loose goose

a lot of people are giving examples in the notes of things they just find annoying like not using headphones in public, but OP is talking about actual literal scripts of things to say in awkward situations

if you have a date or two with someone and you don't see a relationship developing? most millennials / gen Zers just end up ghosting. but a social script that might have been taught and rehearsed in the past could be:

"I really appreciated getting dinner with you the other night and I enjoyed your company, but I'm afraid I didn't feel a spark. I wish you the best, and hope you find that special someone!"

Remember things about your friends! Ask people about their weekends, hobbies, holidays, studies, and jobs! Listen for the concerns people have and what they are working on! Draw connections between one person and another to get the ball rolling. "Oh, Maura, you just got your first cat! You should talk to Felix, he used to work at a rescue. Felix, please tell Maura all the new-cat-guardian pointers."

"Bill, Sheila, Xan, this is my friend Kale. Kale is really into Star Trek, Bill you and them should talk about it!"

If you're looking for a manual on these sorts of things; social etiquette, social scripts, how to handle difficult and/or awkward social situations, etc. then I highly recommend picking up any book by Miss Manners. Her books really are the gold standard for learning the types of skills this post is talking about. I should also mention that Miss Manners is witty and hilarious so her books are also fun to read.

The best book by Miss Manners to get started with would be Miss Manner's Guide to Excruciatingly Correct Behavior. This one is probably the best starting point because it gives the best overview of all the basics.

I once had a therapist tell me that I am the way I am because the doctors didn't let me have skin to skin contact with my mother during my first moments of being here, like that was this huge primordial wound that started the chain of events that led me here. I try to think about me, all sticky and slimy, out in the open. Of course my memory doesn't go all the way back there, but there has to be some sort remnant of it I mean, if the consequences of that are still fucking my brain Up there has to be some sort of hazy recollection of it, hiding somewhere under the dusty old cabinets of my mind palace.

The first time I slept with someone was a girl slightly older than me, not much, but I was 18 and at that age even a 3 year gap can be significant, even though I felt that, as a newly declared adult, I stood at the same level as anyone from 19 to 30. We rented a room, did what we came there to do and fell asleep. I remember her arms around my waist, her hips leaning towards mine and her lips resting peacefully on my nape, they ended up there after kissing me lazily and slowly, in an increasingly clumsy way, until they stopped being kisses and were just slight opening and closing motions that eventually stopped, as if she drifted to sleep while telling me a secret.

I also remember waking up next to another lover some time later. He was still dreaming when I opened my eyes and saw the golden morning light coming trough his window, exposing the dust particles that drifted trough the air, I also saw the peaceful expression on his face and the slight curve of his lips, the way his curls shined golden. It amazed me how so much beauty could be contained in a room as dirty, messy and disastrous as his was, and I felt an invading sense of peace. I remember thinking that I wouldn't mind waking up like this everyday.

I can't recall how I felt in the hospital room, I imagine how cold the air must have felt against my wet skin, god, could you imagine feeling the air around you for the first time? I guess that's the thing, you don't feel anything around you. And you must really want to feel something warm pressed against your skin again.

Sometimes at night, when my partner holds be tight against him, my naked skin on his, I still don't know how I felt then in the hospital.

Finally laying on the ground

Open hands empty

I'll return back again