RE: Thoughts of a Drowning Man
I've had a bit of time for some self-reflection, so I'd like to put this here if I could.
How did this start? I came here looking for an exercise in writing where the topic would be interesting, rather than from any need to get off. Until last summer, I never had any trouble getting any, so staying home and role-playing was a way to get some time to myself and not really an attempt to meet people or reach out. And online has always been that way for me. Just a piece of furniture on the desk that I occasionally choose to stare at for a while. So, I've taken a laid-back stance about my interactions here and the friends I've made. Role-plays are always handled very casually, no attempt to get to know my partners is made and I don't really hold them to anything. We don't plan the stories together, we just spontaneously place the blocks down, reacting to one another and if they leave or forget about the rp, then it's not my problem. Moving on.
This allowed me to enjoy a certain immunity when it comes to dealing with people in this medium. Drama or idiots flaming, never meant anything. Because I can walk away from my piece of furniture anytime I want. After watching an episode of your favorite TV show, you don't turn off the TV, go to work and seriously woe and tear about whether the character Susan Meyer will die next episode because OMG! she really needs to!SHE'S RUINING PEOPLES LIVES!!! ...Well, you shouldn't anyway. Letting the internet affect you is like saying a cheap romantic comedy helped you through a really tough crisis in your life, where you probably would have wasted away or killed yourself otherwise. It's letting fiction dictate the important decisions in your life, which is an error in perspective.
Last August, my flagrant promiscuity and playful womanizing came to an end when I was diagnosed with HIV. But truthfully, I continued making mistakes for a while. If you don't know anything about HIV/AIDS treatment, then you should know that it's a serious commitment. Once you start it, you have to stick to the strict regimen, otherwise you risk the virus developing a resistance to the drugs, which kind of defeats the purpose. So, you don't start it unless you're serious about it... and you're rich or something. Dropping about $2,000 dollars a month is just not feasible for me in my current living situation. There are no real plans to make any big moves or take big steps in my future, especially not since I rose to a higher position in my job and I don't want to risk that job security. So, I'm staying right here. Untreated and fucked.
In comes the alcohol. I've been drinking since I was 17, but mostly at parties or whatever. Things didn't start getting what some might call "bad" until after I got tested for HIV. I always have a few bottles in the house, and other than the necessities and bills, and a Magic card here or there("Ooooh, man! That foil Gideon's Lawkeeper took me down a whole $.54 cents! Guess I'm eating ramen this week..."), vodka is what I spend my money on. You can even see the point where it starts to really hit me by my very first post in the "DRUNK THREAD", on September 3rd of last year. That's when I actually started taking responsibility for my HIV and learned that it's actually not a sexy pickup line at all. Most women won't let you put your dick in them if there's even a small chance you could end up hurting them with it("Listen, it's a condom! Okay? My junk won't even touch you!" ; "What if the condom breaks?" ; "It won't! I'll be gentle!" ; "It won't. How can you even know that? Can you control the fate of all condoms? Are you that magical?" ; "...yes.").
So, there was a lot of rejection and a lot of just staying home and getting wasted. I always felt better when I started drinking as soon as I walked through the door, so, I figured, "What the hell? It's not like I'm actually trying anymore." Not an acceptance of death, but more a consistent denial of it. Then it really started to affect my judgement, particularly in regards to this online world. I found myself bothered by things that normally shouldn't have mattered. And I have yet to really explain in a reasonable way, WHY, but it mostly revolved around one person. <name removed>. I didn't like you and you kind of irritated me in the very beginning(but now, I have to acknowledge that it was mostly me trying to deny that I actually kind of liked you). There are a coupld of instances of my "tiny rants" about you(not thinking for even a moment to question why your journal was the only one on the forum I even bothered reading) in the Little Things That Bother You thread. Hints that I expressed a secret disdain for you. Which you only aggravated by daring to come in here and tell me that I had a fucking problem - it was cemented then. What had become a mild sport became an obsession. "Orly? I have a problem? Let's see how fantastic you are!" Latching onto your posts and finding any reason at all to prove that you had no right to even tell me about my life. Post #7 in this thread, the one about hypocrites, is really about you. It was my "Aha! Neener neener neener!" moment. I may drink excessively, but at least I'm not trying to pretend I'm such a strong badass when I'm not! ...oh.
I think the fact that I even cared what you thought was supposed to be my first red flag indicating that all was not normal, but it wasn't. It wasn't until I got so plastered that I completely lost the memory of fucking a girl I met at a club, that I was able to actually express my true feelings for you. In chat. DRUNK in chat. I remember getting reprimanded by you and laughingly posting again moments later and getting another "No, you still have to shut up". But the rest of it is a blur. The only clue I have of that evening is the post I made in this thread and your responses to me. (By the way, that girl told me she put a condom on me that night, so she's fine, thankfully). After interpreting my drunken ramblings to the best of my ability and feeling a bit unnerved that my object of scorn had become an object of desire with just a few too many glasses, I decided to ignore it... while going on with my occasional stalking of your posts. It's honestly not something I consciously did. Other people posting was just less interesting and not worth the click, while yours being sighted on the forum was something I wanted to read.
Anyway, a few nights later, I plunged into intoxication again and I was feeling so overwhelmed by passionate yearnings, I devolved into what French I knew to express myself. Still I was annoyed with myself the next morning, but this was neither a sign to give up my pursuit of pointing out your faults nor a reason to give up drinking and logging into Blue Moon at the same time. Your posting to me while I was in the depths of it did not help to dissuade my infatuation. Finally, fed up with myself and seeing that you provided a solution, I agreed. I SHOULD stop thinking about you so much. Assuming that you disliked me as much as I "disliked" you, I decided you probably were annoyed with the constant fixation on you. I was annoyed by it, so decided to call a truce then and there. "Fine, I think I've proven that I don't have a problem, and even if I did, I've certainly proven that you are no angel."
Your post about my drinking again got me sort of pissed off again but in the different way of "WTF??? Why do you even care? Haven't you been paying attention??? I HATE you!" I deleted my response and just told myself it was done and over with and I didn't expect you to post again. I'd just leave you alone and you'd leave me alone and that would be that. Besides, I'm an ADULT. Your attempts to make internet serious business do not affect me!
Then... I had another lonely night and you'd recently posted a picture of your newly dyed hair and... I decided to express myself, again. I wanted to cum in your hair. I was finally beginning to come to terms with the fact that I didn't actually hate you at all. i just really wanted to fuck you. Even while in a semi-drunk stupor, I remembered I was diseased and decided it would be the gentlemanly thing to do to envision myself putting my cum somewhere ON you, rather than IN you. I didn't really want to reveal my status then(once again ranting to myself, "It's just the internet! Who cares anyway! It's not important!") so I chose not to respond or explain myself afterward.
Because of <name removed>'s sudden appearance in my thread, I focused on her a little bit too for a while. There was no hate to be battled there, so it was just a crush from the beginning, because I love her long hair.
Nervously, here and there, to irrationally draw attention away from my health status, I made jokes about STDs. Because I really was starting to like you more and more, finally realizing the utter hypocrisy of my previous rantings, and also coming to terms with what I didn't want to accept: I'd fallen for a girl on the internet. This. All of the above is what I really meant when I told you, you create chaos within me. You truly did/do. And that's when the poetry started.
It wasn't until you gals encouraged me to join Fetlife that I started to wake up and realize that things were getting serious for me. I really wanted you and you were so close! It could be real. I COULD have you. Then I realized, I couldn't. A couple of times I considered just ending it and stopping right there. You would never want me once you knew, but even if you did, even if it somehow worked and we were together, I would never really be able to be intimate with you in the way that I would like to, without putting you at some sort of risk. Then I selfishly decided that I could do this. I could be happy with just this internet thing, allowing myself to have a friend whom I could love without hurting. I mean, I need to accept it eventually that there's shit I can't just DO anymore, that I get constantly rejected for a reason. I need to start just being happy with love that doesn't go beyond a certain point. Not for a minute did I think about what you wanted or what you needed, and it is the biggest reason I feel guilty about all of this. That when it mattered, when I decided to make decisions involving you, whtehr to move forward or blow you off, I thought of myself and what I really wanted, sort of patting myself on the back for "keeping you safe". "Oh, she'll understand why I can't, when I eventually tell her. It'll be alright."
Then that jackass, TB, dropped the ball. Now I couldn't even pretend in this fantasy with you. It was both a relief and pressure, being forced to eventually tell you. Because it would be over now. You wouldn't want me. I could finally stop feeling for you because for sure, you would be scared away from every wanting to touch me. But you didn't care. You suspected and it was clear to me that you did, but you never asked for clarification. I didn't know if that was a sign that you truly didn't care about that or if it meant that you'd never wanted something physical or real-world in the first place. Either way, I eventually felt compelled to tell you, if only for the fact that you were meeting other guys from the internet in real life, and I was jealous for what I'd never have. I just wanted you to reject or accept me and get it over with.
Then you did. Not only that but you gave me your phone number. A willingness had been shown to breech the physical gap and it was you who made the first move to do so. Even after you learned the truth about me. I realized how much I wanted it then. And I realized that THIS, these words on the screen would never be good enough for you. I'd royally fucked up and now, I was finally able to look back and see how I willfully allowed it to get this far. I debated leaving. I flip-flopped forever, trying to decide what I had to do and trying to let go of what I was still doing to you. Thought it might be better to just stop logging in. Just vanishing, but my heart broke to realize how screwed up that would be. Here was a situation that was my fault, taken beyond where I was willing to tread and you deserved some sort of explanation.
So... here it is.
I'm sorry for not being able to give you more. I'm sorry for basically leading you on this whole time. And I'm sorry that I'm leaving you with this.
<Edited by darkangel76.>