THE OTHER THING

MORE COMMERCIAL COMPLAINTS


Was watching a news program or morning talk show when I heard that Lindsay Lohan was suing ETrade about the 'milk-a-holic' commercial featuring the 'ETrade babies'. She claims that the 'Lindsay' baby is a slight on her.


I am sure that many folks prolly feel that it is a stretch. Lindsay is a popular name and one of my favourite 'Lindsay's', is the Lindsay that played 'Jamie Sommers', the Bionic Woman!! But when I first saw the commercial, I thought it was a dig at Lindsay Lohan myself. And I most definitely saw it as play off Miss Lohan and her tabloid exploits.


No, I don't have a problem with her thinking that it was a take on her. What I DO have a problem with is the projecting of adult themes thru babies to infantilize the behaviour.


This is the SECOND time ETrade has ran a commercial that I think crossed the lines. There is an older one which I couldn't find, where the baby is looking at his phone and presumably a girl baby sends him a 'sexting' kind of photo. That was another 'WTF' moment for me. Uh no, I DON'T see the same things as everyone else!! I am always 'catching' other hidden messages in media. Sorry about it, but it DOES provide me a segue into the meat of what is on my mind.


IF BEING CAREFREE IS THE GOAL, WHAT THEN IS ITS PRICE?


In my post on 'The Speed of Time', I mentioned that I would be cool with the consequence of my not finding a partner... implying that I had met and more than likely missed my chance. Either way you slice it, one in a million or not, I was good with having taken a run and not making a relationship work.


The 'other thing' that I did not mention is that I am also cool with being single. Lonely is not the same for me as being alone. Perhaps that is the final consequence of having burned through relationships. I can say that I have met a soulmate (My Delta Girl), met someone who was willing to give me a chance (Tee Jay) and now have been with an ex (Mookie Dee). Is there any other areas of relationships that I should explore? Not to mention that I actually didn't THINK I would ever get married when I left home for the Army.


That is right... after high school I wasn't prepared for the attention that I would get from women. Which is how it was when the girl I refer to as 'Jenny' and I got together. In school, she didn't know I existed. But in the Army in Korea, that changed. She was the one who initiated whatever we had.


Admitting to lacking the character to sustain a relationship was one of the reasons that I didn't lose my mind when Mookie started tippin'. I wanted to be as stand up as I could, to see if that made a difference. Wondering if I had bailed out on people, that by standing in when things got rough, was sticking in the tough going what I needed to do to find lasting love.


Then I remembered. The 'Ex-List'. It was all about creating in my mind an excuse to go after Tee Jay. When she was lukewarm to a prospective relationship with me, I was not only good, but relieved. Relieved, because I had survived what could have been emotionally, a disastrous episode in my life none the worse for wear. And what I could think about when I left the provencial town, was how I had verified why I should have left my past behind me.

URINE ONLY SMELLS WHEN THE IT HITS THE AIR

I like me. For real. It has never mattered much to me what other people thought of a brother, good or bad, because either way they'd been off the mark. Besides, I was the only one who had to think something of me. Coming out into the world and getting in the tangle that I did, was due a large part because I didn't do 'me'.

A friend of mind was recently wondering if they would ever find someone to be with. I looked at their age and what they had going on with their life. Because I let 'Mark' slide as a priority in my life, and can directly link some of my 'life fail' to the negative impact others on my pursuits...

That is something. So I (hope!!) I told my friend that they should continue to make the most of themselves. Does love find you... maybe it does. I feel like it found me and I wasn't really looking for it! I do think that by taking care of their own business that they'd position themselves for the best relationship possible.

Is it the road that I wished that I had taken..? Yup. To be forced to live as potential never realized sucks balls. The times that I felt like I was being something was when I was to myself.

My actual life goals were within reach. I didn't make sure that I would get there. I wasn't driven enough to make the life that I wanted to happen. And THAT a lesson that I think I never learned.