 260 lb guy they think "maybe not" which is sad. I should sometimes just keep things to myself.

― Bryan (Bryan), Saturday, 11 September 2004 05:53 (twenty-one years ago)

"we're like the island of misfit toys"
-- jess (wt...), September 11th, 2004. (later)

http://www.markmasonanimation.co.uk/raggy_dolls/raggy_group250.jpg
ILX, Just stand up on your two left feet.

― Nellie (nellskies), Saturday, 11 September 2004 05:53 (twenty-one years ago)

bah.

http://www.markmasonanimation.co.uk/raggy_dolls/raggy_group250.jpg

― Nellie (nellskies), Saturday, 11 September 2004 05:54 (twenty-one years ago)

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