You know that moment when, having been jammed up against the door in a crowded car, you sense your station approaching and pivot to face front and suddenly see yourself in the harsh, unflattering reflection of the train window and are forced to confront all that you are, the sad lump of skin and meat that you carry with you each day and are mostly successful at not thinking too much about? That near-simultaneous feeling of disgust ("Oh, God, you") and resignation ("I guess this is what I've got left to work with from now on") and the wearying comprehension that the difference between who you think you are and who you're really hauling around in the eyes of everyone else can be plotted on a graph to express the number of days you have left in this world? You don't? Liar. Anyway, there oughta be a German word for that! I mean, there probably already is, but I mean something a little more specific than "leben." READ MORE

You know that sudden and jarring juxtaposition of feelings you experience when you finally realize that something you were certain was a parodic mash-up turns out to be absolutely sincere? There oughta be a German word for that.

Hey, quick question: Do you slap your forehead and mutter, "Oh, God," every time you see an entry I've written that begins with "So I was walking down the street this morning and etc."? I ask because, in response to yesterday's deliverance of absolution, a correspondent volunteered to begin an Alex Balk Cabfare Fundraising Drive "so you don't have to see anymore sad shit on the street and we don't have to hear about it." Fair enough, I suppose; I understand how painful and wrenching it must be to read these accounts because I live them, and the burdens I bear are more painful and wrenching than any of you could ever understand. READ MORE

Awl reader-friend Rick Paulas writes in with an excellent point! "Every now and then, I'll meet someone (usually a friend-of-a-friend, and usually in a bar) who, for whatever reason, I absolutely hate. Most times, the disgust comes from them mentioning their love of Red Bull, bringing up The Hills in any way possible, or being outspoken about their conservative views. Other times, it comes from the knowledge that the person I'm talking to will never take sexual interest in me. Either way, the end result is the same: I begin mocking them to their face." But! READ MORE