Saturday, July 21, 2001

1557 Noe Street, San Francisco

My laptop died at the end of June. I didn’t permanently lose a lot; it was mostly an inconvenience. I lost whatever I wrote in the month of June. I think the only thing of significance in June was realizing that entries from like 1996 already articulated what I feel now. Writing in here about my “feelings” is stupid; I’ve already written it down sometime before.

So what’s going on in my life? I don't care about the band. There is just no passion, no connection, and no chemistry. I don't care about these people, I don't care what happens. I auditioned for another band today. I don’t think I’ll get it, and I’m not sure I want it, but I’ve taken the crucial step of starting to audition again.

I’m looking more closely at my cutting. I’m reading a book on the subject, Bright Red Scream, by Marilee Strong. I tried going to therapy, but it was just stupid. The doctor was an idiot, but the experience, for some reason, made me focus on cutting. At first I couldn’t even identify that as a problem to focus on.

Why am I still doing it? I don’t fit the profile of people doing it anymore. Or at least I don’t think I do. The book I’m reading accurately describes what was going on when I was doing it before, but things have changed and it has just become habit. It doesn’t give me the relief that it may have before. Now I just do it for the hell of it. It’s not because of feelings, it’s not a way of dealing or coping, it’s not an expression of pain that I can’t express another way. I just do it because I’ve always done it. I guess I’ve grown out of it, but the act is still there. Most of the time it’s no big deal, I can cut or not cut, I just decide to cut rather than not cut.

I know it connects me to my past, it provides proof of what happened before, but the scars are there, they aren’t going away, why create more? Perhaps a similar question is why am I still hoping to kill myself eventually and soon. And why I still abuse alcohol. It’s all related.