Friday, December 14, 2012

On Romantic Love and the Duration Thereof

From my hero, describing the start of her romance with her husband:

"...But that same afternoon after my break-up, he told me he was going to walk to Wawa’s (the New Haven version of QuikTrip) to get a Coke, and did I want to come? I did. We walked to Wawa’s, then back to the law school, and sat on a bench beneath some blooming magnolia trees. He said something completely incoherent, then took my hand; this was the first time we ever touched. At that moment, if he’d asked me to marry him, I wouldn’t have been at all surprised, and I might well have said “Yes.” (We did get engaged several months later.)

Now, so many years later, is it the same? Yes and no. Yes, because I still love him passionately, and more deeply, because I know him so much better. No, because he’s passed through my heart and into my soul, and he pervades my entire life, so now sometimes it’s hard to see him. Married people are so intertwined, so interdependent, so symbiotic, that it’s hard to maintain that sense of wonder and excitement..."

And this:

"When we first met, I honestly wondered whether it would ever be possible for me to read when we were sitting in a room together; I found it so hard to concentrate that I couldn’t make sense of anything more complicated than the newspaper. Now, I find it hard to tear myself away from my work and my email to hold up my end of a marital conversation."

She and her husband love each other very much, I've no doubt, but I believe (from what I can tell of it so far) her description of making an ongoing life with another person is dead on. As always, her writing style is so naked and unashamed that it's like reading my own thoughts, only edited by, say, Sylvia Plath. Or possibly Anais Nin.  There's a great passage describing a sympathetic listener in "My Old Man and The Sea": "It's like going out to dinner with yourself." That's what Ms. Rubin does for me; she takes me out to dinner with myself.

Should your partner be able to do that for you as well? I'm not sure. That seems like a special skill that really a very few people have in this world; which means it may not be a practical requirement that you should look for in a life partner. I do believe strongly that your life partner should make you a better VERSION of yourself, but that's not necessarily the same as being the kind of sympathetic listener that attracts people to them like moths to a flame.

Thursday, December 13, 2012

And on Sunday, 12/2/2012, I Became Entrepreneur's Dream Girl

See this device?

(Picture of HP Touchpad)

This is a sweet, 0.7 inch, 32GB touchpad piece of hardware that I got off Ebay for $230 bucks with shipping, including a fancy stand and a few other accessories.

The only problem: it's an HP. It runs webOS, which is faintly related to Palm. No apps, no support, no updates. It's basically a mobile web browser, which is a damn waste of 32GB of memory.

Solution: I hacked it, of course! I followed the instructions in (insert link) this link to install Android's Ice Cream Sandwich over the top of the webOS, and et voila: I have a sweet Android touchpad with 32GB of memory and a damn nice processor for less than $200, if you look at just the price I paid for the device. It was so easy that I can't really even consider it hacking, although I will take every opportunity to use that word anyway. (For comparison: the cheapest 10 inch Android tablet on the market right now is $399, and it has HALF THE MEMORY.)

I was so happy.

AND THEN. And then. There we were, cuddling on the couch, watching about 15 NCIS episodes in a row, your generally awesome Sunday evening, and it got to be about that hour and Entrepreneur and I were hungry. And we didn't necessarily feel like cooking anything. And so I pulled out my Android touchpad, downloaded the EAT 24 app, and made food happen. Within thirty minutes we had hot Indian food show up at our door, and I hadn't moved more than a few finger taps.

IT WAS AWESOME.

Wednesday, December 12, 2012

From the Twitter Feed

"Made the big HOME DEPOT run with Entrepreneur last night. Then bison burgers to celebrate...w. cheese seared by blowtorch. As you do."

Tri-tip, as always, had the perfect response: "Your experience last night was so manly that my chest hair grew another inch just be reading it."

I would like to point out that my own chest hair has not grown one iota, which is a little disappointing, but more importantly, as it should be.

I'd also like to point out that my boyfriend HAND-SEARS my choice of cheese on my bison burger, because he loves me. 

I'm just sad I didn't get any pictures of it. OR of all the friends we made at Home Depot last night! But I think that might have struck them as weird. ("Thanks for getting that quote together! Hey, can you go stand oh-so-casually by your computer and smile pretty for my Instagram feed?")

In related news, I may soon be taking many pictures of my car, because I have goblins in my engine block and my fan belt has started a squealing argument with them, and if it lasts for just the next week I can take enough time to actually figure out what I want to do with it, whether that's sell it or have it fixed AGAIN, since I just spent $1000 on it over the summer, or if I can attempt to fix it myself--which worked so well last time. (This time, though, I have my own garage! Hi, mom.)


Tuesday, December 11, 2012

More Pictures

See that rain BOUNCING off the sidewalk? Yeah. Hello, winter.

Now THIS is a way to deal with winter. In the lodge on the mountain.

Recent Saturday after Pilates. I ran so many errands and got so much done, yay! I now have armwarmers and fuzzy socks. Crucial for this upcoming season.

Also crucial for this upcoming season. Hot chocolate with peppermint schnapps.

Yes.

Monday, December 10, 2012

Pictures! And Life.

It's important for me to remember that all the other blogs that I read--the ones that are updated daily and perfectly and are full of great content--are written by people who blog for a JOB. I have a day job, and it is NOT blogging. I'm lucky I can write and type so quickly in the first place, or else this blog would NEVER get updated! I can't decide which would worry my mother more: if this blog never got updated, or if it suddenly got updated ALL THE TIME.

Something to ponder.

Here are some pictures.


Did you know this? Me either! Hallelujah for the first vacation day I have had in months. Allows for all sorts of exploring.
I was shocked. SHOCKED I TELL YOU. Also: new hair color! AND new part. I switched sides for the first time in 31 years. (Almost 32!)
The Library. (Read: a delicious, and close, restaurant and bar.)
I wandered in there at 1:30 on a weekday and they made me breakfast ANYWAY.
I wish OUR warehouse looked this good.



Not so recent shot.

Titan was surprised by a bag of flour. He is unfazed, because the Boy is holding food in his hand. Also: the Boy needs new shoes.
Awww. Dawg.
Aren't these gorgeous?
Recent hiking trip with the Boy and his Mom.

Recent camping trip in which we ended up camping in the snow, not like I'm still bragging about that or anything.


 In other news, I'm trying to be patient as my cube mate is on the phone with the "Help" desk here at the Lazy B, because her email is "down". PEBKAC. But she is a very nice lady and I am trying to remember that.

In other OTHER news, the Boy and I got to go out to dinner (which we haven't done in awhile) with our friends Marisa and Brian (whom we ALSO haven't seen in awhile) and it was awesome. A grownup date, hooray, at one of our favorite local spots, hooray times two, for half price meals, AGAIN I SAY HOORAY!