…And that person would not be me. Actually, I was a few minutes early to my first class. Not much to talk about, so I’ll just make up random bits of life. Let’s start with postsecret.
If you’re not checking the postsecret web site once a week, you are wrong. fix yourself. this week there is a link to a radio show the creator of the postsecret project was on. It provides a well-rounded background on the whole thing and it, although quite long (approx. 42:48), is fascinating. You can find the link on his website or use this little buddy.
Deep breath… My ‘puter just about crashed just now. I think we’re safe.
Saw a series of videos from a female comedian (comedienne? comedy person? person with comedic intent?) for the oh! oxygen network. you can find her body of work at shedidwhat.tv. And I did indeed exclaim, on several occasions, say ‘unnnnnnnngggghhhhhhhhh’. That’s pretty much equivalent to ’she did what!?’
For something a bit more personal and solid… I just had dinner with a couple I’ve known for a long time through church. To be accurate, it was a another person’s house with other folks in attendance. But I digress. This family’s father is a gung-ho military type who just talks in a way that indicates the impossibility of error. Fine. Actually, that has little to do with this rant, so I’ll try to get to what I wanted to whine about: family cultures.
I’d like my kids to have a decent understanding of life, love, death,sex,taxes and farts from an early age. If not understanding, then at least trust in their ability to communicate anything with their parents. But it still struck me odd the aforementioned man was talking with me (more like talking at me) about war. I mean, yeah, I was in Iraq. It was hot; people shot at me every so often. But this guy is talking about how his wife had to make him promise not to volunteer himself for wars. And it could be that he, being in a guard unit, feels the need to prove himself. fine. But there’s a family that would really do well with him in it. So two trains of thought evolve from this: challenge/accomplishment and family culture, which I’m still getting around to. I’ll try to keep going on that. It just threw me off to hear his sixth-grade kid jumping into the conversation to ask if any of the pictures of military members his dad was looking at showed people who had been killed. Is that normal? Is that healthy? I dunno. Seemed a little callous. Their family has always been very strict and militaristic. They all seem to do pretty well like that - better than my family would have. One important thing is that both parents agree on how things are done. I think I would create a different culture in my family. One a little more fitting to my laid-back, So. Cal, ‘hang-ten’ kind of lifestyle.
The other part, the bit about accomplishment, is that guys are challenge based. A buddy of mine recently felt a little weak on his picking up of ‘da ladies’ abilities. Also, he felt lonely. Also, he looked at his friends and family and saw they were all computer nerds who are anti-social and doomed to a life of lonely nerd-dom. Yes, that includes me. So before it was just a passing sorrow, but now it became a challenge and he really did some research on the subtle art of attracting women. He became quite passionate on the subject and really quite successful, the degree to which would vary in the observer’s eye.
And it was straightforward to gauge success: if a girl caught his eye and he then caught her digits, all was well. Likewise, when I was running around a desert with a semi-automatic rifle, it was much easier to feel like something was being accomplished. Nowadays it’s hard for me to feel like I’m doing something of worth despite the fact I’m exactly where I want to be.
So I can see it being difficult to, as a father, find a job field that’s challenging and rewarding yet still place priority on the family and work just as hard at being an excellent lover/teacher/zerberter vice workaholic. And not getting killed.
Did that make sense? The jobs I want are not conducive to my ideal of a proper family environment. Is my future family then to be expected to put up with my long, unexpected absences? Am I to choose a job field that ensures we all get dragged into harm’s way but stay together? Or will I just ’settle down’ and feel like a caged lion? Or will I just ’settle down’ and have no regrets?
The hot Latino lover I was talking about before recently left work to pick up food for himself and another guy. The order had been written on a sticky note, which was then shoved into his pocket and subsequently retrieved upon ordering. As he pulled out the sticky note with its barely-there adhesive, he became aware that it still had had enough glue to grab a condom on the way out. So there he stood, in line, with a post-it note and a condom. Awkward…
a posit note and a condom, sounds like a good topic for a song
How about country-western style? Like this…
He pulled out his note to order some food/ The only ones in line wuz him and some dude/ He started to order-to get some more fries/ Then he noticed people staring- includin the flies/He noticed the addition, but much to his dismay/There wuz an extra sumthin sumthin and there was nuthin he could say.
The only thing more embarrassing than singing for this band… Is to have a post-it note and a condom in your hand.