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Memoirs
of a
Shy
Exhibitionist |
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In the Spring of '86, Peter visited Sasha Shulgin, intrepid discoverer of the bulk of third generation psychedelics, and noticed that he -- Peter -- had remarked with a certain amount of fervor that "What this world really needs is a pill that gives people a sense of humor!" Shulgin said, "I don't quite see how that could be done." To this, Peter replied, "Now, now, now!" |
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One of the things Peter likes to joke about is his health. And he is remarkably healthy, considering especially that he is incapable of following any discipline (not even that of taking vitamins and amino acids, maybe doing so only a few days a year), and indulges in Camels and King Cobras. His twin sister, by all accounts, looks somewhat older. More than a few times he's suggested that Bruce, his good friend and colleague, give up his regular massages and Rolfing and acupuncture in favor of Peter's "alcohol and tobacco rituals." |
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Another point Peter likes to raise is the ability of "humankind" to fuck up. Pointing at the person he's talking to, he has often observed from a couple of feet away how improbable things are -- since there's general acceptance of an idea that millions, nay billions, of "molecules" exist between each of them, these molecules exhibiting "Brownian motion," with electrons sometimes jumping from orbit to orbit, without a mistake ever. "And just in my lifetime, they've already discovered an additional 100 billion stars in this galaxy alone, all of which do their cosmic crisscrossing exactly." (This was before the time of a space telescope.) Peter's conclusion was: "It's only on the human level that things are allowed to really fuck up." |
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Peter can recall when packs of cigarettes were dispensed by a machine and cost a quarter. Actually, it was less than that, since between the cellophane and the pack itself were two cents in change!
The first time Peter was really impressed by inflation was while he was quite young -- when admission to the Saturday matinee one weekend went from nine cents up to twenty cents!
During 1974, three days before Nixon resigned, the Dow-Jones Index dipped below 600 -- which meant that his employer laid three of the staff off and had the Xerox machine removed. Last week, as this is being written, the Index gained 599-plus points in a single day! |
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His favorite hero's name he doesn't even recall -- though he knows it's discussed somewhere in the four volume World of Mathematics. This guy, in about the 18th century, interrupted his prepared remarks to the French Academy, saying -- after a long pause -- "Gentlemen, I must reconsider this matter." |
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("Oh, boy!" "Oh, man!" "Oh, joy!" "Oh, wow!" "Oh, me!" "Oh, my!" "Oh, Buddha!" "Oh, woman!" "Oh, Gumby!" "Oh, woe!" "Oh, oui!" "Oh, no!" "Oh, wow!" "Oh, boy!") |
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As for Peter's major lessons, these, he says, are "Patience" and "Courtesy" -- to which he added "Humor" ("The Three Ps"), after Isaline said all these sorts of things should come in threes.
Patience! Courtesy! Humor! |
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2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6 / 7 / 8 / 9 / 10 |
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