“We lie best when we lie to ourselves.”
― Stephen King, It
About a week ago I bought a copy of IT. Yes, I know I’m pretty late to the party, but it is one of those books that you have to read to know what everybody is talking about. I read my first Stephen King last month and it was not as scary as I expected. The institute came out in September last year and much to my surprise I really enjoyed reading it. In fact, I was so delighted, that I wanted more.
Since from time to time I enjoy watching horror movies and – like most people – I’m afraid of clowns, I loved the new IT movie (haven’t seen the second part yet, so please no spoilers). Finally, I had found a really scary horror movie that got me every time – even though I knew the clown was coming.
Long story short I decided to buy the book, which is now sitting on my nightstand.
I usually read before going to bed, but I tend to dream about the stuff I think of last. That means that reading at night is not a good idea.
Now my heat system is really old. When I lay in bed it gives a loud thump every now and then, which takes me by surprise. When my neighbour adjusts the temperature, it sounds like someone is standing in my room turning the regulator, which is not creepy at all.
Since I can’t seem to find another time of the day to read, I have no choice but to be afraid for the next few weeks in the name of curiosity education and feel like IT is hammering on my heater.
I predict that this will keep me awake which is good since I will have more time to finish the book.
How do you cope with scary stuff? Do you think that living alone makes it scarier or are you comforted by the noise you hear coming from your neighbours every day? I’m not sure if there is a point in life when you are supposed to stop being scared about things. When I was a child, I used to think that my parents weren’t afraid of anything. I guess that is one of the big myths of childhood.
When I see parents walking down the street – most of them younger then me – I see a lot of people which have no idea what they are doing and I ask myself if they have taken their time to question if having kids and buying a house is really what life is about.
Maybe they are just trying to escape their reality distracting themselves. Caring for another person takes time and money and if they are doing it right, they are sacrificing their own life for their kids. That is probably why so many people get a midlife crisis. They wake up one morning and realise they forgot to live. So why do they keep looking at you like you’re crazy when you tell them you don’t want to have kids? “Having children is a beautiful thing.” Is a quote from a TV show a saw recently. The same guy said afterwards that this is what you say at parties instead of telling how hard it is and how draining and sleep depriving it actually is. They probably don’t think they are entitled to feel those things because nobody ever says them. So how about telling the truth and accepting when someone has taken the time to think about it?
A friend of mine once told me that I have no idea how hard it is to have a new-born. She felt special because she could complain about it and I can’t. But the truth is I’ve seen people raising children and I thought that is surely something I don’t want to do. Life is already hard as it is, so why make it even more difficult?
I’m not saying that nobody should have kids, I’m just telling you that it is ok not to want any and we should respect the decisions other people make because we never now the background story.
A guy once told me his eighteen-year-old girlfriend was pregnant and I asked if I should congratulate him or not. A friend was sitting with us and started laughing, but I just can’t see how that can always be good news. Also, it is important to adjust the reaction accordingly and it is more polite just to ask for more information before saying anything.
To return to our previous topic: it is dark outside, and some guy is shouting incomprehensible things, also my heater is calling me. The perfect setting to read IT.
Aromatic deception 