This is my boat. They're part of my crew. No one's getting left. Best you get used to that.

Mal ,'Ariel'


Natter 68: Bork Bork Bork  

Off-topic discussion. Wanna talk about corsets, duct tape, or physics? This is the place. Detailed discussion of any current-season TV must be whitefonted.


Zenkitty - Aug 31, 2011 8:38:45 am PDT #23325 of 30001
Every now and then, I think I might actually be a little odd.

( continues...) fucking deal.) I sometimes feel sad and afraid, when I contemplate being old all alone, in a nursing home with no one to visit or care about me. But that happens to lots of people, even people who did have kids and families and lots of friends. As Mal Reynolds said, "Everybody dies alone." I can't make all the decisions of my life based on a fear of what my dying might be.

Though I probably *do* eat more fresh fruit... Hmmm. That might be it! Although fiber is actually very helpful with IBS, so you'd think the increased fiber would make the innards chill out.

Eating lots of fruit and/or fiber makes me sick at my stomach and gives me bloat and gas and a gross feeling of something fermenting in my guts. You know, FWIW.

NYC is a wonderful place. I don't want to live there, because god I hate crowds and noise and noxious air, but I wish I could *teleport* there to spend the day.

I can never speak up and point to myself as living proof of the axiom that if you just get involved with things you're interested in, you'll Find That Special Someone.

Yeah, you know, I've tried this. I joined an astronomy club, and ISTG everyone was either ancient or a married couple. I joined a movie-watching club (yes, I know) and have been absolutely bored with everyone I met there. I joined a Skeptics club, and have not found anyone especially interesting except one guy who only showed up once and never came back and was out of my league anyway. I'm really good at being personable and friendly in a group, but really bad at finding anyone I really want to be friends with. I met all of my long-term SOs, directly or indirectly, through my BFF Gretchen (who I met at my first SF convention; it was love at first sight for both of us; if I'd been a guy we'd have been married the day she turned 18) and one of them through work.

Honestly, I just want Gretchen back. If we hadn't let ourselves get pulled apart by a succession of assholes we "compromised" our lives with, if I hadn't floundered my way to NJ to avoid killing myself in despair and she hadn't had two kids and gotten stuck taking care of her ailing alcoholic mother in Nowhere, TN, we'd be together now. She's the yang to my yin. I let life happen, and she makes life happen.

Maria, I'm so sorry life is such a blast of shit right now. You are not ordinary, at all.

But you have to think of the poor twins. Not only do they have two psychologists for parents (even one is too much of a burden for any kid), they are identical twins with two parents who study identical twins for a living. Only time will tell if they can overcome this hardship.

This probably shouldn't have made me laugh so much. What amazing people those babies will become! Anther entry on my bucket list: living long enough to see the current crop of Buffista kids grow up.

A Sassafras Close Encounter of the Fourth Kind! This is excellent, really - she's alive, she's well, and she's seeking out people! And Ragu. Maybe you should wander about with a hot dish of Ragu?

Erin, having myself a Black Dog similar to yours (there have been weeks I didn't shower and didn't do much but sleep, eat, watch tv, and hope no one came to my door), I sympathize and congratulate you on your accomplishments today! (Invoking the FPC. Yes, they are too accomplishments.) Lie down, Black Dog. Roll over. Stay.

Okay, I'm done. Wonder if this will break into two posts? I've never done that before!


DavidS - Aug 31, 2011 8:55:59 am PDT #23326 of 30001
"Look, son, if it's good enough for Shirley Bassey, it's good enough for you."

Can't speak for bonny, but personally, my relationships of "compromise" with men always seem to turn into "give him what he wants so he'll stop angsting; I don't need anything much". Sure, the problem is probably me and the men I've chosen (and one woman, let's not forget the beautiful blue-eyed buxom blonde crazy-ass control freak), but still. It leaves me rather unwilling to make any more "compromises".

I wouldn't call that compromise. Compromise necessarily requires that both sides give up something they prefer to maintain the relationship in the middle. It's not about one person conceding all their territory to make somebody else happy.

But I wish you had Gretchen back, too.


Steph L. - Aug 31, 2011 9:00:28 am PDT #23327 of 30001
this mess was yours / now your mess is mine

having sex is a normal human thing for a human to want to do, right? Don't many humans who find they DON'T want to have sex often think there's something deeply severely wrong with them?

Uh, yeah, they do. Or, at least, *I* do. Believe me, there are many ways in which I feel broken, and being really indifferent to sexytimes and not wanting progeny are the 2 biggest ones. (Though at least they are complementary atypical life choices. So I've got that going for me.)

Not wanting kids is the same sort of thing. You don't have to do it, and you don't have to want to do it.

Yeah, I do know intellectually that it's okay, that it's my life and my choice and a fine choice for me. But existing in a society where the vast majority has kids (and in general wants them) can still be very very hard.


msbelle - Aug 31, 2011 9:07:31 am PDT #23328 of 30001
I remember the crazy days. 500 posts an hour. Nubmer! Natgbsb

A tumblr you people might like:

[link]


Scrappy - Aug 31, 2011 9:08:57 am PDT #23329 of 30001
Life moves pretty fast. You don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.

Compromise is one part of sharing your life with someone but it can also be balanced out by the things you gain. Sure, I now give up controlling the remote and having more than a sliver of the bed and having no one around to challenge my habits. On the other hand, without J I never would have owned a dog, watched "Buffy," gone on motorcycle vacations, had my checkbook balanced down the the penny every month, or started wearing jeans. Without me, he never would have seen "Diva," had his walls painted cool colors, visited the Netherlands or become a freelance writer.


Kate P. - Aug 31, 2011 9:18:48 am PDT #23330 of 30001
That's the pain / That cuts a straight line down through the heart / We call it love

Hell, I am actively trying to have kids, and still sometimes I don't know why people want them. Depending on the day, the idea of having kids is either tremendously exciting or completely terrifying. I really like my life with M now, and I'm scared that having kids is going to pretty much torpedo our peace and comfort together.

Yeah, I do know intellectually that it's okay, that it's my life and my choice and a fine choice for me. But existing in a society where the vast majority has kids (and in general wants them) can still be very very hard.

I can understand that. Does it help at all to know that there are lots of really spectacular people who feel the same way and have made the same decision?

Two of my good friends, a couple, recently told me that they just aren't interested in having kids. It surprised me a bit, because they both really love being around their friends' kids and are totally great with them. But it's just not what they want in their lives. They're happy to be Aunt C and Uncle T to everyone else's kids, and then go home to their cats and their dog and their happy life together. And I have to say I really respect them for knowing how they feel and making that choice. Like Jesse said last night, I am 100% in favor of people who don't want kids not having them.


msbelle - Aug 31, 2011 9:19:12 am PDT #23331 of 30001
I remember the crazy days. 500 posts an hour. Nubmer! Natgbsb

Is this one of y'all? [link]


Steph L. - Aug 31, 2011 9:26:49 am PDT #23332 of 30001
this mess was yours / now your mess is mine

still sometimes I don't know why people want them.

Minions! Little sticky minions!

I assume.


msbelle - Aug 31, 2011 9:27:45 am PDT #23333 of 30001
I remember the crazy days. 500 posts an hour. Nubmer! Natgbsb

HAHAHAHAHA!

That would mean the follow directions, yes?


Jessica - Aug 31, 2011 9:29:45 am PDT #23334 of 30001
And then Ortus came and said "It's Ortin' time" and they all Orted off into the sunset

That would mean they follow directions, yes?

Ah shit, then I'm doing it wrong.