Elections make me misty eyed.
Seriously. Photographs of people proudly showing the
ink on their fingers brings tears to my eyes. I want
to be positive about it. And then I think about the
overwhelming military presence, the separate polling
places for men and women, women being searched. It's
all so fraught.
I
feel like no matter how much I read I don't enough.
But I do know it all feels so tender and precarious.
Every time I hear the word freedom I hear Janis Joplin
singing - freedom is just another word for nothing left
to lose.
The
pictures still bring up these complex emotions. Feelings
about all the things we wish we were. Hope we are. Feelings
about how power shadows the best of our intentions.
And still. Every finger matters.
My official goal is to send
out four pieces of writing
a month. That's one a week.
Although I don't need to
send them out every week.
Just four in a month. And
I'm going to keep a record.
And I'm going to send out
query letters to agents
and publishers. It seems
like I should have a number
on that too but it also
seems like there's a more
finite quality to that.
But I'm going to keep track
of it all in this little
book.
And,
I did some writing. Which
feels good. But also hard.
I'm sorta shocked by how
hard it is. I don't know why. It would be hard for me
to do fifty sit ups right now. And that's how it feels.
Like muscles that I haven't used enough. And now I'm
using them.
When I went to bed last night
I thought I was gonna fall
into deep zzzz's right away.
I was really tired. But the
lions
were restless. So loud I
thought they had walked
up the street and were hanging
out in the parking lot.
And I couldn't get comfortable.
My back hurt. My hip hurt.
My knee hurt. I was just
tossing around. I shoulda
read. But I just wanted
to be asleep. When I woke
up I was determined to stay in bed until I was rested.
But by nine I'd had enough.
I
wrote all this early this morning and then wondered
who in the world cares how I slept. It is, of course,
a rhetorical thought. I read people's thoughts about
how they slept. Some
people write rather more poetically than I do about
it. But still.
And
I never published my second post yesterday. I'm having
a couple of days in which the voices of self loathing
are the loudest sound. My reaction to it all is to just
listen. Kind of like a Freudian. I'm sort of behind
myself with a note book listening to the yadda yadda
sound of it all. It's not really getting me down. But
it is distracting the hell outta me.
It
was Jane's birthday today. And Amber's. And I figured
out how to link to the exact
post on which she talks about her birthday. Well.
there was more
than one. And Amber is having a take-two birthday tomorrow.
Very wise.
The
state of union is on. The television and radio are off.
I dunno. It might be over by now.
Every
once in awhile I post about wanting something and some
nice person will buy it for me. I'm not even trying
for that so nobody do it please. I'm just sayin. I really
want it. And I want these,
and these.
You gotta know I got the catalog in the mail and I'm
just goin through it. Wanting things.
For
years there were no cool clothes in my size. And now
there are LOTS. And I want them. The truth about my
life is that I wear the same t-shirt and draw string
pants for three or four days in a row. I don't go out
that much. No one in the neighborhood seems to notice
if I'm in the same clothes when I run errands. I don't
NEED any more clothes. But. I just. WANT them. It's
a funny thing.
There is a comment on a post
at BFB that
has me worked up into rant mode. The post is about an
employer who fires smokers. I saw a similar thing
on the news the other day. A man with a small business
told his employees to quit smoking or be fired. How
does he know if you smoke at home? His employees are
tested. One woman who chose to quit her job rather than
quit smoking was interviewed. She said she is trying
to quit. But she doesn't think it should be a condition
of employment. The employer sites the rising cost of
health care and the cost to the business community.
In
SF we now have a smoking
ban in parks. I am beyond annoyed by it. Right next
to North Beach there's a park in China Town where people
meet to play Mah Jong and smoke. Or they used to. Now
they can't.
It's
hard to argue for the right to smoke. I don't smoke
now but I never say that I quit. If I want to smoke
I will. It's been a long time and it hurts my stomach
so it's unlikely that I will smoke any time soon but
I just feel bitchy about it. I've always hated the way
non smokers are so self righteous about it all. I've
been eating with people in a diner beside a gas station.
The smell of gas fumes wafted through now and again.
But the people with the cigarettes were the bad guys.
This
is a topic I don't bring up because I know people have
allergies and asthma and smoke bothers them. I know
smoking isn't healthy and there really isn't a good
reason to do it. But there are still moments when I
just want the pleasure of sitting back and pulling in
the blue smoke. If you get it, you get it. If you don't,
you don't.
I
always made every effort to not bother anyone with my
smoke. I didn't throw my butts on the ground. I don't
think it's cool to use the beach or the park as an ashtray.
But there are already laws about that. Anyway. It's
one of those things. I have my feelings about it all.
Rational? Maybe not. But back to the
post and the comment.
The
employer that Paul posted about has also said he would
love to make sure his employees did their exercise and
ate right as a condition of employment. And what's the
test for that?
So.
The comment.
I was fired for being fat. It's very
common in the military. I was able to pass the physical fitness tests
with no problem, but that didn't matter. My commander said he had no
doubt that I was physically fit. He said my appearance was a problem.
The regulation stated that having fat people in uniform would undermine
the public's confidence in their military. I was 11 pounds overweight
when my 15-year career was ended.
While smoking is discouraged in the military, it is still allowed. Hey, it helps people control their weight.
P.S. I'm now colecting disability from the VA for my thyroid disease
that went undiagnosed for several years by military doctors.
The
bolding is mine. FIFTEEN YEARS!!! ELEVEN POUNDS!!! It
just pisses me off. It just pisses me off SO much.
A
friend of mine was just denied health insurance. She
is on the thin side of average. Swims, does yoga, has
had no major health problems but did have some wrist
trouble. Carpal tunnel kind of thing. She was DENIED.
We
need major reform in health care. We need a radical
shift in how we think about health. NOBODY is healthy.
Healthy is not a place you arrive at. Healthy changes
all the time. For many reasons. Some of which we have
no control over and some of which we do. I think taking
responsibility for oneself is pretty important. And
some people are gonna want to smoke and eat what they
want and not move much. And some of them are gonna live
long happy lives. And all of them should be able to
have employment. If they can do the job. The health
insurance industry should not be able to create a climate
of fear and discrimination.
I
know common sense does not always prevail. Smokers should
not be able to smoke anywhere they want to smoke. If
you've lost a family member to a smoking related illness,
or have an allergy I imagine you might like a smoking
ban and not think it's a bad idea that employers (especially
small ones) have the right to try and control their
health care costs by dictating "health" practices
to their employees. And how can I argue? I can't. I
won't. But I will ask what begins with these first sets
of rules and these ways that we think about things.
And I will be pissy about the empty tables in the park
today. And the meaning made of eleven pounds.
Long, long ago, when I used
to write more often in paper journals, I noticed that
my writing was often effected by who I was reading.
Maybe it's the same reflex that makes me want to have
the accent of people with particularly defined accents.
Or use slang. Language has rhythm and rhythm calls to
the body. It always seems to me that if you can meet
people rhythmically you really meet them. At the same
time I like rhythms that I can't quite capture. So the
idea of having a voice as a writer has always seemed
problematic for me. I know my voice can be so easily
nudged.
When
I was getting my BA my writing voice shifted around.
In creative writing classes I could riff away with no
concern for form or function. In expository writing
it was all form and function. In journalism it was about
not being visible in the writing (just the facts)
but in literary journalism it was about being there
in the background. For classes that were not about writing
I had to write in a way that showed what I was learning,
a kind of repetition of facts but with some presence.
In my MFA program I really hoped to develop some thing
that I could call my own but the program had its
own ideas. There was only one teacher who got me in
any meaningful way. Which isn't to say that the program
wasn't good for my writing in some ways. But after the
program I felt like I needed to recover from it.
I
heard a guy on book TV this weekend. He said he didn't
keep a blog because he wasn't a good first draft writer.
He did a lot of work to things that he wrote. I like
rewriting. I like it a lot. That whole first thought
best thought thing is pretty rare. It happens. But it's
rare.
The
blog is a place where I just go for it. The task is
just to write. Over the years that I've been doing it
I move around from personal what I made for dinner journal
writing to pontification to experiments with riffing
to ... oh I dunno. Just whatever I want. It get's
hard when what I have for dinner isn't that interesting,
I'm not feeling the urge to go off about anything, or
when I feel a particular need to really write. I know
that might sound like I don't take the blog writing
seriously. I do take it seriously. Sometimes too seriously.
Even
with talking, there are times when I'm in the middle
of saying something and I know I'm lost. Something in
me has changed and I haven't kept up with the change.
So in mid sentence I feel wrong.
Change
is good. And sometimes it requires silence. Not that
I'm that good at being silent. Not for long.
It's Fat Tuesday. I love Fat
Tuesday. Mostly coz I'm a New Orleans wanna be. New
Orleans is old and French and filled with music.
The food is a mix of old world traditions and new world
ingredients. I've always wanted to go there. I'm probably
not up for the big street party any more. But I wouldn't
mind watching from a balcony. I love the idea of a day
to
party up before you move into a time of spiritual
quiet.
I
think we need both. We need to go a little crazy. And
we need to know how to be quiet and reserved. For about
a week I've been feeling the need to go out and have
some BIG fun and the need to be very quiet and alone.
Funny.
I
might listen to some Neville
Brothers, Professor Longhair and Dr.
John. I might make something fancy for dinner. Something
with shrimp. And I will do some yoga. Some contemplation.
I don't need to whoop it up too much coz I'm not planning
on giving anything up in any big way.
Has the world entered some
kind of pesky zone? I mean maybe it's always in one
but it just seems hopped up today. Or maybe it's me.
Well of course it's me. But. Jeez.
So
I am still blog slacking. My morning ritual in which
I read blogs and wrote my post has just completely crashed.
I write randomly. I read randomly. I miss things. I
can't catch up. I feel displaced. Out of the loop.
Alembic
is (temporarily?) MIA, although Maria is (happily) still
available.
I'm now wondering about all the spam I get. I spend
a certain amount of my day clicking on delete. It is
a drag. I've even gotten a bit of comment spam. But
not much. Not as much as I see on MT blogs. I read Maria's
post on it and the possible impact on the "conversation"
that happens in blogging. And then I sat here with knitted
eyebrows. I don't really understand spam. I don't really
understand how people make money with it. I'm not sure
I want to understand. I'm pretty sure I don't. I'd like
to join a fight against it. If I understood it better
than I do now.
K
has a post about "right
speech" that suspect might be suggestive. Or
not. It does seem like there's something going on. In
a broad sense. But gee. Without idle, useless and foolish
babble I'd have nothing to say.
Heh.
I've
been on three sites in which I am told I no longer have
permission to read. I'm not taking it personally but
... gee. What in the world?
And
then there was a dust up on Mole.
Since I am not a Buddhist I hesitate to enter into the
fray and, also, too, it's kinda over. I wished I'd been
there to rise in defense of our dear hero. I woulda
loved to smack down on someone coming into the comments
there with such a sanctimonious head up his ass thing
to say. But I wasn't there. Then. And now it feels late.
Dale
also wrote this.
Will I ever forgive you? No.
Certainly not. I would not break any thread that ties us together. This
long rough filament, that I can kiss, and taste the blood on, any time?
No. And
my dearest wish is that I will turn a street corner, two thousand years
from now -- in a far country, wearing different bodies -- and that you,
recognizing me, will step briskly up, and give me a stinging slap
across the face.
I
can think of someone I feel that way about except (at
the risk of jamming someone's dearest wish) if I met
them on the street, two thousand years from now, in
different bodies, I know I would recognize them and
I would press my cheek into their's.
Sigh.
Kathryn
linked a thing about being
grown up that makes me look pretty bad. And I'm
2 X 25 +1. Not that I would, or could defend my maturity.
I'm
just feeling like things are goin on. Not good things.
Or maybe I'm just reading through a glass darkly.
Deb told me to check out this
show. It's just great.
Of all the restaurant reality
shows this is the real real.
The
guy is SO mean. He was
a soccer star who became a chef. He swears
so much that sometimes it's
just one beep after another.
Between the beeps and the
accent it is sometimes hard
to get what's happening.
(Do they bleep words in
England?) But it is absolutely
what it's like.
These
shows always make me nostalgic. Which might make you
wonder about my sanity. It makes me wonder.
Again with the jeez. I dunno.
I think I'm rediscovering blogging in some funny way.
It's always changing anyway. I'm not sure if things
are really changing. But. I'm just having all these
visceral responses.
This
is another one of those really late to respond responses
to
a post. (And I thought she was on a break. ) I didn't
write a thing about the doof at Harvard who said grrrls
can't do math. I wasn't outraged by it. I just had an
eye roll moment and went on about my business. I do
get why women were upset. It was doofy thing to say.
Having
said that. Boys and girls are different. Shocking. I
know.
Cyndi
wanted to call out the idea of why girls don't seem
to do as well in math and do some critical thinking
about it. Good idea? Well, apparently not. Coz
she got jumped on.
Before
I go on, I want to say that I think the ideas of differences
in brain development in men and women are interesting.
But brains develop in cultures. And families. So it's
like any other muscle. Development happens when things
are stimulated. Are (for example) women in Japan bad
at math? China? India? I think there are studies about
how kids from other cultures out-do all kids from the
USA in math and science. So what's that about?
Also.
I (as usual) think two things that may seem to be in
opposition. I don't really believe in boys and
girls. I think we are all a blend of both. We all have
estrogen and testosterone. Ask any third sex person
about this debate and things will get really wound up.
And they should.
AND.
I myself often think in terms of what is archetypally
girl and archetypally boy. Generalities are useful sometimes.
Comforting in their simplicity. And often true.
My
post, this post, this all over the place post, is really
about what happened after Cyndi posted about her own
lack of math skill and her thoughts on what might be
true in terms of brain structure and development. Someone
said:
And
then Cyndi posted this.
So beautiful. Let's all break the rules.
Can
we just allow for possibility? I just, I read these
things and my head spins. I have so many reactions all
at once. Of all the people on the web, I can imagine
having a really great open conversation with Cyndi.
So who ever wrote the even dooffier thing to her than
what the Harvard guy said can't possibly have been
paying attention.
Jeez.
I mean. Just jeez.
And.
I suck at math. And. All my math teachers were women.
Add all that up.
It was cool seeing Dooce
on the
news. I remember when she got fired. I don't read
her regularly. No reason. It's a big neighborhood. I
don't get around it as well I should. But I remember
back then. Seems so long ago.
Does
it seem like every day they're telling us about how
we can get fired for almost anything? Are we supposed
to get pissed off by it all or are we supposed to get
more scared?
Meanwhile.
I feel just a bit jealous of the woman who got a six
figure book deal from her blog. Just a little bit. I'd
be cool with five.
KPFA
is having a fund drive. They have some pretty great
premiums. One of which is the new
film by Danny
Schechter. It's about how the media used production
to sell the war. Ironically, in the pitch for funds
with the film as bait the film is extolled for its production
quality.
Ah
well. We pick the propaganda we want. And if you listen
to a little bit of everything you still only have part
of the truth. The left does need to get better at framing
the debate. No doubt. Michael
Moore has shown us that.
Last
weekend I watched the old Fahrenheit
45 for the first time. I read the book a zillion
years ago but I'd never seen the movie. It is pretty
terrifying. But I just kept thinking you don't really
need to burn books, or ban them. You just need to make
reading seem like something people do because they don't
have a life. I see it all the time. Jokes and snide
comments about thinking and reading. I saw Michael's
film not long ago as well. Sometimes he wears on
me but I thought it was full of information.
OK.
Here is a message for Sarah. Hope she's reading. I tried
to respond to your e-mail three times and it bounced
back to me. But the answer is YES!!! PLEASE!!!
Caroline
had Norman Solmon
on the radio show yesterday. He was comparing the values
of the countries of European Union and the values in
this country. Caroline framed it as the difference between
living in a culture or living in an economy.
I
keep wondering how a country that is supposed to have
a new moral majority also has a hit show like Desperate
Housewives. I haven't watched the show. I guess I should
watch it before I pass judgment on it. I have seen the
commercials and it just looks smarmy. I know it might
seem like ad odd intersection from which to wonder.
There are so many others.
I'm
always thinking and talking about culture and how culture
impacts us. But sometimes I think culture in this country
is a misnomer. There are so many cultures packed into
other cultures here. For the last few days there have
been lots of fireworks in the neighborhood to celebrate
the year of the Rooster. A few blocks away there are
people from all over the world wandering through shops
full of t-shirts and post cards. Up the hill there are
coffee shops full of people in which the owners speak
Italian. I can get on a bus and go to the Mission, the
Castro, Japantown. I realize that this is a city and,
perhaps, a particularly diverse city. But I keep
thinking about the common experiences and the places
in which we hold our own reality.
If
you're standing in line at the grocery store you look
at the covers of magazines. You see faces. Bodies. Something
about who gets the cover and who doesn't tells you something.
If you watch television only in your own language, shop
where your language is spoken, eat only the foods you
were raised on, you hold a cultural experience. But
you still walk out the door and see the sign on the
side of the bus.
I
know people who don't own a television, who never experience
main stream culture. Even the fact that most of what
they get comes through their ears (radio) or from words
(reading) creates their sense of the world. But they
too walk out the door. Generally. So when I talk about
the impact of culture, what do I really mean?
When
I was listening to them I was thinking about how hard
it is to be in a country where the political leadership
is pushing an agenda that you feel so horrified by.
And then there's the layer of representation. All those
images in public space. And the layer of family. And
friends. The books on the shelf. The music coming from
the speakers. And my fingers on the keyboard. More quizzical
than assured.
And
then. There's the market. And those pieces of writing
I still need to send out.
I really need to check and
see if something changed in my cable subscription and
I didn't notice. I don't think I'm paying more but I'm
just enough of an air head to not notice. I have more
movie channels. I didn't order them. There's something
called - On Demand, which may be why. Or it may be some
kind of free preview. I don't love movie channels. It's
pretty rare that you want to watch a movie at just the
moment when the movie begins. You can't pause. But the
worst thing is that I sometimes watch movies that I
wouldn't have otherwise. Every once in awhile that's
good. I watched The
Guru a few months ago and I kinda loved it. It made
me smile.
Yesterday
I watched part of The
Last Samurai. I neither loved nor hated it but the
part I saw included the big battle scene. It made me
think about The Bhagavad Gita. I am not a pacifist in
the strictest sense of the word and the gita is part
of why. An absolute pacifist would rather die than
be killed. I might think that I would rather die than
kill but I know that my body would react. And, more
than that, if someone is going to harm someone I love
then my pacifism goes right out the window. And still
more is the idea that there may be a time to fight and
an honor in the battle.
In
this battle scene there is an idea of an old way of
battle (swords, arrows, wisdom and skill) pitched against
a new way of doing battle (guns). The guns are mighty.
But are they honorable?
There
is that moment in the gita when Arjuna knows he will
lose family and friends in the battle and he doesn't
want to fight. And then Krishna breaks it down. In the
movie there is a moment when the head samurai knows
he is about to die and he is leading his men into certain
death. It's a moment of destiny. Grand. Profound. (And
the presence of Tom Cruise is only somewhat annoying.)
I'm
never sure how I feel about this idea of destiny. Because
I would like the fighting to end. All of the fighting.
I would like to chose death over killing. And yet ...
So.
Movie channels. I dunno. Whole big chunks of my day
lost to strange reverie. Although, just now there is
a fellow from the Ayn Rand institute extolling laissez
fair economics on Book TV. Is that better? Not so much
really. And again I am listening and trying to figure
out what is wheat and what is chaff.
It
might be fair to say that I lean toward ideas of rightness
that are context dependent. it sounds sort of relativist.
It just doesn't feel that way. In context, it all feels
very absolute.
It
seems like this is where the post should end but are
more threads winding through my thinking. I'm still
thinking about what
happened to Cyndi. (Mess with someone I care about
and my pacifism goes RIGHT out the window, I'm tellin
ya.) (Grrr.) Because these battle scenes are about men
and to some extent what it means to be a man. Except,
if we think about the scene from Aliens
in which Sigorney is fighting the mama alien. The mama
alien is fighting to protect her eggs and Sigorney is
fighting to protect the little girl. I might like
to imagine that two women in that situation would negotiate
and found a day care center for all the kids but it
just doesn't always work out that way. And two women
fighting over the safety and well being of kids? Now
we're talking filed of the lord. Unless, maybe, one
of them is Ayn Rand.
Heh.
And
there is another thread. Something that Diana
wrote the other day. She wrote about wanting
to be adored and women who never out grow the need
for their father's approval. That would be me.
Not
so long ago someone said that my fatherlessness showed.
I imagine it does. For Diana the need for dad manifests
as always having a man in her life. For me the opposite
is true. It could be my over developed stubbornness
in which the need is overwhelmed the need to not need.
But I had more than one reaction to the post. I'm not
comfortable with the idea that het women with this particular
psychological background often want the guy who doesn't
want them. Although, in my life that would seem to be
a truth.
Diana
quoted Dale
who confesses that he hopes knowing him is transformative.
Well. It is. Of course it is. And it should be. There
is only one Dale. And only one Diana. And I am saved
by knowing them. AND I think it's OK to want attention.
And every once in awhile I think it's OK to want ALL
of the attention. I think there's a difference between
self and ego. Self is sentient. Ego is plastic. Our
self needs to feel seen. Really seen. It's healthy.
Wait.
What was I talking about? Movie channels. Ayn Rand.
Battle scenes. Pacifism. What is it to be a man? What
is it to be a woman? Oh yeah.
So.
I'm thinking about all of this. It all comes back
to some sense of the transformative process as being
something that never arrives. Never concludes. Because
the minute it does it stops. And that's death. So we
move from one scene to the next and pick up the script.
We may argue with the writers and director and producers.
We may make a few changes. But we have a part to play.
A part that is ours alone. Maybe destiny is not established.
Maybe it's realized.
In second grade we covered
shoe boxes with crepe paper and construction paper and
ribbons and stickers. We cut a slit into the top and
on Valentines Day the boxes lined the room. We tried
not to watch when kids went from box to box with wee
envelopes. At the end of the day we opened our boxes
and looked to see who liked us. In second grade I was
fat and socially awkward. I remember the hope of the
box and the two or three cards on which my name was
spelled wrong.
One
year a friend had just broken up with a long time partner.
We went out to the best restaurant and were so pleased
with ourselves for not allowing the day to make us sad.
Except. We were a little sad.
It's
a manufactured, market driven holiday and I'd like to
ignore it. But it always nips at the ragged corners
of my heart. This year isn't any different. I'm not
as gloomy as I sometimes get. I'm just a little tight
in the jaw.
And
right now I feel like if you have someone don't ignore
it. Let the market have its way with you. Buy flowers
and candy and cards. Or make something. Just do something.
Something saccharin and over the top.
My rule is that I can only
play with my dolls
on the weekend. It's just too easy to get sucked in
for hours. I mean hours. I break the rule now and again
but having it keeps me from playing every day for hours.
Hours, I'm tellin ya. It's so compelling. It's like
a book that I'm both reading and writing. And I wanna
know what happens.
Most
of my playing right now is about killing off the elders.
Sounds morbid but it's a circle of life thing. They
become ghosts so they're still around. This is part
of the difference between the first game and the second
game. The Sims age and die. When I first began to play
I just wanted to see what Sims death looked like. And
then I had this whole old folks thing going. My plan
was to get all my Sims elders into the same house and
let them age together. But then I realized how useful
elders are. If you and your kids live with elders they
help with the kids. Everybody is happy.
An
individual Sim getting older has kids who are off on
their own getting older too. And keeping the elder happy
often means getting them grand kids. So you leave the
house to go play with the kids and make babies. And
elders like weddings. I like my elders to be as happy
as they can be when the reaper comes coz if they're
happy he comes with hula girls and a Mai Tai. Nice way
to go, doncha think? I tried to get some pictures
of this but they're too small. I haven't mastered the
whole process.
One
of my Sims was getting married and I knew his parents
were gonna (cough) move on within the next two days.
So I went to other house and had them come to the wedding.
I actually got misty eyed watching this because I knew
this was the last time he'd see them. I swear. I'm tearing
up just thinking about it. There's one of my Sims who
I save from death once. And now I'm just wanting her
to get on outta here. She's got like two, or three days.
But that can mean hours of playing.
I
really, really, really don't think I play well. I take
all so seriously. One of reasons it's easy for me to
not play is because I am a little sad about all these
elders moving on. My favorite time in Sims life is when
they are adults and they're moving up in their careers
and having kids. It all sounds so provincial.
Jeez.
Yesterday I calling for participation in the market
and today I'm writing little happy ever after stories.
What is happening to me? Of course the other big thing
going on in my game is alien abductions in which men
come back pregnant with little green babies. So I still
have some (cough) alternative life in me.
Somewhere I heard, or read
Sting say that he regretted
the song Every
Breath You Take. He
felt it was obsessive. Well. Yeah. I don't know
what brought it to mind except maybe all that thinking
about romantic love yesterday and thinking about my
history of unrequited love. I remember when I first
heard the song. I'd been doing breath
work so the lyrics made a specific kind of sense
to me. Looking at the lyrics now they do seem a bit
over the top. To say the least.
Unrequited
love is just the worst. It makes you feel like you must
be quite mad. How is it possible that you have this
feeling? And it's so strong and clear. And. You feel
it. As it thuds to the ground. Makes my teeth hurt just
to think about it. And I've had more than my fair share
I would say. So either I am quite mad, or just really
dumb when it comes to attraction, or I'm making it all
up or ... well. The list just goes on and on.
Everything
about the lyrics seems to have some shadow and some
light. Like - "can't you see, you belong to me."
Well. In terms of ownership, no one belongs to anyone.
But belonging can also be a feeling of being at home.
Being met. Feeling like something fits. How is it possible
to feel that way about someone and have it not be true?
Unless you are quite mad.
Mama
Cass sang a
song about how unrequited love is a bore but for
someone you adore it's a pleasure to be sad. I know
that pleasure. But. I've had enough.
Sting
said he wrote If
You Love Somebody Set Them Free as an antidote for
Every Breath You Take. Which makes sense. But I like
both songs. Sometimes love is desperate and overwhelming.
It's not a sustainable way to be but sometimes it is
that way. I don't think you can set someone free unless
you think love is a cage. I've felt desperate. I've
wanted to beg. I have begged. But I've never felt like
I wanted to lock anyone up. Belonging isn't about ownership.
It's about realization. And all of my realizations have
ended up being confusions. Or so I was told.
About a month ago I took the
Pledge and the dust rag into the bedroom and sat them
on the dresser. Then I got distracted. I have a vanity,
a dresser and a nightstand all of which needed dusting.
And the month went by. Yesterday Sarah was coming over
so I was motivated to get the dusting done, clean the
bathroom, run the vacuum, just generally make it nice.
Sarah
and I are forming a partnership of sorts. We both
need to send out writing. When I had the dinner
with Abeer I got all wound up and even did some
new writing. But I have flagged. There is a journal
I know I can submit to and I even thought I'd send a piece
in before Sarah got to the apartment but I didn't. I
dusted instead.
I
can't even begin to describe how overwhelmingly resistant
I am. I just DON"T WANT TO!!!
Sigh.
Groan.
Part
of the process is to identify journals and magazines
and we talked about that last night. I've always thought
that it would be good to respond to the Readers Write
prompt in The
Sun. If I did just that much I'd be writing and
sending out every month. The current prompt is: Games.
It needs to be in by March 1. Yikes.
I
noticed that I came up with the idea to have a goal
in January but didn't set the goal till February. Tricky,huh?
And now February is half over and I still haven't sent
anything out. But now I'll have Sarah to answer to if
I don't get it done. I'm not sure either Sarah or I
will be particularly strict with one another but I'm
not sure we need to be. I just need to be as motivated
to send the writing as I was to dust and, clearly, I
even need the presence of someone else to motivate me
these days.