My apartment is very sparsely decorated. I have 3 paintings sitting by the wall but have never hung them. They don’t allow nails in the walls here. Fine with me, no argument. Because I am minimally surrounded by possessions I have more room than I need. In a way that’s nice. Anyway, today I was thinking, “If I could find enough really good clothing and other quality necessities to last a life time I would then throw away everything I don’t need.” I was thinking I want to run a really clean closet.

Then I thought about the boxes in the closet. Only 4 of them, but they are rarely opened. This proves I don’t need anything in them. But even if I did a complete clean out there would be a few items I would probably hold on to. I got to thinking about the brass knuckles in one of the boxes and broke up laughing. I got the ‘knucks’ from Catholic Dave in L.A. He was always railing against niggers and other minorities. I did not the same from time to time - who hasn’t? - but not on Dave’s level. He inherited $20,000 from a relative and he got the same thing I always wanted, a chance to live without working - and he took it.. I knew the cash would not last long.

Anyway, back to the brass knuckles. They were just one of many defense tools he bought from a catalog he discovered in Soldier of Fortune magazine. I have the catalog to this day. It’s small but packs a wallop. All sorts of clubs of different size and weight. Dave got a pair of lead-filled leather gloves that felt really good over the hand. Made a nice oddly “soft but sturdy” sound on contact with anything. But the humor of it is that Dave was not an aggressive sort. I’m sure if forced, he had it in him. But all this shit he was buying through the catalog - “Southern Ordnance” - I knew he would never use it. Funniest of all to me were the brass knuckles, not so much a weapon, more a tool of torture. Same with the lead filled gloves. In order to use them you have to know how to fight enough to get inside. But to me the whole purpose for any weapon is to keep my enemy as far from me as possible as I dish out my vengeance. So the knuckles made me think of that and how funny it is that I keep holding on to them, thinking that maybe one day they’ll become some kind of outdated antique-quality item worth a lot of money. So I thought of that today, how good it would feel to have just enough to live the rest of my life without ever having to shop again, and how even better it would feel to get rid of a bunch of stuff I keep hanging around even though I don’t need it. And when I say a bunch it’s still nothing compared to most people.

Anybody wanna buy a pair of brass knuckles?

On 2/5/2022 6:28 PM, Thomas Joseph wrote:
> My apartment is very sparsely decorated. I have 3 paintings sitting by the wall but have never hung them. They don’t allow nails in the walls here. Fine with me, no argument. Because I am minimally surrounded by possessions I have more room than I need. In a way that’s nice. Anyway, today I was thinking, “If I could find enough really good clothing and other quality necessities to last a life time I would then throw away everything I don’t need.” I was thinking I want to run a really clean closet.
>
> Then I thought about the boxes in the closet. Only 4 of them, but they are rarely opened. This proves I don’t need anything in them. But even if I did a complete clean out there would be a few items I would probably hold on to. I got to thinking about the brass knuckles in one of the boxes and broke up laughing. I got the ‘knucks’ from Catholic Dave in L.A. He was always railing against niggers and other minorities. I did not the same from time to time - who hasn’t? - but not on Dave’s level. He inherited $20,000 from a relative and he got the same thing I always wanted, a chance to live without working - and he took it. I knew the cash would not last long.
>
> Anyway, back to the brass knuckles. They were just one of many defense tools he bought from a catalog he discovered in Soldier of Fortune magazine. I have the catalog to this day. It’s small but packs a wallop. All sorts of clubs of different size and weight. Dave got a pair of lead-filled leather gloves that felt really good over the hand. Made a nice oddly “soft but sturdy” sound on contact with anything. But the humor of it is that Dave was not an aggressive sort. I’m sure if forced, he had it in him. But all this shit he was buying through the catalog - “Southern Ordnance” - I knew he would never use it. Funniest of all to me were the brass knuckles, not so much a weapon, more a tool of torture. Same with the lead filled gloves. In order to use them you have to know how to fight enough to get inside. But to me the whole purpose for any weapon is to keep my enemy as far from me as possible as I dish out my vengeance. So the knuckles made me think of that and how funny it is that I keep holding on to them, thinking that maybe one day they’ll become some kind of outdated antique-quality item worth a lot of money. So I thought of that today, how good it would feel to have just enough to live the rest of my life without ever having to shop again, and how even better it would feel to get rid of a bunch of stuff I keep hanging around even though I don’t need it. And when I say a bunch it’s still nothing compared to most people.
>
> Anybody wanna buy a pair of brass knuckles?

I'm a lady and have no use for brass knuckles, but have you thought
about getting yourself a gun? It's one way to keep your enemies at a
distance, and hopefully just having it will mean you'll never have to
use it. But if the threat alone doesn't work? BAM!! The best part is you
can always blame it on some anonymous black guy. Who would ever doubt
such a sweet man like you?

Judith Latham wrote:

> > Anybody wanna buy a pair of brass knuckles?
> I'm a lady and have no use for brass knuckles, but have you thought
> about getting yourself a gun? It's one way to keep your enemies at a
> distance, and hopefully just having it will mean you'll never have to
> use it. But if the threat alone doesn't work? BAM!! The best part is you
> can always blame it on some anonymous black guy. Who would ever doubt
> such a sweet man like you?

Dave gave me the address for the catalog. This was 40 years ago. I bought a 15 ounce lead bar covered in leather. It had a spring in it. It could easily kill someone. Tap someone on the shin bone and watch them go down. I carried it often in L.A. but never used it and may in have have had trouble doing so in a pinch. Yes, of course the gun is superior. But the thing is, back then I was a heavy drinker, liable to mess around drunk with the gun and wind up killing myself. So while the gun is a better defense weapon than a club, the positive of it is that you can't kill yourself with a club. I actually thought of that at the time, how I might accidentally shoot myself if I had a gun, especially drunk. My best defensive weapon is my brain. Avoidance is key. As for enemies, I don't think I have any. But you never know, there could be some paranoid fucker out there who thinks I'm out to get him for some reason. I am not anti gun but would prefer not to own one. I could regret that when society falls all the way apart. But even then a gun alone would not be enough to stop crazy large gangs of weaponized gutter scum roaming the streets looking for whatever they can get their hands on. And don't ever call me sweet again or I'll use my poison dart blower to zing your brain into loony town.