Ages ago now, Stacey Dahling wrote to Sinister to say that long-distance crushes are a bad thing. And she was talking from her own experiance. Then, Rachel Fruitloop replied to say that: no, list crushes are a good thing. And she was talking from her own experiance. After that, Dimitra jumped in and said that: no, list crushes or long-distances crushes are just like any other sort of crush. And she was ... well, you get the idea. I wanted to reply, but my mind was busily re-arranging itself at the time and I wasn't sure what I wanted to say. Next, I wanted to reply, but although I knew what sort of feeling and noise I wanted to make, I didn't know what words to say it with. Finally, though, I realised that I wanted to try. Today, then, I went out and looked round another art gallery hoping for some inspiration. It was packed, full of teenagers drawing sketches of the pictures. They all picked from just a few, it seemed. The most popular was an Andy Warhol portrait of a dog. But anyway. I left, buying a few postcards to pin on my wall. I don't have any pins, though. In the end, I realised I'd just have to talk about my own experiences. Well, I could try it. At one time, I agreed with Fruitloop that list crushes were a Good Thing. Then, a little while ago, I agreed with Dahling that list crushes were a Bad Thing. Now, though, I think they're just a Thing, and whether they're good or bad depends on you and one other person. I'm not sure if that's what Dimitra thinks, but it would be nice and symmetrical if it was. I even tried looking for inspiration in my dictionary. It says that crush can mean "infatuation", and it can also mean "to defeat or humiliate utterly", and "to become injured, broken or distorted by pressure". Of course, I'm sure you knew that already. I know I did. I had several crushes -- not necessarily List Crushes -- that ended in utter humilation, when Whoever found out that I had a crush on them. I think that happened in every case. I'm not sure about injury, but the humiliation kept on happening. Well, nearly every case. There's not much point going into details, because nearly all followed the same pattern. I don't want you to think there were lots, but there was more than one. So, of course, I thought that crushes were a Bad Thing and I was doomed. But, I realise now, it just depends on whether the other person is special enough. Whether they deserve it, I suppose. If your crush is a special person, then they won't just reject you. At first, they might not tell you that they think you have a crush on them, but they will still keep talking to you. Even when you know that they know, you will still keep talking to each other. Gently, shyly, you and them will talk about all sorts of little things, and you will start to feel a warm glow inside. You don't talk about crushes, but you might discuss things like your pets, or your family, and then suddenly decide to meet up with each other again, and go off to the other end of the country. Just as friends, of course. And then you can forget all your other worries and problems and just feel happy, because you have that warm glow. I sent a crush vote to someone the other week. I think they guessed straight away that I had sent it. I hope they're happy right now. xx will -- Will Salt ICQ 66321009 http://www.btinternet.com/~wpsalt/ +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+ +---+ Brought to you by the Sinister mailing list +---+ To send to the list mail sinister@missprint.org. To unsubscribe send "unsubscribe sinister" or "unsubscribe sinister-digest" to majordomo@missprint.org. WWW: http://www.missprint.org/sinister +-+ "sinsietr is a bit freaky" - stuart david, looper +-+ +-+ "legion of bedroom saddo devotees" "peculiarly deranged fanbase" +-+ +-+ "pasty-faced vegan geeks... and we LOST!" - NME April 2000 +-+ +-+ "frighteningly named Sinister List organisation" - NME May 2000 +-+ +-+ "sick posse of f**ked in the head psycho-fans" - NME June 2001 +-+ +-+ Nee, nee mun pish, chan pai dee kwa +-+ +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+