Unusual days
Good day readers and followers. Welcome to a new day. Here in the Northeast US its another rainy Sunday. I have to share that my days are not following any particular pattern. I've lived such a structured and regimented life that while its not unnerving to not need to be somewhere it is almost confusing. I had owned a small business for almost two years with it's dizzying pace, where I had to be a weatherman, delivery driver, accountant, manager, babysitter, human resource executive and still have time to do the company laundry. Most days I was up by 4 or 4:30 am and the days were all 10 to sometimes 15 hours long.
In Human Resource parlance, I am in transition. Winding down some business while not actively operating. I don't have to be in the gym at 4:30 or 5 am just to get to work by 6 or 7 am. It's the current but temporary "new normal." Prior to owning the business I was still up by 5am and in the gym by 5:30am for such a long time I don't remember when I didn't operate that way. A few friends asked me what I'm doing. I'm catching up on things that I've wanted to do for a long time.
In a discussion, actually in this day, a text convo w/ someone I made a reference to hanging out with "my best living friend." This is something I say at times and its normal for me. No particular reason other than it's been my way to honor the nearly three decades that my best friend and I were friends before he died almost 13 years ago. I don't always say it either.
The funny response from my buddy was "Do you regularly socialize with the dead too?" I had to remind her that my normal is still unusual. I'm ok with me. Webster's dictionary still says normal and usual are synonymous. Well OK, I accept....I accept the fact that may make me "abnormal." Y'know as in "Answerman is just not normal." At least she said that everyone accepts my unusual thought processes and small eccentricities as part of the whole friend package. I say to love me you have to take all the jagged edges with the nicely patterned facets of my personality.
My female friends always have to ask about my dating or love life- and no two of them agree on what is right for me. Actually they all think whomever I'm dating or considering has something I call Too's Disease. What's that? Well I am Answerman so the answer- Too's Disease includes at least one of the following; "Oh no, SHE is too young, too needy, too bitchy, too far away, too self absorbed, too pretty for you, etc, etc."
In the recent text convo I mentioned that I had a very pleasant exchange with a woman I've known for years that's a nurse. We are both divorced and have daughters around the same age. I gave her my business card (which she requested) and said "hey call my cell number." I didn't get her number and she didn't call.
Yes I admit that in addition to being unusual I'm also still part moron. I got hit with "Well then... how are you going to call and ask her out?" Being part moron, I figured that I would capture her number when she called. The intrinsic message from my buddy you may cop to being unusual- but not getting her number really just makes you stupid. I said we all know the same people so I can get her number. Maybe there was a silver lining which I will explain in a moment.
While hanging out with my best living friend Jeff I asked about the aforementioned nurse. The cold, stop the clock, no- stop the world spinning on its axis response( well really, diatribe); "You want to date her? No... NO! You do NOT want to date her. If you want to hang out with her...fine...fine- she's cool, she's fun. You want a friend with benefits? Fine, but you do NOT want to be in any sort of relationship with her. Look man, the woman is unstable. Very unstable. You were married to unstable. No! Now get us both a beer- but you are NOT getting her number."
Conversation over. Yes, I was once married to someone unstable. I used to say I was married to Miss Take, as in mistake. Ding! While I erred there, the duality of Miss Take and mistake is that ex-wife could never spend money fast enough, taking whatever she could...but I digress. My text buddy-girl convo was followed up with "You don't need the drama, be glad you found out before you ever asked her out." Ok, well, on to the next step of life.
While I have a little more time on my hands I went back to writing the script that started out four years ago as just a monologue. I had left it alone until this past March when I started some character development. I hadn't spent much time on the script in the last 5 months. Right now it's up to a dozen pages of dialogue. I like it so far and with more time available I actually plan time to work on the script each day.
The Answerman says "No matter how brutally honest friends can be, they really have our best interest in mind. No matter how unusual or abnormal our thoughts can be, a true friend with an outside view can see the dangers of the unstable and steer us away to safety."
In Human Resource parlance, I am in transition. Winding down some business while not actively operating. I don't have to be in the gym at 4:30 or 5 am just to get to work by 6 or 7 am. It's the current but temporary "new normal." Prior to owning the business I was still up by 5am and in the gym by 5:30am for such a long time I don't remember when I didn't operate that way. A few friends asked me what I'm doing. I'm catching up on things that I've wanted to do for a long time.
In a discussion, actually in this day, a text convo w/ someone I made a reference to hanging out with "my best living friend." This is something I say at times and its normal for me. No particular reason other than it's been my way to honor the nearly three decades that my best friend and I were friends before he died almost 13 years ago. I don't always say it either.
The funny response from my buddy was "Do you regularly socialize with the dead too?" I had to remind her that my normal is still unusual. I'm ok with me. Webster's dictionary still says normal and usual are synonymous. Well OK, I accept....I accept the fact that may make me "abnormal." Y'know as in "Answerman is just not normal." At least she said that everyone accepts my unusual thought processes and small eccentricities as part of the whole friend package. I say to love me you have to take all the jagged edges with the nicely patterned facets of my personality.
My female friends always have to ask about my dating or love life- and no two of them agree on what is right for me. Actually they all think whomever I'm dating or considering has something I call Too's Disease. What's that? Well I am Answerman so the answer- Too's Disease includes at least one of the following; "Oh no, SHE is too young, too needy, too bitchy, too far away, too self absorbed, too pretty for you, etc, etc."
In the recent text convo I mentioned that I had a very pleasant exchange with a woman I've known for years that's a nurse. We are both divorced and have daughters around the same age. I gave her my business card (which she requested) and said "hey call my cell number." I didn't get her number and she didn't call.
Yes I admit that in addition to being unusual I'm also still part moron. I got hit with "Well then... how are you going to call and ask her out?" Being part moron, I figured that I would capture her number when she called. The intrinsic message from my buddy you may cop to being unusual- but not getting her number really just makes you stupid. I said we all know the same people so I can get her number. Maybe there was a silver lining which I will explain in a moment.
While hanging out with my best living friend Jeff I asked about the aforementioned nurse. The cold, stop the clock, no- stop the world spinning on its axis response( well really, diatribe); "You want to date her? No... NO! You do NOT want to date her. If you want to hang out with her...fine...fine- she's cool, she's fun. You want a friend with benefits? Fine, but you do NOT want to be in any sort of relationship with her. Look man, the woman is unstable. Very unstable. You were married to unstable. No! Now get us both a beer- but you are NOT getting her number."
Conversation over. Yes, I was once married to someone unstable. I used to say I was married to Miss Take, as in mistake. Ding! While I erred there, the duality of Miss Take and mistake is that ex-wife could never spend money fast enough, taking whatever she could...but I digress. My text buddy-girl convo was followed up with "You don't need the drama, be glad you found out before you ever asked her out." Ok, well, on to the next step of life.
While I have a little more time on my hands I went back to writing the script that started out four years ago as just a monologue. I had left it alone until this past March when I started some character development. I hadn't spent much time on the script in the last 5 months. Right now it's up to a dozen pages of dialogue. I like it so far and with more time available I actually plan time to work on the script each day.
The Answerman says "No matter how brutally honest friends can be, they really have our best interest in mind. No matter how unusual or abnormal our thoughts can be, a true friend with an outside view can see the dangers of the unstable and steer us away to safety."
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