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The Pioneer Park Basketball League

There’s this guy on Twitter who keeps posting about Pioneer Park’s homeless population in a really low-brow way. He stops to take photos of what he sees as “conflicting” images, then uses them to argue against the $20 million upgrade to the park, which is slated for completion by the end of this year. One of his recent posts shows a homeless person with a necrotic arm passed out near the tennis courts while children play nearby. He uses that photo to claim the park improvements will only benefit the people who already “loiter” there between 10 a.m. and 8 p.m. He fails to mention that shelters have curfews. People leave the park not because they’re done "loitering" — but because they know they’ll lose their bed and meal if they don’t check in on time. Now that I’m living near the park and connected not just by proximity but by community, I find those blind takes misguided. For the past few weeks, around 6 p.m., I’ve walked over to the basketball courts. Yes, the ones surrounde...

On My Mind

There’s a push and pull underlying my life. Moving directly into the hive of it all, I find myself forgetting about the backlog of social atrocities I’ve committed. Atrocity may be a harsher word than I’d like to use, but I stare at the ceiling above my bed, overthinking.

I wish I could be brute, passive, maybe even forgetful of my past. Every conversation I have is like a data overload coursing through my brain. It’s so frustrating to be incapable of relaying simple replies.

What does this person think of me? What do they want from me?

It’s paranoia. Predicting the future relationship between me and this person. It’s fine to dissociate from people you don’t see yourself getting along with. I know that. But it’s different for me. I’ve found that it comes from self-loathing in ways that prevent me from letting them in.

How am I going to ruin this?

They probably expect this, but I can never live up to that.

Nihilism has killed most of my past relationships.

Eventually, she’ll see past the illusion I’ve created. Eventually, they’ll know I have no money. Soon, he’ll see I’m not who I say I am — whoever that may be.

So what’s the point of continuing this interaction? What’s the point of trying in this relationship if I know it’s going to end?

I’m writing this out because I’m still trying to find the source that created this deep, negative existentialism.

Is it because I fear what others think of me?

Is it from self-dysmorphia?

A fear of failure?

Failing to live up to what others expect of me?

Murphy’s Law is defined as: the more you fear something, the more likely it is to occur.

I feared failing the person I cared about the most. I failed them. I feared losing the “love of my life” because I was afraid of not giving her the life she deserved. I failed her.

Fail. Fail. Fail.

Where did this fear of failure come from?

On top of that, where did my fear of success come from?

Sabotaging myself in order to stay in a constant state of fearing the outcomes of socialization.

I’m fucking tired of this.

The silver lining is that I’m aware... out of fear that I might put someone else through my inherent extreme skepticism.

Do I hate happy people?