Holly Lisle posted this on her site today and it struck me as particularly funny. My wife and I have an ongoing argument (of about 15+ years!) on this very subject. I am constantly getting my ass in a sling (and slings of that size are not easy to come by!) for not doing the things she's "asked" me too. All the while, she gives me crap for being "rude" because I say what I mean and mean what I say. There is definitely a gender issue here and I think Holly is dead on in pointing out that it's a completely pre-programmed crock that has been fed to women. They are brought up to always be polite, considerate, and never confrontational (except with husbands!) in conversation. Here's an example of a typical conversation that leads to fights in my house:
Wife: "The garbage needs to be taken to the curb tonight."
Me: "Yup, it's Tuesday."
Wife: "I don't want it to sit there, it will start to smell and draw animals."
Me: "Sounds like a plan."
Now, to my wife, that is a conversation wherein she has asked me to take out the garbage & I agreed to do so (Yea, right!) I heard the opposite: she realized the garbage needed to go out and meant to take it before the animals got at it. Worked for me! Of course, the following morning when the cans are still sitting there (an hour after the truck went by) I get lambasted for being a lazy, ignorant, slob. This all could have been avoided by direct communication. Example:
Wife: "Take the garbage to the curb, you lazy, ignorant, slob!"
Me: "Uh, okay."
See? Simplicity at work. Overcome that childhood training ladies! Rise above the sexist restricions male dominated society has placed upon your vocal capacity! Stand tall and refuse to submit to the tyranny of the penile dominated status quo! Free your words Free your minds!
Or, you can simply say whatever the hell it is you mean. That would work too.
Oh well, on to writing stuff. I got no editing done last night, it was one of those evenings where time seemed to go through some weird permutation whereby my clocks all skipped from 6:30 pm to midnight, with no stops in between. I can't even tell you what I did, but whatever the hell it was ate up the entire evening, so no work on GS. I did another 1700 words on "Clans" today at lunch, on what I'm calling my "Inserts" There are a lot of secondary character POV's and backstory issues I need to resolve and get in place before I can actually call the first draft "done" even though I've already gotten to the end of it. I'm at 170k now and I figure it to reach 185-190k before the Inserts are done. Don't really know what'll happen after the editing of this one, it's a bit long winded so it needs a lot of cutting, but the story's pretty complex so I'll be adding as well. Who knows, when it's done, I may well be at the same word count I am today!
I'm still pretty new to the whole blogging thing, so I'm just now discovering a lot of really entertaining sites that others no doubt visit regularly. One of the best has to be Wil Wheaton's site (yea, the kid from STTNG) The man has a great sense of humor and a very nice writing style. If you haven't had the opportunity before, take the time to visit, it's great stuff! The other places I really like I just BlogRoll onto the sidebar (yea, that's it . . . no, over on the left . . . now down. Now you've got it!) Most of them are writing sites but some are just plain fun. Pop in and visit 'em. I don't put them up unless I think they're worthwhile.
Oooh! I also like some of the Memes. This is the Monday Madness for the week so I figured I'd have some fun. The answers should give you a good insight into the sludge pile I call a mind (not that you really want to go there, but what the hell: be adventurous!)
1. I wish I had more __________.
Hair. Yes, my head is shaved and I call it a personal grooming choice (surrrrre it is!), but the truth is: it's damn cold without hair in the winter!
2. I usually think about changing my blog layout when _________.
CHANGE IT??? Christ, I just go the damn thing working . . .
3. If more people would be _________, the world would be a better place.
Like me. Definitely a better place if everyone was like me.
4. I really should __________ more often.
Shut up. I'll say it, since I know you're too polite . . .
5. The weather we're having right now is ________.
A mystery. No, really, my office has no windows so there could be a tornado and I'd never know . . .
6. When it's time to plant a garden, I'd like to plant ________.
A boot in the ass of whoever's making me work in the garden on a nice warm day . . .
7. When I'm running late, I sometimes forget to _________.
Put on my watch. Which just makes the stress worse. I know I'm late - but HOW late?
8. When I can't think of anything to blog about, I usually _________.
Hasn't happened yet. Give me time though . . .
Later!
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