Well it does. And I know it’s not just me, so let’s not all pretend we enjoy meeting new people, okay? It’s hard. And uncomfortable. And worse if you’re a woman. Men immediately have something in common to talk about- Sports. It’s their go-to. Women don’t have that. Although Pinterest is coming a long way into allowing women the same perk. But really, why is it so hard? I went to a book club thing recently with all women (as if I needed to add the all women part of that sentence). Anyway, every single one of them I talked to was super nice and very cordial. Still, I felt odd and out of place. Am I really that insecure? Yes. Yes I am.
Most of these women knew each other and as they sat there and laughed at their inside jokes and talked about each other’s kids and husbands and the hilarious thing someone who wasn’t there said, I thought “these aren’t my people”. Like I was in some sort of tribe or cult back in SC or something. I don’t mean “these aren’t my type of people”, they are. Funny, sarcastic, witty, classy, chic, food-lovin ladies. That’s my type! Ding, Ding, Ding…we have a match! But it was more like I was looking in from the outside on someone else’s friendship. I know I’ve felt this before and I know that some of those “others” are now my good friends, but at first it’s like I understand child birth is- you forget the awful beginning once it’s over. Now, I don’t have kids so I don’t know if that’s true but I do know some people that have had a second child after a miserable, terrible, horrible, no good, very bad birthing so there must be something to it.
I almost backed out of this little shindig at the last minute. I was going to claim tired, or busy, or root canal or something, but then I took a step back and thought "you are not an island, you have to make friends and not rely on Sparky"(or Syd- bless her for being my SC friend up here). Then I pushed myself even further and decided I needed to do this not only for myself but for Syd as well. I’m so selfless, I’ll take one for the team. Yeah, I really did have this sort of crazy conversation in my head. I also like to debate with myself about how people just talk to strangers and seem so comfortable and why I’m not that way. Some people are born with it and some develop it, I am neither. Sparky will talk to anyone. And I mean that literally. Any other human or animal. Everywhere we go. Constantly. It’s amazing and disturbing all at the same time. But I am deceiving. If you know me, you think I am crazy right now for saying this because, sadly, you can’t get me to shut up. Sorry about that.
Am I shy? Am I sizing everyone up? Am I judging? I’m not judging. If anything, I’m feeling judged as I stand there silent. But judged based on what? My lack of talking? My face? Is there something on my face? And why do I always suddenly feel like there’s something on my face? Like a sign that says “New person. Look at me! I don’t belong here”. And now I have the added pressure of my accent (which apparently is only heard some of the time by certain people) but one good y’all will stop them short. And then I think they expect me to be some kind of southern belle walking around with a big, floppy hat and some sweet tea talking about “bless her heart y’all. Well,I was just fixin to go make some more tea and sit out on the porch and fan myself.” Indeed.
Thursday, November 29, 2012
Wednesday, November 7, 2012
Madonna, Don't Preach
It is unfortunate that I come to you with a heavy heart today. I am saddened at what transpired last night. I had high hopes for what would turn out to be nothing but regret that I didn't get more sleep. It all started yesterday afternoon when I received a call from Sparky telling me that we were offered free box seats at the Madonna concert. "Yay," I said. "I hope she sings Lucky Star. And Material Girl. I really hope she sings Material Girl."
We got there a little before 8 pm and got to our box to order some food. We asked the wait staff who was opening for her, and were told a DJ- they didn't know his name. Interesting, but okay, I'll get on board. He came out about 9:00 to start. As a side note, it seems we were among a very small group of folks that did not know Madonna doesn't grace the audience with her presence until around 10 pm. The DJ was good. He may have been the highlight.
About 10:40 Madonna decided to come out. By this time, I was already tired. The first...ummm... production she did was about shooting her lover in the head. I don't know if you know this song, I didn't. In case you don't, allow me to explain. It is based on the storyline that she is a hardcore bandit of some kind (like a robber or whatever) that decides she wants to shoot her lover in the head repeatedly. I think that's what it was about. It was difficult to tell at times. I'm pretty sure the look on my face during most of the song was a combination of confusion and bitter beer. Sparky looked at me when the song was over and said, "well, that was violent". Indeed. Several of her songs were of that feeling. Violence, sex and lots of cursing. I will not give examples, but trust me when I tell you that she has a sailor's mouth.
She did have some neat dancers and theatrical elements- I don't want to discount that. They did a great job. And she is in amazing shape for her age. Amazing. I know this for a fact because about 3/4 of the way into the show, she stripped down to her underwear and proceeded to show her hind quarters to the cameramen in charge of the big screens. She did a song in those undies at the end of which she laid on the stage and talked into her mic about throwing money on the stage for the people affected by Hurricane Sandy. I wish I had a picture of this. She literally laid flat on her stomach, laid the microphone down in front of her and talked into it like she was an amputee. Oh, and just in case you were wondering, she made it very clear that the money was going to Sandy victims. She "doesn't need our money". Good to know, Madonna. Good to know. Way to pull those heartstrings. I sort of hope she was half drunk. At least then she won't be crazy.
About halfway through the show she started asking people in the audience if Obama won. This went on for about 10 minutes. When she was convinced he did, she began to shout "We won! We won! Thank God! Thank God!" over and over. This turned into a 10 minute lovefest for Obama. My favorite part being when she said "And I just want to thank all of my fans that went out and voted for Obama, if you did. I love you." The rest of the show was more about Obama than anything. She dedicated a song to him- Masterpiece. Hmmm...questionable. And then she and her dance crew came out wearing Obama t-shirts to do the last couple of songs. Let me say before I continue that these are my opinions and should be treated as such. I do not ask that anyone agree with me. I do ask that you allow me to have my opinions, and that you allow me to voice them on my blog because, apparently, everyone is allowed to say what they think regardless of venue or company. Regardless of what party I voted for, I believe celebrities should keep their political views in check. The right place, the right time. The right time is at a political rally or on their twitter page. Not at a concert. People do not pay hard-earned money to go see what they think is Like a Virgin only to find out it is an Obama rally. Forget church and state, how about entertainment and state. Can we separate those? Also, didn't Madonna just recently move back to the states after living in England for years? Seems legit. And lest I forget the 5 minute soliloquy about how Obama rhymes with Madonna. haha! It rhymes! Amazing! Isn't that wonderful?! Actually, Madonna, it isn't that interesting and, frankly, I could be asleep right now, so let's hold off on calling Dr. Seuss and get on with the freaking concert. K? Thanks.
I miss the 80's Madonna. Speaking of which, she did not sing Material Girl or Lucky Star. She's lucky my ticket was free, that's all I know. Maybe she's different when it's not election time. Maybe we caught her on a weird night. I don't know. What I do know is that that particular experience made me not want to find out. I'll stick with my old school Madonna.
Whatever your beliefs are, you have the right to them. My belief is that we are in for a long ride. I will continue to work and live my life the best I can, and hope that one day we will be back on track and not owned by another country. I, personally, believe in God and all that he does. I believe he has a plan for us and I believe that if the Bible teaches us nothing else, it teaches us that we are at his mercy and his grace. He could take everything from us and bring us to our knees to learn the ultimate lesson. My favorite analogy of God is that he is a parent. Even if you're not a parent, it's not difficult to understand. Unconditional love, patience, trust, but most importantly, it is a parent's job to teach their children. Some lessons are harder than others. I think we're in for a hard lesson. For those of you that disagree, I hope you're right.
Being a Christian is difficult in these times. Everyone is so sensative to their own moral compass. Anti-Christian groups can have rallies and scream about how they don't want God involved in any aspect of their life. They don't want to see it, hear it, speak it, nothing. It's amazing to me which groups in our society have the loudest voices and get the most publicity. Look around. God is testing us and we're not doing so hot. A lot of this has nothing to do with the President, let's face it. This is just who we're becoming. We are vengeful, hateful, gluttonous, prideful beggars. Aren't we? Think about it. We just want an easier life. We want more for less. We want 1/2 price and buy one, get one free. We want to work less and get paid more. We want our dollar to mean more. We want cheaper gas, but we're not willing to do what it takes to get it. We want better products but we don't want to pay for them. Work is hard and not usually fun and I don't want to spend my money on crappy stuff. I want to spend it on what I want, but there isn't enough of it to do that. We are road ragers and murderers and gossipers. We don't love people. We judge people. Oh, there are a handful of folks who are still good to the core but mostly, no. Why do you think we feel the need to make a big deal out of do-gooders? They are uncommon. I don't care what side of the political fence you fall on, that's sad.
What got me the most out of everything Madonna said last night was the "we won" comment she kept repeating. Who is "we"? We the democrats? I think this is a major problem. WE needs to be America, not a political party. This has turned into a team sport. Us against them. We're gonna win, you're gonna lose. We're right, you're wrong. We're pretty, you're ugly. We love people and you hate them. Anyone else see the problem? There were lots of things last night that I was disappointed by, but mostly it was that people like Madonna are going around the country proving that we are an abrasive, arrogant nation.
We got there a little before 8 pm and got to our box to order some food. We asked the wait staff who was opening for her, and were told a DJ- they didn't know his name. Interesting, but okay, I'll get on board. He came out about 9:00 to start. As a side note, it seems we were among a very small group of folks that did not know Madonna doesn't grace the audience with her presence until around 10 pm. The DJ was good. He may have been the highlight.
About 10:40 Madonna decided to come out. By this time, I was already tired. The first...ummm... production she did was about shooting her lover in the head. I don't know if you know this song, I didn't. In case you don't, allow me to explain. It is based on the storyline that she is a hardcore bandit of some kind (like a robber or whatever) that decides she wants to shoot her lover in the head repeatedly. I think that's what it was about. It was difficult to tell at times. I'm pretty sure the look on my face during most of the song was a combination of confusion and bitter beer. Sparky looked at me when the song was over and said, "well, that was violent". Indeed. Several of her songs were of that feeling. Violence, sex and lots of cursing. I will not give examples, but trust me when I tell you that she has a sailor's mouth.
She did have some neat dancers and theatrical elements- I don't want to discount that. They did a great job. And she is in amazing shape for her age. Amazing. I know this for a fact because about 3/4 of the way into the show, she stripped down to her underwear and proceeded to show her hind quarters to the cameramen in charge of the big screens. She did a song in those undies at the end of which she laid on the stage and talked into her mic about throwing money on the stage for the people affected by Hurricane Sandy. I wish I had a picture of this. She literally laid flat on her stomach, laid the microphone down in front of her and talked into it like she was an amputee. Oh, and just in case you were wondering, she made it very clear that the money was going to Sandy victims. She "doesn't need our money". Good to know, Madonna. Good to know. Way to pull those heartstrings. I sort of hope she was half drunk. At least then she won't be crazy.
About halfway through the show she started asking people in the audience if Obama won. This went on for about 10 minutes. When she was convinced he did, she began to shout "We won! We won! Thank God! Thank God!" over and over. This turned into a 10 minute lovefest for Obama. My favorite part being when she said "And I just want to thank all of my fans that went out and voted for Obama, if you did. I love you." The rest of the show was more about Obama than anything. She dedicated a song to him- Masterpiece. Hmmm...questionable. And then she and her dance crew came out wearing Obama t-shirts to do the last couple of songs. Let me say before I continue that these are my opinions and should be treated as such. I do not ask that anyone agree with me. I do ask that you allow me to have my opinions, and that you allow me to voice them on my blog because, apparently, everyone is allowed to say what they think regardless of venue or company. Regardless of what party I voted for, I believe celebrities should keep their political views in check. The right place, the right time. The right time is at a political rally or on their twitter page. Not at a concert. People do not pay hard-earned money to go see what they think is Like a Virgin only to find out it is an Obama rally. Forget church and state, how about entertainment and state. Can we separate those? Also, didn't Madonna just recently move back to the states after living in England for years? Seems legit. And lest I forget the 5 minute soliloquy about how Obama rhymes with Madonna. haha! It rhymes! Amazing! Isn't that wonderful?! Actually, Madonna, it isn't that interesting and, frankly, I could be asleep right now, so let's hold off on calling Dr. Seuss and get on with the freaking concert. K? Thanks.
I miss the 80's Madonna. Speaking of which, she did not sing Material Girl or Lucky Star. She's lucky my ticket was free, that's all I know. Maybe she's different when it's not election time. Maybe we caught her on a weird night. I don't know. What I do know is that that particular experience made me not want to find out. I'll stick with my old school Madonna.
Whatever your beliefs are, you have the right to them. My belief is that we are in for a long ride. I will continue to work and live my life the best I can, and hope that one day we will be back on track and not owned by another country. I, personally, believe in God and all that he does. I believe he has a plan for us and I believe that if the Bible teaches us nothing else, it teaches us that we are at his mercy and his grace. He could take everything from us and bring us to our knees to learn the ultimate lesson. My favorite analogy of God is that he is a parent. Even if you're not a parent, it's not difficult to understand. Unconditional love, patience, trust, but most importantly, it is a parent's job to teach their children. Some lessons are harder than others. I think we're in for a hard lesson. For those of you that disagree, I hope you're right.
Being a Christian is difficult in these times. Everyone is so sensative to their own moral compass. Anti-Christian groups can have rallies and scream about how they don't want God involved in any aspect of their life. They don't want to see it, hear it, speak it, nothing. It's amazing to me which groups in our society have the loudest voices and get the most publicity. Look around. God is testing us and we're not doing so hot. A lot of this has nothing to do with the President, let's face it. This is just who we're becoming. We are vengeful, hateful, gluttonous, prideful beggars. Aren't we? Think about it. We just want an easier life. We want more for less. We want 1/2 price and buy one, get one free. We want to work less and get paid more. We want our dollar to mean more. We want cheaper gas, but we're not willing to do what it takes to get it. We want better products but we don't want to pay for them. Work is hard and not usually fun and I don't want to spend my money on crappy stuff. I want to spend it on what I want, but there isn't enough of it to do that. We are road ragers and murderers and gossipers. We don't love people. We judge people. Oh, there are a handful of folks who are still good to the core but mostly, no. Why do you think we feel the need to make a big deal out of do-gooders? They are uncommon. I don't care what side of the political fence you fall on, that's sad.
What got me the most out of everything Madonna said last night was the "we won" comment she kept repeating. Who is "we"? We the democrats? I think this is a major problem. WE needs to be America, not a political party. This has turned into a team sport. Us against them. We're gonna win, you're gonna lose. We're right, you're wrong. We're pretty, you're ugly. We love people and you hate them. Anyone else see the problem? There were lots of things last night that I was disappointed by, but mostly it was that people like Madonna are going around the country proving that we are an abrasive, arrogant nation.
"We have met the enemy, and he is us."- Walt Kelly
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