No, the title is not a typo, and no, I didn’t accidentally get all trigger happy with Cut & Paste. Maybe this pop-culture reference from the 1999 hit movie, Fight Club, will provide the context needed for your appreciation of the mirth contained herein:
Okay, with that out of the way, let’s get right to today’s tale…
“My neighbor is a fellow that goes by the name Robort Kirk. He told me that he came from the U.S.S. Enterprise. He moved next door about two years ago. He acts strangely when he shaves because his hair grows back instantly.
Once, I saw him turn into a laser-beam & dissappear. He also has many models that appear to be out of a Sci-fi movie. The two most disturbing things about him is that he has no left arm & a robotic right hand.
Robort is usually depressed. He acts very disoriented with his surroundings. His legs are very short & stubby, so that might have something to do with it. He seems solemn because he never moves his eyes.
I guess he works at NASA because he is building a spaceship module. His probably has no doors, just ports. He could be an alien who android who has a human brain. He builds models in his spare time.
In the future he will finish his spaceship & go back to the Enterprise. I think when he got the brain transplant, they mixed up the programming disk with a disk with data about Star Trek.
Obviously, he will lose his job.
I think he is extremely weird. I want to move! I don’t like him or Star Trek!”
If you’re wondering what in the hell you just read, you’re not alone. Well, you see what happened was…I was doing a little excavating today and unearthed this sacred text:
That’s right, today’s tale was courtesy of a very special guest.
…and it was ME.1Watch this if you don’t get the joke: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-J2YVaXIpKQ&t
Well, to be more specific, it was 8th-Grade B.J., joining us all the way from 1994!
And I have a lot of questions for him, such as, “What the hell are you talking about, man?”
Or “Dare I ask what the assignment was? Let me guess: ‘Imagine someone different than you and describe how you would be an intolerant asshat towards them.’ Am I close?”
Or “Dude, I’ve read much more coherent literature…written by our 7-Year-Old Self.”
Seriously, this was a little embarrassing to read. I thought it was kinda cute when I originally read it, but that’s only because I just assumed that it was something I had written in 4th grade at the latest.
But I was almost 14 when I wrote this.
Amazingly, though, this wasn’t the most embarrassing thing I’ve read today written by 13-Year-Old BJ.
I also unearthed an old copy of the Hutchinson News2One of the most widely-distributed newspapers in the western half of Kansas. Seriously: https://www.hutchnews.com/ from August 1994. One in which contained a Letter To The Editor which eloquently defended the honor of…Rush Limbaugh. I’m not going to say who wrote that letter, but I’m just going to say that I’d really rather not talk about that right now.
Oh! One last question:
“That was your final draft? I’d hate to see what the first draft looked like…”
Well, guess who brought receipts?
Well, here’s a letter to my editor here (have no idea who my writing partner was): “You’ve been extremely helpful./s”3”/s” is Reddit-speak for “I’m being sarcastic, you dumb fuck.”
At least it would have been a fun drinking game where we take a shot of liquor every time that useless turd commented with “How can you tell?” or “So what?”
On the other hand–ooohh! Sorry, Robort, poor choice of words on my part. What I meant to say was, on the bright side, my editor did have a few good nuggets:
- In reference to what happens when Robort shaves: “How can you tell? Have you been over when he has shaved?” Good point. And thanks for making me feel super creepy.
- “Why does he not have a robotic Left arm too?” Because, Good Sir, that would just make too much ----- sense. Who are you, anyway? The Logic Police?
- “So he is not from the Enterprise, he just thinks he is.” Bingo! What a twist! Though in retrospect, I should give him/her much more for credit for actually pulling that key plot point out from my certified word vomit.
Welp! Thanks for taking this long walk down memory lane with me today. I know that it’s not necessarily a good look when I end it with an argument with an almost-imaginary editor from 25 years ago. Though I swear I haven’t been day drinking…again.
I suppose the point of the story is maybe you should be a little more cautious when “digging into the [proverbial] vault.” Just because you share it on a Thursday doesn’t mean that it was something you necessarily should be Throwing Back to.4This was such a throwback that I missed Thursday altogether and it landed on a Sunday.
Oh, yeah, and love your neighbor. How ----- hard can this be?5If you think this is personally directed at you, I would like to kindly point out that this was written well over 2 weeks ago.
Content created on: 3 November 1994 and 11 June 2020 (Thurs/Thurs)
Footnotes & References:
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