something offbeat for the other romantics

This is actually an xkcd strip. It was parody week and this strip was xkcd's parody of A Softer World. Happy Valentine's Day to all the people who aren't madly in love right now, but who appreciate how wonderful, and scary, love is all the same.

thoughts on relationships

Just been watching this week's Trannystar Galactica episode from Diana. Such a sweet person. (In case you're not familiar with TG and are confused, she presents male for work and on that vlog, but the name indicates to me I should use female pronouns, so that's how I'm rolling with it.)

The topic was Valentine's Day and relationships in general. She brought up her (previous) three rules for a relationship: no lies, no violence, no disrespect. At some point that seemed too negative, so she changed it to love, honesty, respect. It seemed like an interesting question to raise.

If you had to sum up your philosophy on relationships in three pithy dot points, what would they be?

For me (and I'm writing this on the fly, so it might not be definitive):

~ no mind games (emotional manipulation = dealbreaker)

~ friends as well as lovers (friends are more accepting and in the end it's a stronger bond. Love based on friendship can weather much bigger storms and makes the smooth sailing more beautiful)

~ don't fear baggage, but don't be owned by it either (we all have it; it makes us real people. Just remember we retain the ability to choose, no matter what)

Adding explanation made those a bit less pithy, but at least you know what I mean now.

I've been reasonably lucky in my life with relationships. For the most part they've been good and ended amicably. It's been a long time since I was in love, but I choose to be hopeful about that. Most days. :)

By the way, in case you watch Diana's video, this is the Indigo Girls song she mentions. It's great.

you gotta fat ass?

Comedian Reginald D Hunter, on 8 out of 10 cats:

RDH: I don't celebrate Valentine's Day, all that crazy stuff. It bugs me. It's international test day for a woman get to test how much her man love her. [Not sure how this follows on, but anyway...] For instance, I can't tell my lady if she got a fat ass. 'Cause you ain't supposed to tell a lady she got a fat ass, even if she ask you she gotta fat ass, you can't say she got a fat ass, even though she suspect she gotta fat ass. But I gotta lie, and subvert reality and pretend that she don't have a fat ass, when the reality, the reason I'm wid her, is because she got a fat ass.

Sean Lock: [points out the camera and says in his very British accent] You have just told her that she has a fat ass.

RDH: [waves] Hi baby! Happy Valentine's Day.

a conversation i had on valentine's day

chosha: Doing anything special for Valentine's Day?

cute IT guy: [not answering the question but instead stepping onto his soapbox] Ugh, I'm not spending $50 on flowers just because it's Valentine's Day.

chosha: [shrug] Oo-kay.

cITg: I bought my girlfriend strawberry milk for Valentine's Day.

chosha: Strawberry milk? [Thinking: what, first thing you happened to spot at the gas station?]

cITg: She really likes strawberry milk, so I got her a 3 litre container of milk and a tin of Strawberry Quik.

chosha: [who appreciates creativity over cost] Actually, that's really sweet...

Nice one, cute IT guy!

~~~ (^_~) ~~~