I laughed until I cried, and cried until I laughed


Sometimes art does imitate life. I was watching a flick from my "classics" folder called Cat Ballou from the 60's, starring a younger Jane Fonda but for the purposes of this article, the most excellent Lee Marvin in a dual role of Snidely Whiplash-like villain Strong and the town drunk. The scene I refer to is one where Jane Fonda things "Kid Shalleen" is this legendary gunfighter who can save the ranch (not long on plot) but he is a drunk with the DTs pretty bad but the line that got me at the end was "I never saw a man get through a day so fast...." as Kid Shalleen passes out after 5 minutes of consciousness.

The scene in question...





I laughed because the scene was funny but I cried because it depicts daily life for me so damned well, and I don't have the benefit of whiskey to go with it. I can wake up, have coffee, do a few tasks that MIGHT take an hour and I find myself so mentally exhausted I feel like I need a nap. The body still feels like it just woke up but the mind is just wiped....the F....out. I can only describe it as feeling used up...completely.
The other part that rings true is his attempts to do things that were natural and easy for him at some point in his life; now they go disastrously wrong...
Hope this works....

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