The Spectacular Now

Goodbye, I say, goodbye, as I disappear little by little into the middle of the middle of my own spectacular now.

You’ve probably heard the expression—All good things must come to an end. Well, this stage in the life of the buzz never heard anything close to that. This stage says, “I will never end. I am indestructible. I will last fabulously forever.” And, of course, you believe it. To hell with tomorrow. To hell with all problems and barriers. Nothing matters but the Spectacular Now.

Live and let live, I say.

“I’m just saying—you got a lot more to you than you let on. You got heart, man.”

Besides, it doesn’t matter if it’s real. It never does with dreams. They aren’t anything anyway but lifesavers to cling to so you don’t drown. Life is an ocean, and most everyone’s hanging on to some kind of dream to keep afloat. Me, I’m just dogpaddling on my own, but Aimee’s lifesaver’s a beauty. I love it. Anyone would if they could see the way her face beams as she clutches that thing with all her strength.

nowadays they don’t do anything but leave you at home by yourself with a kitchen full of potato chips and soft drinks. Then, in your bedroom, you’ve got your TV, video games, and the Internet. What do they expect you to get from that? A big fat case of I don’t give a shit?

‘Embrace the weird’

“Childhood was a fantastic country to live in.”

All we have is the great Holy Trinity of the atomic vampires—the sex god, the money god, and the power god. The god of the beautiful soul starved to death a long time ago.

“I think, when we die, we don’t lose our identity, we gain a much, much bigger one. As big as the universe.”