Martha sent me another email, this one regarding men vs. women, and the practice of changing your car's oil. Quite frankly, having been a technician, I'm more than happy to let someone else do sh*t like that. I'm not that proud. If it's something I figure I COULD do easier and cheaper on my own, I'll still get under there. My bigger pet peeve when it comes to women is one, and one only, and it is this;
SAY WHAT YOU MEAN!!!!!!
I'm not a friggin' mind-reader and I'm not going to play one, so if I ask you what's wrong, and you say "nothing," in that tone that suggests that something really IS going on, but you're gonna make me guess, guess what? I'm carrying on with life until you DO decide to fill me in. So, big note to women here; the next time you find yourself in a similar situation, tell your man EXACTLY what's going on, because HIS objective, as in all guy-think, is to TRY AND FIX THE PROBLEM. Period. Dancing around trying not to hurt anyone's feeling's, or whatever your rationale might be, is a mind-f*ck, plain and simple. If he's actually DONE something to warrant that type of behavior on your part, that's a whole different kettle of fish. But if you're just doing this kind of thing as some sort of "feminine perogative" exercise, cut the crap out so life can move on. It ain't that hard, as guys we reserve bullsh*t for the telling of stories that will make our fish or deer sound bigger than the next guy's, or for the times when we really ARE in trouble, more than anything when we get pulled over, or asked why we're running so late. It's not a mental exercise we perform supposedly for someone else's benefit or chastisement. That, as I mentioned before, is just crap. Think of what you think of the men who HAVE made blanket characterizations about women; not pretty, is it? Thought not.
Beyond that, well, as I've probably noted before, it hasn't been a good time for my dad, ergo it hasn't been a good time for me. I HAVE to be available, and more than that, I have to be able to pick him up when he falls, which can be frequently, and which still manages to be a chore. It is a state of affairs that will turn your reality absolutely upside-down. And following the latest results from his MRI, he has been pronounced to ABSENT of Parkinson's or Alzhimer's, or anything else, for that matter. Things are just going the way they're going to when a guy is 78 years old, and dare I say, has been through as much as dad has. My feeling for myself is that no one is quite certain what's really going on, and certainly no one is saying anything. That makes me mad. We have the capacity to identify and treat everything under the sun, except when it comes to MY dad?! What kinda crap is that?! Okay, maybe not everything, but we're a bit past leeches and ether in medicine, you'd think more could be done, or simply known. Overall, I just have a whole lot more going on that doesn't really seem to be moving me ahead at the clip I'd like, and, as big as that, real progress seems to be way out there in the distance. It's out there, don't get me wrong, but it feels like my whole damned life has swallowed a vat of maple syrup. I'd blame it on the Republicans, if I figured it was that easy, but it's not, so here I am trying to handle it. AND still move ahead. And, of course, it's managed to change a lot of things. I still have the utmost respect for dad, what he represents to me most is the capacity to simply DO. He has been able, and intelligent to a fault, at times, but when he's laying there on the floor trying to get up, you're really not worried about that. You just wonder how he could have gotten to this point. The simple answer, of course, is LIFE, and how it will catch up with us all, but somehow leave us with at least a few good stories to tell. La chaim, for better or worse.