West Side Story

In my defense, DB and I really do try to have a healthy relationship, with all that lovey-dovey mushy schtuff tempered with a good amount of arguing and the occassional outburst of "I'm not talking to you"-ness. Fine. So perhaps those last two were on my part...I mean, everyone knows the best part of being upset at your better half is making up with him!

Except that I find it harder and harder to be angry at DB, dear readers. I truly do try my best to be horribly, disgustingly, unforgivably upset with the man - only to fail every time. I do honestly want someone to help me with this problem, as I'm afraid it'll have an adverse effect on our relationship. Please find the following evidence below as the latest example of our arguments.

DB and I had been talking about the cultural clash that is sometimes our relationship. To some degree, he's still adjusting to being half-MidEastern and I'm adjusting to being more American. Two hours into what had become a very heated discussion, he was getting slightly miffed at my attitude and cautioned me to keep a civil tongue, or he wouldn't continue talking. In reponse, I just stopped talking to him, with the intention of NOT talking to him until he apologized for being an royal idiot.

The next night, I had curled up with West Side Story and a lovely bottle of Fré. Except he called. And I told him I wasn't talking to him. And then we started again, except this time I was psychologically tipsy and, well, that increases my infinite brilliance exponentially. While telling him that I loved him and he was cute (his response being an amused "thank you......?", the wedding-ish scene in WSS came on. At which point I told him we MUST MUST MUST use these as our vows. He likes this idea.

Really, those whole thing started off with me being angry at the man. See how arguments run with the two of us? If we argue our way through the rest of this relationship, we'll never have anything to plan. Assuming that shared, fervent dream becomes a reality.

For those who have no idea what I'm talking about, here's the script....

TONY: I, Anton, take thee, Maria...
MARIA: I, Maria, take thee, Anton...
TONY: For richer, for poorer...
MARIA: In sickness and in health...
TONY: To love and to honor...
MARIA: To hold and to keep...
TONY: From each sun to each moon...
MARIA: From tomorrow to tomorrow...
TONY: From now to forever...
MARIA: Till death do us part.
TONY: With this ring, I thee wed.
MARIA: With this ring, I thee wed.

TONY: Make of our hands one hand,
Make of our hearts one heart,
Make of our vows one last vow
Only death will part us now

MARIA: Make of our lives one life,
Day after day one life.

BOTH:
Now it begins, now we start
One hand one heart;
Even death won't part us now.
(They rise and slowly put the mannequins back
into position.)

BOTH: Make of our lives one life,
Day after day one life.
Now it begins, now we start
One hand one heart;
Even death won't part us now.

Inara and Malcolm, minus the hair

DB's introducing me to Firefly, and despite being of the nongeeky sort, I confess that I've become addicted. So when he came to my place for Thanksgiving vacation, it was only natural that our dinner and a movie evening included two episodes of Firefly, instead of the movie he went out to rent for us. (For the record, dinner was burritos thought of and prepped by my adorable BGRR. A completely awesome idea, btw.) There was lots of deep, thoughtful conversation and LOTS of makeup snuggling Also for the record, I've been going through shnuggles withdrawal from my better half. More specifically, it's withdrawal from the warm fuzzies I get just lying in his arms. That's your sappy moment for this post. Let's continue.... I guess it wasn't unexpected to have this turn into one of those, "aaaaaaaand where did that come from??" moments. We've been discussing the intricate differences between a Companion, and erm, modern pleasure women, when DB has a revelation. Courtesy of the episode "Shindig" and the ball scene.....

DB: You know, you really could pull off Inara. You look alot like her. and then he mumbles something about being gorgeous and exotic which the blushing snuggling on my part
Rose: Except I'd have no Malcolm. You don't have enough hair.

Apparently, I've picked up a new nickname. And he's got another sarcastic one. But what else is new?

What they don't tell you about the deal: being sick

We all get sick sometimes. Annoying little colds, irritating headaches that can come out of nowhere, or sometimes something as simple as a random injury or sunburn. Except for BGRR. Whose bouts of sickness don't really even qualify as such since they last less than 24 hrs a piece and occur every fifth friday on a leap month when there's a waxing moon in the sky. You know, that sort of deal. I hate him, it's all okay, moving on with my life... jealous? Nah, not me.

Saturday night I was supposed to be enjoying a dance at the last field reenactment of the year, except I was in the middle of dying an excruciatingly painful death consisting of sore/swollen throat, runny nose, sneezes that really weren't sneezes and the general achiness of the flu. Now, the fact that it's about -600 below zero outside - by which I really mean about 45 degrees - isn't helping things. So I toddle back towards camp from the dance, feeling absolutely miserable, and proceed to call my better half. Who, ironically enough, is also horribly sick with something of a stomach virus. The kicker: this would be the third time this week he's been sick. Dear goodness, he IS human! And despite the fact that I feel like icky brown squishy mud (the kind that attacks dresses mercilessly after a rainstorm), the most insistant thought in my mind is driving up there immediately to take care of him. Thankfully, this idea is quashed silently since he'd prolly kick my butt for even thinking it.

Anyways, the whole idea behind this was to be thoughtful of the other person's feelings...you know...if you majorly change plans, just give them a heads up sort of bit. Just something small to let them know you care about them. Which is pretty much why the conversation can be reduced to the following interaction....

"Be careful driving home okay, love?"
"Yes, dear, I can text you when I get home if you'd like?"
"Please?"
"Sure...and I'll even promise not to keel over."
"Good, because you know what happens if you do, right?"
"Yes, yes. You'll bring me back to life, and then kill me for dying on you."
"Exactly. And the second time, I'm going to make sure it's a long, drawn out, excruciatingly painful process."
"Okay, but make sure it's extra painful. Don't want people to think you're getting soft on me now"
"Of course not!"

Being sick is serious business in this relationship. If you do become sick, understand that it's completely at your own risk. In multiple senses of the word.

What they don't tell you about the deal

You know you're loved by an EE professional when...

...he tries to comfort you by telling you about the beautiful "tulip tree" that bloomed 4 months late on campus. About how it reminded him of you because it was so beautiful.

"So the tree was late?"
"Yup!" *laughter*
"So I'm a late beautiful tree....?"
"Exactly, love."


This very well may be the pinnacle of my existance. Being compared to a very late, but amazingly beautiful tree.

And you know what?

That's okay with me.

So quiet, you wouldn't know it was there

Dearest Readers, I apologize humbly for neglecting to mark a epic moment so incredible that it will forever be etched into the history books. Seriously.

We all know BGRR doesn't like alcohol. He despises the stuff. All the more amusing that at his last doctor's visit, the prescription was to drink one glass of red wine a week. Everyone can imagine the unadulterated joy with which this prescription was received. As soon as I found out, it because my wish, nay DUTY, to find something that he'd drink. I asked friends and associates for good vinyards, even going so far as to purchase a set of wine glasses to keep in his room.

Now, through trial and error (and much poking and prodding), we discovered the heart of the matter. DB doesn't like dry wines. Could you be any more diva? "I don't like dry wines". I thought a good wine WAS dry. Excuuuuuse me. So we continue asking, and finally am recommended something that tastes like Welch's. Granted, it's from Concord grapes and has something like 6% sugar in it. But it's truly an awesome wine and the vinyard is actually not too far from where he's currently working.

And so, on Friday, September 12, 2008 at approximately 9:30 pm EST, DB officially finished his first 8 oz glass of wine. sniff sniff My little boy's finally growing up, I'm so unbelievably proud of him.

I think it finally came to fruition with last night's conversation.

"A pity there's a bottle of wine in your fridge, I bet it's lonely."
"Oh, I do have to have my glass for the week. Tomorrow night, I can't forget."
"Well why can't you have it now??"
"There are other people here, and I'd have to share."

And with that, ladies and gentlemen, my job is done.

I hate this. It's not fair. Now swap?

It's been a week and a half since we came back from our mini-vacation. I've learned several important things since leaving for DB's Sunday night. I submit for your pleasure, Dear Readers, a list of things we learned over the trip.....as you can see, we've learned alot. There's been discussion of something next January before the spring semester begins and he goes back to work, but it's still in the idea stages....

a) DB's officially given up on getting me to arrive anywhere on time. About time! Life should be much easier now ^_^
b) Lacawac is beautiful. This opinion - nay, fact - can be substantiated through the oodles of photos taken. If I'm feeling generous, there will be postings to the blog. I suggest you start bribing me.
c) I want to move to Milford. Oh, and I want a pet squirrel. Good thing Dan said he'd get me one, right, delam?
d) A general policy of "us" vacation time at minimum of twice a year needs to be instated. Just so I can have an excuse to be selfish and steal the ever-popular fellow to myself. Okay, and so I have an excuse to plot against him and spoil DB. He does not get spoiled enough *emphatic nod*
e) BGRR's getting pretty good at this romance thing. Except he apparently doesn't call it romance, and I've no idea what he calls it. Common sense? Any additional reflection on this topic would involve trying to think like him and, well, we all know that's not a good idea. On Wednesday he insisted on dragging yours truly out to the lake to watch the sunset and the stars come out. Neither happened, but that's okay. I'm just happy those Hitch lessons are working. Finally.
f) DB DOES NOT know how to efficiently pack a car. While I knew this before, I thought he'd at least have learned to leave everything by the vehicle for me to put in. Silly me. What on earth was I thinking? Of course, you need to make sure 2/3 of your luggage is in the back seat, and only 1/3 is in the trunk. And don't forget, the little amount you have in the trunk has to be the most random items ever. Let's just call this a work in progress, shall we?
g) Three months without each other is not cool. It has negative amounts of cool points. End of Discussion.
h) Introductions to people who actually know how we met cause the writer to blush horribly red. They should be avoided at all costs. Either that, or continue the current explanation. I prefer the latter.
i) Lack of communication sucks. So, I'm sent packing back to school.

Yes, about that. I'm back in school finishing up my Masters degree. Full time. Shoot me now, please?

With the amount of work necessary to even be prepared for class, we'll be seeing next to none of each other. Hmmm, this sounds vaguely familiar....haven't the faintest idea where I heard of this situation before. We're going to try to get to see each other once a month, an attempt to stay sane in the craziness of both our lives. Sanity? What is this sanity thing you speak of? So again, if there's negative amounts of posting, y'all know where I am. DB's got me chained to the study books again *sigh*

Updating over the semester should be interesting, but hopefully the humor won't stop for long. Heaven forbid this relationship becomes boring.

No.....really?

Another phone call this morning, completely out of the blue. Granted it was only thirty minutes and concerning a rather serious subject for the most part, but we take what we can get. Camp ends tomorrow morning (HURRAY!!!) and hopefully by mid-next-week, the evenings will be free to use for phone calls to get things back to where they should be.

On a brighter note, we're going to be leaving to Lake Wallanpaupeck on the 25th. For the trophy wife, the nine day mark signals the beginning of planning and packing. I've been working on the food situation for the week and pretty much have it nailed down, with the exception of the Concordia wine I can't pair with dinner for the life of me. So it's going to be a dessert wine and miracle of miracles, BGRR will actually finish a glass of wine entirely on his own!! I have made sure of this. This stuff is as sweet as grape juice, and I'm hard pressed to believe that he'll actually be able to tell the difference off the bat if distracted *thoughtful look* perhaps I should pull out the low cut shirts and the pushup?

Now from time to time, we've both said some pretty interesting things. Wait, what do you mean you didn't think I'd pick up my phone? It's you, isn't it? or the classic I never said that! Yes you did, you were just asleep. Sometimes they just make you stop and really wonder about the other person's thinking ability. Dearest Readers, please find the following latest example of logic, courtesy of DB.....

Rose ~ ...so I'll get there by the crack of dawn, it'll take an hour to go to Frazer, we can run to the bank at the bottom of the hill, stop by the Registrar to drop off that trancript and then head north.
DB ~ That's crazy! You'd have to leave your house at 3 am to get here by then! Why don't you take care of that, and I'll just rent a car and meet you at your undergrad?

Dear Readers, just hearing this statement inspired an overwhelming desire to bang my head on the wall at the office. What? Do you not want to sit in the same car as me? Do I have germs or some deadly disease?

Rose ~ Why on earth would you waste money to rent a car? What's wrong with me picking you up and just running the errands together?
DB ~ Well, for starters, when are you going to sleep?
Rose ~ Darling, you're kidding, right?
DB ~ I've pulled enough allnighters in the past two weeks alone that I don't want you to miss a night of sleep.
Rose ~ Dan, are you thinking straight?
DB ~ What are you talking about?
Rose ~ When was the last time we got to actually see each other? Not "omgosh camp rules watch out" see each other. I mean really really get to see each other.
DB ~ It's been so long that the date's negligible.

For the record, May 29th. Just in case anyone wanted to know.

Rose ~ Exactly. So do you really think I'm going to sleep at all the night before?
DB ~ I would hope you would.
Rose ~ No, really. Why don't you think about that?
DB ~ [pause] Okay, so you've got a valid point.

That's really funny. Actually getting sleep the night before we actually get to spend time together again. Delam, you should have been a comedian. Really.