Bonehead is quite a smooth operator. Being a boxer and model he is attractive and lacks a foul beer belly. When we used to go out drinking women’s eyes would slide past old Elberry to gaze lingeringly on Bonehead, a tribute my friend usually ignored. He’s at least twice been propositioned by pretty girls who were total strangers; he also makes a hobby of striking up conversations with unknown, pretty girls, usually with some success.
He has, however, never taken things further than conversation, since he is loyal to his long-term, psychotically jealous girlfriend. i think by contrast of Shrekh, a fat self-loathing Muslim we both know from school, who prior to losing his virginity aged 30, collected disturbing ’seduction strategies’ in a valiant but ultimately doomed attempt to become the Muslim Ron Jeremy. i wondered how disconcerting it must be to enter into a conversation with someone who is cold-bloodedly pushing buttons and directing things to their desired end; or not, as was the case with Shrekh, who was a pretty off-putting individual at the best of times, let alone when lecherous.
i think one reason Bonehead is generally able to strike up conversations with unknown honeys, apart from his being physically attractive, is that he doesn’t really have any ulterior motive; he takes pleasure in trying to enter another person’s world, in brief, open-ended encounters, and that is enough. Even if a woman were totally uninterested he would still relish the experience of doing what, i guess, many men would like to do (say something to that girl!), and because he has an easy, uncalculating charm, his pleasure tends to be contagious.
i think it is generally true that any activity, whether talking to an unknown girl, or writing, or feeding dogs pie, needs to be undertaken for the pleasure of it, not for some uncertain goal. Just as it would (i guess) be pointless to try to enter a girl’s world while blushing and stammering with anxiety, so i can’t see anyone writing well if they don’t enjoy it. There is a particular false note both to the cold-blooded seducer and to the calculating writer/blogger – the latter usually trying to attain fame and/or a publishing deal – a hollowness and insincerity of tone that rises the more craft and energy is expended in the deceit.
Better, i’d say, to be Bonehead than Shrekh, to enjoy the art for itself, not for some imagined consequence.
You make Bonehead out to be some kind of superman, he must have some shortcomings, a small penis, moronism….something!
Reading about him makes me feel even more inadequate than I really am.
Unfortunately, Bonehead’s penis is apparently ‘on the large side’. It’s not all bad news though: he doesn’t get jazz or poetry, and his handwriting is quite messy.