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25735. alistairConnor - 10/31/2009 12:59:03 AM I have discovered the joys of relationships as a combat sport over the last couple of years. My first marriage failed, in large part, because we were too scared to fight.
My girlfriend has been fending me off for the past few days. Making me feel like a visitor, while insisting that nothing is wrong. I recognised that as a sign that she's got major worries. That's her way : when there's trouble, she rolls herself up like a hedgehog. In those circumstances, I want to be close to her, and help, or at least provide support. But she wants to solve her problems on her own.
Today I came home at lunchtime to pick a fight with her. So we ended up having a frank discussion of the various issues. We solved nothing, but we both feel better for it. And we are close again. 25736. judithathome - 10/31/2009 10:56:38 PM That's her way : when there's trouble, she rolls herself up like a hedgehog.
This is a lovely descriptive phrase...it says it all.
You oughta write a book, Alistair. ;-) 25737. alistairconnor - 11/1/2009 5:06:30 PM Then perhaps I will, Judith.
At Webfeet's suggestion, I'm reading David Lodge. Quite enjoying it, but at first I found him irritatingly derivative. Until I realised that the author he reminded me of was me.
She stands before him, a naked goddess. Small, round breasts with pink, pointed nipples. A slender waist, broad hips, and gently curving belly. A tongue of fire at her crotch.
Well, I ask you.
Also, I came across a novel on the internet yesterday, self-published, friend of a friend via Facebook. It's about a kid in New Zealand forming a punk band in the early 80s, so it has a number of themes which interest me. I enjoyed the book, but it makes me wonder if it can interest a general audience. I think one has to write from one's roots, and one needs to be an experienced author before attempting subjects that one hasn't actually had direct experience of. But transcending the specific and tending towards the universal is the thing, the test of the true writer. 25738. judithathome - 11/3/2009 12:07:15 AM Alistair, just write, for cripe's sake.
David Lodge interested me at first but c'mon...everyone who writes is derivitive...you can find whisps of any author from "before" in anything written today.
Things have changed in the ways people read, in the ways people view movies and TV and friggin' life...this is not the same literary scene as it was back in the day. (And back in the day is swiftly becoming LAST WEEK.)
You have a knack for economy of description...that's a valuable assest in these times of texting and fast-paced interpesonal relationships.
Jump on it, man! 25739. alistairconnor - 11/3/2009 11:33:46 PM Thanks Judith. Your encouragement means a lot to me. 25740. iiibbb - 11/10/2009 6:36:22 AM Name me a cheese that has a medium firmness like Swiss... but a creamy mildness like Danish Havarti. 25741. alistairConnor - 11/10/2009 9:42:24 AM Don't get me started. I don't hold with foreign cheeses, myself.
Try Beaufort, or Abondance
 25742. iiibbb - 11/10/2009 3:12:46 PM I love cheese.... I could never be too provincial about it. 25743. iiibbb - 11/10/2009 3:13:17 PM Except processed cheese... but that doesn't count. 25744. iiibbb - 11/10/2009 5:33:02 PM Thanks for the suggestions... 25745. wabbit - 11/12/2009 3:05:11 AM
Happy Veteran's Day! 25746. iiibbb - 11/12/2009 3:43:52 AM Great video 25747. alistairConnor - 11/12/2009 9:41:43 AM So, a few weeks ago she was irritable, distant, something was wrong but her explanations were not convincing. There was something else going on.
Eventually she spat it out : her former boss (everyone assumed they were lovers at the time, but they weren't, she says) wants to hire her again, to run his operation in Casablanca. Very good pay and everything. It's obvious that she's been thinking seriously about it.
I was somewhat panicked by the idea. It would be an elegant solution to a number of her difficulties... including our relationship? Could I get a job there? What about my kids? etc.
Yesterday, she's joyful, radiant. She tells me she has until tomorrow to give her final answer. OK, I say. I'll stop working, I'll be a writer. There's a daily flight from Lyon, my daughters can come for weekends. I'm only half joking, and she knows it.
I'll stay with you, she says. i.e. the decision is mine. We don't need to discuss it formally; we both know what that means. We'll stick with the set of difficulties we know. 25748. iiibbb - 11/12/2009 3:35:25 PM You did see the mathematical Women = Evil proof that I posted in the slow thread? 25749. alistairconnor - 11/12/2009 5:05:34 PM Yes, I loved that.
But it doesn't equate for us... for a start, she now earns more than I do, and I can see a time coming when my salary will be relatively marginal.
For me, it's more like time squared.
Money can't buy me love. But perhaps it can buy me time? 25750. iiibbb - 11/19/2009 5:43:00 AM I got a 9 point deer this morning. It's my biggest to date.
I had a pretty frustrating first few days of the season. It has been very warm. Deer don't move when it's warm; they have their winter coats and just don't need to. This morning it was cold and windy. I was leaving for home at 8:30, and shot the deer about 8:15...
I did get to see some cool stuff this weekend: a mess of turkey, and a squirrel who did some ninja move against a hawk when it dove on him and lived to tell the tale. It was pretty cool to see. 25751. arkymalarky - 11/19/2009 3:51:57 PM Congratulations! We don't hunt, but we get deer meat more than we eat it. The deer population is out of control here. 25752. iiibbb - 11/19/2009 4:10:29 PM I'm happy because we have some deer meat in the freezer that just needs to get used.... been in there too long for best quality. I'm fixing to go offer it up to all the neighbors.
I thought I was going to goose egg this year. I was gone a week and had only 3 days and a morning in the woods. It was super frustrating.
I need to figure out the hunting around my new state... not much public land here, and I don't know anyone with land. I may be making forays to Virginia for a few years. 25753. iiibbb - 11/19/2009 4:15:54 PM All I know is you can't hunt with rifles here (which is too bad because if you're going to shoot an animal, why not with something that will increase the odds of a quick death).
They do allow muzzle loaders, which are effective and nearly as accurate (I get 1" groups at 100 yards with my rifle, and 3" groups with the black powder), but if you only wound a deer you're unlikely to get a second shot off.
I won't hunt with a bow... too many horror stories of deer running a mile with a arrow perfectly in their vitals. I don't want the animals to suffer, and I don't want to deal with getting permission to track on other peoples' land. 25754. arkymalarky - 11/19/2009 4:17:05 PM Peoole were tying land up here with leases to hunting "clubs." Haven't noticed that lately.
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