Category: Uncategorized

Had a recent online conversation with a woman I like. I asked what her favorite novel is.

She said Middlemarch. I have read it but said The End of the Affair. It seems sleeker than 19th century novels. I think Middlemarch has one of the best last pages of any novel, but The End of the Affair has one of the best first pages.

It is all up to you, as long as we are still reading something.

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On dating websites. I have used one. I think they are okay if the people are single.

But I think the problem with them are that the men aren’t really serious. It is still good for people to chat, but at some time you wonder what the point is.

The sites also make it hard to meet in person. They want a lot of money for that. It is kind of prostitution. I should stop.

I don’t usually blog on the weekend, but I want to get this off my mind.

I had a conversation with a smart former English teacher when 19.  I quoted that 80s pop song title “Boys Don’t Cry.” I think the song is really ironic, but I quoted it to him literally. He said, “boys don’t cry, but MEN DO.”

There is a saying from The Aeneid, “lacrimae rerum,” the tears of things.

Thinking today about healing. The country has some healing to do from recent problems.

But my thoughts are on more personal healing. As you get older, it can take longer to recover from wounds. I have two now that it has taken weeks to get over.

Sometimes it is just a matter of endurance. I said to my niece once, “endure, adore.”

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Sometimes I tell jokes. It can ease the pain.

I said to an elderly relative recently, “if you’re dead, don’t get up.”

I don’t know about humor. Some say it is just a defense mechanism. But I think it can be more.

What is that we are expecting from other people? Social interaction is important, but sometimes people expect too much.

I think a lot of men expect too much from women. “The eternal I and thou.” We think they will solve all our problems when really we need to fix them ourselves.

I have expected too much from them. I heard a therapist say what you want most is what you don’t have.

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I pace a lot. It is a bit crazy, but I just think of it as a form of exercise.

I think it is better than other nervous habits like smoking. I tried smoking a bit when younger but never got addicted to it and stopped.

There is a good short play by Samuel Beckett about pacing called “Footfalls” about a woman walking back and forth while being haunted by the memory of her mother.