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# Afterthought
- URL: https://herr-klamm.ghost.io/afterthought/
- Published: 2026-08-16T10:03:16.000Z
- Updated: 2026-08-16T10:19:33.000Z
- Author: Stephen Bender

We're said to be around 95% chimpanzee. When I recall my sexual entanglements over the years, which were relatively few compared to my peers, I have to laugh at them. Not jeer, but there is something absurd in them, in a narrow sense. Each successive entanglement was worse than the previous one, over the course of two decades. With each failed entanglement, they became more brief in duration. The last two weren't even boyfriend-girlfriend, they lasted three weeks and typically put me in bed for a year. Or more. 

Now, this is the sort of thing that happens when you lead with your heart, which is the utmost in foolishness. I thought the alternative was to engage in the cynicism of many of my peers, which I always found distasteful if not outright disgraceful. It is said that it is the height of bad manners to only sleep with a woman once. Well, I can happily report that I avoided that pitfall, to the best of my recollection. No, there was one exception, but I don't think it mattered much to her, either. 

I'm an admirer of women, believe it or not, if only because I already know what most men are about. Most of them are so predictable that it can get boring. Whatever else is true, woman are not that, as a general rule. It is said that they are quite mysterious, and I suppose as a matter of comparison, that is true. But really, if you're capable of engaged listening, the indirect communication style and hint-dropping are there if you can catch the signals. It is not difficult to sleep with a woman. These pick-up artist-esque insights will remain undivulged, for the sake of the innocent. But if you can read between the lines, you can probably suss them out. 

I don't think it's useful to valorize women above men. It's reductionist and without a worthwhile purpose. We're all stuck on this planet together and it would be nice if the internecine conflicts that people suffer from could be obviated. But then, these entanglements provide a venue for learning, if one is willing to take responsibility for them. Sure, I suffered some, here and there. But these were good faith mistakes and besides, everybody else was doing it. Who was I to boycott this sort of foolishness? To be enthusastic with the enthusiasts was what happened. It's so nice to grow old and to look back at tragedy fondly.

Forgot one. This one was played by friends and I was appalled. And saddened. An artifact of a depraved social scene.