Dirty Laundry
Posted by harlan on 15 Jul 2008 at 12:36 pm | Tagged as: talking to the void
Not too long ago, I realized it isn’t necessary to separate whites and colors, especially if you don’t have any red clothes. I don’t have red clothes, so instead of carefully separating the socks from the t-shirts like some obsessive-compulsive wretch, I just throw in a load of clothes and get on with my day.
There are exceptions. I got barbecue sauce on a white collar once, and my urine-soaked white slacks needed to be washed with bleach in hot water. So that’s all fine and good.
The really odd thing is that every now and again, I pull a bunch of clothes out of the dryer that I don’t recognize.
Welcome back, and with another exciting laundry post!
Given what goes on in your clothes dryer, it’s not remarkable that you find somebody else’s clothes there.
Yeah, welcome back. Your reappearance is as anti-climactic as your vanishing act, and your laundry observation sounds like McMurphy after his lobotomy, but it’s good to have you back. You have a legion of fans waiting for you to greet them.
Harlan! Tears in my eyes! Hugs, kisses, more hugs, more kisses.
You just made my day.
Wow, the chaos that has ensued while you were gone - all the unanswered questions - and you have nothing to say for yourself except that you pissed a pair of pants.
lunch.bag.let.down
I am glad you are back though……
so happy to see you harlan. I was wondering if you would come back.
Are you at the laundromat when you take clothes out of the dryer that you don’t recognize? I do that sometimes.
That’s kinda brilliant. I’m just amused that Asshat will carry on on the same kind of jokes about wolverines, dryers and hairy arms. Stop being so obsessed, people, Harlan’s back. Harlan, there are more of us who like you than there are of those who hate you. Keep that on mind before giving up again and WELCOME BACK.
Harlan, You’re back!
Your diehard fans will be ecstatic!
Yes, Talita, there will be more wolverine jokes, as sure as the sun shines out of Jaydon’s ass ;)
WTF
Hello Harlan! Good to see you! How are you doing?
P.S. Did you post this just to see how many responses you could get to an existentialist laundry list? Stand by…
Yay! I’m so happy to see that you’re back! I’ve missed you’re posts.
Hi!
Great to have you back!
You’ve been missed.
wait. what?
HAAAAARRRRRRRRLLLLLLLAAAAAAAAAAAAANNNNNN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Good to have you back. Are you having dissociative fugues now?
Welcome back guy, such a post would suggest that things aren’t well.
…whoops *ARE WELL I mean. Sorry :)
Welcome Back!!! We have missed you!!!!!
Look what the cat dragged in!
Do you ever pull out a bunch of socks without matches? There’s a bunch of us here missing the mates to our socks…
Once a douchebag always a douchebag.
You’ve answered your own question. DON’T ever bother again.
HUHHHHH?????
Steve…but yet you checked back daily, just like the rest of us.
Glad to have you back, Harlan.
I’m sure all that laundry was a result of your wonderful vacation. Hope you’re all rested and ready to go back to, uh, “normal?” Welcome back.
Yay! Now I’m really happy :)
Great to see you back, Harlan
So, yes, I’m walking on sunshine now that I see your
post. You’ve obviously been very missed by so many and
most of all, thank you for not leaving for good. It was so good not to see ”why bother” again and the ensuing comments
which I am sure you have read by now. In roundabout
ways, even some of the naysayers, showed that they
cared. I think Steve is just pissy because of his
last comment- he did say ’see ya’ and here he is
grumbling because you did exactly what he said you
wouldn’t - came back - and so did he. hmmmm.
Cheers and sunshiney thoughts, Harlan, and I think it’s safe to say,
from your friends here,(you know,us bleeding hearts and all) we hope you stay and keep on writing now that you’re back. Many of us care - Thanks for not leaving us soveryalone, and for knowing now, (as I am sure
you do) that you aren’t either.
Jaydon
Welcome back, I’m glad to see you’re alive. Here’s to hoping that what you were experiencing wasn’t too bad. There are a lot of us that are here for you if you need anything.
P.S. My husband also occassionally has similar laundry experiences, of course he also has 5 personalities and they don’t always tell each other when they go shopping …
Bonjour Harlan. Je suis ravi de savoir que tu es bien..C’est niquel!!
Welcomeback!!
Hooray!!! Glad to see a new post!
glad your back dude.. was worried. :)
Glad to see your ok. I wash everything in cold water - that helps too. I air dry all my work clothes…
Welcome back.
I’m going to chalk this post up to an awkward return situation, but I must say, Harlan, it will be very disappointing to me, as someone who has been supportive of you, if you do not express a thank you to all of those who have defended you and awaited your happy and healthy return.
Hope you can muster that, at the very least.
SOY
Although I’m a little WTF’ed sitting here, finding a post, posted 16 hours ago, I’m excited to know that So Very Alone will perhaps be back up and highlighted in a wonderful blue in my Google Reader.
As someone who hasn’t read 100 per cent of the site, I was wondering if this could be a hack or if it is classic Harlan? I’m guessing it’s the latter, but I’m worried nonetheless.
But then again, I’m skeptical.
Was it a month since the “Hard Question” post? Does anyone else have the feeling that H took a real, physical vacation is just getting back now? In the meantime, he gained about 400 new readers with this hiatus.
I’m on both sides of the fence here…oh well. I’m entertained and I guess that’s what’s important.
30 Days in Jail!
That’s a good one, Harlan. You title a post “Dirty Laundry” and then proceed to write about dirty laundry. Will “Bats in the Belfry” be about flying rodents in a bell tower?
Good having you back in any case.
SOY, Harlan didn’t ask for your officious “support” and doesn’t owe you a thank you.
Welcome back Harlan!
Chuck, I wasn’t talking to you.
Sorry, SOY. I thought I might express my opinion, but next time I’ll mind my place wait until I’m addressed by the high and mighty.
I’d prefer that. Thank you.
“urine-soaked white slacks” lol.. wtf??
welcome back.
It’s so easy to keep on baiting em isn’t it Harlan?
30 days in jail, rehab, on vacation, no internet connection, held captive by Bertha…any other ideas Harlan fans?
Either hospitalization or milking 30 days of “supportive” comments from condescending twits.
Harlan will never tell, and we will never know. Just like all of the other un-answered & open-ended posts on here….
It’s entertaining nonetheless.
How about locked in a Porche?!
or a FedEx truck?
holy crap, he’s back! glad to see you are ok.
Perhaps you weren’t at home. Do you know where you are?
My my my, SOY has become quite demanding in your absence. Nice to hear you have solved the riddle of laundry. Welcome back, hopefully the posts get better, there just isn’t much here to work with.
Perhaps I’ll get someone jumping all over me for not being sweet enough in my welcome back, and we can have a little fun that way.
:)
Joe
Joe, you need permission to speak to SOY.
I haven’t demanded a thing of Harlan. I am simply expressing my disappointment with his lack of a gesture of kindness in return not to me but to the people who have vehemently defended him and believed in him. (I have not done that. I have withheld judgement, which is entirely different.)
Notice, I didn’t take the opportunity to call him names or belittle him.
That is the difference between being sympathetic and being degrading.
Oh, well maybe it was just a false alarm? I’m beggining to consider this possibility…
HOOOOOORRRRAAAAYYYY I am so glad you are back and feeling better.XXOOXXOO
You don’t need permssion. You need tact, Chuck.
permission
Ok, then, SOY. Allow me tactfully to point out that in your earlier comment today you called yourself “supportive” and now you say that all along you have been “withholding judgment.” Which is it?
If you’ve been “supportive” then maybe you’ve got some reason to be pouty and disappointed that Harlan hasn’t acknowledged your noble, high-minded efforts to defend him against his attackers. But if you’ve been morally neutral, then it seems to me that you don’t have much to be disappointed about.
Or do you just like telling Harlan and everybody else what they should do and think?
I hope they have treated you well. Wherever you were. I missed you terribly.
HURRRRRRRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!! HARLAN IS BACK IN THE GAME!!! You have no idea how much I like your blog. Like, CRAZY a lot.
HARLAN WELCOME BACK TO YOUR LOVING FANS :D :D :D
I don’t see being supportive and withholding judgement as mutually exclusive concepts. So I guess I choose “C”.
I have no need to be recognized by Harlan. I felt that his return was a bit strange, especially since so many people (again…not me) have expressed a strong desire for him to return. I didn’t see that as an assault on Harlan, just an honest observation.
If telling people that they are rude and obnoxious for beating up the weakest kid on the playground is noble, I take that as a compliment. That is how I have seen it and so I called it as such.
Chuck, I apologize sincerely if I came across as rude, but when I feel attacked, I sometimes attack back. When I said I wasn’t talking to you, I meant that as mildly as possible. I was addressing Harlan. That’s all.
Anyway, I am becoming increasingly convinced that 60% of the posters on this board are the same person. I guess I keep coming back to try to figure it out. But I have no desire to argue with people.
I guess we will see.
This is one of the greatest posts ever. I love it.
Welcome back, Harlan. We missed you, and it’s ALWAYS good to hear from you.
So:
1) Harlan went on a sabbatical for a month- He probably traveled around Europe, laughing as he went or,
2) Harlan is a super marketing genius, garnering more traffic to his site as he went dark, much like ABC and LOST.
3) Harlan is super depressed and needs hospitalization.
Whatever the circumstance, he is still genius. Depression, Zoloft, or not. For those of you interested, you can take the poll and let us others know what you think.
http://laraslousylife.com/so-very-alone/
A month between updates and this is what we get? I want my money back.
Ugh, no post overnight? I think soveryalone was hacked and someone is getting the best of us.
The only thing I’m suffering from are black and blues from high-fiving himself so many times. Oh and a sore belly from laughing so hard at all you naive push-overs.
Ha ha. This fake Harlan who just commented forgot momentarily who he was posing as. Did you notice how he said “high-fiving himself”? Wouldn’t the real Harlan have said “high-fiving myself”?
Hey SOY, if the above post is indeed Harlans post, at least he acknowledged all his supporters! :)
Although mixing the tenses of “The only thing I’m suffereing from-” with “High-fiving himself” Makes me think it’s a bogus post.
Joe
I hope they changed your meds at the Hospital/treatment center/incarceration facility, whichever you were in. welcome back?
Yeah, well….as much as it pains me to say it (ok, not really), Joe….I think I may owe you an apology too.
I can’t help but admit that I am starting to believe that this whole thing is some sort of experiment and we are the rats.
I’ve decided to change my name.
Congrats, SOY. The light bulb above your head is now shining brightly.
Of course this is an experiment, regardless it’s still fun. How many comments are we going to get from Dirty Laundry? - Suckers.
Adam: It depends on how much bickering there is among us.
People fear criticism and debate far too much these days. Someone says something you do is dumb, or of no value, and emotions start to fly. Rationally, one has to decide if they are making the right choices for themselves. If the answer is yes, then anything someone else says should not dissuade them from making those choices. If the answer is no, then of course to continue to make those choices is a poor choice.
I currently shave my head, for comfort and ease of use. It started in 1997 when I shaved it once and decided I liked it. This was before most people I saw thought it looked good, and along with it came some “mr clean” remarks. But I had decided I liked it, and it was the right choice for me. It didn’t harm anyone else, and it made me happy, so that made it the right choice.
Now, I could have posted online about it (well, not so much then, unless I did it via newsgroups, no one blogged then) but at any rate, I would no doubt have gotten all kind of comments about whatever, and how I reacted to them would have also been my choice.
My rather longwinded point should be rather obvious, but I’ll state it anyway, if Harlan is posting here, he obviously is sharing what he wants. If people post he is making poor choices, and he concludes they are incorrect, then that’s the end of it, no harm should be done. People coming here in droves and defending “poor Harlan” are missing the point. No one is attacking Harlan, it’s the internet, it’s a forum for opinions and dialogue, if one wishes to engage, one can, but no one is forced to. If I think harlan is an ass, it’s no different than many of you thinking I’m one, and oddly enough, me thinking it of him has the same effect that you thinking it of me has, zero. Now, if harlan really thought he was being an ass, he might decide to change, so it can indeed be helpful to point out the parts of the behavior that are truly akin to ass-ness. But one must still look objectively to see it.
I know I have been an ass at times, due to my interpretation of the lack of societal responsibility that harlan often shows. I am aware of it, and it was by choice, so calling me on it, while factual, is nonetheless not very useful, due to the fact that I was aware of it when I did it. Harlan on the other hand seems unaware that his actions are indeed ass like. Therein lies the problem.
There, that should stir up a little discussion, can we make 300 on this post too?
Joe
To come here and want to defend “poor Harlan” is only a little naive but good-hearted. It wears off after a few posts. The stoutest defenders eventually feel that they’re playing the fool. Even Lilly once sort-of wished Harlan well. But to defend poor Harlan and then expect Harlan to thank you for it is something else. He posts here what he wants and has said several times that he doesn’t owe anything to his commenters. I think it’s best to take him at his word.
It’s not good behavior for people to take up officiously another person’s defense, without knowing the entire story, and then expect to be rewarded for it. And it’s really offensive when the person who’s expecting the thanks rolled in here with high-hat sense of moral superiority intending to wag a shaming finger at everybody who didn’t share the same point of view. There’s no weak kid here being kicked around on a kindergarten playground.
I was wondering why my scalp was burning….
Joe, I agree with you on the discussion aspect of the internet. I’m sure that you would agree with me when I say, regardless of whether or not we’ve agreed or disagreed, we have had some interesting and spirited conversations.
What I have to disagree with you on is the comment “no one is attacking Harlan”. That’s not true. He has been called names and has been belittled with lame dick jokes many, many times.
That may be ok with some people because “it’s just the internet” or “he deserves it” but it is not ok with me and that is where I take issue with people.
It may be none of my concern, but that doesn’t mean I am not going to comment to them with my opinion.
All in all, I wish we could all talk about something other than Harlan, quite frankly. It’s one thing to comment on or to someone who is taking an active role in participating in the discussion but it might be the definition of insanity to continue a discussion about someone who doesn’t seem to be interested!
That’s where I’m at.
…and before it is said…
Yes, I know this is Harlan’s blog so it would stand to reason that most of the posts would be about him.
What I am saying is that it would be nice if the people who come here, whether we “like” eachother or not, could find a new place to argue, kiss and make up or whatever.
To Joe’s point, the purpose is all about opinions and dialogue.
Shame on you-
I am on board with you right up to where you argue that harlan is being attacked. It’s the internet, he’s sharing his life, and then letting people comment. I read several blogs, and in general people who act in a normal and societally responsable manner don’t get picked on. Harlan is obviously an exception, and I would like to suggest he brings that on himself.
If you are acting like an ass, and someone comes out and says “Hey buddy, you’re an ass” to take offense is childish. If you are acting that way, then man up and understand that’s why you’re being called it. Plain and simple.
Joe
ANYWAY, WE SHOULD BE THANKING HARLAN. How much entertainment do you get here? DUH. Do does NBC OR ABC thank US for watching their TV shows????????????**
**However, if you come to my blog and comment, I promise I will thank you for all the page views that turn into ad revenue. HEHEHEH.
Cheers,
Lara
PS What a fucking AWESOME site! One of the best blogs I’ve ever seen in terms of controversy and conversation.