hsapiens | Various Life News

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Various Life News

Last Sunday, I took the train downtown to see the better half's band play a showcase of talent nominated for "The Best of Houston" Music Awards. I arrived there late since Joe had to check out the venue first and make certain that the Dancing Marlin wasn't a seafood restaurant and the band finished early after having started early, but it was fun to see them play again.

On the way home on the train, a guy hit on me. It happens so rarely that it surprises me and I'm never sure how best to respond. When I was an angst-ridden teen, Mom assured me that boys weren't asking me out because I intimidated them (me?!?). Since then I've spent little time as a free agent and I suspect I don't send off "available" signals. I'm not outgoing and I suck at small talk. Anyway, it wasn't anything serious, I suspect the guy was bored and passing time but it it's always nice to hear that you're looking good and that someone wants to take you to coffee. Even if I was the only female in the train car.

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Someday, I'll have to post about how weird it is to have grown up mostly as an only child and yet still find myself at this advanced age the eldest of six. Six! To add some salt into the wound, I am the oldest and shortest. I joke that any other sibling I discover had better be Yoda. It's mostly a joke.

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My cousin, an Air Force pilot, has been named Aircraft Commander. I find this an ambiguous term but apparently it means she's in charge of her contingent of pilots and she's the youngest pilot to have been given this position of responsibility. She is made of awesome. I feel only a little guilty for hating her so much when I was a kid. I had a lot of years as the only grandchild and only niece in the family so I didn't greet her arrival as joyfully as I perhaps should have.

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Most exciting to me - 'cause it's all about me - is that today begins my vacation! WOOT! An entire week of owning my own time. We were planning to travel but forces outside my control have scuttled that plan. My mail yesterday brought me the surprise of a "Buy One, Get One Free" ticket to the Body Worlds Exhibit here in town that I've been dying to see. Er, no pun meant. Thank you, Friends of Pride, for that unexpected bonus!

And how am I kicking off my vacation? With a brand new episode of SG-1 tonight. The previews show lots of Ba'al so it could be really great. Or, yanno, it could suck.

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Six? What?

Six. I'm part of litter, apparently.

My parents married young and divorced soon after. They both remarried. Now, I've always known my brother born to my Mom; I was 13 when he was born. That was cool but he started kindergarten when I was a freshman in college so we're essentially two only children. I've thought of myself first as an only child and then later as an only child who happens to have a brother.

I knew about my Dad having kids, but they were vague and he refused to talk about them. I didn't know about the one he and his wife had before their marriage and gave up for adoption. I'd never really met ANY of them. The trips to Florida for his hospitalization and subsequent funeral were the first time I interacted with the other 4. It was...surreal.

Those 4 + my brother + me = 6. Oy.

Ah... not sure I knew any of that. I knew about your one brother of course (how is he by the way?). Man, I really should go on MSN sometimes :P

He is good. :) He called me today because he had just discovered the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster and he knew I'd think it was hysterical. He came over last night for a belated celebration of Mom's b-day so we remain tight.

You didn't know about it because I haven't previously posted about it. That's mostly because it seems like something big and I expect that I should have big emotions about it but I don't. I mean, I'm thrilled to have more siblings although the whole pack of siblings is weird, and I'm sorry to have lost so much time with them and I'm over the moon for gaining a niece and a nephew -- but I feel like I should have some profound thoughts on the whole matter. Especially since my Dad just died and I suddenly gained a grandmother and an uncle in the process. But I don't.

As for MSN? We've gotten used to the idea that Scotland and Gary have stolen you away. :P And, while the selfish part of me wishes it weren't so, I can't say but I think those priorities are well-placed. But you should urge Carmo to get online with us more often because I worry about her sometimes and it's good to know she's doing all right.

To add some salt into the wound, I am the oldest and shortest. I joke that any other sibling I discover had better be Yoda. It's mostly a joke.

I'm with ya all the way, honey. I'm the eldest and shortest.

Or, yanno, it could suck.

With Baal in it? The chances of the episode blowing completely are nil as long as that bad boy's in the ep. ;)

I'm with ya all the way, honey. I'm the eldest and shortest.

What's up with that? If I have to be oldest, can't I be tallest, too? Well, not taller than the boys but I've got three sisters who are ~5' 10" and 2 brothers who are 6'+. I really think that's unfair. Have I mentioned the sisters are natural blondes? Not, yanno, that I have a complex or anything. ;-)

On the plus side? I'm still taller than the niece and nephew I didn't previously know I have.

With Baal in it? The chances of the episode blowing completely are nil as long as that bad boy's in the ep. ;)

I won't put it past these writers to ruin a Sure Thing. I'm freakishly excited to have Cliff Simon on my screen again. I hope like hell that the episode is worthy of his smoldering. The promise of lots and lots of Cliff lessens the liklihood of sucking of the bad variety...but the guy who wrote it also wrote the Space Corn episode. Great costumes in that one but the story with the amazing, technicolor plot holes? *shudder*

Have I mentioned the sisters are natural blondes? Not, yanno, that I have a complex or anything.

Don't worry my dear, we always think of you as a real blonde :)

Awwwww. Did I tell you that I always wanted to be a veterinarian because I love children?

I liked bits of Space Race. Bits. Would have liked the whole of it if:

-- Teal'c and that brother of the pilot, Warrick, had worn something other than bellhop uniforms.

-- There had been no Hebridean sports coverage. That sucked beyond Wormhole Xtreme.

The mistakes they made took away from something that was promising. To show us a side of Sam that might make sense if they gave it half a chance. But no, it wasn't ship, so therefore not worth exploring. All they really wanted to do was make an alien version of Sportscenter. The disastrous result included the OoC crap with Jack falling asleep on duty in that reception area. Please.

Space Corn rather than Race. I'm sorry to say that I've even stopped learning the names of episodes because the lame and bad just kind of all run together after a while.

Space Race had potential, though I was gritting my teeth to watch them take an opportunity to show something new to us and cool about Sam and turn it into being about a race of aliens I cared nothing about and then overlaid it with the idiotic sports show cliche. It was obvious from the amount of time they spent lovingly crafting the sports talk and ads and scrolling language that if something can hold their ADD-addled brains in fascination long enough, that they could engage in flights of creativity. Which brought me back to gritting my teeth in annoyance of the astoundingly stupid Sam-the-pilot cum second banana in a Space Race. I suppose her subsequent melting into the stereotyped female role shouldn't have surprised me as much. *sigh*

Her love of speed and technology and explosives make sense for the hotshot pilot/scientist her character is supposed to be. On the weeks they remember she isn't just a pin up.

Have I mentioned the sisters are natural blondes? Not, yanno, that I have a complex or anything. ;-)

You know, this is an area on which we disagree. As I have told you before, I really liked your natural hair color. I know that you called it a mousy brown, but I liked it. Though the change to red, hit certain triggers. How about long and red? Yeah, that's it....

I adore the modern world of chemistry because I have not had to settle for mousy brown in many a moon. And I'm not falling into the trap of describing length and color for your pervy hair kink.

And I'm not falling into the trap of describing length and color for your pervy hair kink.

Not even a little?....

Didn't you develop an appreciation for that beautiful, super-straight, rich black hair while over in Japan?

On the way home on the train, a guy hit on me. It happens so rarely that it surprises me and I'm never sure how best to respond.

I don't know why you should surprised. Were you not off the market, I would hit on you. But then again, we've had that conversation before. :p

When I was an angst-ridden teen, Mom assured me that boys weren't asking me out because I intimidated them (me?!?).

You.... Intimidating.... Now that's amusing. Your even cute when your mad.

We have had the conversation before but it does surprise me because it's so rare. Maybe it's like my "only child" reality experience that's at odds with my being the eldest (sob!) of six, but it doesn't change my experience. Maybe there are hordes of men out there who thought a lot about hitting on me but my intimidating height scared them off, but my reality is that I'm not the girl who gets hit on. *shrug*

Your even cute when your mad

And you're looking to see how cute I can be at this very moment, eh? Your dastardly plot is doomed to failure because I know your sense of humor AND I am in an exceptionally happy mood for having escaped the office and started my vacation. Happy happy, joy joy!

Dastardly, no. Nefarious, definitely.
Fine. You've won this one. Go ahead and enjoy your vacation. There is always next time....

Ok, technically not Dastardly but it ruins my mental picture of me over muttering at my computer a la Muttley if I replace "Dastardly" with "Nefarious."

I win?!? GO ME!

Oooookay, more with the weirdness in common. I get the "intimidating" rap, too. But I'm strong and I don't take crap from people, so in our society, that probably is a terrifying thing for most men to come across (sadly).

How awesome about your cousin! I always wanted to be a pilot. Still plan on taking lessons someday when I find several thousand in the couch cushions. :-D

And VACATION! Party on, dude!

I've been thinking about this whole intimidating line and I have to admit that the women my brother dates tend to annoy me with their child-like behaviors. Perhaps the fact that I refuse to infantilize myself is intimidating? I can't find myself too sorry to have avoided wasting time with men whose egos require my stupidity to prop them up. *shrug*

I am very proud for my cousin. Her father was a hot shot Navy pilot and she grew up wanting to be a pilot. I'm just so pleased for her that she's excelling in her dream. I know she works hard and it's just lovely to see her doing what she loves. Even if she was that annoying little brat for the first few years of her life. ;)

Vacation totally rocks.

I do actually think the *majority* of women who get dates easily act like they're 4. Considering we have the worst pedophilia rates of any industrialized nation, I find this disturbing as anything. It paints the average man as a predator. Certainly, women years ago were taught to infantilize themselves: bat the eyelashes, never raise your voice, etc. It's all highly submissive behavior, which raises the question: if men are REALLY dominant, why do we need to act submissive to attract them? Maybe because they're not so dominant after all.

I have a lot of female friends who have very decent husbands or boyfriends who accept them as they are. I have to be careful speculating about what it is in me men can't accept, or they think I'm implying they compromised themselves to score a guy. I don't think that: I just wonder if maybe the good guys are an exception, and you need far better luck than I have to find one. Or maybe spend a lot more time shopping for one, which I can't be bothered to do.

I have no idea how many women engage in such behaviors. I can't imagine wanting to do it so it makes no sense to me. I utterly fail to grok this. Watching my brother's wife ask him to order for her, her inability to more than whisper to waiters, he eating off his plate while never touching hers...it all made me want to take her outside, shake her, and tell her to grow the fuck up.

I'm lucky to have Joe and I know it. Not because I refuse to be a little girl but because he's such a great man. I have no idea how I lucked into him - well, I do have SOME idea and it was the blabbermouth of one

mrkamikaze to whom I am infinitely grateful - but I don't think it's necessarily something that's within me that makes me "deserve" him or that I've compromised myself to get him. Talking about the bizarre nature of common male/female mating patterns doesn't make me worry about my own foundations or worry that others think I've compromised. I think your luck just hasn't hit yet. That's entirely different.

I'm not expressing myself well. I think I need some food. And a nap. :) Ah, vacation.

No, I think we're agreeing: there are men out there who appreciate strong women, but the available ones are few and far between.

I wonder if your brother's wife really feels that helpless or whatever, or if that's what she was taught one has to appear in order not to scare a man off.

(Report to fix glaring error)
I just assume that it's always an act because how in the world do you even get out of bed if you can't even look at a waiter and ask for a dish? I know part of the problem is a cultural clash; I've tutored recent Hispanic immigrants in English and we had to segregate the classes because the women wouldn't speak up so long as the men were present. Drove me batty.

Maybe I really am just terribly intimidating because I'm simply incapable of being any one but me.

*sigh* repost

I shouldn't try to answer comments, play with Photoshop, and chat on IM all at the same time.

Oh, yeah. Here, you may not get dates easily if you don't bow down to the status quo, but in some cultures your options are far more limited.

I'm also incapable of being anyone but me. Even when I act submissive, people see right through it.

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Various Life News

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