Valentine's day 2019

That came in huge. Sorry. :grimacing:

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I split the Random D Thoughts thread where you talked about crashing a Valentineā€™s Day party :slight_smile:

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I got a similar card last yearā€¦ This yearā€™s card involved dogs and ā€¦nevermindā€¦

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I picture you at a switchboardā€¦ frantically flipping switches and turning knobs, turning one thread into two, wiping sweat from your brow between turns.

Seriously. I picture that. :grin: And Iā€™m always very impressed.

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like the Wizard of Ozā€¦

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Thatā€™s awful. Thank you for rescuing those kids. Theyā€™ll remember that. Youā€™re a good egg.

I would enjoy Valentineā€™s Day a whole lot more if I wasnā€™t trapped in the social equivalent of a Planet Earth episode: class parties with lots of other moms. There were dads there, but they were fun to watch. One dad kept imploring kids in an increasingly desperate voice to ā€œtry forming a lineā€¦wouldnā€™t a line help us take turns?..okay, time to form a lineā€ at The Claw prize station. I could hear him screaming in his head. And that was entertaining.

But the moms. I cannot figure this landscape out. This must be what it feels like for men who are unsuccessful at picking realistic women to ask out on dates. [I was in a target rich environment in college so dating was one of the easier things to do.] My theory today was that IF I was going to attempt a pleasantry with another mom, it would be one who was wearing tennis shoes. And it had to be the kind of tennis shoes that are clearly worn with every outfit. Not the kind of tennis shoes that are never worn except when coordinated with a very careful ā€œOhmigosh look how sloppy yet adorable I amā€ outfit. So after I was done effing up the popcorn station for the kids, I got popcorn for the moms who wanted some. There was one lady sitting two feet from me staring at me. After I finished getting popcorn for the other moms, I asked her, ā€œCan I interest you in some popcorn?ā€ as a bit of a joke. She just deadpanned ā€œIā€™ll get my own.ā€ Okie dokie. So I got a water for myself (with custom labels on them for this class party) and asked her if sheā€™d like me to hand her a water (since she was out of reach). She stared at me for a second and just said, ā€œNo.ā€ And she held the stare for a bit. My mistake was that I didnā€™t check out her shoes. She was wearing a fitted athletic jacket and a hat so I thought I was safe. I was not. Her baseball hat was an ā€œOhmigosh look how sloppy yet adorable I amā€ hat. Rookie mistake.

If I was ever from any of these towns and knew people I probably wouldnā€™t notice these things. But I am not from these towns so I do. I will say that I had perfectly pleasant small talk with another mom in my station rotation at my other sonā€™s partyā€¦so I donā€™t think Iā€™m a leper or anything.

These classroom parties seem to get increasingly cannibalistic on the mom front each year older that my oldest gets. Maybe the demographic of parents attending at the older aged parties just lends itself to exclusivity (AKA rudeness).

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@T1Allison your last post makes me absolutely 100% glad to be a socially obtuse male.

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@Nickyghaleb better than expected on some fronts, slower than expected on others. My V day is all about ice and reclinersā€¦and maybe some DoorDash. Hope you have a great evening!

Maybe thatā€™s the only social language I speak?? I went to college with a ton of socially obtuse males and I had no problems! Women are TOTALLY confusing! I donā€™t get it. SMH.

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Preach on @T1Allison! Preach onā€¦

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Oh my gosh, @Nickyghaleb, this is exactly how I feel! How do you do that?

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I was laughing so hard at your post that my wife asked me to leave the conjugal bed (to be fair it is 3:00am here)ā€¦ She was not pleased I had woken her up :slight_smile:

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Not all.

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@Nickyghaleb, true. But most of my best girlfriends are also women who have better luck being friends with guys than women. But it gets trickier as you get older bc of people being married or not and thinking stuff is about stuff that itā€™s not.

Soā€¦at Little League I donā€™t have luck with the moms by and large. But I canā€™t talk to the dads bc their wives will be pissed.

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@Michel, see??? I can irritate ANY woman! From thousands of miles away!!

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Iā€™m terrified of the moms and bored by the dads. I like the kids. I get along really well with them. :grin:

I just use diabetes as my perma-excuse. Iā€™d love to talk, but Iā€™ve got diabetes. That kind of thing. All I have to do is have one of those sweaty lows once a month to reinforce my need for alone time. And personal space.

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My husband had a rough day at workā€¦had been up since midnight and a lot of BS to deal withā€¦and when we both got back to the house at the same time this afternoon, he said I was in worse shape than he was bc of class parties! LOL!

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@Nickyghaleb you are a creative genius!

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Me?? You didnā€™t irritate me if thatā€™s what you think happened?? Weā€™ve already established the fact we would be able to stand in close proximity to one another at the playground and not be instantly repelled. We could mesh. You could bring your binders, I could bring mineā€¦ weā€™d talk life, diabetes, motherhoodā€¦ probably just diabetes.

No. Iā€™m just trying not to be grouped in with the ā€œcomplicatedā€ class of women to which you refer. Please oh please oh please. Weā€™re not all ā€œoh my gosh look how sloppy yet adorableā€. Some of us legitimately have not showered.

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I still say your part of the complicated class, lol

Showering is a chore unless savored occasionally like a fine wine

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