Show Pony Words and Howard Dean Rallies

Today's compliment is inspired by an invitation to a political event: I really appreciate the Boyfriend is thoughtful and intelligent when it comes to government and politics. While he, too feels that President Bush is a waste of presidential flesh, he doesn't play that whole "bush sux!!!11one" game. He studies policies and looks for real solutions.


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So, a while ago, I made public a list of 33 personal "truths." That is, things I believe to be true. I recently received and email that took issue with one maxim in particular, #18:


"Pretentiousness is counterproductive to academia, and ultimately the progression of a society"

He noted that pretentious behavior was simply a way for educated people to set themselves apart from the "stupid masses." And that we should "dumb down" to help out the "retards."


I take issue with this idea; that the idea that the privileged few should enjoy being educated, and everyone else should simply be the mental slaves to this select few. I really think that a lot of our problems with our culture and government could be solved if people were properly educated. Moreover, I think that if people didn't have the impression that educating themselves was something terribly difficult and only to be attempted by the elite, there would be more people who could properly think for themselves.

Is it really a good idea to discourage people from debate and intelligent thought? Let's put away the big words and tone down the sense of entitlement, people. There is a time and a place for the big words, but from what I can tell, 99.9% of the time these excruciatingly obscure words are used, it's for show.

So why don't we write textbooks in plain sentences and put our show pony vocabulary to use in a productive manner? I'm not saying that we take out every 3+ syllable word out of our language. I mean that we shouldn't use difficult grammar and very uncommon words when we write essays that are meant to educate- such as text books. I'm a fairly bright person, but I had to read a paragraph in a political sociology textbook at least 4 times before I got it. I even went to one of those richwhitepeopleonly schools.

Example: I'm choosing a fairly simple quote out of my book that was quite straightforward to me, but held Male Roommate in a headlock for a while.

"The state is a unique institution that can 'territorially centralise' its power, thereby making it a relatively strong and coherent 'power container' in comparison to the fragmented nature of civil society." (Mann, 1988)

Why say that when you can say "The state is a unique institution because it can pull together people based on where they live, not just their culture. Because it can unify many different kinds of people, it can have a lot more power than societies that are divided by cultures."


Male Roommate understood the second example, but the first was way over his head. I think there is a reason beyond sloth why Male Roommate doesn't inform himself, and it's that his books insult him, and he just doesn't want to be insulted anymore. Yes, he wants to learn, but no, he doesn't want to feel like an idiot for asking.

Early Morning Boast

Today's compliment: Boyfriend, while not religious, maintains a moral lifestyle that I find very admirable.




P.S. I picked out my next tattoo: stick figure muses. I just don't know how large they ladies will be, nor do I know where I will house the ladies, nor do I know how Boyfriend will react. Thankfully, I have *at least* six months of planning and thinking before I start looking for a shop.

Boastful.

Today's Compliment: Boyfriend is not only fluent in German, but he is also proficient in French, and uses his knowledge of both to engage me in discussions of language. Not only do I find the fact that he also enjoys the subject of language sexy, but I cannot resist him when he gives me cute nick-names in German.

Time to Grow Up

I've been dragging my feet to create a real update- mostly because going into this weekend, I really wasn't sure if I would come out single or "seeing someone."


As it turns out, I am still "seeing someone" and I spent all of today contemplating this relationship. Boyfriend is, and has been, a very good person. I've, behind his back, more or less beat him up out of my own inexplicable insanity. Perhaps I'm just this insane bitch. Perhaps I have unreal expectations. Most likely, it's that I get so hung up on issues, and I just can't let go: and this does not say good things about my personality. Mostly I think it's that I've been thinking that he doesn't deserve me, and that I can do so much better. What a horrible way to think of another human being.


Anyway, I fully prepared to break up with Boyfriend this weekend, right down to tracking down a replacement CD of the crazy German art band he lent me (and I lost).

He was set to show at noon, but actually darkened my door around 2 pm. [side note: I've managed to pick up all of the really ugly traits from my mother, among them is the incredible ability to be an unreasonable bitch and an anxiety about time. If you say that you will pick me up from the train station at 6:05, I expect your ass there at 6:10 at the latest, because I will beat down the mafia to be on time. I didn't call her "The Time Nazi" for nothing.] Boyfriend is not so fastidious with a time piece. When my OCD finally sets in, my first behavior will be watch-checking.

-Anyway- I have lunch waiting- mostly because I don't have any money, and I'm not the least bit interested in showing weakness by not being able to pay my half. Boyfriend is not a fan of my diet...but he still manages to eat what I've made. We eat in silence, and spend most of the time in awkward restraint. My mind lingers on the CD and how and when I'll end this.

Because Boyfriend decided to depart two hours later than planned, Male Roommate came home for lunch, and Boyfriend's aversion to my friends and my desire to say hello to Male Roommate before he went back to the dreaded workplace meant that Boyfriend and I holed up in my bedroom.

Male Roommate, having listened to six months of straight bitching, assumed that I was breaking up with Boyfriend, and didn't even knock on the door...

Meanwhile...we were....reconnecting. I was laying on my bed, out of pure exhaustion- having rolled into the apartment around 2, and having only a few hours to get the laundry done, the body smelling good, and the hair not looking like a birdnest. I think I slept some 3 hours.

He laid next to me and decided that my ass made for an excellent footrest. That led to hair-petting- I've never been a fan of my amazonian locks, but apparently, a wild curly forest is somewhere between "desirable" and "irresistible" to men, or at least the men I date.

Fast forward through personal details to the important part: we go to a seafood restaurant where we eat potentially poisonous food, get the worst service I've ever had in my life, and were able to figure out the difference between "fine dining" and "shitty food served on white table clothes with napkins folded into ducks."

We somehow end up at our old standby diner, drinking the best diner coffee in the world and talking. We hash out our interpersonal demons there, and more or less fix a lot of our problems- which are my problems, because I don't ever communicate properly, and apparently, I have been a heinous bitch at least three times to him since we met.

He wasn't planning on spending the night- mostly because I thought I was going to break up with him and I didn't want to drag it out after spending the night together. So, we decided to "relax" at the apartment before he made the drive back to see his beast.


Truth be told, seeing him be so assertive without being a bastard was a turn on...and the rest of this story is best left to late-night phone calls with the best of friends, not so much for internet posting.

That being said, I took all of Sunday for personal reflection- and I managed to skim through a book that caught my eye about being a good wife. Now, I don't intend to be his wife, at least not at this early juncture, I do think that being a good girlfriend in 2006 is very similar to being a good wife in 1975- the year of this book's publication. Unfortunately, I intend on being the good secular girlfriend of a man in 2006, rather than the doting and stupid slave of a man in 1875, and it seems as though, yet again, the Christians are stuck on 19th century notions.



While I did feel that it was 154 pages of disservice to women, I did come away thinking that I should be more "loyal" to Boyfriend, and that I should also be more free with compliments. I don't cheat, the definition of "loyal" here means that I shouldn't cut him down, but rather, that I should be on his "side."


Anyway, those are the resonating thoughts of the weekend.


I've decided to compliment him on something every day: and I'll post that here.


Today: Boyfriend is a very clean man and is meticulous when it comes to his appearance and apartment.

being a bitch 101

Boyfriend does not appreciate me. Perhaps this is my own fault- no, this is definitely my own fault. At the beginning of my relationship with Boyfriend, I promised not to play any games- I had always thought that playing games would lead to the downfall of any relationship.



I am quite wrong in that. After two weeks of refusing to see him, he's coming for the weekend, and he's already managed to completely piss me off.

But, having promised to not bitch about him, I will say this: it is a good thing to see a man dedicated to his work. You know, because, at the end of the day, he can't count on me being there- but his boss will be. He does have his priorities in order.