Celibacy is like celery. They sound alike and they're both uneventful.

Lately I've been sitting outside on my back porch. I used to try to avoid the sun at all costs. Or just the tan part. I went through a phase for a few years where I didn't feel it was necessary to heighten the pigment in my skin. I used to run around all the time, footloose with my tank tops and shorts on. But that was when I was a young one. Practically a baby. Maybe 11. But then I thought about it, and I realized that girls without suntans can be pretty, too. I still think that, but I kinda miss the rich color the sun brings out in my shoulders, and the tops of my feet. As I've been lounging in the privacy of my own backyard, odd tan lines have taken their form. One day I'll wear a ribbed top that is missing the sleeves and the sun beats down around the hemmed edges. The next day, I'll wear a shirt with straps as thin as angel hair. It's fun to look at though. I have my own scale of colors from my collarbone to the edge of my shoulder. The best part about my newfound sun fun? My freckles have reappeared. I forgot how much I missed the dots that decorate my cheeks after a lengthy day in the sun. When I was a baby (eleven years old) my cheeks and nose, and a bit of my forehead would be taken over by tiny, light brown freckles all summer long, only to disappear once the leaves would begin to fall. I love the freckles that are on my face again. Just as much as I like the freckles that are beginning to line my arms and the tops of my shoulders. Once, I found the Big Dipper on my back....

" 'Take your clothes off and join in, Smith!' But on top of all that, the feelings about Princess, I'd also gone through an entire year of celibacy based on my feeling that lust was the direct cause of birth which was the direct cause of suffering and death and I had really no lie come to a point where I regarded lust as offensive and even cruel." - Ray Smith, Dharma Bums.
HAHAHA! That is incredible. When I was earning my freckles on the deck outside, I read this quote and made sure to remember it. What a great connection that Ray Smith has made here! I don't necessarily think it's right, but how great. A man quitting sex cold turkey just cause he's under the impression that feelings for an attractive woman will eventually lead to suffering and death. It's so depressing. Some would argue without sex and lust, one's life is meaningless. No meaning in your life causes a lot of alone time. Which causes unavoidable thinking. Which causes insanity. Which causes suffering and death. Hmmm... celibacy. Nah. But good job, Ray Smith/Jack Kerouac.