Blog Day

I read on Twitter that this is International Blog Day, or something of that nature. Maybe I got the date wrong.

But I don't read too many blogs these days. I'm mostly reading Twitter.

I really enjoy this Twitter feed. One of my favorite posts: "You know, sometimes it's nice having you around. But now ain't one of those times. Now gimmie the remote we're not watching this bullshit."

The guy who tweets this stuff seems to be enjoying himself too.

writing

I have no stamina for writing. I stop as soon as a thought is half-formed. Once I only saw in other people's success my own failure. But I don't feel the need to compare myself to someone today. A certain degree of acceptance goes a long way. I was the way I was, I am the way I am, though I believe I can change. It's a practice, like many in my life (prayer, meditation, yogurt.)

"I had hardly begun to read
I asked how can you ever be sure
that what you write is really
any good at all and he said you can't
you can't you can never be sure
you die without knowing
whether anything you wrote was any good
if you have to be sure don't write"
— W.S. Merwin

Update (8/27/09): Guess I need this.

Road rage

I spend a lot of time in the car: travelling to work, schlepping kids, running errands (errants). I used to accelerate and then brake really hard. I'd get upset at someone making a difficult turn in front of me or when traffic wouldn't move at the pace I expected. Today it's different, and I'm not sure what happened. I leave more time to travel and get somewhere even a little early. I drive in the right lane unless I'm going to pass. What used to really frost me was when I would let someone in or let someone cross in front of me and they would not acknowledge me. "You're welcome, bitch," I'd say out of earshot. Today I realize that nobody owes me anything and that I needn't expect acknowledgement or recognition. Just let the other person go, make room, anticipate crosswalks or other cars entering traffic. And slow down, relax and try to be conscious- of my breath, of what I see and hear, what's around me.

Happy where I am

Tick Happy Where He Is.

Me too (though I don't suck blood or excrete spirochetes.)

How-to

Via Beyond the Black Stump, How to Stop Taking Things Personally. Guess that obviates my little blog. ;)

good essay

Lisa pointed me to an excellent essay written by Laura A. Munson in the New York Times. Her husband tells her he's going to leave her, and she shows great fortitude realizing that it's not about her, it's about him. She writes: "Although it may sound ridiculous to say “Don’t take it personally” when your husband tells you he no longer loves you, sometimes that’s exactly what you have to do." She keeps the family together in spite of her husband. And that's a thing I've not been able to learn throughout my life, that it usually isn't about me and that I'm not responsible for someone else's feelings, or that I can't make someone feel a certain way. Happiness comes from within, Munson tells us, and relationships may enhance life but they are not the end of it.

"to speak of woe that is in marriage"

There's been a lot of material posted on marriage lately, from Sandra Tsing-Lo's "Let's call the whole thing off" to Caitlin Flanagan's "Is There Hope for the American Marriage?", not to mention Meghan O'Rourke's "Crazy in Love", a review of Cristina Naering's A Vindication of Love: Reclaiming Romance for the Twenty-first Century. Flanagan argues that the traditional marriage is best for children's well-being and quotes a number of scholars who purport to show this. The data may indicate such, but Flanagan does not demonstrate exactly how. (See her earlier piece "The Wifely Duty" for an exploration of the sexless marriage populated by two career professionals who just don't have the energy for sex after a twelve-hour work day and absorption in their children. Also see "Put your marriage before your kids" by David Code, Episcopal minister and life coach.) Tsing-Lo, on the other hand, questions whether a lifelong commitment is somewhat quaint in today's times; "Sure, it made sense to agrarian families before 1900, when to farm the land, one needed two spouses, grandparents, and a raft of children. But now that we have white-collar work and washing machines, and our life expectancy has shot from 47 to 77, isn’t the idea of lifelong marriage obsolete?"

Well, is it? I don't know. I don't have the answers for countless couples. From my two experiences of it, it is "work" (an expression for which Tsing-Lo expresses humorous distaste.) I get criticized. I make mistakes. I do selfish things. I sit and smoke instead of doing the laundry. My wife doesn't often initiate sex, and recently revealed that my girth made it difficult for her. Also, she's tired, and the fact that I willfully refuse to wear my CPAP mask makes her more tired and less interested in sex. I don't think we have the emotional distance that was characteristic of my first marriage (and not uncommon to many couples, as Code discusses in "How emotional distance ruins marriage." There's lots of emotion; my wife is expressive and out-there. I wouldn't say her rejoinders "break like the Atlantic ocean on my head." I try not to take it personally. I have my own baggage, quirks, failings. There's an anti-social streak in me that's gotta make a joke, no matter how inappropriate. Code advises: "Recognize that we've already chosen the perfect spouse. Instead of a No, we would NOT choose better next time." And further, Code elucidates: "As long as you believe your life is your spouse's fault, a new partner will always seem attractive. But once you begin to see your role in the ongoing, lifelong problems of your marriage, you'll recognize that if you started over with a new partner tomorrow, you'd still be carrying all your personal baggage into that relationship." I identify with that; I've followed the same patterns of behavior in both marriages. I'm passive and I don't take the initiative. I'm not a stand-up guy; I'm a lay-around guy.

I'm grateful for the skills Cassie possesses; throwing a party, organizing an outing or a vacation; making a beautiful home; getting shit done; getting people to do shit; her powers of observation. I am leery of her desire to control. So maybe I react passive-aggressively by not doing what she wants. It's complicated. We tried to blend families, but it didn't work, due in large part to my unavailability. So I tell myself there's always more work, even as I try and grab a bit of rest.



Update (7/9/09): Salon's critique of Caitlin Flanagan's Time piece.