A shot across the bow - REALLY

Meaning - a warning shot, either real or metaphorical

Well I guess maturity just doesn't come into this equation.  Love is a battlefield and other cliches.  I have a mate with a complicated love life.  She was having a relationship but now it has morphed into a 'friend with benefits' situation.  Now this may have been exactly what he wanted and it took a long time to get to this situation and for a while he kept her at arms length and then he broke up with her.  It was a booze fuelled, emotional parting of the ways.

She then went through the painful, ego-bruised, howling at the moon stage followed by the forensic stage but then he started to text her again.  I am not a fan of the 'text relationship' far too much room for mis-communication and mis-interpretation of meaning and the ever shifting  rules of the dating game.

Now during their 'relationship' stage, like many couples, they slowly get involved with each others friendship circles.  I presume this is natural progression, making their coupledom public - it is a form of commitment but also this means that my mate was seeking the bonus validation of her friend's tick-in-the-box approval, yes he is good company, yes he is attractive, yes he is generous .....  "oh really, he has an amazing job and is well paid too!" ad nauseum. It all starts to become not a statement of "not only I am really happy with this potential relationship but for me to be REALLY happy, you need to also be envious".  Now I understood that way of thinking when I was at high school, nearly all the gals I knew who were trying their hand at the boyfriend thing wanted this validation, but I am surprised that for some, this thirst doesn't diminish with age and experience. I have wondered that if I was in my mate's shoes - would I be doing and feeling the same thing.  Frankly I am not so sure I would.  When does this behaviour go over some line and become too needy.  I do have my theories about why their relationship phase soured but you never really know what goes on away from an audience and of course you only usually get one-side of the story, your friend's and so you mostly give them the benefit of any doubt. 

So fast-forward to now, recently the FWB is being re-introduced to the 'mate scene' and although I am worried about the implications for my mate and wonder if she is making a mistake and rushing a potential strategy to turn him into boyfriend again - it was good to see him again and clearly my mate wanted her friends to re-connect as she considered it the right time to test the waters again. 

Well although he is a 'people pleaser' and fancies himself as a bit of a Playboy, I think he was genuinely pleased to see me again and perhaps relieved that despite all the stories I was bound to have heard about the split and the lead up to it.... I wasn't giving him a hard time (well they are both well over the age of consent afterall!)  So the booze-soaked evening continued to be fun but I was playing catch up and then he crossed a little line and got a bit carried away with telling me how much he missed me etcetc.  Now whilst I don't buy into his hyperbole, it is nice to hear a bit of flattery and our exchange (body language) was well and truly "clocked" from there on in. 

Next chapter and I spent time with my friend again a few days ago and once she was tipsy and we were alone, she concocted a little scenario about her "man" bonding with another friend of ours but I was in no doubt that she was ...... shooting across my bow.  It is an interesting technique for getting your point over whilst not entirely confronting the supposed perpetrator!  She continued using phrases like unacceptable behaviour and how seeing her man bonding with others hurt her feelings and a whole lot of other stuff. 

My take on this is, well he is not your boyfriend, she will not change him and she started up with him again no doubt hoping that she could win him over with her feminine charms.  Well I hope for her sake she does but getting involved with him again and giving him all the power may not pan out the way she wants.  He is fair game, safe to flirt with as he is NOT her boyfriend but a 'friend with benefits' but clearly she expects her friends to treat him as her partner because that is what she wants and we must be 101% loyal. 

I am not so sure that is the best strategy - if she is not happy about her friends being playful with him then I don't know if she will be able to deal with potential trouble ahead, let's just say if she finds out he is not being 'exclusive'!

All I can do is hope she will be OK with their next stage.  I sincerely hope that he is that into her.

When the moon hits your eye like a big pizza pie..... that's indigestion!

For many people (including myself for many many years) the Friday night combination of ... 

 accompanied by ....

washed down with ....

would be a little moment of culinary heaven on earth.  For me many many times over the years it has been but I fear no longer - as per usual I am sitting on the computer recording this warning to myself as I am wide awake as my digestion system cannot sleep and deal with processing the above substances.  I was drowsy (and full) at midnight and woke up at 2am feeling horrible.  Big surprise, a lot of white flour and cheese, low quality tomato paste and a nasty after taste of garlic butter coming up from the depths - NICE

So it may be that this is another combination that I will have to put into the junk file and cease and desist.  I didn't plan to have this meal tonight.  I nipped to the supermarket to get some vegetables to go with the prawns, broccoli and rice noodle dish I was going to do.  However I was tempted by the reduced pizza in the chiller cabinet and then a light-bulb went off and I thought.... go on, get garlic bread it is Friday night - blar blar blar.  Well I am regretting it now and I am committing this to my cyber space journal to remind me NOT to do this again.  I didn't even really enjoy the food as I was eating it, I was just hungry and the pizza was over cooked anyway as I didn't take it out early enough and then 20 mins after eating that (and full) I proceeded to get the garlic bread out of the oven as I didn't want to waste it - I did not need it.  Then I washed it down with questionable cheap red plonk.

Hmmmmm, remember NOT to do this again.  Three pints of water since 2am and now it is 4.30am and still wide awake but I have a full day planned tomorrow and because of my silly dinner choice, potentially I won't enjoy that as much as I would have had I had the damn prawn & veg dish and 6-8 hours sleep!

I only have myself to blame (and the siren call of pizza and garlic bread)

 

Plan A, goodbye for now?

Over the last few weeks I have been increasing aware of a medium term decision forming and it has finally popped fully formed into my brain and the rest of me is in agreement.  It has been very difficult getting to this stage but I am starting to feel very good about it.  I have not decided to give up on 'Plan A' completely but as it is, in reality, still so far from getting off the starting blocks financially, I am going to put Nourish & Quench and all related thoughts, research and conversations into a box marked 'back burner'.   Instead I am going to nourish and quench myself and focus on getting my mind and body ready.  Should nothing ever come of 'Plan A' - and that thought does make me sad - then as the image above suggests, there is always 'Plan B', 'Plan C' etc etc which I am confident will emerge.  However, I am still struggling a bit to relinquish N&Q and everything that goes with it but then I have been enveloping myself in this bubble for almost four years.  So I accept I will be transitioning for a while and to decide to just forget Plan A (i.e. go cold-turkey) would indeed be painful: no longer volunteering at the cafe and when I am an actual cafe customer, it would mean not analysing everything I eat, drink and see but relaxing and just simply enjoying the experience - WHAT!

Still, I figure, if I focus my energy and efforts on my mind, body and spirit for the foreseeable future, then I will be match fit if and when I decide the timing is right.  Clearing the mental path will hopefully really help me clarify what I actually want but at the moment I am bordering on obsession and failing to fully enjoy the present.

A mirage will never quench my thirst!

Nourish & Quench

Did you get pears?

Sometimes I absolutely love the internet, today it reminded me that I am not alone - that other people are as sensitive as me (poor them!)  I had a very intensive weekend with an old work friend that has been to a metaphorical 'hell and back' in fact she is still very much in recovery.  On my return I put on the television whilst I had my lunch.   I recently lent the Mad Men DVDs to my Mum but she gave it back to me without watching probably more than series 1 as she didn't like it. 

I know....! I couldn't be bothered to ask her what her objection was at the time but I suspect it was just all too damn much.  Well as a result I put them on again and went all the way back to series 1 and I am experiencing another intense 'box-set lockdown' I am currently just at the start of series 4.   I  started feeling very moved in the scene where Peggy congratulates Pete on the news that he would soon be a father and remembered all of the drama that led up to that moment in their individual lives.  Then they share a glance packed with emotion and yearning, but Peggy does the decent thing and moves on and takes a chance with a new crowd as it really now has to be put well and truly in the past in order for either of them to succeed.  Stunning and subtle writing.  Then this scene follows.  Devastating.  But when I typed that phrase into Google (other search engines are available) I was delighted to see that other viewers had been similarly moved by it.

Why?  Well instantly you saw the futility of all the drama in people's relationships.  The old man and woman in the 'pear' scene have survived it all and now the highlight of his day - perhaps life - is a, presumably easy to eat, sweet, fragrant and juicy pear.  Boy, I hope for her sake she remembered to get that fruit or she could even source them as if not (and I suspect perhaps not) she either couldn't - we can't always get what we want.  Wouldn't - she was in control of this man's desires and deliberately choose not to satisfy them or was just NOT going to discuss it in the hall as she was very weary and there was no rush.... afterall, she loves him enough to always try to bring him a pear, or something else to brighten his existance and frankly she is sick of him forgetting that and continually asking.  Antici---pation is everything right?

Don of course took all this in in an instant and perhaps I was meant to feel his mixture of sadness, surprise, delight and the inevitability too.  As he said to Roger in a previous episode (pre-divorce), life is short and we know it doesn't end well. 

My reaction to the end scene was possibly intensely felt because of my preceding 48 hours.  It left me softly sobbing and I wrote the phrase down so that I wouldn't forget it.  I then also recalled my love of Pears soap and it seems apposite as it was a product so heavily advertised that generations of people still consider it the height of soap luxury (face facts Imperial Leather!!) but of course we only feel this way because of the tricks used by the likes of the Don Drapers in this world.

Still knowing this now is all well and good but I have a very vivid memory - which I only recall because of the connections I am making - of pouring over adverts for Miss Pears and wanting only to be her.  Luckily I now feel fairly confident that I wouldn't be so taken in.  I don't use their soap anyhow.

 

This campaign was apparently only run in the UK but pictures of the winners must have run in Australian magazines as I can remember staring at the face at least one winner - it ran from 1947 to 1997 and was an annual award for gals under 12, any parent could submit a photo to apply.  I was no doubt even at that tender age, still hoping to become rich and famous, or at least as pretty as the little Pears girl.  When watching the above episode of MM and it featured trying to come up with a strategy for increasing Ponds Cold Cream sales in 1965, the research suggested that all 18-25 year old women wanted was any help to make them look as beautiful as possible to attract a husband.  Has anything really changed?  That is also why I am melancholy. I spent the weekend with two smart, talented, capable women.  It was very enjoyable and although we talked about many things, men were still very near the top (probably the top) topic of conversation.  My friend has a lot of thinking to do and will probably not go with what she knows is the right thing to do because she wants a partner and WILL compromise despite the fact she has the time and money to keep the search alive if that is really what she wants. 

 

The conditioning of women in their forties comes from the fact that they were raised by women who themselves grew up in the late 1950's early 1960's.  We still don't have a hope in hell.  That is probably why my 70 year old mother couldn't stomach MM, it was all too much like real life and she has the t-shirt!

Ah, love, let us be true
To one another! for the world, which seems
To lie before us like a land of dreams,
So various, so beautiful, so new,
Hath really neither joy, nor love, nor light,
Nor certitude, nor peace, nor help for pain;
And we are here as on a darkling plain
Swept with confused alarms of struggle and flight,
Where ignorant armies clash by night.

 

Which is just a poet's way of saying, "Did you get pears?"

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Minutes suspended in Years

I heard this phrase today and thought it very insightful, it is the name of the new Alison Moyet album and it is her philosophy about life the universe and everything.  She is now 52 and refuses to apologise for it.  She is talented and sick of compromising and felt compelled to write her own album of original material in collaboration with the person who also produced it.  She is to be admired. I must check it out when it is released.  This title is a summation of her thoughts about happiness, elusive but on reflection is can be expressed as joyful minutes suspended in years.  It maybe a 'glass half empty' attitude but perhaps that is just the way the gal from Basildon feels and she is entitled.  Why do we all have to go around pretending life is all 'sunshine and lollipops' like those companies selling us washing powder would have us believe?

On that subject I am not terribly impressed with myself.  Despite my attempts to curb my self-indulgence, I only lasted until Friday night and I was feeling pretty good about it all but really fancied drinks with my mates but alas drank too much, expressed my opinions - no doubt way too forcefully (probably not only bordering but entering obnoxious territory) but maybe I too had thoughts and feelings to get off my chest (no matter how unpalitable) and wanted to talk about them and not just be a sounding board for other everyone else's dramas.  After all, isn't that what friends are for?  

 

However I recall my horoscope from last week and it did mention that there would be a sudden change in a close relationship.  Well that person may actually be Sonya and I am not entirely sure that I would blame her as I think everything is forgivable in a friend except insulting their immediate family - of course they can bitch and moan about them until the cow's come home but they are off-limits when it comes to anyone else pointing out their deficiencies and I think in this particular relationship, Sonya is allowed to be a strong and challenging personality with many and various proclivities but I guess I am not and so that is a deal-breaker.  Perhaps the timing is right anyhow.

The only actual physical fight I have ever had was when I was coming up for 13 and I was an opinionated loud-mouth (so much for the maturity and getting of wisdom theory....) I was overheard commenting to some school acquaintence that the mum of a a girl on my estate that I was getting fairly friendly with had huge boobs - oh the irony!  Anyhow, said girl somehow overheard or had it reported back and she took great exception to this comment, even though it was true, It was of course childish and rude to point it out.  So she called me out but had her champion be the one to challenge me to the fight.  I can't remember all the ins & outs at this distance but I remember negotiating with both her and her mate (a feisty little black gal who was looking for any excuse to hit someone and was very indignant about someone taking the piss out of her mate's mum's endowments) and so there was no getting out of it.  I had other unknown older girls coming to find me throughout the day, they assessed me with one look and then told me through sucked teeth that I would "be mashed up" they were right!  And so I recall there was no getting out of it and in the playground I was surrounded and the girl heralded in like Apollo Creed (but I was no Rocky with a south-paw) just a mouthy, frightened little lilywhite arsed new girl who had to be corrected.  There was hair pulling and a perhaps a few swipes but it was pulled apart fairly promptly and only sustained the odd scratch and bruise but emotionally it was one of the lowest moments of my school life (well life).  I vaguely remember waiting to be picked up from the school management office, by my dad and brother and I was probably snivelling the entire time - I think I was in shock.  I am still that pathetic excuse today.  I have learned NOTHING.  I think I am IT but I am SHIT (a note I once found in my locker at that same school although whether it was before or after the skuffle is no longer remembered).  They were right at that school all along.  I am at a loss as to what to do about my nature.  The only thing I can do is extricate myself for a while and just really think about life, the Universe and everything.  Recalling the fight I realise in a flash that I haven't changed one bit neither have I learned a damn thing in all the intervening years.   Talk about a coward - but why?  I have a bit of intelligence, why am I like this? 

 

 

 

Let all the children boogie ...

I had a funny day today, not enough sleep last night as I went to bed after 3am and then the alarm clock jolted me awake probably 3 hours before I was ready..... a touch of a hangover as I started drinking at around 9.30pm onwards and polished well over a bottle of lovely cheap vin rouge.  (I know so much for all my protestations on previous posts!)

Then followed another intense day of talking with various people about their continuing work problems. However I only managed around 30 minutes "official" work.

But my mind keeps coming back to the fact that I cannot really carry on like this without negative consequences, not least talking bollocks.  I have a unique opportunity at the moment and if I put my mind to it, I have just enough time to do myself some real good as going through withdrawal (wow, that sounds dramatic) is a thing best tackled alone. 

Anyway here I am on day one of my attempting to turn over that leaf yet again!  I had to dash out at 9pm though to get some chocolate ice-cream to help me cope without the usual evening liquid sugar and the night sky took me aback as it was so beautiful.  It was very calm and clear, the moon and stars were exactly the same as in this photo but it was about one hour later than this would have been taken and so it was classic dark blue in hue which made the half moon and two stars much more brilliant by contrast.  I put the key in the ignition to drive the 5 minutes back home and David Bowie's 'Starman' was playing just as I was glancing up at the beautiful night sky again and a little flashbulb of empowerment exploded in my mind - I am sure my esoteric mate would say it was a sign from the Universe (and that!)  But as I type, I genuinely feel like I am in a good place and I want to make real in-roads into breaking this bad habit over the next few months.  Mostly I want to capitalize on being alone to wrestle with it and the resulting emotions that will likely bubble up to the surface as I have dulled them with copious drink (and food) for so long.

 

If we sparkle he may land tonight.....

 

 

When you wish upon a star...

It is not the first time I have felt compelled to write an update over the last 3 and a half months but it is first time compulsion and inspiration have collided.  I also saw this picture last week and it struck a cord.  Not least because I love the colourful image. This is how I feel, no I am not on the "good" drugs, I am relatively high on life.  

It is all a whirl and heightened by the fact that my housemate (husband) has been away for over a month, no he hasn't left me - well actually strictly speaking he has, but  am fairly sure he will return as he is on holiday.  He has a hobby which doesn't interest me but that should be no reason why he cannot fully pursue it and his own happiness.  My job is after all first and foremost to facilitate his happiness (I think it is in the marital contract).  The upside of this is that I am loving my me me me time.  I am never bored or lonely when alone - only sometimes with other people because my fragile ego is apt to get bruised in close proximity to other human beings - which is probably why I am happiest with furry animal companions. 

Still, we chat over Skype and on reflection we are probably talking more than we do on a typical working day and I am not having to wash and fluff his boxer shorts! Win, win.....

Work is tolerable, my volunteer work is very stimulating and my friends are still fulfilling the basic need of following an ongoing serial drama.  So here is an update on my own cast of players:-

Sonya - (desperate, self-absorbed, maddening, deluded, wonderful) she is flailing again in the workplace.  I do genuinely like her and want to help but it has just been one drama after another Ad Nauseum.  I am a very caring and patient friend but even I have my limits.  So she is beginning to destroy this opportunity because she (not unlike the rest of us) cannot help but be herself.  Yes she is relatively new to the role, yes she is stressed - blar blar - she has a habit of inferring that all support staff are plebs and should be seen and definitely not heard. She would be better suited to being a Conservative politician but ironically her heart is in the right place and she is a champagne socialist deep down.   Great company and a Bon Viver and Vivent but tramples on the 'little people's' hopes & dreams!  The Bishop of Bath & Wells in twin-set & pearls!

Lydia - (survivor, self-absorbed, maddening, deluded, admirable) Catholic guilt is a terrible hair-shirt.  Lydia is a classic example of making her bed and thinking she absolutely (!) has to lie in it.  She is bright and sometimes breezy but a bullshitter par excellence.   The thing is I think is actually managing to fool a lot of people a lot of the time but it is doing no one any good!  Mostly her. Lydia has a complicated over scheduled life that most pop-psychologists would say is compensation for her bitter loneliness.  Blimey move over Freud!  She is a very decent woman but insists on being ridiculously over stretched to the point of breaking but seems to want it no other way - but seems to assume that we will all partition whoever is in charge to ensure she is eventually canonised.  Unlikely but I hope she finds happiness and equilibrium eventually.

Marissa - (self-absorbed, maddening, deluded, loving) overall on the surface loving.  I say on the surface but I think she really means it on more than one level - an achievement in this day and age! I am no doubt just cynical but Marissa is classic ying & yang and she wants it all and she wants it now.  Very childlike but compelling - ala Marilyn.  Good looking and capable but sadly not as good looking and capable as she advertises herself to be and so her clients are sometimes left perplexed or worse, litigious!

Tanya - (tenacious, self-absorbed, maddening, did I say self-absorbed?) why do I continue to see this person. She hasn't had to work for a living for over a year but managed to get a pay-out and then a job paying her well but she did the equivalent to say 2 days work for 3 months salary.  Still the world of work has been a rocky road for her and I wouldn't wish it on anyone, least of all a friend.   The irony is when I hear about her latest progresses, again there is that childlike notion of assuming one interview with an agency and she has it signed and sealed and is thinking about when she can book her holidays and can she work from home.  I worry that she may be losing her incident room.

My parents - (maddening, deluded, loving, forgiving, under-privileged generation, maddening, stereotypes) maddening is there twice very deliberately.  I had no choice about this and they only have themselves to blame about the way I turned out - nature & nurture.  I care about them a great deal and I want them to have golden years as the baby-boomers were sold a pup even more than Gen-X but they just don't seem to analyse anything!  I wish them joy but they are just not that bright.  They are clever and pragmatic and a product of their generation and have done well despite it all.  So I again admire them but I struggle to respect them. I am their child and they fulfil their contract by loving me but I am not entirely sure it is unconditional.  I am a variously a pet/adversary and enemy - or all three at once.  A cross they must bear!

The supporting cast - many and various work colleagues and acquaintances that I have seen over the past month or so.  So many dramas and I am once again becoming a counsellor.  Is that where my strengths and future lay or am I just perceived as a good listener and safe haven?  A keeper of secrets?  Oh dear - if they only all knew the REAL me.

the extras - pretty much as all above but I do love it.  I have a full and potentially drama packed week ahead, lunching tomorrow with a powerhouse that I have coveted for a while but I am not entirely sure why.  I like and respect her though and perhaps I am just hoping that some of her wisdom rubs off and she magically offers to be my mentor but I suspect she just needs to off-load like everyone else. 

Over my coffee breaks on both Saturday and today I glanced at my horoscope and this was the warning (which I intend to remember and heed as I do feel like in so many ways I am sitting on a power keg - which is not entirely a bad feeling!) :

Saturday 16th March - This isn't the week to request feedback unless you're ready for uncensored directness [God no....] Pointing out flaws could also have combustible results, so certain opinions will be best kept to yourself.  The more sprightly, spunky elements of your own nature are quite likely to emerge, so don't be surprised if you find yourself on a vibrant, vivacious and unexpected ride.

Sunday 17th (happy St Paddy Day) - A close relationship will undergo some sudden changes.  Someone is behaving in an unpredicable manner.  This is your chance to get out of a rut.  Stiff routines dull your intellect and undermine your happiness.

Cripes!   So just remember ....

I do - is that so bad? (Nourish & Quench) xx