Seal, he of Batman song and Heidi Klum baby daddy fame, never includes lyrics to his songs in the liner notes. (Sidenote: liner notes! How quaint. Who buys CDs anymore?)  He wants listeners to always wonder and speculate. I thought for a long time that was lazy, and frankly, a little mean to deafies like me, not that I’ve listened to Seal since 1996. Plus, his lyrics always struck me as nonsensical: “I compare you to a kiss from a rose on the grave.” Wha?

But then I realized that some of my favorite lyrics have been ones that I’ve misheard. When I learned the real lyrics, I often still preferred the ones my brain misinterpreted. I thought too about how the truth is just a story and everyone believes their own version. I have a friend who told me she was inappropriately hit on by another friend. That friend says, no, actually, it was the other way around. I believe the truth lies somewhere outside their convictions, but I’ll never know for sure.

This, on the other hand, is so true:

I keep giving advice, hoping it’ll make me wise. It won’t. Only living makes you wise. And mistakes. I prefer to learn things the hard way. I’d rather be wrong than sorry.

#242

My heart has grown

complacent. I dare not touch it,

not even with words.

______________

At SF Weekly, my column had its birthday. Right on the heels of my own birthday, which is next Tuesday. Birthdays are so loaded.  I also wrote about whether using Groupon on dates makes you a cheap asshole.

There’s been a friend theme the past few weeks at AfterEllen. And at the RedEye, I asked a pro domme how to be more dominant in bed. Rawr.

Here’s a video of me reading this story at Quiet Lightning over Labor Day. You can buy a book of the night’s readings here for a mere $10. That’s two beers, folks.

I’d write more, but I’m sick. I stayed home from work the past few days and had fever dreams that I was a detective and whenever I turned over, I came one step closer to solving the case, which after several hours, turned out to be: what is the true identity of Paddington Bear.

He continues to elude me, however.

PS: Oh my god. I just learned that Seal is from Paddington!