The Bane Of Friendship
Image by Clipart.com
Friendship. It’s so many wonderful things. It’s caring. It’s affection. It’s laughter and inside jokes.
It’s also the last bastion of the freshly dumped. After all, how many breakup conversations include the phrase, “can we just be friends?”
So why do we go along with such a “request”? Are we that desperate? Do we get so attached that we’re willing to settle for friend status just to stay in someone’s life? Take the story of Jackie:
Jackie is a strong, independent woman (usually). She is also the victim of a recent breakup. Robert, her live-in boyfriend of three years, has decided that he needs time to “figure things out.” He still wants to be friends, but he needs to take a break from the relationship.
Jackie reluctantly accepts this arrangement, and the two continue to see each other once or twice a week, essentially at his discretion: she makes herself available when he calls, and only sometimes is he available when she calls.
Months pass, and Robert still hasn’t figured out what he wants. Though Jackie makes a few half-hearted attempts to date other men, not surprisingly, these dates go nowhere. She continues to pine for Robert.
So, why does Jackie put up with Robert’s wishy-washiness? Perhaps a better question is, what is going on inside Jackie’s brain…. Read more…
A Boyfriend’s Guide To Women And Musical Theatre
Image by Catzrule99 via Flickr
It finally happened. Maybe it was when you were giving her your best “come hither” look, as her eyes and the merlot twinkled in the candlelight. Or perhaps you were out for a stroll, and she leaned into you as the wind blew her hair. Or better yet, maybe you were lazing in bed on Sunday morning, too blissful to dress. And then she said it.
“I’ve bought us tickets for a show.” And she’s not talking about the topless kind in Vegas.
She means a Broadway show, gentlemen.
There’s going to be singing, dancing, and most likely, a lot of angst. If I may speak in gross generalities, women tend to get really fired up about musical theatre, while men (though they might not hate it) can probably think of better things to do on a Saturday night. Personally, I love going to the theatre, and the more singing about inner turmoil, the better. Yes, it’s unbelievable to burst into song, but we suspend reality all the time when watching television or films. For me, the music takes the emotion of the situation up a notch. It’s art at its finest, a beautiful marriage of story and sound.
But I digress. I’m not here to sell anyone on musical theatre. Everyone is entitled to their own opinions. That being said, when presented with show tickets, be aware! The secrets of the female mind are hidden in music, harmonies, and plot-driven-lyrics. Never fear, for all will be revealed to you over the two- to three-hour course of the show (plus intermission).
However, in case you find it a bit difficult to follow the show’s plot and decipher the secrets of the female mind, I humbly present the hidden secrets in some popular musicals: Read more…
Grief
Photo courtesy of the State Library of New South Wales
Grief. It affects us all, in some form or another. Unless you pass through life in a catatonic state, it’s going to hit you someday, and you will be completely blindsided. Whether it’s the loss of a loved one, or a particularly nasty breakup, or even breaking a nail (I don’t know, it could be a really nice nail…), pain is inevitable. Life is pain. Anyone who says different…. *Ahem.*
The point is, everyone hurts. It’s how you deal with it that makes you who you are. I’ve had people tell me that everyone deals with pain differently, and while that may be true to some extent, I don’t entirely believe it. Just from my experience, there are certain modes people fall back upon to deal with grief. Some people deal with it using drugs or alcohol. Some fall into depression. Some people take it out on other people. Some just stop living.
There are the people who use it for good, who take their grief and turn it into something that helps others, and then there are the people on the opposite end of the spectrum who take it and hold onto it, using it as an excuse for their bitterness and lash out at anyone and everyone who comes near them. Read more…
Top 5 Ways To Make A Relationship Last—The Hard Ones!
Photo by Ed Yourdon
A few months ago, I posted some easy ways to make your relationship stronger. They were simple and not too taxing, right? But now it’s time to talk about those dreadful things like:
- Introspection
- Personal responsibility
- Seeing past your own anger
Yikes! How un-fun is that? Because, really, how can anyone be expected to do these things when our partner is clearly in the wrong? Hmm, maybe it’s better to see beyond the need to be right and look at how to work out differences?
1. Don’t be jealous, and if you are, own it. You may not like what I’m going to say, but look at sexy people. They are all around us. On TV, on the street, in the workplace. The day after our wedding, my husband and I took a walk on Mission Beach before we met up with the rest of our friends and family for the post-wedding events. Suddenly, this model-chick with literally the most perfect butt roller-bladed past us. All butts should aspire to look this good. And I know mine does not. But he was still holding my hand, and we had a nice little banter about the perfectness of what had just skated by.
Love yourself enough to know that, despite the fact that we are surrounded by good-looking people, you still have someone who loves you for who you are. Love and trust your partner enough to know that looking is simply that. Looking. Read more…
Should You Post That Status Update?
The status update. The tweet. By whatever name the latest social networking site calls it, it’s how we all keep in touch nowadays.
Unfortunately, some people just don’t seem to understand the process, posting updates that are completely inane or completely inappropriate.
If you suspect that you might be such a person, then I am here to help you out. The next time you have a potential comment you’d like to post, just follow these simple steps:
First, read through each criterion below, and score points as noted. Then, tally up your results. If your final tally is above 0 points, post away! If your final tally is below 0 points… mmmm, yeah, you might want to go ahead and rethink the comment.
Okay, here we go:
1. The comment has something to do with a stroke of luck you just had: +2 points
2. The comment has something to do with a stroke of genius you just had: +10 points
3. The comment has something to do with a stroke you just had: +30 points
4a. The comment has something to do with your last medical visit: +3 points
4b. Your last medical visit was to a proctologist or gynecologist: –10 points
5a. The comment has something to do with a bodily function: –5 points
5b. Your last bodily function was performed accidentally: –10 points Read more…
Dennis Hong
Scott Joiner
Jennifer Hamilton
Denice Blue
Meg Pierce
Jon Shellhammer
Miss Bonnified
Jasmine Curry
Traci Lopez
Rikki Marzan
Alex O'Sullivan