hummingwolf (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
hummingwolf) wrote2007-05-27 01:42 am
hummingwolf) wrote2007-05-27 01:42 am
(no subject)
Today--well, yesterday--was a day of relearning several things.
1. Going to the post office on the Saturday of a three-day weekend is a bad idea.
2. Going into Aldi on the Saturday of a three-day weekend is an even worse idea. No matter how long the lines at the post office may get, at least all the people ahead of you are highly unlikely to be buying absolutely everything they can possibly cram into a shopping cart and a few things they can't.
3. Oh, and when teaching an older man who thinks that the stamp machine in the lobby should follow obvious, common sense rules how to completely forget those rules in order to actually get the machine to do something remotely useful takes less time than it does for the line to move forward eighteen inches, it's time to get out of line and use one of the machines yourself.
4. If you go into Aldi looking for some specific item you think all grocery stores should have (orange juice, for instance), that item will not be found anywhere in the store.
5. But you may console yourself with Aldi's Choceur chocolate, which is better than any discount store-brand chocolate has any right to be.
6. Walking five miles in a day might generally be a good way to get exercise, but walking any of those miles at local noon on a hot, summery day when you have no orange juice is generally a bad idea anyway.
7. Summer nights with no air-conditioning may lead to much unpleasantness and little sleep.
8. But I do have that tasty chocolate in the fridge, so things could be worse.
There's part of me that's tempted to say that everything else I have to say tonight would be best summed up by this cute little picture that![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
squidpiggy posted to ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
lolcons:
But as much as I love that icon, saying that it's the best way to say what I have to say would be a lie. The way to say what I want to say is with words--some moaned, some screamed, some whimpered, some broken up in ragged breathing, some indistinguishable from tears. But I don't want to talk about it. Except I do want to talk about it, but I don't want to broadcast it. And there's no individual person I would feel comfortable telling it all to, nobody who wouldn't react defensively, as if me talking about all the things making me unhappy would somehow be an attack on them, making light of their own troubles. And I don't feel able to deal with anyone's defensiveness when I've got enough crap to deal with. And I don't want sympathy, not now. I don't want someone to listen who believes they know exactly what I'm going through. And I don't want someone who's certain they will never ever be able to understand what I'm going through. What I want is for someone to be willing to do the work of trying to understand what life is like for someone else, the work of imagining what it's like to see with my eyes, breathe with my breath, live in my skin, feel with my heart, try to grab onto life with both of my hands and not theirs. Nobody can ever know in the fullest sense what another's life is like, and nobody pisses me off more than the person who believes they know everything about others' lives. But can't you just imagine that it would be worthwhile to put forth the effort to try to imagine it anyway, with defenses down? I want to believe that it could be worth the effort, for at least one person in the world. That kind of creative imaginative power is the most amazing power people have, and yet people so seldom can be bothered to use it. Maybe it's because when defenses are finally all the way down, the power can flow both ways.
Maybe tonight I'm just feeling defensive myself.
1. Going to the post office on the Saturday of a three-day weekend is a bad idea.
2. Going into Aldi on the Saturday of a three-day weekend is an even worse idea. No matter how long the lines at the post office may get, at least all the people ahead of you are highly unlikely to be buying absolutely everything they can possibly cram into a shopping cart and a few things they can't.
3. Oh, and when teaching an older man who thinks that the stamp machine in the lobby should follow obvious, common sense rules how to completely forget those rules in order to actually get the machine to do something remotely useful takes less time than it does for the line to move forward eighteen inches, it's time to get out of line and use one of the machines yourself.
4. If you go into Aldi looking for some specific item you think all grocery stores should have (orange juice, for instance), that item will not be found anywhere in the store.
5. But you may console yourself with Aldi's Choceur chocolate, which is better than any discount store-brand chocolate has any right to be.
6. Walking five miles in a day might generally be a good way to get exercise, but walking any of those miles at local noon on a hot, summery day when you have no orange juice is generally a bad idea anyway.
7. Summer nights with no air-conditioning may lead to much unpleasantness and little sleep.
8. But I do have that tasty chocolate in the fridge, so things could be worse.
There's part of me that's tempted to say that everything else I have to say tonight would be best summed up by this cute little picture that
squidpiggy posted to lolcons:But as much as I love that icon, saying that it's the best way to say what I have to say would be a lie. The way to say what I want to say is with words--some moaned, some screamed, some whimpered, some broken up in ragged breathing, some indistinguishable from tears. But I don't want to talk about it. Except I do want to talk about it, but I don't want to broadcast it. And there's no individual person I would feel comfortable telling it all to, nobody who wouldn't react defensively, as if me talking about all the things making me unhappy would somehow be an attack on them, making light of their own troubles. And I don't feel able to deal with anyone's defensiveness when I've got enough crap to deal with. And I don't want sympathy, not now. I don't want someone to listen who believes they know exactly what I'm going through. And I don't want someone who's certain they will never ever be able to understand what I'm going through. What I want is for someone to be willing to do the work of trying to understand what life is like for someone else, the work of imagining what it's like to see with my eyes, breathe with my breath, live in my skin, feel with my heart, try to grab onto life with both of my hands and not theirs. Nobody can ever know in the fullest sense what another's life is like, and nobody pisses me off more than the person who believes they know everything about others' lives. But can't you just imagine that it would be worthwhile to put forth the effort to try to imagine it anyway, with defenses down? I want to believe that it could be worth the effort, for at least one person in the world. That kind of creative imaginative power is the most amazing power people have, and yet people so seldom can be bothered to use it. Maybe it's because when defenses are finally all the way down, the power can flow both ways.
Maybe tonight I'm just feeling defensive myself.
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I'd say more stuff, but I can't think of any. So you just get hugs. And at some point, a gift box, but I need more time to make that.
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::hugs back::
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Aldi Rule #2: see Rule #1.
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The chocolate is still good, though.
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::hugs::
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What I *can* offer is a meal and friendship. Tomorrow (Monday) afternoon, we're having Jarin and the twins over, and it would be much appreciated if you would grace us with your presence as well.
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BTW, I love the Matt's Chocolate Chip Cookies they have at Aldi's.