losing the corpus

i attended a celebratory gathering in the late afternoon yesterday. as is almost always the case, the discussion around me devolved into booze and real estate. apparently, while my liquor collection is gaining value, my house is stagnant. i don’t even try to talk about music anymore as it is about as productive as having a discussion about which religion is the correct one (scientology). more disturbing, though, is that i was barely participating in the conversation. it seems my mere presence has begun to affect people, and my devil-may-care attitude and cock-sure stride may soon infect others.