HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: callahan@biffvm.cs.jhu.edu (Paul Callahan)
Subject: Re: the usual Ian Hunter syndrome
Organization: Johns Hopkins Computer Science Department, Baltimore, MD
Date: Mon, 14 Dec 1992 17:39:37 GMT

jecoleb@eos.ncsu.edu (have clue, will travel) writes:

>Wonderful.  Another Certified Case of "he's-a-sweet-guy-but-I-hope-to-Christ-
>he's-not-interested-in-me..."

That's a good summary.  I think there's a subtle distinction between this and
the more talked about "Let's just be friends" syndrome.  At least, your
variation seems to describe my own situation better.  As long as I'm just
a "sweet" guy, things are fine.  As soon as I become "interested," things are 
*over*.  Period.  No hope of friendship, communication, or even civility.

...with a few notable, and even more aggravating, exceptions.

>I received the
>Suppository of Death[tm] from a friend of mine today, who described me as:
>"well, you're just the kind of guy that everyone sees as a friend."

>Just what I needed to hear.  Thank you VERY, VERY MUCH, dear.

Scenes from the depths of my past:

I'm holding this woman and hoping to death that maybe--just possibly--the 
welling excitement I feel isn't entirely one-sided.

Then she says "I feel so... safe."

Talk about breaking a spell.
--
Paul Callahan
callahan@cs.jhu.edu
Newsgroups: alt.angst,alt.suicide.holiday
From: semenoff@fraser.sfu.ca (Robert Semenoff)
Subject: Re: Depression
Organization: Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, B.C., Canada
Date: Tue, 15 Dec 1992 02:28:38 GMT

Organization: Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, B.C., Canada

In article <1992Dec14.205332.19387@leland.Stanford.EDU> underdog@leland.Stanford.EDU (Dwight Joe) writes:
>In article <lynn.921213154811@fusion.physics.auburn.edu>
>lynn@physics.auburn.edu (Owen P Lynn) writes:

<deleted>
         1. I'm a lifeless geek.
<deleted>
>I can you that you are not alone.  I used to know quite a few people in
>your predicament.  One of the best ways to deal with this is to drink
>some alcohol.

Excellent advice ! I second that one.
If you are unemployed and poor like me, I can also suggest getting
a brewing kit. you can make alcohol so cheaply, and one batch
will keep you anesthetized all winter.
 
-Rob
--


Newsgroups: alt.angst
From: callahan@biffvm.cs.jhu.edu (Paul Callahan)
Subject: Re: fuck the notion of *real* angst
Organization: Johns Hopkins Computer Science Department, Baltimore, MD
Date: Sat, 19 Dec 1992 18:12:04 GMT

duke@portal.paperboy.osf.org (Duke Robillard) writes:

>See, I'm working
>from this premise that intellect is intrinsically superior to everything
>else.  I have no objective justification for this; it's just a basic
>premis.

I suggest you LOCK yourself in a room with a COMPLETE collection of Zippy 
COMICS and several GALLONS of CHEAP VODKA in high density POLYETHYLENE 
containers (CODE 2).  I feel that as a form of SHOCK THERAPY, this will do 
wonders to LIBERATE you from your MORBID fixation on WESTERN RATIONALISM.

ObAngst: Why isn't there a Zippy newsgroup?  CFD: alt.pinhead, anyone?  

--
Paul Callahan
callahan@cs.jhu.edu
Newsgroups: alt.angst
From: sokay@cyclone.mitre.org (Stephen J. Okay)
Subject: Re: Depression
Organization: Mitre Corporation, McLean, VA
Date: Wed, 16 Dec 1992 06:49:30 GMT

In article <1992Dec14.234143.1382@organpipe.uug.arizona.edu> rperkins@astro.as.arizona.edu (Rachel J. Perkins) writes:

> i was playing w
>with a recently acquired switchblade last night, and it's funny, but i was 
>picturing the blood that would come out of my white wrist,

Y'know I did this when I was 19 and feeling relatively suicidal. My mom had
(still does) this really really sharp Sabatier kitchen knife that I used to
run across my wrist and sometimes I would bleed and sometimes I wouldn't
and when I got really really depressed then, I'd just sit there and run it
down my arm until I felt better and just made sure I cleaned up the cutting
board afterwards and wiped off all the skin and changed into a longsleeve
shirt so nobody would know for the next couple of days...

Last winter when a friend died and I was trying to struggle through that
and just wanted to go off myself, I would sit and stare in at the pile of
pills in my hands for hours until I got bored or fell asleep with them
in my hands. None of this really made me feel much better, but it helped
pass the time. 

 and then i couldn't
> stop thinking about how i would have to deal with all the people that would
>want to know why...it's sorta like someone else (i can't remember who) was 
>saying about it being too much trouble, only i was getting a little perverse
>pleasure out of the idea of baffling all these people.
I wouldn't say I got off on baffling them so much as I would just how many I
was going to catch in the blast. I used to bring myself up by counting all
the people who'd be affected by it and it would usually make me happy enough
to go out of my room and back to dealing with life again. And not happy in
that "OH gee, I've got all these friends, boy do I feel loved", but 
like you said, perversely happy in that I would actually be able to accomplish
something and get to all these people at once when all my life I've been 
stomped on myself. And the thing is that I didn't feel anything in particular
about it one way or another, especially the couple times I got really bad and
was like seconds away from actually doing it. I could have swallowed or pulled
the trigger just as easily as I eventually stepped away from it. Standing
there right on the edge, everything becomes so trivial and so simple and
there's no guilt and no fear and you just feel like all you'd have to do is
just roll off the fence and.....
I don't think actually doing it is the big thing that everybody makes it out to
be. GETTING there to the point where you can is the big thing...

---Steve
-- 
---------
sokay@cyclone.mitre.org
		"Your Mind....My Playground" ---me 
Xref: sparky alt.angst:4953 talk.bizarre:42583
From: kestanol@porgy.uucp (Keith C. Estanol)
Newsgroups: alt.angst,talk.bizarre
Subject: Re: while driving home
Date: 21 Dec 1992 00:40:44 GMT
Organization: UC San Diego
NNTP-Posting-Host: porgy.ucsd.edu

In article <XIBO.92Dec20005145@fido.fido.econ.arizona.edu> xibo@fido.econ.arizona.edu (Mr. Coates) writes:
>
>"He's seeing monsters..."

Great Story, Xibs!  I could almost hear the strains of the Twilight
Zone behind that one.  I'm wondering if this is like the time I saw
a red toyota truck like mine passing by, also with a female in the
seat, wearing all black.  I wear black mostly these days .. one
wonders..   Let me know if you have any more sightings, this could
get rather interesting.  Although, if <unmentionable MUDder> walks
in the room, I won't be around to listen. Anyways .. snatches of
lyrics I heard the other day, or keep hearing:

Cower you weaklings, tremble in fear, I am your ruler land sea and
air!  Immense in my girth, erect I stand tall, I am a nuclear
murderer, I am Polaris!

I realize that this is the megadeth song rust in peace, in an album
by the same name, and I start mouthing the words, cringing so hard
it hurts and pounding my head on the table.  What does this signify?
That I should stop listening to nuclear war angst music?

aghhh. this neck is killing me. AHAHAHAHAHAH! she's 500 miles away!
HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! free! free at last! for three quiet weeks,I'm
FREEEEEEEEEE

Keith C. Estanol	    	| storm@ucsd.edu
UCSD, Cognitive Science 	| storm@ucsd.bitnet
Institute of Geo and Planetary Physics : kestanol@bull.ucsd.edu
---------------------------------------------------------------
"We don't want to be victims, on that we all agree.
 So we lock up the killer instinct, and throw away the key.."
From: dcook@spam.ua.oz (David Cook)
Newsgroups: alt.angst
Subject: Re: Angstful music
Date: 12 Dec 92 06:26:47 GMT
Organization: Stats Pure & Applied Maths, Uni of Adelaide, Australia

Sisters of Mercy           (angst equivalent : soc.singles)
Fields of the Nephilim     (                 : alt.angst)
Cathedral                  (                 : alt.suicide.holiday)

(I just listened to FotN ... )


-- 
David T Cook   e-mail: dcook@spam.adelaide.edu.au   Phone: +61 8 228 5709
Assistant Computer Manager, Stats, Pure and Applied Maths, Adelaide Uni.
"Behind the lines, a face that glimmers. Still looking for a face that shines."
       - Heartland, The Sisters of Mercy
From: callahan@biffvm.cs.jhu.edu (Paul Callahan)
Newsgroups: alt.angst
Subject: Re: Depression
Date: 15 Dec 92 01:12:06 GMT
Organization: Johns Hopkins Computer Science Department, Baltimore, MD

llama@pooh.cc.utexas.edu (sine nomine) writes:

>instead of joining the chorus of "20's not that old to be a virgin"
>(they're right, though), i'm curious about the implied message here:
>unless you're getting laid, you don't have a life. unless you have
>"true love" you don't have a life.

As a member of that chorus, I agree with you in questioning the implied
messages.  However, it's not an issue of "having a life," (i.e. having to  
meet some set of artificial standards).  It's a feeling of having 
missed out on things that other people take for granted.  I would never want 
swap my own peculiar personal development with that of anyone else; I have
a lot in my life that others lack.  Unfortunately, this is not always
such a consolation.    

>love's a nice thing, addictive in its own way. and having a regular
>sex partner and someone to cuddle up with is nice, too. but does the
>lack of these things automatically mean you have no life at all? 

I think that in the final analysis, the person who started the thread would
have say to no.  For example, he starts with the assumption that he will
continue in a scientific profession, even though he thinks that it will reduce
his chances of meeting women.  In stating this, he has revealed his priorities.
If he truly felt that having a sex partner was an essential part of life,
and that being in a scientific field was a serious hindrance, then his choice 
would be clear.  Because he is still planning to continue with his career,
I conclude that he believes he has a life.  Since I can't speak for him, 
though, I'll speak for myself, and point out that I have never even 
entertained the question.  Of course I have a life.

But you know, you reach a stage where you start to envy the people who
have a much easier time of it all.  Like, you meet some woman you can identify 
with (in itself a rarity) and suddenly everything she does is important: 
Every time she smiles or laughs at your jokes, you're floating for days.  Every
time she's in a bad mood, you imagine she hates you and get depressed.  For me,
this has to go on for quite a while before I'm willing to risk rejection by 
asking her out.  In precisely the same time period, it's quite possible that 
she'll meet some random bozo and they'll "wind up in bed," as people seem to 
do. (I find that phrase particularly jarring, and in this context, equivalent
to a mountain climber saying he "wound up" at the peak of Everest.) It's things
like this that get to me, not abstract notions about whether or not I have a 
life.

--
Paul Callahan
callahan@cs.jhu.edu
Newsgroups: alt.angst
From: callahan@biffvm.cs.jhu.edu (Paul Callahan)
Subject: Re: Books, please
Organization: Johns Hopkins Computer Science Department, Baltimore, MD
Date: Thu, 17 Dec 1992 17:30:07 GMT

hagop@edison.seas.ucla.edu (Hagop D. Janoyan) writes:

>Anyone willing to share with me some names of their favorite angstful books?  

>Anything will do...fiction, non-fiction...just something that I'll be glad
>I read, and something that will somehow affect my thought process (for better
>or for worse).

Two obscure ones (not sure you'll be *glad* to read them) are:

   Fiction:     
         _The Edge of The Alphabet_ 
         by Janet Frame

   Non-fiction: 
         _Nobody Nowhere, The Extraordinary Autobiography of an Autistic_ 
         by Donna Williams

I only mention these because I don't expect anyone else to.  While these are not
my favorite books, they present a perspective that is uncommon in literature.  
I'd like to read more by Janet Frame, but her work is difficult to find in 
bookstores.  Donna Williams is an autistic woman, and her autobiography
was just released.  Both books are excellent in expressing a viewpoint of 
total alienation and inability to fit into the world.

--
Paul Callahan
callahan@cs.jhu.edu
From: rhogan@aludra.usc.edu (Ronald Hogan)
Newsgroups: alt.angst
Subject: i thought i had angst, but i'm ok
Date: 11 Dec 92 19:48:36 GMT
Distribution: usa
Organization: University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA
NNTP-Posting-Host: aludra.usc.edu

Ignore my previous posting on whether I thought I had angst.

I heard from the people concerned and it has been reaffirmed
that I am a person I can trust and not a fucking idiot after
all.  There is a fucking idiot out there, but it's not me.

Thanks for setting me straight, j.

As celebration, I'm going to see the new Muppet Movie.

Ron
From: f_thomas@csd.uwe.ac.uk (F Thomas)
Newsgroups: alt.angst
Subject: Re: Bleep Christmas? No.  Fuck Christmas
Date: 15 Dec 92 11:46:42 GMT
Organization: University of the West of England, Bristol

In article <1992Dec9.171644.18218@cs.tulane.edu> matt@crawfish.math.tulane.edu (Matt Hopkins) writes:
>In article <92344.093418IDMLH@ASUACAD.BITNET> <IDMLH@ASUACAD.BITNET> writes:
>> That is truly pathetic.  You obviously don't know or haven't experienced
>> the "true" purpose of Christmas.  It's not the presents, the parties,
>> the "time constraints."  It's being around people you love to celebrate
>> the Christian holiday.  Or didn't you learn that in Sunday School?
>> Give the rest of us a break.  I hate the crowds too...but I put up with
>> them as best as I can - I go home and wrap the presents with care and
>> with love because I know they're going to someone I care about on this
>> the most joyful and loving holiday.  If you don't like Christmas...that's
>> your problem, but don't blame it on the side effects of the holiday.
>
>This is so sugary-sweet at first I thought it was sarcastic.  Take your  
>religion and your imposed good times and take a hike.  I don't like Xmas, and  
>I don't like the side effects, and I most certainly do not, in any way,  
>appreciate some happy-go-lucky "Jesus Saves" missionary telling me that I  
>should feel differently.
>
>Matt the Grinch
>

Hear Hear!!! 
As far as I (and it appears a good proportion of the people here) am
concerned, christmas is (these days anyway) merely a time when large
stores can con us out of staggeringly huge amounts of money for complete
crap.  We have to sit around being nice to relatives we have not seen since 
last christmas, and don't like much anyway.  And to cap it all, we get
some jesus freak saying we should all be happy and joyous 
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHH

	I HATE CHRISTMAS.

I just want to crawl into a bottle of Jack Daniels, and stay there
until AT LEAST january.

<Excuse the insane rambling but I guess it's just the silly season>

Frank


|========================================================================|
| Frank Thomas    Aka the Strange Attractor or the Hermit                | 
|========================================================================|
| f_thomas@csd.uwe.ac.uk      || voice +44 (0)272 355038                 |
|    (E-mail welcome)         || In Ye Olde Merrie England               |
|========================================================================|      
| Hee forgets that hee can die who complains of misery                   |
|   Wee are in the power of no calamity while death is our owne          |
|            (Sir Thomas Browne -- Religio medichi)                      |
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~|
Newsgroups: alt.angst
From: callahan@biffvm.cs.jhu.edu (Paul Callahan)
Subject: Re: Books, please
Organization: Johns Hopkins Computer Science Department, Baltimore, MD
Date: Sat, 19 Dec 1992 01:49:43 GMT

duke@portal.paperboy.osf.org (Duke Robillard) writes:

>In article <BzFJ3n.Fq1@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu> moscoso@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu (Innocuous Punch) writes:

>   Plath is quoted as having intended to create a novel, not an autobiography,
>   and that alone (in my interpretation) speaks for more than simple brain-
>   chemistry.

>I don't understand your point here.

I think the point is that the book must ultimately be interpreted as a 
*work of art*, rather than a *case study*, because the author intended
it as such, even though it was influenced by her clinical condition.

If your question is "How does this assertion support the claim that this is an
angst novel?" then I concede that I have no idea either.

By the way, I've never read Plath, so I have no opinion on the matter.

--
Paul Callahan
callahan@cs.jhu.edu
Newsgroups: alt.angst
From: semenoff@fraser.sfu.ca (Robert Semenoff)
Subject: Re: Depression
Organization: Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, B.C., Canada
Date: Tue, 15 Dec 1992 21:05:04 GMT

In article <ivy.724436562@camelot> ivy@camelot.bradley.edu (Ivelisse Atiles) writes:
>In <1992Dec14.205332.19387@leland.Stanford.EDU> underdog@leland.Stanford.EDU (Dwight Joe) writes:
>
>>Owen, I'm not going to tell you that it will all work out.  I'm
>>not going to tell you that life is fair.  I would be lying.
>
>Okay so far.
>
>>I can you that you are not alone.  I used to know quite a few people in
<deleted>
>
>No no no no no no.
>While drinking alcohol may help quell any misgivings in any social
>situation, it actually causes more problems than it might solve.
>Believe me. I *know*!!!! I know I know I know I know.
<deleted>
Here's what I liked about the original advice:

While alcohol can ruin lives
and may also be abused as a crutch, It can serve to break
paralyzing anxieties that impede clear,relaxed  thought.
Often it's only when I'm drunk that I can see through my own
lies to myself.

-Rob
--
Newsgroups: alt.angst
From: s0454850@let.rug.nl (J.P. Prenger)
Subject: Re: Books, please
Organization: Faculteit der Letteren, Rijksuniversiteit Groningen, NL
Date: Thu, 17 Dec 1992 20:45:35 GMT

In article <8934@lee.SEAS.UCLA.EDU> hagop@edison.seas.ucla.edu (Hagop D. Janoyan) writes:
>From: hagop@edison.seas.ucla.edu (Hagop D. Janoyan)
>Subject: Books, please
>Date: 17 Dec 92 07:15:15 GMT
>Anyone willing to share with me some names of their favorite angstful books?  
>
>Anything will do...fiction, non-fiction...just something that I'll be glad
>I read, and something that will somehow affect my thought process (for better
>or for worse).
>
>To start of the list, I'd like to recommend "Not The End of The World," by 
>Rebecca Stowe.  Very touching story about a 13-year old girl who the world
>seems to despise.  Right now, I'm reading "Great Jones Street" by Don
>DeLillo.  Not a very angstful book, but definetly a thoughtful novel with
>some very interesting characters.
>
>-Hagop
>-- 
>-Hagop
>

Nick Cave, 'And the ass saw the angel'

JPP

Xref: sparky alt.angst:4865 talk.bizarre:42051
From: thespian@noncomf.tdkcs.waterloo.on.ca (Stephanie M. Clarkson)
Newsgroups: alt.angst,talk.bizarre
Subject: Re: syrupy holiday movies (was: this may be angst, I think)
Date: Wed, 16 Dec 92 12:39:54 EST
Distribution: world
Organization: darkpark

sokay@cyclone.mitre.org (Stephen J. Okay) writes:

> But thats my point!!...they're coming back, along with those fucking stupid
> little troll dolls and bellbottoms and every accursed thing the '70s ever
> wrought. And its all the boomers fault too....I mean what gives guys?
> --Didn't we just finish off this massive '60s revival thing in the '80s?
> Does this mean we're going to be cursed with reliving the same 20 year
> span in our cultural history over and over again until they kick off?
> 'Cause if each decade is culturally punctuated by what they want, you
> gotta figure the next the thats up for the millenium is an '80s revival
> craze(which was a '60s revival craze in itself).....
> Just die already okay?---And take your 8-tracks with you...
> Thanks,
> ---Steve
 
But There was a uniqueness to the 80s....we weren't all imitating the 
60s...in fact, outside of the States, it was a pretty dead movement.  
There was a distinctly unique set of 80s trends that I recall....cabbage 
patch kids, and new wave, and Cosby-sweaters, and such.
 
Already there are 90s trends, such as _trash fashion_, which is 
supposedly wearing beat up style clothes and army surplus stuff to be in 
style, but which is actually wearing beat up style clothes and army 
surplus because few of us can afford $200 jackets anymore.  And the wave 
of otherwise normal people who are getting tattoos and body-piercing done 
is also fairly recent and pretty big...
 
We'll let the media and the gullible have their "revivals" (I actually 
have a magazine article from 5 years back stating THEN that the 70s were 
coming back...), and the rest of us will get on with our lives and wait 
for them to catch up...
 
Stephanie...
 

     Stephanie M. Clarkson : thespian@noncomf.tdkcs.waterloo.on.ca        
   ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~|~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
     "Leave the thinking to the    |  "I've accepted that life in         
      experts."                    |   general is a little wierd,
             - background sign on  |   So I'm coping."
                        Dinosaurs  |             -  Fran Sinclair
   ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~      
Xref: sparky alt.angst:4886 talk.bizarre:42217
From: sokay@cyclone.mitre.org (Stephen J. Okay)
Newsgroups: alt.angst,talk.bizarre
Subject: Re: syrupy holiday movies (was: this may be angst, I think)
Date: 17 Dec 92 18:42:54 GMT
Organization: Mitre Corporation, McLean, VA

In article <8wyVVB3w165w@noncomf.tdkcs.waterloo.on.ca> thespian@noncomf.tdkcs.waterloo.on.ca (Stephanie M. Clarkson) writes:
>sokay@cyclone.mitre.org (Stephen J. Okay) writes:
>
>> gotta figure the next the thats up for the millenium is an '80s revival
>> craze(which was a '60s revival craze in itself).....
>> Just die already okay?---And take your 8-tracks with you...
>> Thanks,
>> ---Steve
> 
>But There was a uniqueness to the 80s....we weren't all imitating the 
>60s...in fact, outside of the States, it was a pretty dead movement.  
>There was a distinctly unique set of 80s trends that I recall....cabbage 
>patch kids, and new wave, and Cosby-sweaters, and such.
                 ^^^^^^^^----Okay, so one bright point, well, two, but the
whole goth thing was more dark than light, but anyways, yes, New Wave
is one of the better points of the decade. I love a good Smiths or Joy
Division or Echo & The Bunnymen song....

 
>Already there are 90s trends, such as _trash fashion_, which is 
>supposedly wearing beat up style clothes and army surplus stuff to be in 
>style, but which is actually wearing beat up style clothes and army 
>surplus because few of us can afford $200 jackets anymore.

This is how you can pick out the real people from the poseurs. Poseurs
only wear the torn up army jackets and black plastic frame glasses 'cause
they're cool. The ones who started the trend wear them 'cause its all
they could afford.(I've seen them for $25-30 for the frames in some places).


---Steve(an early '80s kind of guy)
-- 
---------
sokay@cyclone.mitre.org
		"Your Mind....My Playground" ---me 
Xref: sparky alt.angst:4831 alt.suicide.holiday:3093