Perhaps that last bit came across as a wee bit of a downer. I just really enjoy Vonnegut's take on life, and I think that the word "used" is usually based in a negative sense, so to see it here as he describes it is a bit different. I recently read a charity book that Vonnegut did for NPR called "God Bless you Dr. Kevorkian" which is a quick book of shorts compiled from bits on NPR where he undergoes supervised near-death and interviews people from just outside the "pearly gates;" the subjects are diverse and include John Brown, Mary Shelley and Newton (and a few more). The cover shows his cartoon self on a gurney smoking a cigarette. I can't help but enjoy the dark sense of humor and commentary that it provides. I mean, c'mon, this is a man who has been saying he's going to sue the cigarette companies because he's been smoking for decades and the cigarettes haven't killed him yet (thank goodness).