A Real World tale of Feminism

                Larry Couchmanos was an extremely old fashioned man despite his young age of 24.  He was raised with traditional European values that have seemed to disappear in America.  He still believed in chivalrous acts like walking women home, holding doors for them, letting them go in an elevator first, etc. etc.  As he became more and more infuriated by the feminist movement however, he made some concessions.  He sometimes would sit down on a subway even when there were women who were standing and sometimes he would give in when being scolded for his archaic views by women who didn’t know him well enough to know he was not doing it out of flirtation but because it was the right thing to do. 

On one particular occasion, Larry went over to his friend’s Gia’s house to keep her company since she was confined to her bed after a car had ran over her knee twice.  Gia’s two friends, Dara and Gabrielle also came to visit Gia.  Larry knew both of them and got along with them but all three understood that they were not friends with each other but merely shared a mutual close friend.  This allowed them to be civil with each other but not to call each other to hang out without Gia’s presence.  When it came time to come home, Dara got in her car and headed back to New Jersey while Larry and Gabrielle started walking uptown starting from Gia’s apartment on 59^th and Sutton Place in Manhattan, New York.  Larry lived on 70^th and 2^nd Avenue and Gabrielle lived on 78^th and 2^nd.  Around 74^tth Street, Gabrielle asked Larry, “Don’t you live around here?”

“Yea, I live on 70^th but whatever I’ve already gone far enough, I might as well just walk you to your door.”

This had been Larry’s intention all along but he knew that Gabrielle, despite being 100% Italian, was a new-age woman that got offended by chivalry.  Larry tried to subvert the argument secretly knowing that it would never succeed. Gabrielle immediately responded back, “No, you don’t have to do that, I’m so close to home, go home, I’m fine!”

“Yea, that’s why you said you wanted to walk along York because you’re afraid of going under the Queensborough bridge on 1^st Avenue.”

“Well we didn’t go that way, we went on York, now we’re past the bridge, so I’m fine, you can go home now.”

“It’s really not a problem, I’m closer to your place than mine anyway.”

The argument continued like this but since they were walking, inherently Larry was winning because they were getting closer and closer to Gabrielle’a apartment.  When they got to across the street from her apartment, Gabrielle stopped and said, “I’m picking up some food from the store, you certainly don’t have to follow me in there, I literally live across the street.”

Larry was fed up with this debate so decided to acquiesce and go home.  When she finished getting a couple items from the store and left a man came up from behind her and she felt something pointy in her back.  The man said, “Hey hunny, what’s up?”

Gabrielle didn’t recognize the voice but before she could turn her head to see who it was he was whispering in her ear, “If you make one move or an effort to scream or call for help, I’ll slice your fucking spine and you’ll be a vegetable for the rest of your life. Gabrielle’s muscles tightened up and her arms began to shake.  The man continued, “now let’s just go to our apartment as if we’re good friends.”

Gabrielle crossed the street and fumbled with her keys hand shaking.  The guy said in a stern whisper, “Relax! I’m not going to hurt you, stop shaking and just unlock the door.”

Gabrielle unlocked the front door to her apartment and they walked in.  The man said, “If you knock on a door, I’ll know you went to a neighbor’s apartment and not yours so don’t try anything stupid.”

Gabrielle led him to her apartment and unlocked the door and they crossed the threshold and the man closed the door behind him and locked it.  He lowered the object from her back and shoved Gabrielle forward.  Gabrielle, being only 5’ tall and extremely petite, fell from the push..  The man grabbed her purse and removed her cell phone and put it in his pocket.  Gabrielle was sitting with her feet up hugging her knees visibly frightened.  She said, “Whatever you want, you can have it?  Whatever you see it’s yours, just please take it and go.”

“But I want to fuck you.”

Gabrielle’s eyes widened.  Her eyes started tearing up and she said, “You don’t have to do this, I have jewelry and money, just please go into my purse and take my wallet.  Please just don’t hurt me, you don’t have to hurt me, I won’t tell anybody about you.  I swear.”

The man shook his head and walked toward Gabrielle who froze in fear.  Gabrielle could now see the object that she knew was pressed against her back.  It was a three inch serrated knife.  The man kicked Gabrielle in the chest between her legs and pinned her onto her back.  He applied slight pressure on her sternum with his right foot and hissed, “You don’t tell me what to do, this is not a negotiation, I can do whatever the fuck I want to you, and you will do whatever I say whether you want to or not.”

“Why me? Why are you doing this?”

“Because I can.”

The man lifted Gabrielle’s right leg and pulled off her sneaker and sock.  He repeated the motion with her left shoe and sock.  Gabrielle kicked both legs into his chest and turned to crawl away.  She didn’t have much force behind the kick, however, and the man recovered quickly and grabbed her right leg and slammed his fist into her hamstring.  He then bent her knee back lifted her leg as far as he could and slammed her knee into the ground saying, “You want to kick me with these chicken legs.” 

He repeatedly slammed her knee into the ground and let go.  Gabrielle turned onto her back and grabbed at her leg crying in pain.  She wished that someone would come help her, but the knife scared her.  She knew that nobody would be able to get to her quick enough if the man decided to kill her.  The man then grabbed her left leg and twisted it turning her back to her stomach and treated her left leg the same way he did her right.  He was talking low but sternly, “You want to kick me bitch, how dare you! apologize now.”

Gabrielle wanted the pain to stop so she cried out, “I’m sorry, I’m sorry.”

The man grabbed her hair and yanked it up.  Instinctively, Gabrielle got up to her hands and knees as her knees seared with pain.  The man grabbed her beneath the armpits and picked her up onto her feet.  He then wrapped his left arm across her stomach gripping her opposite waist and used his right arm to scoop up her legs so she was parallel to the floor.  He lifted her up and slammed her back over his knee and smiled.  He said, “See what all that dieting and exercising and watching your figure get you?  It just makes it so much easier for guys like me to manhandle you” as he stood up and slammed her back over his knee again.  He used his forearms to press down against her chest and thighs to stretch her body and add more torque to her back.  Gabrielle was in too much pain to scream so she just gagged between sobs pleading in a barely audible whisper, “Please stop.” 

The man shoved her body off her and Gabrielle made no attempt to control her body and lied motionless as she rolled twice before resting on her back.  The man straddled her legs and undid her belt followed by unbuttoned and unzipped her pants.  Gabrielle stopped resisting, she was in a lot of pain and figured the more she fought, the more she’d get hurt.  The man pulled her pants off her.  He then grabbed her arms and pulled her up.  Gabrielle made no attempt to stand as she just let her momentum carry her to lean against him.  He gripped the bottom of her shirt and pulled it over her head and tossed it to the side.  “There’s a good bitch” he said

He bent over and wrapped his arms around her legs and hoisted her over his shoulder and carried her to the bedroom and slammed her on the bed.  He reached around and undid her bra and removed it from her body exposing her breasts.  He smiled and said, “Damn, I thought you’d put up a little bit more fight than this.”

He rolled her onto her stomach and straddled her back facing her feet.  He gripped the top of her underwear and pulled it toward him. The fabric wedged between her buttocks baring it.  The man yanked again on the panties.  He let go of the panties and slapped his hands onto her bare buttock squeezing with every collision.  He motioned Gabrielle back to her feet and picked her up by the arms over his head and dropped her gripping her panties.  Gabrielle fall was stopped as fabric wedged further into her and she heard a ripping noise.  The man repeated it two more times until the elastic band came clean off and Gabrielle’s feet were returned to the ground.  The man pulled the fabric out of her buttocks and since the elastic band was now being worn as a necklace by him and not holding the panties in place, they fell to her ankles. He shoved her onto the bed again as the panties slipped over her ankles and to the ground.  Gabrielle now lay on the bed completely nude.  The man stripped himself of his clothing and sat down on the bed next to Gabrielle’s body.  Gabrielle was sobbing uncontrollably, but the man didn’t seem to care.  The man grabbed her arms and pulled her to a seated position.  He then turned her toward him and spread her out on his lap so that her waist was resting on his right leg and her breasts over his left leg.  He pressed down with his left hand on her shoulder blades to hold her in place and spanked her with his right hand saying, “You’ve been a bad little bitch haven’t you?”

After being spanked a few times, Gabrielle cried out in desperation, “Please just get it over with!”

The man chuckled and said, “What’s that?  You want to fuck me slut?”

Gabrielle said nothing.  The man shoved her onto the ground lying on her stomach and picked up her right leg and lied down wrapping his legs around her right leg and gripping her foot in his hand.  He twisted the ankle and squeezed his thighs to limit any movement Gabrielle may have in her leg.  Gabrielle screamed out in pain.  The man said, “Tell me you want to fuck me” Gabrielle howled in pain and gagged trying to find the words.  The man continued, “Say it, or I’ll break your fucking ankle.” 

Gabrielle cried out in a whisper, “Fuck me”

“Say please”

“Please”

“Louder!!! Scream out ‘please fuck me’”

“PLEASE FUCK ME!!!” Gabrielle screamed and then cried hysterically

“Tell me you’re a slut”

“Please just let go”

“Scream it”

“I’m a slut!” she yelled out

The guy let go of her leg and stood up.  He stripped himself nude and knelt beside her nudging his knee into her side and brought his arm under hers and gripping the back of her leg and motioned her onto her back.  He slipped his arms under her legs and neck and hoisted her up dead weight and placed her on the bed.  He looked at her and said, “Well if you insist” as he lied on top of her inserting his penis into her vagina. 

Gabrielle squealed in pain and continued to cry.  She wanted it to stop but knew telling him was fruitless.  In desperation she wanted to speed things up so said, “You need to be quick before my boyfriend gets home.”

She lived alone and was bluffing but hoped he wouldn’t know that.  The guy slapped her across the face and said, ‘You live alone bitch, if you had a boyfriend, you’d never say that because you’d want him to catch me so that he could rescue you.  I hope you do have a boyfriend though, so that I can kick his ass and then fuck you as he watches on helplessly.” Gabrielle said nothing and he continued, “I love this part.  Up until this part you little bitches actually think it might not happen, something will stop me from actually penetrating, but then I do and the reality sets in.  How does it feel?”

Gabrielle didn’t know what the correct answer was so said nothing.  She didn’t want to get hit again.  The man was driving his penis into her while caressing and sucking on her breasts.  She let her body go limp and conceded to everything he wanted.  The man wrapped her legs around his waist and thrusted harder as Gabrielle’s lower body lifted with his.  Mercifully, she believed, he stopped only to be turned onto her stomach and have him drive his penis into her butt.  Her vaginal walls had been torn and blood flowed onto her sheets.  It didn’t take long for the skin on her buttocks to tear and bleed as well.  He lifted her so that she was on her hands and knees so he could squeeze her breasts and kiss her neck as he propelled his penis repeatedly into her buttocks.  He then alternated between sticking it her butt and her vagina from behind.  Finally she heard him gag as he climaxed and ejaculated sperm into her rectum.  He rolled over onto his back and breathed heavily.  Gabrielle cried harder now that her ordeal was over.

Finally, the man stood up.  Gabrielle thought he was going to leave but instead he dragged her off the bed by her legs and let the top half of her body slam against the ground.  Gabrielle’s nose started bleeding from the impact with the floor.  She came to the sad realization that he wasn’t done with her. The man yanked her by the hair and motioned her to her feet.  He applied pressure on her neck so that she bent before him and stuck her head between his legs.  He reached around her waist and pulled up on her stomach and brought her body around so that it straddled his face and then threw her down to the ground onto her neck and head.  She grabbed her head and rolled onto the ground in pain.  As she was rolling, she was stopped by a foot on her side and found herself being motioned up again.  He stood behind her and wrapped his arm around her stomach and the other arm on the back of her legs and flipped her over his shoulder so that her stomach lie on his shoulder spread out parallel to the ground held in place by one arm on her lower back.  He carried her out of her room to a table and lied her down on her back.  Gabrielle hadn’t noticed before, but the man had a plastic bag with him when he came in.  He went to the front door and removed duct tape from it.  Gabrielle was in too much pain to move when he left the room so was exactly where he had left her when he returned.  He spread her arms over her head and wrapped the duct tape around her arms, and the table continuing it for her entire arm, forehead, neck, stomach and legs.  She looked down and realized that he only didn’t wrap her breasts, face and groin in duct tape.  He picked up her purse and said, “You know what, I think I will take you up on that offer to give me money.”  Gabrielle’s eyes widened, when she originally proposed it, it was to take that instead of killing or raping her as he already had done the latter.  The man smiled, and opened her wallet and removed the cash.  He then took out the debit card and said, ‘What’s the code?”

Gabrielle said, “Come on, you’ve already won”

“Hey you asked me to fuck you, I should at least be paid for it.  I mean you are a new-aged woman after all, you believe that woman should pay for men now right?”

“She looked at him with contempt.  She decided that there was nothing more he could do to her so there was no reason not to talk back.  She said, “What makes you think I’m new-age?  You got what you wanted, you fucked me, what more could you want.”

“Money” he said simply

“Well fuck you.”

The man realized that Gabrielle believed she had nothing to lose anymore.  He was going to change that theory.  He stood over her and urinated on her face and neck.  He then straddled her and brought the knife across the duct tape on her left wrist.  The knife cut through the tape and the skin and blood began dripping onto the table.  Gabrielle’s strength left her and she became frightened again.  He put the knife against her right wrist and said, “The code?”

“You don’t have to do this?”

“Well obviously, it’s probably just your birthday, but I don’t want to go to the ATM and then have it not be your birthday and come back so just tell me or I could just continue to cut you.  You’re cuteness means nothing to me now, I’ve already fucked you and the more I disfigure you, the more likely that I will be the last one to do so.  I’ll give you five second..5…4”

Gabrielle said, “It’s my birthday. 11-23

The man laughed and said, “Wrong answer” and drove the knife across her wrist again.  He got off her and picked up her purse again and removed her driver’s license from the window.  He held it up to her face and said, “Bitch, it says 11-20-83 on the license, did you forget your birthday?  Or you just decided to lie to me?”

Before Gabrielle could answer, he put a sheet of duct tape over her mouth and walked toward the bedroom to get dressed.  He looked around the apartment and didn’t see a phone so he reached into her purse and took out her cell phone and put it in his pocket along with the debit card and her keys.  He put a ski mask on and went to an ATM and withdrew the maximum $ 600.  He returned to the apartment and dropped the card and the keys to the ground.  Gabrielle was still bound to the table.  He fanned the $ 600 in front of her face and said, “Thanks for a nice night whore”

He then took his knife and went under the table and cut the duct tape and pulled it unsympathetically off of Gabrielle’s body.  He then slid his arms under her legs and neck and carried her to the bathroom and started the shower.  He thoroughly bathed her getting rid of all DNA evidence.  He didn’t bother to shut off the water and left Gabrielle lying in the tub with the shower splashing off her naked body.  The man then left the apartment and shut the door. 

Gabrielle cried hysterically and was too weak to pick herself up.  After a while she mustered the courage to crawl out of her bathroom and to her purse to take out her cell phone only to realize that the man didn’t return it.  She was left with no phone to call someone for help.  She needed a hospital but she couldn’t stand.  As she lay on the ground she relived the night in her mind.  Although the rape was predominant in her mind, the one thing she thought about was how she snapped at Larry to not walk her to her apartment.  She tried to tell herself that Larry wouldn’t have been able to stop him but she did believe it to be a little too coincidental that in the couple minutes it took to get a couple groceries and walk across the street, someone had targeted her.  She refused to blame herself, however, as she convinced herself that if Larry hadn’t walked her as far as he did, she never would have argued with him and she never would have caught the attention of the rapist.  She had no proof of any of this, but proof never stood in the way of a woman’s opinion before, so why should it now? 

She was only half awake as she allowed herself to be semi-unconscious so she wouldn’t feel the pain.  She got a sudden surge of adrenaline and screamed out, “Call an ambulance, come in by any means necessary, please help me.” 

Given that people don’t like getting involved, nobody came to her aid.  Eventually the wounds inside of her became infected and she died a slow agonizing death. A few days later, neighbors called because of the smell.  By that time, it had been too long for any worthwhile forensics and the killer was never caught.   

Russian Aggression

                It was Valentines Day in New York.  A holiday that most women love and men try to appease the woman in their life with their plans.  For single people, however, Valentines Day is annoying.  Even if they wanted to go out to eat, restaurants are all jammed packed and PDA is sure to occur.  Vonnie Yankolov had a solution to this problem.  She was going to throw a singles-only Valentines Day party at her parent’s apartment in Fort Lee, NJ.  Her parents had agreed to stay with their eldest daughter while Vonnie threw the party.  Vonnie was in her first year at New York University, and since she had lived at home, she was able to keep in touch with old friends from home while making new ones in college.  The party was a mixture of the two groups, and Vonnie hoped that everyone would mix well.  Some people, however, just don’t mix.

                Larry had met Vonnie at school and quickly hit it off with her in a plutonic way.  She had quickly climbed his list of best friends and sat at the top in just a few months.  Although Larry would say that he is the most consistent person when it comes to his actions and attitudes, with Vonnie especially he held nothing back.  This is why she was his best friend, because he didn’t have to watch his mouth or inhibit his actions around her.  He was free to do and act as he saw fit.  It’s because of this that he readily agreed to Vonnie’s single-only party.  He wasn’t someone to always have a plan when he went somewhere he just took things as they happened and saw where he’d end up.  Although this almost always made for good stories, it sometimes placed him in situations he’d rather avoid.

                Sergay was a fellow-Russian friend of Vonnie’s.  He was a few years older than her but Vonnie’s going to college had not affected their friendship, he often times came down to NYU to have dinner or drinks with Vonnie and see how she was doing offering any advice as he saw fit having just finished college himself.  Like everyone else at the party, Sergay became extremely drunk as the night went on and he quickly avoided standing so as to maintain his balance.  He had noticed Larry go into Vonnie’s parent’s bedroom with a girl and from what he heard from various people who had gone in there, they were hooking up.  This didn’t really concern Sergay as he expected that at a party, much more, a singles-only party, that some people would end up matching up even if it were just for a night.  A while later, he saw the person he had met previously as Larry walk out looking completely disheveled and exhausted.  Ironically, the girl had not come out with him.  Larry immediately sat down at the table Sergay also happened to be at and Sergay decided to strike up a conversation.  He said, “Did you have fun in there?” to which Larry responded just by nodding but had a blank expression on his face so Sergay continued, “did you fuck her?”

                “No, she passed out.”

                Sergay glared at Larry and decided to help this guy out, “So?  Go back in there and finish the job”

                Larry looked up and suddenly the blank expression was no longer there and he was glaring at him. “No, I’m not going to do that” he said rather forcefully.

                “Why not man?”
                “That’s called rape”

                “No it’s not, she obviously wanted it if she was hooking up with you before, so just go back in there and finish it, nobody will know.”

                Larry rose and snapped, “What the fuck is a matter with you?!”

                Sergay raised his hands a bit and replied, “Alright Alright, do what you want.”

                Not too long later, the girl Larry had been with, awoke with no recollection of what happened.  She started crying and given that Vonnie already had to deal with one girl who was crying because she lost her virginity, naturally assumed that she’d have to go through it again.  As she walked into the hallway, Vonnie looked over at Larry and decided to diffuse what she thought might be a volatile situation before it started and told Larry to go into the parent’s bedroom and go to sleep so that she could deal with her and the other girl who had been crying.  Larry was more than happy to agree, not because it was 5AM and he had an early morning flight the next day or avoiding facing the girl he just hooked up with, but if he spoke to Sergay any longer, he may resort to blows for implying that he should have raped his partner.

                The next day Larry left Vonnie’s house before anyone had awoken and flew to Columbus, Ohio not knowing what would happen when he returned.  He hadn’t said anything to the girl since they hooked up and Sergay ended up passing out in the bathroom. 

                Five and a half years after that singles-only Valentines Day party nothing seemed to have changed.  Sergay seemed to have forgotten about that night and was unaware that Larry was still mad at him for suggesting that he rape his now close friend.  Although Larry and Vonnie didn’t see each other too often, their friendship didn’t seem to fade.  It was more a matter that they both had the same personality trait of not thinking to call people.  To them, friends were really out of sight, out of mind.  It bothered both of them, but when they did see each other, they often picked up right where they left off.  This was especially true around Larry’s birthday, because Vonnie would always plan it.  She took birthdays very seriously and knew that Larry hated his birthday because he believed that bad things always happened.  For the last four out of five years since they’d known each other, Vonnie had always succeeded in giving Larry a good birthday.  The one year that Larry didn’t enjoy it, was the birthday he had planned himself.  Vonnie had realized that she hadn’t seen most of her friends in a while so she decided to have a party just to see everyone again.  The party was to take place at Vonnie’s apartment in Tribeca.  It was a first floor apartment that had access to a small garden in the back, which Vonnie had utilized to plant many plants and flowers as it relaxed her to walk outside to flowers after a long day of work in a barren Manhattan concrete jungle.  She still considered Larry her best male friend and would be on his side if any disputes were to arise.  She had forgotten that Larry hated Sergay so saw no reason why not to invite both of them to the party.  Sergay had a girlfriend currently named Lyubov who was a 5’6” blond haired Ukrainian who had moved to New York from the Midwest.  Sergay had introduced Larry to Lyubov and given that they both grew up in the Midwest (Larry was raised in Cleveland, Ohio) they used that as an ice breaker and continued from there.  As alcohol was consumed, Sergay and Lyubov had gone to the bathroom together.  Larry was sitting off to the side as he was kind of antisocial and enjoyed people watching more than actively participating in festivities.  Lyubov came over to him and sat down and he and her began talking.  Lyubov told him that she had gone to the bathroom and Sergay wanted to hook up but she didn’t think it was right to do that in the bathroom of someone’s house whom she didn’t know so she pushed him away and ran out.  Larry was incredulous with the story.  He had found out that Sergay and Lyubov lived together so her denying his advances didn’t really make much sense to him.  What made even less sense was that Lyubov was telling him the story given that they had just met that night.  Larry only responded, “In five seconds, Sergay will be back here.” 

                He wasn’t really sure why he said that, but Lyubov rattled off “1-2-3-4-5” as fast as she could say it.

                Larry held up five fingers and counted down in real seconds, when he got to one, Sergay walked over to them.  He was coming from behind Larry and smacked him on the back of the head and said, “What the fuck are you doing?  You hitting on my girl?”

                Larry turned around and said calmly, “No, but if you want to go outside and discuss this, let’s go” as he rose and headed toward the door to the garden always turning to ensure Sergay wasn’t going for a blind side attack.  What was conspicuous to Larry was that Lyubov was doing nothing to stop Sergay, she followed closely behind him as they went outside.  When they were both in the garden, Larry turned toward Sergay relishing the moment that he would finally get to fight him.  Sergay lunged forward to shove Larry and yelled out, “You want to hit on my girl?” so the crowd knew what the fight was about.  Larry brought his right arm down and his left arm up chopping Sergay’s arms away and since his right hand was now cocked at his side, and Sergay’s arms were in no position to defend himself Larry drove his right palm up into Sergay’s nose bloodying it.  Sergay backed up a couple of steps from the blow holding his nose.  He came back quickly with a punch that Larry blocked and then he grabbed Sergay by the head bringing it down.  This was a mistake Larry often employed in street fights.  He was very accustomed to wrestling thus striking, as is needed in street fighting, was not his instinctive reaction.  Sergay was stronger than Larry thus despite being in the headlock he was able to drive Larry back into the fence on the opposite wall but Larry had maintained his grip.  Sergay punched away at Larry midsection hoping he’d break the hold.  Larry kept downward pressure on his neck trying to force Sergay down, finally he drove his knee up catching Sergay in the midsection.  Sergay dropped to his knees but reached his hand up and drove his thumb into Larry’s eye.  Larry tried moving his head to spring loose but Sergay had his thumb locked in so Larry released the hold to use his hand to pull Sergay’s hand away.  This temporarily blinded him and gave Sergay the opening he needed as he punched Larry in the stomach a couple times ending it with a punch to the face.  Larry turned his head as he anticipated the punch so that Sergay would punch the back of his skull.  He knew it would hurt, but it could potentially crack Sergay’s knuckles or break his wrist depending on how hard he punched.  As Larry acquired his bearings, Sergay was shaking his wrist.  Larry lunged forward and tackled Sergay to the ground and punched away at his face.  Sergay deflected most of the momentum from the blows by putting his arms around his face and wrapped his legs around Larry’s waist squeezing trying to suffocate him.  Larry was able to lower Sergay’s legs slightly enough so that that his pelvis absorbed the pressure but high enough so that Sergay wouldn’t notice the futility of the effort.  Sergay reached up and wrapped his hands around Larry’s neck and squeezed choking him.  Larry jabbed connecting with his nose again forcing Sergay to release his grip.  Larry got up and started coughing.  Sergay rose to his feet and charged at Larry, Larry fell to the side sticking his right leg out and kicking at the Sergay’s Achilles Heel with his left tripping him over the right and onto his stomach.  Larry pounced on top of Sergay and grabbed him by the hair and repeatedly slammed his face into the ground.  Sergay put out his hands to try to push himself up but Larry brought his arms underneath Sergay’s and put him in a full nelson giving him free reign to drive his face repeatedly into the ground. 

As Sergay lost consciousness, Larry felt a kick to the side of head knocking him off Sergay.  He rolled around to see who was kicking him and saw Lyubov ignore Sergay and head right for him.  She drove her knee into Larry’s face before he could register what was going on.  Larry rolled away from Lyubov and leaned toward a pursuing Lyubov wrapping his arms around her legs and rising with her slouching over his shoulder.  Larry contemplated snapping the top half of her body to the ground but he was vehemently against hitting girls and just couldn’t bring himself to do it.  Lyubov struggled immensely pounding at Larry’s back trying to push herself up to a vertical base.  Larry couldn’t hold on much longer and instead of slamming her down she dropped back on her feet only to be met by a slap to the face.  Larry backed up for defensive purposes and blocked a wide range of punches and kicks from Lyubov unsure how long he could keep it up.  He was a bit wary from the fight and the two kicks to the head plus Lyubov was at full strength reduced his chances.  If Larry could bring himself to fight back, he may have stood a chance, but since his morality stopped him, this could be very embarrassing and end very badly for Larry.  In the corner of his eye, Larry saw a slim figure come out of the crowd.  His peripherals could only make out that it was a woman, but he wasn’t sure if it was friend or foe as the majority of his concentration was on Lyubov’s four limbs coming at him.  The figure then kicked Lyubov in the midsection causing her to lean over in pain.  Larry turned toward his rescuer to see Vonnie in a fighting stance.  Vonnie prided herself on having very powerful legs, and Larry knew that she had connected well with one of her powerful legs and Lyubov was feeling the effects of it.  Larry backed off to catch his breath and became a part of the crowd, whose attention was now on Vonnie and Lyubov.  Lyubov stood to full height, which was some three inches taller than Vonnie still showing obvious signs of pain.  Vonnie, slapped her across the face and taunted, “You want to start a fight in my apartment bitch?!”

                Lyubov came back with a slap of her own, which only seemed to anger Vonnie more.  One thing Vonnie hated was people touching her face, and a slap was the biggest form of disrespect you could show and she was not going to tolerate anyone slapping her in her home.  She punched Lyubov in the solar plexus and then grabbed on to Lyubov’s hair to stop her from peeling over again.  Vonnie dragged Lyubov by the hair and slammed her face first into the fence.  Vonnie then yanked back tripping Lyubov over her extended knee and stomped away at Lyubov’s midsection taunting her, “You want to slap me, you fucking bitch!”

                When Vonnie tired, she spit on Lyubov and said, “A little harder when someone hits back isn’t it?”

                She turned toward some of her other male friends and told them to get Sergay and Lyubov out of her apartment, to which they agreed.  Larry went up to Vonnie and said, “Damn Vonnie, not bad”

                Vonnie shook her head and said, ‘Shut up Larry, you fought in my house too, I’m just glad you took it outside, that’s the only reason you’re still here.”

                “You couldn’t have been completely against it, if you fought for me buddy.”

                Vonnie gave Larry a look of contempt which only made him smile wider.  She asked, “Will you ever grow up and start acting like a man?  You’re so immature” she then changed her tone to a mocking tone “ehhh Cat fight” waving her arms and rolling her eyes.

                “No”

                Vonnie finally managed to smile and said, “Well then how does it feel that you couldn’t take on a woman by yourself?  How’s your ego now?”

                Larry’s eyes widened but his smile never faded and responded, “I know right? thank God I have female friends or else I would have been really humiliated, thanks Vonnie monster” using her nickname that Larry had blatantly stolen from when he and Vonnie saw Avenue Q together.”

                Vonnie decided it was no use arguing back so she would just play along, she was over what happened, there was no damage to her house, Sergay and Lyubov were escorted outside and people were going about their business.  She waved a finger at Larry and said, “Be careful, I won’t always be there to protect you.”

                Larry then hugged Vonnie and Vonnie pushed him away and said, “Ewww, you’re all sweaty and you got a bloody nose, wash yourself up and then hug me.”

                Larry laughed as he went into the bathroom to wash his face and then had a couple more drinks.  After everyone who was not going to spend the night had left, Larry took a shower and then shared a bed with Vonnie.  This was a common occurrence in their beginning years of college but hadn’t happened in a while.  As they slept Larry couldn’t help but feeling a bit of nostalgia for he really had missed the friendship that Larry and Vonnie had while in college.  The next day they went off their separate ways unknowing when they would meet again since neither of them were very good callers.  

Cat Fight in Brooklyn

                Larry Rozos started a habitat in Brooklyn, NY many people stopped over and spent the night and such.  Other people lived there for a short while then moved out.  The permanent residences were mainly Larry and his cousin Kera.  They were rarely ever in the house alone due to the frequent visits.  On December 5, 2000 (the day the real event happened) Larry arrived home after school before Kera every day.  Kera took the bus because by the time Larry picked her up, the bus would have left so bus was a faster route home.  Larry was home and was working on homework.  Then he heard the door close and Kera’s friend Tiffany yelled, “Larry come here quick.” 

                Larry dropped his book and went downstairs for he felt a sense of urgency in Tiffany’s tone.  He saw Kera’s face bloody.  He rushed down and laid her on a couch.  There were many bloodstains on the couch due to the multiple fights Larry engaged in that were street fights so both participants got bloody.  Larry grabbed napkins and some rubbing alcohol and tended to the cuts on Kera’s face.  He asked what happened and Kera replied,  “This Russian bitch and I have mad beef because I know she talks about time and the other day I asked her why she talks about me and makes fun of me cause she doesn’t know me.... and then I heard she wanted to fight me and I said that if she was gonna fight me than I would and I wont back down and "kiss her feet" which is what she wanted me two do for her not to fight... so I was walking home with Tiffany and I passed by her and she grabbed my arm and was like so I hear you want to fight and I was like well if that’s what it’s gonna be I’m not gonna back down and she was like why did you call me a bitch and I was like Angela...you talk about me, you make fun of me, and you call me a bitch behind my back all the time and then she was like do you think  you can fight me cause you can’t and (managed a smile) ok this wasn’t right but whatever I was like well if you sit on me maybe not...(smile growing bigger) but whatever and then she was like ok and then some other shit that she said to me and I started to get mad and she was like so do you think you can hurt me and I was like if I have to defend myself I’ll try and she was so calm and all of the sudden she slapped me harder than I’ve ever slapped anyone or seen anyone get slapped and she grabbed my wrists and I couldn’t move so I tried to kick her but her bag was in the way so she let go of my wrist and scratched me a few times and Tiffany saw all the blood going down my face and pulled me away and we went home I have about 15 cuts from her nails all up my nose and under my right eye and now I have one day in house suspension because a teacher saw and the dean talked to Angela and she made it seem like I started the fight.”

                Larry responded, “Yea I definitely see the cuts and that’s bullshit with the suspension it was off school property after hours!”

                Kera agreed Larry tended to her cuts and when the bleeding stopped he dubbed the eye a little more.  Larry called his dad’s office since he was an ophthalmologist (Eye doctor).  He had Tiffany ask the secretaries what he should do for the situation so that Larry would avoid a speech from his father to come home.  She asked Larry’s dad and his dad gave her the information, Tiffany repeated it so Larry knew.  After it was over Larry called the school.  He claimed to be Kera’s father, he was in reality her legal guardian and yelled at them about the suspension.  Larry debated with the dean for a while listing names of people who actually witnessed what happened from beginning to end.  Then concluded his argument by saying that if Kera were in house suspended that he would make it a legal matter and bring in all the witnesses he named.  The Dean immediately called everyone on the list, for she knew that Larry couldn’t possibly explain the story to all those people.  Of course she didn’t talk to Tiffany since she was at the habitat.  When she heard the same story all leading to the aggressor she had made her decision. 

                Larry couldn’t help but blame himself for what happened.  He had told Kera countless times ‘never pick a fight but if someone picks a fight with you give it to them good.’  That’s what Kera did and it backfired.  He never told anyone that he blamed himself to those linked to Kera.

The next day Kera went to school as normal, the Dean called her to her office and told her she was off the hook, and to stay away from Angela.  Kera was ecstatic; the Dean then called in Angela and extended her punishment to two days for her actions and lying. 

At school some of Kera’s friends came up to her and said, “I heard what happened with you and that Russian bitch, we’re going to jump her for ya.”

Kera said, “Look I’m off the hook but if you wanna jump her go ahead but I didn’t tell ya too, and you may be suspended.”

They told her they didn’t really care if the got suspended.  That day her friends followed Angela home and one jumped her.  She tackled Angela to the ground and bitch slapped her, then began scratching her face.  The girl then lifted her up and attacked her.  She slapped her so hard Angela fell to the ground.  The girl turned her onto her back and then began stomping her stomach and limbs.  Cuts were already forming on Angela’s body.  Angela lay on the ground in an excessive amount of pain.  The girl straddled Angela and began digging her nails into the cuts she already formed on her face, arms, legs and stomach.  The girl dragged Angela into her own house.  Luckily for the girl, nobody was in the house.  She ripped off Angela’s shirt and began kicking her chest.  Angela was against the wall, which kept her standing for a little until she sunk to a sitting position.  The girl then stomped on Angela’s chest causing more cuts.  She helped Angela to her feet and put her in a headlock, she then slammed Angela’s head into her right knee.  As the girl repeated slamming her knee into Angela’s face, The girl’s friends ran in and pulled her back.  The girl calmed down when she saw the carnage she had delivered she then said smiling, “Take that you Russian bitch.”

The girl and her friends left.  Meanwhile when Kera got home, she went upstairs where she knew Larry was doing homework.  She was holding back her happiness, and said Larry’s name to get his attention.  Larry turned around and got up.  Kera then ran and gave Larry a hug.  Larry was wondering what happened but he had an idea.  Kera let go and told Larry what happened at school with the dean.  Larry was happy, he wasn’t bluffing about pressing charges his and Kera’s uncle was a lawyer in New York and he would take the case. 

A couple hours later Kera’s friend appeared at her house and told Kera everything.  They even took photographs of how Angela looked.  Even Kera was horrified at the site but she smiled when she remembered what Angela did to her.  She showed Larry, Larry looked at the pictures in shock and said, “I would hate to be on your bad sides but nice work, clearly I could do better” he smiled at the end.

Her friends laughed for they knew he was kidding.  Larry no longer blamed himself for what happened for Kera’s face was back to normal with no scars and they got the last laugh. 

When Angela’s parents arrived they were horrified at what happened.  Angela blacked out somewhere in the beating so she didn’t remember much including the culprit.  She just knew it was a black girl, which anywhere doesn’t narrow it down especially in Brooklyn, NY.  When Kera saw Angela the next day scarred she couldn’t help but smile, she turned away so Angela wouldn’t see her, for she wanted this to be over.  In the end Kera got the last laugh, thanks to her friends and Larry.  Angela never bothered Kera again.  That wasn’t the last time Angela got jumped, other girls wanted to express their dislike for her in physical ways.  All the attacks happened outside of school, and the ones Angela knew had threatened to kill her if she snitched.  Angela kept her mouth shut.  She tried to get her group to get revenge on some of the girls she knew that delivered the punishments but when the group tried the group of her attackers shut them down.  Angela never got the last laugh in any confrontation so gave up quickly and she no longer talked bad about Kera or anyone else.  Unlike Kera some of her cuts from her attacks scarred.  Sometimes an ass-kicking can be the best awakener. 

Things don't change

I guess it isn't too shocking given that my book is entitled The World Hasn't Progressed in 5,000 Years to have a topic that says things don't change.  The book talks about how the same debates that have been going on for centuries are still occurring but people don't realize that on the small scale, things don't change either.

I recently went to dinner with my 31-year-old former roommate who is dating a 24-year-old woman.  There is nothing wrong with this whatsoever.  I feel that once both parties are past college graduation, age doesn't really matter.  When my former roommate left however, I asked the girl about him.  She said, "well I like dating someone much older than me because they are more mature."  I told her, "Men don't mature past the age of 12" and pointed to where her boyfriend used to be sitting and said, "Case in point."
Her response, "Yea true"

Women have this belief that older men are more mature.  I believe the opposite is true, men are more mature than women, but that is something I've written about before. It seems though that the mistakes we make as children, we repeat in adulthood.  High school girls like assholes and they get burned time and time again and in adulthood they end up marrying an abusive man who beats her.  They never like the nice guy.  it is never like the movies.  The nice, respectful man finishes last and that's just as true at 14 as it is at 35 or even 45.  It doesn't matter how old you are or how often you get burned, you will never learn that the man who you're attracted to because he doesn't give a shit about anything also doesn't give a shit about you.

Now, let's talk about the dorky guy, that keeps to himself, actually does his own thing despite criticism from everyone else.  He is the true person that's secure with himself and the real mature one. But, he's not innocent.  Just as how he was a pussy in high school with making a move on girls, he doesn't learn in adulthood.  Sure, he can turn down sluts because he doesn't need hook ups to feel better about himself but when he likes a girl, he does nothing just like when he was in high school.

I am one of these dorky guys.  I have an affinity for redheads.  I often wonder where it came from.  I think the best explanation for it is I keep chasing my 1st girlfriend.  We'll call her Kera.  I dated Kera in 8th grade.  I actually dated her twice, totaling five months.  Not exactly a lasting relationship. During this whole time, I never kissed her.  I asked her out over e-mail the 1st time and over the phone the 2nd time.  I was so much of a loser, I didn't realize I had won.  I had gotten the girl. She said yes, I don't have to use any tricks, I can just kiss her.  I wanted to try to "fake French" her.  In that I put my arm around her, cover her mouth with my hand and kiss my hand but since my head is blocking it, it looks like we're making out. I was planning on moving my hand at the last second. She refused.  Simply because, she just wanted me to kiss her, which I never did.  It's been 16 years since this time.  I've had more years since this occurrence than I had life on Earth prior, yet I often wonder what it would have been like to kiss Kera.  As you may have guessed, Kera had red hair.  In college I fell in love with another redhead. This one I did get to kiss a few times but I never got her to say yes to me when I asked her out.  She wanted a casual friends-with-benefits, I wanted more.  Her and I are still friends to this day and I have no regrets with her as we are not compatible.  But, kissing her didn't make the regret with Kera go away.

I have  been asexual for the last nine years.  I often wonder if the two redheads in my life, the college one that married and had children with another man and Kera are the sole reasons for it.  I say it's because I lost my virginity and hated it so it ended my desire to try it again. I still think that's the reason but I'm not entirely convinced the two redheads didn't have something to do with it.  I haven't seen Kera since my junior year of high school.  One day I was telling a high school friend about Kera, and he told me to call her.  I actually remembered her home number from 8th grade.  I called it and her mom picked up and told me she was at work and then told me exactly where she worked.  Now, mothers of girls always liked me and Kera's mom was no exception.  Throughout my childhood I would hear, "You're the first guy I ever trusted my daughter with."  and now that I'm old, "You're the only guy I trust my wife/girlfriend/fiancee with."  I showed up to Kera's work and acted like it was random.  She saw right through it and she was actually getting off work five minutes after I showed up.  She stormed out of work and made a bee line for her car and drove away, she wanted nothing to do with me.  I never saw her again but I took that as a sign that I will never get a chance to make up for my idiotic prudeness as an 8th grader.

Fast forward to now.  I still am hesitant to make a move on a girl.  I feel awkward going in for a kiss.  The odd thing is, if she makes the move, I'm turned off as I think guys should make the first move.  But, when I'm too shy to make it, then what choice do I give her?  I hung out with a couple girls last year.  I got the urge to make a move but I never did.  Basically, the little 8th grade boy that I've imagined going back in time and smacking is still me.  One of the girls was adamant that she wasn't flirting with me and wouldn't want me to hit on her but she said yes when i asked her out.  Given that I spent the next 12 days trying to convince her that I actually liked her and it wasn't pity, then I called her damaged causing her to dump me to my relief.  During these 12 days, she invited me to her house.  She lived in Maryland, I live in New York.  I told her I had plans to go to Atlantic City, she dumped me after the weekend was over.  That was fine, I was happy about it actually.  But here's the point.  She probably wanted to hook up  but I blew her off.  This is Kera all over again, Kera wanted me to kiss her but I never did.  So, I've decided that just like the girl who never learns not to fall for assholes, I will never learn to just go for it.

autographed copies of my book The World Hasn't Progressed in 5,000 years  can be bought at the bottom of this page.

Donald Sterling vs. Magic Johnson

I think Donald Sterling's attacks on Magic Johnson  are fueled by jealousy because his girlfriend admired Johnson more than him.  With that said, Magic did nothing to disprove what Sterling said.  Johnson just said, "I wish he knew the facts"  Well, Sterling said you haven't done much for minorities whereas Sterling has given millions of dollars to helping minority programs.  So much so, the NAACP was going to give him an award, then this whole scandal happened.  Has the NAACP ever offered Johnson an award for his efforts with minorities?  Sterling's comment, Jews make money and then help other Jews but minorities who make money don't do that is completely accurate from a broad perspective.  As a Greek, I wish Greeks helped Greeks the way Jews help Jews and I'm not even a minority.  What has Magic done?  Nobody answered that question.  Then again, maybe Johnson felt that he had no reason to respond or to explain; the record speaks for itself.  A simple google search may solve this problem but to be honest, I don't really care what Magic has done for minorities.  I have no idea why Sterling keeps dragging Magic into this.  Even on the tape, Sterling said, "You should admire Johnson."  I'd now ask Sterling the question, "If you say he isn't a role model, why did you say he should be admired on the tape?"  Sterling is contradicting himself.  Nowhere on Sportscenter or the guy who interviewed Sterling, did they defend Magic by saying what he has done.  The only thing the interviewer took issue with is when Sterling said, "Magic got AIDS" the interviewer responded, "No, it was just HIV, it wasn't full blown AIDS."  He felt the need to clarify that point but not one thing Magic has done to refute Sterling?  This is odd.  It is, however, irrelevant.  This is not a Magic Johnson issue, Sterling should keep his attacks focused on the real villain, the monopolistic, anti-American, tyrannical nature of the NBA trying to grab his property from him.  Rest assured that behind closed doors, the owners are thinking that if they do it to Sterling, could they do it to me if say, I chastise an NBA referee or if I eat meat?  Remember this secular-progressive movement is taken over just like the French Revolution.  Robespierre started the French Revolution and later was killed by the revolutionaries for saying they were taking it too far.  First it's racist comments, what's next?  Eating at McDonalds?  Smoking cigarettes in public?  With the way the public is today, nothing would surprise me. Given that nobody has come forth with an actual example of how Johnson has helped the minority communities, it begs the question; Was Sterling right?

Autographed copies of my book The World Hasn't Progressed in 5,000 Years" can  be bought at the bottom of this page.  

Sterling's fight

It is true I piled on to the Donald Sterling attacks.  I knew if I waited long enough, the media would stray from my feelings, and here we are.  I personally have no idea what the NBA constitution says but I do know that if a contract is signed and agreed upon but counteracts the US constitution, it is not enforceable in a court of law.  You can read the widely popular 50 shades of Gray to see examples of that.  As in all things, I look to logic to make sense of things because I believe truth exists outside of human interpretation and a majority opinion.  Logic is the closest way we can get to these forms or objective truths.  Here it is, the objectivist reaction to Donald Sterling devoid of emotion, the only way I know how.

If you read my previous posts, Donald Sterling's comments made to his girlfriend were indefensible.  Hell, even Sterling isn't defending them.  The closest he came was, "She always referred to people as blacks and she wanted to bring blacks she found attractive to my game so I said don't bring blacks to my game because I was jealous."   "Blacks" meant her attractive African-American friends and he said they can't come because he was jealous she found them attractive.   I know they investigated if the tape was doctored.  I know that I listened to the tape and she never claimed she was going to bring blacks to the game.  I don't know if the investigation indicated if the tape was doctored or not so I can't say if Sterling's explanation is valid factually.  All I know, is that they did indeed believe it to be the voice of Donald Sterling.  Again, these are not refutable.  Now for the punishment by Adam Silver.

Adam Silver did what most people have to do.  You have to give into the mob, the NBA seemed to be ready to revolt if his punishment wasn't severe and they all applauded him for banning him for life, fining him the NBA maximum allowed, 2.5 million dollars, and suggesting the owners take away the team from him. I wasn't surprised that they threw the book at him but it is kind of redundant.  Banning him for life I was okay with, the NBA is Adam Silver's organization and he can decide who comes and who doesn't to his shows.  Interestingly though, why can't Donald Sterling do the same thing with his team?  If he didn't want blacks to come to his game, that's his prerogative.  I believe in private property and I've always been against others telling you who you can and can't have in your place of business.  If you want to lose out on the revenue by blacks coming to the game, then I believe that to be a stupid business decision, but it's your business so be it. Just how I have no problem with Adam Silver banning Sterling from any sanctioned event.  That makes more sense because Silver's not going to lose out on any business doing that.  

          Secondly, the $2.5 million I found asinine.  Why would you pay that?  He's already banned for life.  What can they possibly do to him?  I had a problem with this because White man guilt was playing it's card and he would have to pay just because nothing has changed and the public still likes watching pounds of flesh being taken.  Hell if you hung Donald Sterling in the public square, I'm sure a crowd would gather just as it did in the Middle Ages.  Sterling, however, saw the situation for what it was; pointless.  His reputation is destroyed, he's got nothing to lose, so fight!  Not only did he refuse to pay the fine, he sued the NBA for their right to do so.   Good for him.  Society keeps running their mouth that people are entitled to their opinion, but the second someone has an opinion the majority of people don't like, they crucify him.  It takes more courage to say the things Margie Schott did than it does for Michael Sam to come out.  I don't say Sterling because he made his comments in, what he believed to be, confidence.  

          Thirdly, they want to take the team away from him.  Mark Cuban was the only guy to publicly say what I feel about this. He was worried about a slippery slope if we let the commissioner  steal a team from you.  Most people are like, "Well he's going to get paid" but that's not the point.  Sales should not be made at the end of a gun barrel.  A forced sale is anti-capitalistic and immoral.  Just as I consider what Ben Roethlisberger did as rape when he locked himself in a bathroom with a woman as his offensive line stood guard.  The woman told him "no" repeatedly, he just repeated back "It's okay."  They then had sex.  I don't count that as consensual; I count that as rape.  If someone gives Sterling the millions he deserves for the Clippers, that is not a consensual transactions, therefore an invalid trade.  With all that said, I saw the punishment as redundant.  If the NBA has a little patience, they won't need an owner vote, Sterling would have to sell as a smart business decision.  He's already lost sponsors.  His players probably will boycott playing for him.  Again, as a pro-capitalist, I'm anti-forced labor.  If the players decide they don't want to accept his money to play for him, that is their right.  I think Sterling will have trouble finding scab laborers.  Basically, you need to find players that are really good at basketball and don't mind the public ridicule, vehement attacks and vitriolic hatred they will receive from playing for Sterling.  This goes for players of any race.  Good luck with that one.  So, Sterling probably will have a team with no players. At best, they will be mediocre players who weren't good enough to make it to the NBA on their own so exchange the public hatred and endanger their lives, for their only shot to play in the NBA.  Clippers will be the worst they have ever been and, given their history, that's saying something.  The Clippers team would lose value, he will be funding it for no apparent reason and either he sells the team for a much lower price than he would get now, or he just pays millions of dollars for absolutely nothing.  Those are Sterling's options.  As for Shelly Sterling, I see no reason she shouldn't get the team. She didn't do anything.  Why is everyone so mad at her?  The only caveat to this is if the NBA is set up like a food chain.  You can manage a McDonalds but you don't own McDonalds.  I think the CEO of McDonalds could fire a manager if need be, so if teams work like individual franchises of a chain, then Adam Silver could kick him out but as that hasn't come up, I don't think that's the case.

One last thing about Shelly Sterling, I applaud her for filing to divorce her husband.  I was bothered that the issue of Donald Sterling having a girlfriend when he has a wife never came out.  It was Sterling the racist, not Sterling the adulterer.  I will say Sterling the racist bigoted adulterer.  

Autographed copies of my book The World Hasn't Progressed in 5,000 Years can be bought at the bottom of this page.  

You do you; I'll do me

Much has been written about Jesus' golden rule.  His rule was "Treat others as you would like to be treated." Variations include Confucius, "Do not do on to others as you would not want them to do to you."  Even in modern terms, "Turn about is fair play" seems to be referencing this age old rule.  To me, though, the golden rule doesn't encompass everything.  It assumes that everyone has the same likes and dislikes.  For instance, I want to be left alone.  Most people like to constantly have people around.  These people, following the golden rule, will see someone sitting by themselves and come over to talk to them so they have company.  If we believe they are following the golden rule, they do this because they would want someone to do it for them.  Me, if I'm alone, I don't want a complete stranger to come up to me so that person is now bothering me even though he followed the golden rule.

Here is my creed, "You do you, I'll do me."  Unlike the golden rule, I need to explain it.  I have noticed that those I considered my closest friends are obsessed, and I'm using that term to the fullest power, with telling me how to live my life.  Most notably, the way I dress, it's always the same motto to sell out to the corporate world because you'll be homeless if you don't.  Yes, I dress up to go to work, but I'm not going to get fired if I'm dressed casually outside of work.  They, in a sense, are trying to break me.  When I was younger, this was amusing bordering on cute, then I got into my 20s and it started getting annoying, now it's just trite.  The thing is, unlike drugs, the more you say no, they louder and more obsessed they become.  How is this like drugs?  Well, in high school when people would offer me drugs, I'd say no.  They then harassed me and after a while they would use the phrase, "Come on, I want to be the first one to get Larry to do drugs."  It's amazing how many people begged me for that privilege.  They all failed however.  In college and beyond when people offered me drugs and I said "no" they responded, "Cool, more for me."  I like that creed MUCH better!  I don't mind if people do drugs around me, I just won't partake.  I didn't realize it, but I was living by, "You do you and I do me."  If you want to do drugs, I'm not going to stop you but I will not do them with you."

My last example is sex.  My closest friends are obsessed with me having sex and hate that I'm asexual.  Two of them planned a trip to Amsterdam and offered to buy me a prostitute just so I could have sex.  I went to Amsterdam and declined.  A year or two later, another person, who doesn't associate with the first two, decided to have an overnight layover in Amsterdam on our way to Berlin.  She didn't tell me this till after the trip but the overnight layover was not to save money but she wanted to buy me a prostitute.  Due to her missing the flight, she never got the chance.  That makes three people who spent hundreds of dollars to go to Amsterdam specifically to get me to have sex.  I can't grasp this mentality.  Now that I'm in my 30s, the persistence has reached a yelling, fever pitch.  To which, I finally had to ask, "Why do you care?" Most of the time the answer is, "Because I want you to see how great it can be."  When I press it further, they can't elaborate.  I am not telling them not to have sex, I just don't want to.  They have been adamant that they would not have sex with me, so they're not propositioning me.  Why does something that objectively doesn't affect them at all mean so much to them?  The only thing I can think of is, they really are trying to break me.  In which case, I need to evaluate who I consider my closest friends.

As I had gone through a gauntlet with these friends, I had lunch with a friend of mine.  We are not extremely close, she will readily admit she merely tolerates me, which is fine by me.  We were discussing marriage and my desire not to get married.  We then talked hypothetically about if I were to get married, what type of person would I want.  One of the first things I said was, "Well, you're not going to like this, but she would have to be Greek."

     She interrupted, "Why would I care about that?"

      "Well because you may think I'm being elitist"

      "No, if you said that I could only marry Greek, I'd be like 'whoa, you have no right to tell me that."

      I glared at her because it makes absolutely no sense to me why I would ever say that to her.  The reason I would want to marry Greek is because being Greek is such a large part of who I am and you would have to be Greek to understand me fully.   Since she is not Greek, this is irrelevant to her in choosing her mate.  Then it dawned on me what she was actually saying.  "With regard to marriage, you marry who you want, and I'll marry who I want, as your choice doesn't affect me at all."   Damn, if only my closest friends were as understanding as the people that merely tolerate me.

After all this, it has occurred to me that if you're ever around someone that is loudly and obsessively pleading for you to live your life to do something that has absolutely no affect on them whatsoever, then that person is merely looking at you as a strong willed person and looking to break you since they are broken themselves and can't stand someone with the audacity to do what they want, even if society is against them.  These are people that you certainly shouldn't consider your closest friends.  When your being yelled at, just ask, "Why do they care?" if you can't think of a reason; run

Autographed copies of my book the World Hasn't Progressed in 5,000 years can be bought at the bottom of this page.