I just wanted to let you know...

I'll be back in a little while. I had to step out because I have something going on that I can't talk about yet, just in case. But, I really promise to try to catch you up on the whole sordid mess when it's done.

Here's what I can tell you.

If you had this noise in your head all of the time, you would cut it off. I'm not kidding. Sometimes I want to hold my head up next to people to see if they can hear it, but of course they can't. It's not like my head is a conch shell.

It's the noise equivalent of a pink elephant in the room -- the more you try not to think about it, the more you do. It's hard not to. It is what it is, and I have to accept it. But, it's all I want to talk about it because it's the only thing I know.

And the thing is... I KNOW it could be worse. The other day I see a guy from my class at my neurologist's office. I admit to him in class that I saw him there after he said that he missed the last class because of chronic back pain. He was saying that he had this issue with the disks in his back and it was either surgery to re-install pins or some other "non-invasive" thing where they somehow graft hip bone stuff onto your spine. Umm, ouch!

He asked what I was there for and I told him my sad tumor story, gamma knife, blah blah, insert hulk joke here. And he said, "You know, you always think you have it bad and then you hear someone else's story."

And I said, "You know, I felt the same way when I heard about you."

So, you really never know. Here's hoping you don't have a story that makes me feel better about mine. ;)

I can't believe I have to blog about this again!

So, I'm trolling through my blogs, checking in. Doesn't take long, most of my regular reads post about as often as I do. (ahem) And in one of them, our heroine is trying to work up the nerve to ask a guy out. It's a particularly harrowing experience for her because she is on a major weight loss journey. Several commenters log on to cheer her on and one of them said to be sure to read The Rules .

Whiskey. Tango. Foxtrot.

I mean, the GD RULES?!

I tried to read this crap back in 2002 and probably blogged about it then. (No, I ran a search and hit nothing.)

Anyways, the point is that in 200-freaking-8 are we STILL talking about The GD Rules?!?!

This really makes my blood boil, as evidenced by all the exclamation marks. I confes I haven't read it completely because I can't. It just makes me physically sick.

It's just horrifying that there are still women who swear by this book. That's crap. Pretending not to care and not to be available. It's just games and bullshit. You have to be kidding me? This is how you have to get a man, by not being "too available" -- whatever the fuck that means.

I mean, hello -- you wouldn't be going on dates if you weren't available. You would be in a relationship. I'm not saying show up to your first date in a wedding dress or compare the names of your future unborn children after the first time you have sex, but seriously. How can there still be women who exist who still want to play this game?

Because once you reel him in with this game, then what you have won as a prize is a man who liked to play games? And ladies, we're not talking about Tiddly Winks here. It's the kind of game that never, ever ends. Because once you stop playing, well -- what have you got? A confused man who doesn't recognize you because you've been hiding behind some facade of mantrapment for the last however long.

Blech -- I just friggin' hate The Rules. Even more than the Republican National Convention. THAT should tell you something.