My husband is currently mountain biking with a bunch of guys. When they're done, they're going to go to someplace that is known for hotdogs and beer. Except....3 of the guys are vegetarian, and 3 are either straight edge or just don't drink alcohol.
I found this article to be fascinating. And that’s primarily because it ties in nicely to my personal theory of happiness. Essentially, you can’t be happy if you’re the most important thing in your life. Awkwardly phrased, I know.
Where this little bit of profundity comes from is years of watching guys in their 20s (mmmm, guys in their 20s…I mean, no! wait!) flounder emotionally. The ones who seemed the happiest (truly happy, even when they aren’t drinking) are the ones who are committed to something other than (and more important than) themselves. For some it’s religion, for others it’s a significant other or their family, for others, it’s a cause. The guys who have nothing other than themselves to worry about seem, at best, restless, and at worst, miserable. I guess sitting around thinking “Am I happy yet?” doesn’t lend itself to actually being happy.
Oh and while I’ve seen it most in men, we women are not immune. Life amongst us single women can be pretty miserable as well. Most of my friends want(ed) to be involved with someone. And that can make for equally miserable, restless people. But I think the difference is, most of the women I know wanted to be in a committed relationship, and want a life beyond sitting around with other chicks, bashing men. Alas, a lot of guys treat commitment like there’s only 4 letters there, and the tension builds....
So I'm leaving a play date for Porter at a friend's house when my husband calls. Our little girl dog has run off, and he's got to be at a client's. So he's leaving the back door open. As I get on the state highway to head home, all I can think is "It's 15 freakin degrees, and this dog is probably going end up in the pound and our gas bill is going to be a million billion dollars." And I'm so aggravated at the dog, that it takes me a few minutes to register that things seem....noisy. And I'm on a stretch of the highway that has no place to pull off. But it's getting louder and louder and then suddenly I see a tire go past my car. My tire. From the rear drivers side of the car. I got the car stopped, but it was in the left lane, with the traffic whizzing by in both directions.
Thankfully a wonderful, wonderful man stopped and put on the bicycle tire for me, with Porter screaming the whole time. And when I got home, Ginger was waiting for me. It ended pretty well. Until the bills start coming in.
My favorite baby is teething. At the same time he's also congested (alas, he appears to have his parents proclivity for sinusitis). He's been a sweetie pie through all of it, but he's not sleeping at night. He wakes up trying to chew on the bedding and then getting upset because it's not crazy effective. Therefore I am not sleeping at night. Chris has been sent out for Orajel and teething ring. I'm sort of just trying to keep my shit together at this point because I've already had two conversations where I've lost my train of thought in the middle of a sentence.
Gosh, and we only have 20 teeth to get through, this should be a blast.
So the story of the pregnant marine who was killed (apparently) by another marine who raped her is everywhere. But one thing keeps jumping out at me as being illogical:
Months earlier, Lauterbach had told superiors at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, that Laurean had raped her.
However, "At no time did she indicate that she was threatened by Cpl. Laurean," Sokoloski said. "When she was asked if she felt threatened by Cpl. Laurean, she said she did not feel threatened."
Wait....someone rapes her, she takes out a protective order, and yet at no time did she indicate that she was threatened by him? What does it take to indicate that you're a weeeeeeeeee bit uncomfortable around this person? Flags? Flares? Somebody dropped the ball here.
This has to be one of the most heart-rending things I've read in a long time. I'm just happy that I'm able to read this AFTER we had Porter, I don't know if I could get through this if it turned out that we couldn't have kids.
Not that I need another reason to dislike Chavez of Venezuela, but this is a little unnerving.
Update: You know what's even creepier? The anti semitic comments that are attached to that article. Anyone who has an axe, or a perceived axe in that forum seems to be saying "They have it coming". That's just horrifying.
Ok, I was never going to vote for Hillary. But one professional woman to another I have to say
Don't.
Just.Don't.
Look, men can get by with crying if they do the Iron-eyes Cody thing when their team loses a Super Bowl by a last minute field goal. That's because it plays against type and demonstrates their softer side. Now I realize that you're taking a rap for not being soft enough, but how about smooching your daughter on the forehead or something instead. Crying women are considered weak. Especially if they aren't crying over the bodies of a loved or a mass grave someplace. You were crying over how brave you were. Not cool.
Well one positive thing about the possibility of Obama vs Huckabee is at least we will have the treat of listening to good orators. I’m not sure we will or won’t like what we hear, but after 8+ years of Ws mumblings, it’s going to be refreshing.
I know I’m old. How? I just looked at one of my co-workers and thought “Cute kid”.
This is a primer on how NOT to convert people to veganism. (Scroll to the comments after the tip). http://www.idealbite.com/tiplibrary/archives/truth_or_dairy/ I was starting to giggle when we got to cow rape racks. C’mon. Do you REALLY think that the natural process of cow breeding involves wine, a nice dinner of hay, and mood lighting? I have plenty of issues with some of the things that go on with factory farms, but it’s hard to take someone seriously when their rhetoric is SO over the top. Start slow, start where people are. You’ll get more converts to your point of view.
Saturday morning Porter started reaching for Ginger. And grabbing her hair with both hands. Fortunately her hair is short, and blessedly, she’s super patient. We’re going to have to work on “petting” with him. He got Fred’s long hair later in the day, and Fred just gave him an “oh &%(*” look and waited for me to rescue him. We have the best dogs.
As long as there’s no major scandal, I’m guessing we’ll be complaining about President Obama next year. (Oh c'mon, you know you'll complain about whoever it is). It just has that feel to it. A math professor of mine, every year at evaluations would tell us “Be honest. But you should also know I’m tenured. I’d have to have sex with a freshman at noon in the middle of a busy street to get fired.” Obama feels like he’s tenured.
Woohoo! Went for my first bike ride since I had Porter. It was New Year's day. And I went around the block. DAMN it was cold. And I was under dressed. And we had hills. When did we grow those? The whole thing was downright embarrassing. I'm just going to have to start slower after a year+ off the bike.
It reminds me of a string of wet sponges; it reminds me of tattered washing on the line; it reminds me of stale bean soup, of college yells, of dogs barking idiotically through endless nights. It is so bad that a sort of grandeur creeps into it. It drags itself out of the dark abysm…of pish, and crawls insanely up to the topmost pinnacle of posh. It is rumble and bumble. It is flap and doodle. It is balder and dash.
-H.L. Mencken
By Ken Levine One of the writers from the TV series M*A*S*H writes about Hollywood, showbiz, etc
Class Factotum She's Baaaacccckkkkk. And as funny as ever!
Cobb I'm fascinated on this man's ponderings on being American. And being black. And being an African-American.
Confessions of a Pioneer Woman She makes me laugh. Any woman who has named her own disease - Low Blood Sugar Cranky Butt Disorder - is ok by me.
Cute Overload OK! I admit it, I love a website which uses terms like "prosh" and "paws-up-itude". I'm pretty sure I will have my engineering degree taken away now.
Fatmarc Mountain Bike, Cyclo-cross...is there anything this man doesn't do?
