The concept of "Chewing Gum, Coffee, & Slim Jims" could be construed as a study on the masks we all wear. The respective masks personified by the characters of Chewing Gum, Coffee, and Slim Jims aren't necessarily mine, however, nor do they necessarily advocate any of my true feelings or beliefs. In fact, this blog as a whole stays away from my deeper, darker thoughts, because, as I say, I am searching for the eternal sunshine of a spotless mind.
Perhaps I have already said too much, but I feel motivated now to go even further, despite the mission statement of this blog. I am going to make a temporary departure now from the usual content of this blog: I am now going to become revealingly personal and excessively exhibitionist with some internally buried thoughts of mine. The following, then, is a list of masks that I wear/have worn, in more or less random order.
- The Annoying Asshole Mask
- The Timid, Shy, Can't-talk-to-girls-to-save-my-life Mask
- The Sensitive Artist Mask
- The Arrogant Elitist Mask
- The Nihilist/Existentialist/World-weary Mask
- The Idealistic/Do-gooder/Amnesty Mask
- The Hopeless Romantic Mask
- The Fun-loving, Out-going, Party-it-up Mask
- The Introverted/I-hate-parties Mask
- The Dude-I-love-chicks Mask
- The Girls-are-all-bitches-and-I-want-nothing-to-do-with-them Mask
- The Nerd/Know-it-all Mask
- The Basketball Athlete/Sports Maniac Mask
- The Traumatic-experiences-with-racism-and-growing-up Mask
- The Wronged-ex-boyfriend Mask
- The Easy-going, Nonchalant Mask
- The Sarcastic/Witty-repartee Mask
- The Anti-establishment/Anti-The-Man/Anti-preppy/Anti-society Mask
- The Indie Rock Mask
- The Anti-AzN Mask
- The Music/Film/Literature/Modern Art Snob/Nerd Mask
- The Talented Writer Mask
- The Guitar-playing Musician Mask
- The Filmmaker Mask
- The Wharton Mask
- The Engineering Mask
- The Anti-Ivy-League Mask
- The Scientific And Moral Atheist/Secular Humanist Mask
- The Profoundly Deep Philosopher With A Very Sharp Intellect Mask
- The Insomniac Mask
- The Naturally Intelligent Slacker Mask
- The Frugal, Money-conscious Spend-thrift Mask
- The Californian Mask
- The Texan Mask
- The Liberal Mask
- The American Mask
- The Anti-American Mask
You might be wondering at this point, "If he calls all of those things 'masks,' then what's actually real? Who's actually behind the masks?"
My vague, ambiguous, profoundly-deep-sounding answer to that is that maybe there isn't anyone behind the masks. Maybe that's what we all are -- faceless mannequins we dress up every morning to look like something we think people will find interesting to look at. Maybe we are all the same blank naked plastic underneath. Maybe we are all just simply human underneath, and nothing more. And certainly nothing less.
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9 comments:
The Texan and the American Masks gave me a frigth, all the ugly doors they opened up... Sorry. There is loads beneath the masks. At least, there's the whole array of masks you're not using at that very moment. And there are only so many combinations possible at one given time. So it should be pretty full because let's face it, they all have to be stored somewhere and memory is mostly composed of penguins, as everyone knows.
Aren't you too young to be this articulate? I thought Angst ruined verbal skills. Oh hell. Memory is returning. Yes, yes... Angst as the very powerful catalyst, I remember that. Your use of words like "construe", "frugal" and "nihilist" is undermining my carefully structured American prejudices. Stop it this minute. Speaking of which, why would you wear a Texan Mask??? Unless of course you're a Texan. In which case - don't even know what to say. Great landscapes, y'all!
I think there is something behind the masks - but it's so deep and personal that we are afraid to let anyone see it. Fear of vulnerability and being exposed for who we really are keeps us wearing those masks. And in the moments when they come off, what is there is beautiful...but the exposure can be uncomfortable and scary...and thus we avoid it.
However, to disagree with the above comment, I don't think that we wear masks to show people what we think they want to see, but rather what we feel we want them to see. It's a defense mechanism, really. We show people snippets of who we really are, until they have earned the rights to the key that will open up what's inside...and those people are so few and far between that it leaves the masks in heavy rotation.
"However, to disagree with the above comment, I don't think that we wear masks to show people what we think they want to see, but rather what we feel we want them to see."
Let's see... Bear with me because it's all in English and English don't come easy to me. I am the above commenter. Hence, if we dissect quoted sentence, it follows that I wrote "I think that we wear masks to show people what we think they want to see".
WOW!!!!!!!! When did I write that??? I said that??? I'm so bloody brilliant! I'm so good with words, who knew! I think I'll create a blog so I can share my astonishing depth, insight and overall fabulousness, and above all my utmost seriousness re all things bloggy. It's the least I can do.
Alright, I KNOW she meant the 1st one, it was A JOKE! STOP emailing me! You lot should seriously consider buying a stress rubber chicken.
sorry for being too articulate. i sometimes forget my place as a raging angst-and-hormone-filled teenager. wearing the wrong mask again! there is nothing wrong with being an adolescent with a big vocabulary though (or should i say prodigious lexicon?) except you sound smarter than all your friends and nobody likes you because they think you're a snob.
despite what george w. bush's manner of speaking may lead you to believe, there are still some of us americans who know how to use the language. and yes, i am from texas, no less. sorry to buck stereotypes. yee-haw y'all!
"except you sound smarter than all your friends and nobody likes you because they think you're a snob"
My point exactly. Sadly, it's pretty much the same when you're a full-blown adult. Be prepared. Articulate is good. Articulate is very good. But were you serious when you implied not all Americans are white trash doe-killing butt-scratchers w/ learning disabilities? Surely that can't be so.
It pains me when I see English-speaking natives making mistakes. I'm always tempted to email them because honestly wouldn't they like to know they're making mistakes but the answer being no they wouldn't, especially coming from a bloody foreigner, I keep my uncharitable thoughts and charitable actions to myself.
Good to see SOMEONE gets my sense of humour. It's not that it's a pitiful one. It's that some can't quite cope with excellence.
(And you of the 3 neurons, DO NOT email me this time re the literacy of Americans, it might just be that your WRITING will unravel all of NR's good work - and may I point out that it's "Your comment", not "You're comment", you git.)
I do apologize for slaughtering my own comment. This is what I get for playing on the internet when I have just woken up. In the future, I will wait until I have showered and am more alert. :o)
Now I'm lost. People, lay off the pills. Now I'm fully confused. Miss M?
My original comment was quoted by you...the part that I slaughtered anyway. :) Which dominoed into rather good reading....however, had I been able to properly articulate myself at 6:30 in the morning, pre-coffee, I wouldn't have had reason to blush when I clicked on the comments again this morning. *sigh* I just had that moment where I had to reread my comment and just say "DOH!". That's all.
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