tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27792878530882981892024-02-19T05:56:58.741-06:00SinglutionaryStories, humor and love from the Last Single Girl Standing.The Singlutionaryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11199194725578216599noreply@blogger.comBlogger169125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2779287853088298189.post-32135774094764476482011-12-17T14:37:00.003-06:002011-12-17T14:44:14.658-06:00Happy Singlutionary Holiday Venting!Oh! The holidays are stressful for everyone: If you're single there are minefields of "+1" invitations, awkward questions and family pressures. If you're coupled there is the ordeal of sharing family time between double families, in-laws (or in-loves) and having to buy way too many presents. <div><br /></div><div>Or maybe there is none of that!</div><div><br /></div><div>How about a pressure free, come-as-you-are-and-celebrate-your-life-holiday this year?</div><div><br /></div><div>Too simple? Too trite?</div><div><br /></div><div>The only way to get through a stressful time is with humor and a place to vent. So, for those who need some venting, here it is! Vent to your hearts content right here! No holes bared. Secretly, all of us will understand. In the good nature of venting, nobody is allowed to rain on anyone's venting parade! Venting ONLY!</div><div><br /></div><div>Single people, married people and anyone in between. </div><div><br /></div><div>Vent your holiday frustrations. My only requirement is that you at least TRY to be funny about it!</div><div><br /></div><div>May 2012 come quickly and may the 1st 11 months of the year last long. </div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>Love, Singlutionary </div>The Singlutionaryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11199194725578216599noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2779287853088298189.post-39729051481064742322011-11-22T13:25:00.004-06:002011-11-22T13:29:00.459-06:00Singlism on Prime Time!So the comedy show "Whitney" has an episode <i>about singlism!</i> In this episode Whitney and her live-in boyfriend are denied adopting a dog because they aren't married. Of course this isn't about singlism in the "living solo" sense since they are a couple, but singlism is still getting some attention! I know this will spark some conversation amongst my blogger friends!<div><br /></div><div>Here is the link which hopefully will be active for some time: </div><div>http://www.hulu.com/watch/301496/whitney-clarence</div><div><br /></div><div>What do you think of this?</div>The Singlutionaryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11199194725578216599noreply@blogger.com17tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2779287853088298189.post-81724207207316710442011-11-20T10:34:00.003-06:002011-11-20T11:28:40.449-06:00Singlutionary's Scuba StorySCUBA diving isn't something you can do solo. You need a buddy.<br /><br />I've got lots of buddies but none of them are into scuba diving. In fact, I'm surprised that I'm into scuba diving. As a kid I was alternately enchanted with and terrified by water. I'm not athletic and although I am adventurous, I've never been into activities that require a lot of gear and investment. So I've enjoyed activities which require little startup costs: hiking, running, biking, swimming.<br /><br />But last year I went and surprised everyone, including myself, and got SCUBA certified. I took a class at my school where I am a graduate student. It is a Physical Education class and was filled with mostly 19 year olds. Everyone was skinnier and younger than me including the sexy hick instructor. The financial considerations were difficult but possible to overcome: I just had to postpone paying off debt and invest in a wetsuit and pay the extra fee instead.<br /><br />I figured it was a gift to myself for my 30th birthday.<br /><br />When the class was over, I was certified to dive but I still didn't have anyone to dive with. None of my young classmates were potential buddies and I didn't really know anyone else who dove. So I took another class. In the Master SCUBA Diver class, I had 3 classmates: Two almost identical looking 19 year old boys and another woman in her late 20s. I was excited about the other woman, thinking I might make friends with her -- until we dove together. I had to help her put together her gear because she "didn't like that part" so her boyfriend usually did it for her.<br /><br />What?<br /><br />This shit keeps you alive underwater. You'd think you might want to know how it works!<br /><br />She was a nice person but not buddy material. Plus, she already had a built-in-buddy -- one who would do her thinking for her.<br /><br />So a couple weeks ago, for my 31st birthday I went on a dive trip to this spring fed pool in West Texas that I'd been dreaming of going to even before I began scuba diving. Imagine a giant swimming hole with crystal clear water in the middle of the desert? It is a full 6 hours from any major (or minor) city. This place is called Balmorhea and it is a mirage -- but a real one.<br /><br />I signed up for a trip with other divers, thinking that there would be other people going without a buddy and I would have a whole bunch of potential future buddies to choose from -- kinda like a singles mixer for scuba divers. Of course I had to pay double the "per person" rate because I didn't have anyone to share a room with. A month before the trip was about to depart my best friend and roommate, the Handywoman, decided she would come. I had already paid for the room so all she had to do was drive (not an easy task really since Balmorhea is the very definition of "middle of nowhere").<br /><br />Handywoman doesn't dive but there was swimming and hiking and lots of other activities.<br /><br />We got there late on Thursday for the night dive. There were already some other divers in the water so I waited for some new divers to arrive. I saw one girl getting her gear together and undaunted, trotted up to her and asked if I could join her.<br /><br />"What?" was her response. She acted like I was an alien -- maybe I was, I mean, we were near supposed alien territory -- the Marfa Lights.<br /><br />"Do you mind if I get my gear and join you?" I asked again.<br /><br />"Well. I already have a buddy" she said awkwardly and yet at the same time proudly since she obviously wasn't an alien like me trying to make friends with the already buddy-ready humans. "I don't know," she continued "are threesomes allowed?"<br /><br />They were -- since the water was so clear and shallow but I could tell that she definitely wasn't interested in having a threesome with me and her boyfriend.<br /><br />All of a sudden I felt like the uninvited guest to an orgy.<br /><br />"Nevermind, I'll just wait for someone else to come down." I said.<br /><br />And I did.<br /><br />But nobody else came.<br /><br />The next day was similar. I showed up to the pool at about noon and asked the group leader if anyone else had come without a buddy. She listed off a bunch of names and said another group was arriving at 2pm. I waited until dinner time but no other lost aliens-sans-buddy showed up at the pool. I did some swimming and taught Handywoman how to snorkel. I ate cheese and crackers and watermelon in the sun. I had a good time. But I was waiting.<br /><br />I wanted to dive.<br /><br />And more than wanting to dive, I wanted a dive partner. I wanted to make a new friend to dive with in the future. Someone with similar skill and interest and someone who would be fun to talk to in a car for 2 hours. It didn't seem too much to ask for when I had paid the double fee.<br /><br />It was time to go to dinner and I still hadn't been on a dive. I was being positive on the outside but honestly I was frustrated. I had missed the night dive and now I had missed a whole day of diving. The next day was slated for hiking. I had to be more aggressive if I was going to find a dive partner. The dinner was my only hope. It was a group dinner with the other people on the trip and I hoped that I would meet some of the other buddyless divers there.<br /><br />I was quickly disappointed. There were the dive instructors and their families at one end of the table, a mother daughter team and then an entire family of which only the mom & dad & daughter dove. The daughter was a teenager and the parents were parents. Plus, they all had each other to dive with and could afford to go on week long dive trips to exotic locations. I needed someone who could dive locally and, like me, would have to save up to go on a big dive trip.<br /><br />To add insult to injury, in walks the humanoid-buddy-girl and her boyfriend. At first I attempted to make conversation with them but after overhearing a conversation she had with my roommate (which made no sense what-so-ever) I tried to avoid eye contact. That was fine with her as she proceeded to get drunk and interrogate her boyfriend about his family. It was impossible not to overhear but it was also like being on someone else's first date. I was impressed that people could be an official couple and know so little about each other. No wonder she was so reluctant to have a "threesome".<br /><br />I did end up diving the next day. I just got in by myself and found the other folks who were down there -- an older couple who had told me that I could join them. I tried to get another night dive in but everyone else was done with diving by then.<br /><br />The trip wasn't a total bust. I enjoyed it, enjoyed the time spent with Handywoman and got to see a place that I'd been dreaming of for a long long time. I got to dive once and the place is so small that I saw everything there was to see. Although I would really have liked to do the night dive because critters come out at night that hide during the day -- like turtles.<br /><br />But I didn't find a buddy. Everyone already came coupled -- and not just with a scuba buddy but with a partner. I realized that scuba diving is something that couples do together. They get certified so they can go on vacation together. It is a couple-y thing to do.<br /><br />Whenever I've wanted to do something that you're "supposed" to do with a partner, I've just done it by myself. But what happens when its an activity that can not be done solo? My first response was to join a group. But what if the group is already made up of unalterable partnerships?<br /><br />I'm not sure what to do next to meet single scuba divers who need a buddy. There is a scuba meetup in town that I can attend when I have time. Meetup tends to have a lot of solo people looking for folks to do things with. But for right now diving is on hold. Plus, its getting colder and the drought has left our already nasty lakes even nastier.<br /><br />Finding a scuba buddy is turning out to be a lot like finding a mate: a pain in the ass. But while I can continue to live my life without a partner, I can't go diving without one.<br /><br />At least I have until the spring to save up enough hope to try again.The Singlutionaryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11199194725578216599noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2779287853088298189.post-19590045768392577012011-10-15T12:10:00.004-05:002011-10-15T12:46:46.651-05:00Sticky Single Social SituationsEvery activity comes with a community, even something as solitary as blogging. Of course, my blog friends never invite me to go out for drinks after a long day of blogging. And this is just fine with me (although in the early days of Singlutionary, <a href="http://onely.org/">Onely</a> & I discussed a Singlutionary-Onely camping meetup somewhere in the USA).<div><br /></div><div>The social nature of a work community can be an important one. It can also be incredibly annoying. I love my co-workers and I think they're good people but they're not my best friends. I don't want to go out after work with them to drink and I don't want to hang out with them outside of work. I am happy for them and their lives but for the most part I'm not interested in celebrating their birthdays, graduations, baby shower, moving, etc.</div><div><br /></div><div>If I'm going to carve out social time in my life, I would prefer it be with the good friends that I rarely get to see. </div><div><br /></div><div>What is the best way to politely decline social invitations from co-workers? I appreciate their humor and commraderie at work but I'm not interested in extending that work-friendship into what would be a social obligation outside of work. </div><div><br /></div><div>Let me put it this way: If I'm not being paid to be around them, I wouldn't choose to be. </div><div><br /></div><div>That is so RUDE! I know. But it is true. </div><div><br /></div><div>So how do I avoid these social traps, these persistent invitations?</div><div><br /></div><div>The 1st rule is: Don't start. Don't say "yes" ever. Sometimes I accept the offer once because I think that then I'll have put in my time and I won't feel so bad about saying "no" next week and the week after that and the week after that. But it doesn't work that way. I say "yes" once and suddenly there is this outside-of-work-bond, an expectation that there will be more socializing to follow.</div><div><br /></div><div>The 2nd rule is: Always be busy. It is harder single and childless people to beg off from after work social activities. It is rude to say "Oh, I'd love to go out with you tonight but I have this book that I am really into" but it is totally OK to say "I'd love to go out tonight but my partner is waiting for me". So, as a single person, you have to make up "important" things to do that someone else will hold you accountable for the next day -- like another job or homework or some kind of volunteer activity. Or you could just tell the truth. But honestly, if we're talking about people who would be understanding of my desire to read a book rather than shoot the shit with them for 4 hours, they might actually be outside-of-work-friend material. </div><div><br /></div><div>The 3rd rule is: Be vague. If you say, "I'd love to but I run at 6am every Saturday morning" you might find yourself with an unwelcome running companion or being asked to join every running group under the sun. Maybe this is welcome to you -- if so, great! That means that your work community is a good match for you socially. Currently, mine is not. So here is a vague answer, "I'd love to but I have to get up super early tomorrow to get some stuff done before noon".</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>These are my well practiced tactics for avoiding the after-work hangout but what about the facebook invite? People invite you via facebook and they act like its a real invitation. The 1st line of resistance would be to not have a facebook or have a facebook that is so secret that only your most inner circle of 5 people can find you. Of course, that totally defeats the whole purpose of facebook which is to kill time by making yourself feel depressed about how sexy and successful all your former classmates are. </div><div><br /></div><div>I like to pretend I didn't see the facebook invite. But what do I do when I get asked about it in person? What do I do when I really do like and appreciate the person but simply don't want to spend non-work time with them when time is at such a precious premium? </div><div><br /></div><div>I don't know. Not attend? Attend for a few minutes and then leave? Get them a card and give it to them at work in lieu of attending said celebration.</div><div><br /></div><div>I am sure that the celebration would be fun. But it just isn't high enough up on my list of how I'd like to spend my time. </div><div><br /></div><div>Coupled folks can always use the other person as an excuse but singles have to get creative.</div><div><br /></div><div>There are all kinds of important relationships and work relationships have sustained me many times through out my single life. But at this particular juncture, at this particular job, I'd like to leave them at work. No matter how much I appreciate them as humans. </div>The Singlutionaryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11199194725578216599noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2779287853088298189.post-72026164781494843902011-10-09T02:30:00.003-05:002011-10-09T02:57:41.477-05:00When Singlutionary is "Sick of Being Single!"In my<a href="http://singlutionary.blogspot.com/2011/10/singlutionary-has-got-some-new-moves.html"> last post</a>, I mentioned that, in part, my long hiatus from blogging was due to feeling "sick of being single": I felt like a hypocrite. <div><br /></div><div>But <a href="http://www.thespinsterliciouslife.com/">Eleanore of </a><i><a href="http://www.thespinsterliciouslife.com/">The <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">Spinsterlicious</span> Life</a></i> wrote a delightful comment which inspired me to write more about the very thing which prevented me from writing.</div><div><br /></div><div>Being single is an adventure -- especially if you're someone who has never been single and suddenly finds yourself there or if you've lived a life where you've never felt comfortable with being single but suddenly realize that learning to be comfortable with being single is the most important thing you can do for yourself.</div><div><br /></div><div>When I started this blog 3 years ago I was excited at the thought of learning how to be happy and single. I was fresh out of a pretty sketchy relationship with my former therapist. (Duh, bad idea, right?) I was still in and barely coming out of a deep-down-supper-shitty, bad-as-its-ever-been low point. I was upset with myself for making yet another bad decision when it came to a relationship (or relationship material) and upset at the universe for all the time and space I had wasted in my life wishing for some Knight in <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">Badboy</span> Armor to come trotting into my life only to rip my life out of my own hands and trample it under his sexy horse. </div><div><br /></div><div>But after being single for 2 years, the gloss and struggle of singleness wore of. There was a honeymoon period that I had with myself and it was over. </div><div><br /></div><div>But I loved the community I had found through <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">Singlutionary</span>. This blog fed my soul and my fellow <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">bloggers</span> were a rare light for me during a very difficult time. I felt sane and comprehended and like I was a part of something important when I wrote and read and commented and conversed in the singles blog-o-sphere. So I kept trying to keep this blog up.</div><div><br /></div><div>But I was bored. I was bored with everything. After a traumatic experience, it takes a long time to feel stable again. And at first that stability is like this great and <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">wondrous</span> thing. It feels SO GOOD. </div><div><br /></div><div>And then it gets boring. Suddenly, stability is taken for granted. I wondered what was next? What would I do with my life now that I had my life back in my own hands, mended of horse hooves and heartbreak?</div><div><br /></div><div>I needed a new real life friend, some intellectual stimulation and a job that didn't suck.</div><div><br /></div><div>And I wanted to be with someone in a sexual/love relationship because THAT seemed like the new adventure. And because I'd finally got enough confidence in myself and in the world to think that being in a relationship could be a positive thing -- as long as I did it <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5">Singlutionary</span> style.</div><div><br /></div><div>Well, the first relationship was a disaster of <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_6">needyness</span>. I was <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_7">Singlutionary</span> and the other member of this relationship was <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_8">Needilutionary</span>. It was over almost before it began, but not soon enough. </div><div><br /></div><div>I was so glad to be single again after that 4 month 1st try. </div><div><br /></div><div>But I hadn't had sex in over 2 years and I was on the prowl. But THAT story is the subject of another post.</div><div><br /></div><div>The point of this post is that even if you're totally happy and comfortable with being single, sometimes you get bored. Sometimes you're bored because your job is boring or because your friends are all old farts or because you're an old fart and only like to watch old episodes of <i>The Wonder Years</i> on VHS and think about the olden days. </div><div><br /></div><div>Sometimes you're horny because you haven't had sex in 2 years and you've just turned 30.</div><div><br /></div><div>It is OK to crave a new adventure! Sometimes this adventure means going offline for a bit, or quitting writing for a bit. And sometimes this adventure means trying out that thing that we're all about doing just fine without -- a relationship.</div><div><br /></div><div>What adventures are you craving? When do you know that you're entering into this new adventure not out a desperate need to get away from where-you-are but because you're ready to share where-you-are with the world?</div><div><br /></div><div>Comment Away!</div><div><br /></div><div>Love,</div><div>Singlutionary</div><div><br /></div><div>PS: The wordpress site isn't quite ready yet but getting a little closer every week. My new academic/work/social schedule permits me to check in, comment, read and post about once a week so it will be a matter of weeks before the transition to wordpress is complete. </div>The Singlutionaryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11199194725578216599noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2779287853088298189.post-73195842476651835482011-10-06T15:25:00.003-05:002011-10-06T15:39:37.133-05:00Singlutionary Has Got Some New MovesHey. So, I'm back from outer space. I'm not sure what I learned there and I unfortunately wasn't able to master the native tongue of the alien people.<div><br /></div><div>But I'm back. Several half relationships, several half jobs, a few whole jobs and maybe even some hand jobs later, I return to the blog-o-sphere.</div><div><br /></div><div>I quit writing here not because I didn't love it but because my financial life needed attending, my physical self needed to be out of the house and off the computer and because, for a while, I just didn't know what to write about. I was at the same time sick of being single (what a hypocrite am I!) and unable to articulate how I felt about the few not-so-awful-but-not-really-great relationships or quazi relationships that I was going through or ending or starting (you never really know when a quazi relationship starts or ends, right?).</div><div><br /></div><div>I had also exhausted a wealth of revelatory ideas about singleness and happiness. I knew that I was good at being single, that a lot of personal time and space suits me but I didn't know what else to say on the topic -- unless I started repeating old themes which was the most uninspiring proposition on earth. So I left for outer space. </div><div><br /></div><div>So what are my new moves now that I'm back on the bandwagon? Just telling stories about my life and sharing insights about what other single bloggers are writing. And just being a positive source of entertainment for you -- be you single or coupled or something in between. I'm also beginning a project with my car, Tomatobot. I'm sure you can't wait to hear the stories that come out of me & Tomatobot's quality time together. Its like a slumber party with a giant diesel machine. The pillow fights are more like an oil spill. </div><div><br /></div><div>I'm also moving my blog away from blogger and onto wordpress. I will miss my blogger community and it will take me a while to get all my blogroll and subscriptions back up to date but I look forward to easier blogging/commenting/subscribing.</div><div><br /></div><div>I will post here again when the move takes place, but "<a href="http://singlutionary.com">singlutionary.com</a>" will always take you to the Singlution. </div><div><br /></div><div>It feels mighty fine & good to be back! And I look forward to settling in and catching up on my favorite blogs as well.</div><div><br /></div><div>Love,</div><div>Singlutionary</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div>The Singlutionaryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11199194725578216599noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2779287853088298189.post-28994851507013434582011-04-22T08:28:00.003-05:002011-04-22T09:17:54.235-05:00Living Single: Bella's Book on Singlism<a href="http://www.psychologytoday.com/node/233">Singlism activist Bella DePaulo</a> is writing <a href="http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/living-single/201104/you-know-you-are-brilliant-and-inspiring-so-can-i-tell-everyone-else">another book on being single </a>-- this one is specifically about "singlism" and the prejudice single people experience socially, in the workplace, in advertising, on vacation and pretty much everywhere. Bella seeks to remove the stigma from single and she is very good at tearing down anti-single arguments. Both Bella and <a href="http://onely.org/about/">Christina and Lisa</a> at <a href="http://onely.org/">Onely</a> are my Singlutionary heroes, fighting the good fight to make single normal and not a state of emptiness or waiting or lovelessness as it is often perceived and projected to be. They even attempt to tackle institutionalized singlism like laws that make life shittier for single people. All I do is right this blog a few times a month. But Bella and Lisa and Christina actively fight singlism.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/living-single/201104/you-know-you-are-brilliant-and-inspiring-so-can-i-tell-everyone-else">Bella has asked for contributions on her blog from other Singlutionaries and I encourage you to check out her post and her blog.</a> She asked the following questions (please add your own to the comments):<br /><br /><blockquote><ul><li> Do you have a favorite answer to the question, "Why are you single?"</li><li> Have you addressed other people's false assumptions of what your single life is like? Which approaches have worked best? </li><li> Have you found any successful ways of dealing with singlism in the <a href="http://www.psychologytoday.com/basics/career" title="Psychology Today looks at Career" class="pt-basics-link">workplace</a>? For example, if you have been asked to cover more than your share of holidays or overtime or travel, have you handled those experiences in ways that resulted in positive changes? </li><li> Have you ever let a business know that their advertisements or practices were dismissive of singles or unfair to them?</li><li> Have you ever written a letter to an editor, author, reporter, social scientist, or anyone else pointing out an act of singlism and explaining what is wrong with it? (Share your letter, if you are willing, and let us know if it was ever published or acknowledged.) </li><li> Have you ever stood up to a speaker at a public event and challenged their singlism? (Positive stories are welcome, too. For example, have you ever publicly thanked a speaker for acknowledging the real stories of singles' lives rather than perpetuating already-debunked myths?) </li><li> Do you write an enlightened blog about singles or maintain a website or run an organization or give talks or workshops that you would like more people to know about? If so, drop all modesty and briefly explain what's so great about what you are doing. (Please, no dating stuff.) I maintain a <a target="_blank" class="ext" href="http://belladepaulo.com/singles/index.php/singles-research-and-writing">list of blogs and other resources at my website</a><span class="ext"></span>, but I'll probably only include in the book ones from people who tell me they'd like to be included and who offer their own description of what they are doing. I think it is important to have part of the book written in other people's voices. </li><li> Have you held political leaders (or other people in power) to account for their singlism or thanked them for their actions and policies that are fair to single people? Have you explained to any of them the kinds of policies and practices that would be fair to single people (without being unfair to anyone else)? </li><li> Have you knocked on doors, handed out pamphlets, given to advocacy groups (name your favorites), volunteered your time, or done anything else to raise consciousness or stamp out singlism? </li></ul></blockquote>Below is my contribution to Bella's project:<br /><br />Fighting the good fight against any kind of prejudice happens on two fronts: There are changes in policy and there are changes in culture. My mixed race parents were married a couple years after the miscegenation laws were formally taken off the books in California. However, mixed race marriage had steadily gained cultural acceptance long before the law changed. The same could be said for singlism: We change policies as fast as we change culture and we change culture through changing laws. I've made a conscious decision to use my blog, Singlutionary, to work on changing the cultural perceptions and acceptance around being single. It takes many voices to make a shift like this and I am proud to be one of them.<br /><br />My blog, Singlutionary, is about my life: I have been single for all 30 years of it save a few months here and there. My longest relationship has been with my car. I own a house, have been driving the same car for 7 years (which I maintain myself). I also have maintained friendships from Kindergarten even before the advent of facebook. I have three roommates, a dog, three chickens and a garden. I organize family reunions and camping trips and meetup groups. I'm a failed actor turned academic.<br /><br />So what is so great about all that? I do it single. I navigate this world not with one partner but with a community of friends, co-workers, roommates and neighbors. My life is full and valid and equally deserving of praise and presents as is the 25 year old married couple who just bought a house in a great school district. So when my cousin prods into my dating life and desperately tries to encourage me to desperately try harder to find a partner so that I can be just like her, well, I write about it. I write about all the comforts and discomforts of being single because I wasn't always so comfortable with it. When I began writing the blog it was during a time when all my single friends would come to me for advice, not realizing that I felt broken and wrong for always being single. I was their single hero yet I felt like I had completely ruined my life without even realizing it. I was 27 and had just broken up with a man who I thought I would marry. To be honest, I didn't even really like him. But I wanted to prove to my family that I was not a failure. I wanted to do something that would validate me in the eyes of the world -- that would position me as a fully formed woman and not a girl lost in a sea of indecision. I didn't realize that the sea of indecision was merely a subconscious acceptance of our culture's concept that a person doesn't really "grow up" until they "settle down". I was waiting to commit to myself because I thought I had to commit to someone else first.<br /><br />There are so many states of being single. There are so many experiences. Some people, like me, are single for long periods of time and some people marry their high school sweetheart and are not single until much later in life. Singleness in not a space of lacking: It is a space of wonder and excitement and peace. It is also a state of frustration, confusion and sadness. Being single is not better or worse than being coupled. But it is where I am and how I live my life and right now, I am going to rock the Singlution.<br /><br />That is what Singlutionary is all about.The Singlutionaryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11199194725578216599noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2779287853088298189.post-48077707992679148332011-04-02T00:06:00.004-05:002011-04-02T00:29:18.960-05:00Singlutionary's Non-Solo VacationI don't want to go on vacation by myself this year. I am bored with myself. I am sick of talking to myself. So, instead of going home to visit my old parents and having to sit around doing nothing, in one of the most beautiful regions of America, I am going to take some hot young friends with me.<br /><br />And by "hot young friends" I mean interesting, wonderful people who still like to do things and still have the space in their lives to go on a trip with me.<br /><br />I am making new friends, yes. And most of them are younger. By the time they're my age, I don't know that they'll have the space in their life to go on vacation with me. Marriage changes many things and committing to living life with one person makes for less time to commit to vacationing with another person. Having children makes people homebound and unable to freely adventure.<br /><br />For a long time I have felt that making new friends was futile, since eventually everyone would couple and abandon me. But now I am hopeful, that I can make lasting friendships which will endure marriage and children. I hope to make friends with people who's friendship and company I can continue to value and count on many years down the road, in part because we share the same basic ideals when it comes to how we want to live.<br /><br />I don't need many of these friends because friendship like that is a commitment in-and-of-itself. I can only have a few best friends at a time.<br /><br />But having some fun and active friends to travel with this summer inspires me and makes me excited about life again in a way I haven't been for a long time. My best friend from kindergarten and I used to travel together and we used to dream up these elaborate <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">roadtrips</span> which would be ever so much better simply because of each other's company. But she is moving to the opposite coast with her family and I need new friends with whom I can play.<br /><br />After three years of solitude, I am ready to open up to some good company and to companionship which is mutually beneficial and inspiring. I've been with myself so long that I have grown all I can without some external influence, without a new voice and perhaps some <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">challenges to my way of looking at things</span>. I am ready to travel with wonderful others, experiencing old things through their eyes and visa versa.<br /><br />I am ready to play with others.<br /><br />Or at least I will be in 3 weeks. Right now I am drowning in the whole school/work/life/house/pet world which is my life these days.<br /><br />But summer is almost upon us and with it, some of the best adventures I've had in a long time.<br /><br />There is nothing better than good company. And for a long time, that good company was my own. But now I am ready for someone new.The Singlutionaryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11199194725578216599noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2779287853088298189.post-45441938019308701652011-03-05T08:10:00.003-06:002011-03-05T08:40:22.948-06:00Marching to My Own Beat, DearWhile writing is definitely my thing, being timely about it is not. In college, I turned in every paper late but I promised myself that I would not be a tardy student in graduate school. But here I am with a two week overdue paper and no time to write it in.<br /><br />The problem with turning in papers late (aside from the grade aspect) is that I am missing out on a shared experience with my fellow classmates. I realize that, in many ways this experience is similar to being single over 30. Just as my classmates are reviewing and revising their returned papers, my peers are buying furniture with their partners and raising children. When I turn my paper in next week, it will be a solo experience because everyone else has already moved onto their revisions.<br /><br />Of course, life doesn't have the same kind of deadlines that school has and there are many wonderful, fun & amazing single women over 30 -- I just don't know any of them in real life (I know lots of them online though!! <a href="http://singlutionary.blogspot.com/2011/02/small-community-of-close-friends.html">Last week I wrote about looking for these wonderful single friends.)</a> But I do have a different feeling about being single now that I've crossed the threshold into my 30s.<br /><br />I am in no way saying that there is anything wrong with being single after 30 or that I am unhappily single. Nor am I saying that 30 is an age deadline for coupling. I am just saying that I didn't go with the majority. And I miss that common experience.<br /><br />When it comes to time management, I've always been a busy person with this demanding Drill Sargent in my head saying "Get up. Work out. Quit being lazy. Keep going. Are you a quitter?" This Drill Sargent was effective for the first half of my life but has recently become this thing that I rebel against daily. I watch TV just because it temporarily silences the Drill Sargent.<br /><br />The other morning I woke up angry and tired after a semi-sleepless night. I had so much to do and this unfinished paper tugging at me and a dirty house and an unwalked dog and a car that needs work and a garden that needs planting and chickens that need a chicken run (and on and on and on).<br /><br />And then I thought to myself "What would I do for myself right now if I were my own best friend?"<br /><br />And the answer was: "I'd go get myself some water and make myself some breakfast and a cup of tea and then I'd clean the house."<br /><br />The thing is, those were the things that I was going to do that morning anyway. But approaching them from a nurturing perspective, from a place of caring for myself, was so much more joyful than just jumping at the Drill Sargent's commands.<br /><br />So now I am trying to cultivate this new voice in my mind which sounds like a sweet little old lady and ends every sentence in "dear": "You might want to work on that paper now, dear. You will feel so much better when it is done, dear."<br /><br />I call her Mother Nurture. She is very encouraging.<br /><br />So, when it comes to being single I could listen to the Drill Sargent who says: "Quick! Quick! Quick! You aren't getting any younger! Get online. Date. Even if you don't like him and he is ugly and negative and a total downer. Give it a shot. Do you want to die lonely and miserable? Everyone else is already married. They have something to live for! What is wrong with you? Hurry up. Get in line. Do some pushups and put on some makeup -- you need it!"<br /><br />Or I can listen to Mother Nurture: "Dear, you've got plenty of time. You're a wonderful person. You have done a lot today, just think of all you've accomplished. You listened to your friend and talked to your dad and you worked in the yard and went to a rehearsal. Look at how accomplished you are, dear. Now, I know you're tired, dear, but wouldn't you feel better if you finished up that volunteer work you've been trying to get to for a month. It will only take an hour or so. Just finish that up tonight and then tomorrow afternoon you will have time to work on that paper. You have enough time, dear. Don't worry."<br /><br />Now this is either schizophrenic or totally awesome. I love Mother Nurture. She helps me take care of myself instead of beating myself to bits every day. I think I might be able to turn papers in on time now that I'm not just trying to silence the Drill Sargent with compulsive Hulu watching.<br /><br />I can't say, however, that I'll be "on time" with the rest of my life. After all, I march to my own beat, dear.The Singlutionaryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11199194725578216599noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2779287853088298189.post-41213345704668211752011-02-26T09:22:00.005-06:002011-02-26T10:01:56.730-06:00A Small Community of Close FriendsSince my post earlier this week on the <a href="http://singlutionary.blogspot.com/2011/02/singlutionary-chicken-funeral.html">Chicken Funeral</a>, I've been thinking: Why am I such a whiner? I have wonderful friends and know really good people? Why am I so pissed off that nobody wanted to participate in my chicken funeral. I mean, it sounds like tons of fun, right?<br /><br />After I performed the solo chicken funeral (in which even the chickens refused to participate), I went to a work meeting. And as I was arriving, a married couple who have a farm were dropping off their 1st official produce delivery EVER. They had two friends with them who were making a documentary about their farm and were taping this milestone in their farming business/life together.<br /><br />For some reason, this added insult to injury. These people have a whole group of people who care about what they are doing and all support each other in doing it. They are making an official documentary about what they are doing and I am a one woman chicken grave digging idiot who props a camera up on a fence to document the death of my pet because nobody else is there to witness it.<br /><br />Why am I not simply single, but SOLO is so many of my endeavors? "Wah wah wah! Why am I always alone? Nobody likes me. Everybody hates me. I guess I'll go eat chicken."<br /><br />Well, the pity party ends here. Because after further thought I realized that I do have community. But my community isn't based around one interest. I know a lot of wonderful people all with different lifestyles and callings and professions. There is a backyard chicken keeping organization in my town that I am 100% inactive with although I do check their bulletin board on a regular basis. However, I've never been to an event or contributed. I don't have time and honestly, I'm not THAT interested in having my chickens take over my life. If I were a more active member of the group, I would have a serious chicken community of live chicken lovers and dead chicken mourners.<br /><br />Then, I received a video from my friend that her sister, sister's partner and their friends had made. The video is funny and slightly like unto the funeral video except that they behead one of their chickens and prepare it for dinner. There are several people active in this video and there is more than one person to hold the camera, and a person to hold the chicken and another person to wield the axe that chops off the chickens head.<br /><br />They all decided to do this together. This is their life and their friends and this is what they do for fun (make a video about killing and eating their chicken -- not the actual act of killing the chicken).<br /><br />THAT is what I want (just the vegetarian version).<br /><br />This seems every obvious to me now.<br /><br />I've always been pursuing groups of people and volunteering my time and getting involved in community hoping that I'll find a community of my own. But the truth is that all I need are a few good friends with an inclusive attitude and a long-term commitment to our friendship.<br /><br />I moved far away from my hometown (where the friend with the chicken head chopping sister lives) and in doing so, left behind many of my childhood friends. But I've been in my new city five years and I've put down roots. At the same time, I've been so busy building community for other people (through my meetup or my dog rescue work or through volunteering my ass off for one cause after another) that I haven't really taken the time to build my own individual, long term friendships. My roommates tend to be temporary and so I have quit letting them too much into my life, knowing that in a few months they'll move on. I've quit seeking new friends because so many of my friends disappeared once they got into a relationship. At some point I gave up on friendship.<br /><br />I'm seeking people (not just one person) to live life with and share in the victories and failures. The community doesn't have to be big and it doesn't have to be centered upon ONE mutual interest. Maybe we enjoy each other's humor or maybe we enjoy the same activities. But we somehow commit to being there for each other as a small group and holding the camera for each other whenever it is needed.<br /><br />I see how the friendships that I have continued to nurture are not practical ones, mainly because these friends live far away or are married and have children. What I need to allow myself to let into my life are friends with a similar mindset and lifestyle who live where I do and are available to support me as I support them. What I am looking for is not only a partner, but a small community of close friends (of which some may also be lovers).<br /><br />Instead of welcoming people into the city and helping them get adjusted and saving dogs and film and blah-de-blah. I need to save myself a little space to make a life in. A life filled with friendship and caring and community to which I contribute, but also receive.The Singlutionaryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11199194725578216599noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2779287853088298189.post-71316523175326135492011-02-21T09:00:00.004-06:002011-02-21T09:32:39.079-06:00A Singlutionary Chicken FuneralI have pet chickens in my backyard.<br /><br />My least favorite chicken died yesterday. We weren't that close. I have a special bond with my other chickens -- they all have strong personalities and are feisty or stubborn or friendly. They stand out from the crowd but Little Beer was a quiet simple chicken. Maybe she had a deep inner life.<br /><br />Who knows? She was a chicken. And now she is dead.<br /><br />Yesterday, Little Beer's sister, Mohawk -- the other <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">silkie</span> chicken that she was brought up with from <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">chickdom</span> -- was bereaved. Mohawk wouldn't talk or eat or move. She just stood there stunned. Last night, instead of making a perch on the toilet in their coop (where she usually sleeps), she curled up on the floor of the coop. I poked her to make sure she was still alive. She looked at me without any recognition. I tried to get her to eat the most delicious chicken feed but she wouldn't budge. I thought this morning I would have another fluffy yellow chicken body to bury.<br /><br />But this morning Mohawk hopped out of the coop with the other chickens, her period of morning, at least temporarily, ended. I brought her her own food and made the other chickens back off so she could eat, but there was no need: Mohawk was hungry and wasn't going to be bullied. She was back to her better self.<br /><br />I have great plans for a chicken funeral. I want to dress up in my farmer outfit (where I look very much like my avatar from the formerly addictive <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">facebook</span> game, <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">Farmville</span>) and say some words over Little Beer's grave with the other chickens in attendance. I want to bury her with some good food and a bottle of beer. It would be fun and playful and a genuine celebration of Little Beer's life.<br /><br />Lately I have taken to <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">obsessively</span> videotaping myself giving monologues while doing various things or going about my life. I do this because I do so many things alone and I want someone to share them with. So, I video them so that I can either edit the videos and share the online or so that I can just feel like there is someone to talk to about my experiences -- even if that "someone" is a credit card sized crappy video camera.<br /><br />I would like to videotape the chicken funeral. But then I realize, it might be difficult to find someone to hold the camera. And there isn't enough time to train my dog to do it.<br /><br />Like many single people, I have friends. I have wonderful friends and wonderful roommates. But as <a href="http://thespecialktreatment.wordpress.com/">Special K</a> commented on my <a href="http://singlutionary.blogspot.com/2011/02/v-is-for-victorious.html">Vday post</a>, my life lacks intimacy. In the past, I have had intimate friendships where we knew everything about each other and talked all the time and we were available to each other for support no matter what. But as my friends coupled off or married, our intimate friendship was crowded out by their intimate partnership with their partner or spouse. And now, all too aware of the energies a romantic relationship demands, I am reluctant to develop new intimate friendships because I know that they are essentially temporary, a stop gap until one of us couples.<br /><br />Although I take issue with the way our culture works, it is still the way our culture works.<br /><br />And so, with the death of Little Beer, I also realize that what I would really like is a capable, supportive person in my life who would enjoy participating in a chicken funeral and would gracefully hold the video camera while I perform the necessary invented rites required to lay Little Beer to rest. It is an odd request and one made on a weekday in cloudy weather. If I am going to put the fun back in chicken <span style="font-style: italic;">fun</span>eral, I would like another human to share this unique experience with.<br /><br />There are a few people I could call upon. I could ask one of my roommates, I could ask my best city friend. But people are busy. There are so many other things to do.The Singlutionaryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11199194725578216599noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2779287853088298189.post-51546265092060118132011-02-13T08:15:00.002-06:002011-02-13T08:43:05.050-06:00V is for VictoriousThank you to <a href="http://onely.org/">Onely</a> for their wonderful <a href="http://onely.org/2011/02/12/singles-spread-the-love-this-valentine%E2%80%99s-day/">Valentines Day profile </a>of happy single bloggers (of which Singlutionary is included).<br /><br />This Valentines Day, I feel victorious. Not because I have a boyfriend to shower me in calories and crap but because I am not angstified over not having one.<br /><br />I've actually never had a boyfriend or partner or date on Valentines day. I've always celebrated alone, not understanding what all the fuss is about. When I was a teenager I worked in a chocolate shop and had to wait on all the angsty men who came in knowing that whatever they got their woman would somehow not be enough or somehow be wrong. As a result, they would not only NOT get laid, but they would end up sleeping on the couch.<br /><br />And then there is my friend who's then boyfriend got her a dead plant for V-day. She married him anyways, found out he was a freeloader over the course of the next 7 years and is now engaged to someone else.<br /><br />If I were in a relationship, I would want to pretend that Valentines Day doesn't exist.<br /><br />As a matter of fact, I am avoiding one of the men I've been dating this weekend. This particular gentleman -- I'll call him Suburban Sailboater -- seems like he might be a bit into romance. We've only been out twice and I like him but I need to tell him that I like him as a FRIEND. I realized during the second date that I am simply not interested in him romantically -- mainly because I can't see being in a relationship with him due to a lack of conversational chemistry but also due to his making some weird kissing NOISES when he was kissing my neck (like a hissy kissy sound). I don't know why but the hissy kissy sound made my vagina immediately close up shop for the night and drove him straight into friend territory.<br /><br />I know, I know. I shouldn't be so picky about the hissy kissy from the Suburban Sailboater.<br /><br />Whatever. If a guy isn't hot on the 2nd date, things are NOT going to get better. And by hot I don't mean tall, dark and handsome (although Suburban Sailboater is definitely tall, dark and geeky) but merely a good sexual match -- someone with whom I share a massive sexual chemistry worthy of sixteen condoms.<br /><br />But I digress. This Valentines Day I am victorious because I am not TRYING to make something work just because I want something special to happen on V-day. I am not going on a forced date or pining away for Mr. Awesome. I am grateful for Suburban Sailboater and hope that we can develop a friendship sometime NEXT weekend when we are safely out of the V-day zone.<br /><br />I am comfortable with myself, proud of where I am and satisfied with the work meeting/job interview/audition/homework that I will be doing tomorrow on St. Valentines Day.<br /><br />Romance is always the best when it is organic and unexpected. The pressures of Valentines Day would best be served somewhere else. With less pomp, less force, less candy, fewer creepy pink bears and less expectation. And, dare I say it: With MORE love.<br /><br />There are many folks who take the opportunity to celebrate Valentines day by celebrating all the non-romantic love in their lives. While I would prefer and just hide out from the holiday, I think that is a wonderful idea.<br /><br />So if you want to buy someone a creepy pink bear, buy one for the people who love and support you no matter what -- even when you're in the doghouse, on the sofa and hornier than a rhino because you've been celibate for 3 to 30 years.<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"></span></span>The Singlutionaryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11199194725578216599noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2779287853088298189.post-26020384403549232082011-01-21T19:36:00.004-06:002011-01-21T22:44:52.019-06:00Seeing SinglutionaryI've been more or less absent from blogging for over a year now. And although, during this time, I very much wanted to write, wanted to continue to participate in the happily single online community -- I also felt like I had nothing to say.<br /><br />Either I had nothing to say, or I couldn't figure out what to say.<br /><br />Writing stopped feeling cathartic because suddenly, being single & happy was, well, boring. I was content. My issues weren't around being single but around working out other kinks in my life.<br /><br />And, for part of the past year I was not single. I was unhappily coupled, trapped in a strange relationship that I have no idea how I wound up in. It was a friendship gone awry which did teach me a few things about myself that I wasn't aware of: That I am <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">seduceable</span> despite my better intentions, that I am ambitious beyond my wildest beliefs and that I am incompatible with a broad range of personality traits which include heavy drinking, annoying questions and general neediness.<br /><br />I tried to ride out the relationship with grace in order to save the friendship and failed.<br /><br />It just wasn't something that I wanted to write about. Especially knowing that my blog would be read by said love-disaster.<br /><br />A good portion of the year has transpired since that relationship came to a close and I am beginning to experience new revelatory interactions which might result in something more than a post saying "I'll be back soon".<br /><br />I've also been blessed with many free books which need to be reviewed.<br /><br />So, tonight, this Friday night, three months after my last post, I am finally on that long awaited date with my blog.<br /><br />I could be on a date with a man. I have a few prospects, all of which are promising both physically and intellectually. But I am not. I am at home, being the homebody that I am and grateful for this time to jump back into the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">Singlutionary</span> world.<br /><br />Even though I suspect that I will not <span style="font-style: italic;">feel</span> single much longer. Because, I have now at my disposal a growing community of smart, funny and interesting men.<br /><br />Being without men was the only thing that was an issue before. Not in a romantic or even sexual way (although missing sex and intimacy was definitely an issue at times) -- but in some kind of yin/yang balance. I need men in my life just as I need friends with various perspectives and upbringings in my life. I need that male perspective and -- to be quite honest -- the masculine quality in general.<br /><br />Some of the best times I had this year were with men who I am not romantically involved with -- I hiked to the top of Angel's Landing in Zion and spent a week in Chicago discussing Shakespeare with my Comical Cousin and a week ago today I spend the day hiking outside of Vegas to a delicious hot spring with (an admittedly sexy) Future Fed. And lately Tall Turtle has been buying me beers and generally showing me a good, laid back time (OK, so there is obviously some potential romance there).<br /><br />But, in general, I think I've finally learned how to be friends with men. And it is a great experience and fills the place in my life that was made empty when my female friends all defected to marriage and babies.<br /><br />And this blog, my <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2"></span><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">Singlutionary</span> life, is here on Friday nights when the best thing to do is check up with all the wonderful single people out there and their creative, interesting, engaging lives which are so full and joyful and positive despite being considered, by many of our culture, to be missing their "other half".The Singlutionaryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11199194725578216599noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2779287853088298189.post-29740474785805245152010-11-11T00:04:00.003-06:002010-11-11T00:18:57.691-06:00Date with MyselfI'm pretty sure that I've written before about friend dates and dating oneself, etc.<br /><br />I've been dating lately. I've only been on a few dates though because between volunteer meetings and family home evening and scuba diving and grad school and friend's bday parties and working, I don't have a lot of nights free. This means that I often can't make a date for weeks at a time. Men either have to be willing to wait it out because they're so into me or because they have no other social prospects. I'm not sure which.<br /><br />Despite only being on a few dates, I am tired of this dating thing already. Not because its been a bad experience but because I miss having nights to myself. And because after a while every man seems like the same man and I can't keep track of them unless I name them after their religion, political affiliation or profession (whichever stands out more). Apparently only atheists with PhDs ask me out these days which makes it real hard to tell them apart.<br /><br />While this post might be a heck of a lot funnier if it were a dating post, it isn't.<br /><br />Well. Maybe it is.<br /><br />Because I am going to start dating this blog.<br /><br />One thing that often falls to the wayside are my various writing projects. They don't have externally imposed deadlines and so far, writing doesn't pay the bills. So I never have time to write. But I love it, I need it, it makes me feel happy and satisfied. Just like a good date or a good meal or a good roll in the hay.<br /><br />So now, my suitors will have to line up for even longer because I've just taken another date night out of circulation. My Friday nights will be spent with Singlutionary.<br /><br />Of course, I still have to finish out the next two dates. Oh. It is so exhausting. And of course if a really great prospect comes along, I'll go out with him on a Friday night and skip my Singlutionary date that week. I've got to balance real life with online life.<br /><br />But, once again, this raises the bar. I won't give up Singlutionary night to go out with some bozo that I know I'm not interested in.<br /><br />Not that I would anyways. But there was a day when I would have.<br /><br />So the point is: Check back here on Saturday morning with your cup of Singlutionary coffee.<br /><br />And if there isn't anything new, well, you know there is a big story coming the next week!The Singlutionaryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11199194725578216599noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2779287853088298189.post-89776345208575148302010-10-25T23:18:00.004-05:002010-10-25T23:55:55.843-05:00Singlutionary's 30th Birthday EveI am writing this in the last 45 minutes of my 20s. <div><br /></div><div>Over the past few years, I've gone through a wide range of emotions about turning 30, especially while single. Some of these feelings surprised me: I didn't know that certain insecurities or desires existed until I felt like the chance for them was drawing to a close.</div><div><br /></div><div>Two years and some odd months ago, I was in a relationship which seemed like bliss for about two months and then unwound into months of turmoil. During the good times, I remember thinking: "I will be married by the time I'm 30 after all." I was surprised by how relieved and proud I felt. In marrying before 30, I would be accomplishing something that everyone could understand. Through marriage, I would prove to the world and, more importantly, to my family and friends near and far that I was worthy of undivided love, that I was attractive, sexually vital and successful in the most basic human way. I would be a good person, a good woman and by <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">extension</span>, a good friend, niece, daughter, cousin.</div><div><br /></div><div>I had never realized how alienated I had felt from my friends and from most of my family because of my typically single status. I never realized how much people people worried about me, even pitied me because they felt something essential was missing in my life. I had no idea how much I had internalized this feeling. </div><div><br /></div><div>When I thought that I would be married within the conventional timeframe, I felt, for the first time ever, that I had some kind of magic ticket to normalcy that I had always yearned for but had never been given.</div><div><br /></div><div>At that time I was still only 27.</div><div><br /></div><div>Since then, I have mulled over my fear of turning 30 and have come to face this new decade (now only 31 minutes away) with excitement and relief instead of fear and angst.</div><div><br /></div><div>My late 20s were not easy. They were full of career failures, financial struggles, personal loss and general confusion. In many ways, it won't be hard to say goodbye to the consternation and frustration and grief of recent years. </div><div><br /></div><div>And I'm not 20 anymore and I know things about the world. I have experience -- lots of it. And experience is something that can never be taken away from me. I've survived things that I never thought I would have to face. </div><div><br /></div><div>I had a crisis just a few months ago when I first began to consider setting out on the long road towards a PhD. I realized that by choosing to commit the next 7 years to academic life, the opportunity to have biological children very well might pass me by. At the time I was slightly involved with a man who very much wanted wholesome biological children raised on milk and wheat bread. I mentioned my potential PhD aspirations to him during our last real phone conversation. Two weeks later he flippantly bowed out of our travel arrangements and said something about incompatibility. And that was it.</div><div><br /></div><div>In the past 10 years I have learned that in choosing one thing, I am also NOT choosing so many others. Spending most of my 30s in school may very well end up being a choice against having a kid that carries my genetics although it doesn't eliminate my chance to be a parent.</div><div><br /></div><div>And I am OK with that. If being pregnant and giving birth to my own spawn was super important to me, I would have chosen so many different ways to spend my 20s. I've always wanted to adopt older children and I've always known that by doing so, I can buy myself some time against the generation gap: If I am 40 and adopt a 7 year old, the generation gap isn't quite as huge as it would be if I gave birth at 40. </div><div><br /></div><div>I am no longer afraid of being an old maid. I know that I will have companionship. And I know that it will be unconventional. I've lived my life out of order and upside down and I can't expect to suddenly grow up and start doing everything the typical way. The typical way has never made sense for me. Its not going to start making sense just because my looks and fertility are starting to fade.</div><div><br /></div><div>I have a rich life and many talents. And I am going to use them. If nothing else, I am going to live life on my own terms. My 20s were about figuring out what I wanted to do. My 30s are going to be about doing it.</div><div><br /></div><div>To actually realize my dreams instead of just dreaming them is at once exhilarating and intimidating. But that is where I'm headed. </div><div><br /></div><div>I've got 9 minutes left. And then I'm ringing in the next decade of wonderment.</div>The Singlutionaryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11199194725578216599noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2779287853088298189.post-49027059722260955332010-10-20T21:20:00.004-05:002010-10-20T21:49:39.119-05:00The Singlutionary SituationI have one good friend in my city who is also single. Or WAS also single. Lately she has been going to and from another city to visit a man she recently met. Of course it is all my fault that they met and I have only myself to blame for the situation. <div><br /></div><div>I have the bad habit of immediately starting to push friends away once they begin to get involved with someone. It isn't so much that I push them away but that I begin to expect less of them. And in a way, its an appropriate reaction. Having someone new in their life means that they have to make room for another person and I can't expect my friend to be as available as she once was.</div><div><br /></div><div>By the time I was 22, all my best friends were married and very much involved in their relationships. At that time, there wasn't any space for me and my friends to have a relationship outside of their marriage. If I wanted to see my friend, I had to tolerate the husband. Since then, the husbands have become more tolerable or have been replaced with less obnoxious substitutes and my friend's have become less entangled socially and are receptive to "girl time" activities. </div><div><br /></div><div>But for most of my early 20s, I felt like I needed to have a partner in order to enjoy my friends again. I felt that if I had a partner then we could couple date my friends. My partner would take on the horror of my friend's husbands and I would get to actually have an enjoyable visit with my friends. My friends, I think saw it the same way and provided me with healthy doses of advice on what to do to find a man so that my man could play with their man. </div><div><br /></div><div>WHATEVER!</div><div><br /></div><div>What partner of mine is going to want to put up with THAT crap?</div><div><br /></div><div>"Will you be my boyfriend just so that I can take you to my friend's house and you can watch videos of my friend's husband's community theatre production and then watch him try on his costume and recite Shakespeare's sonnets?"</div><div><br /></div><div>Eventually I gave up on finding a blow-up-doll-boyfriend-who-loves-amateur-Shakespeare and became Singlutionary. </div><div><br /></div><div>But as people couple around me, I would like to have someone to depend on. Not that my coupled friends are undependable -- they are all very loving and wonderful and if I were to call them in any state of panic or emergency, they would be very much there for me. But their daily lives are taken up with their family, their work and other obligations. Any extra time they have, they want to spend with their spouse. </div><div><br /></div><div>I suppose that now I would like someone to depend on socially and for the long haul. And, in the way our society is set up, with coupling being the norm, it seems that in order to find this, I might have to couple. Friendships, even the strongest ones, are secondary to spouses and families especially in the way people spend their day-to-day time. </div><div><br /></div><div>It seems that just as soon as I find myself in a solid, lasting, stable friendship -- the friendship is altered by the presence of a romantic relationship.</div><div><br /></div><div>Part of my situation, I think, is that I am very much a one-on-one person. If I have a good friend, it is because I enjoy our interesting conversations and her unique perspective. Even if her new partner is super cool, that doesn't mean that I'd enjoy hanging out with both of them as much as I would enjoy the one-on-one. And typically each friendship has its sacred activities -- with one of my friends it is eating good food, and another it is running. Sometimes the new partner doesn't have the same appreciation for the things my friend and I share and it kinda ruins the fun.</div><div><br /></div><div>This is not to say that I won't stay friends with my friends who couple. I have stayed friends with ALL my friends who are coupled. I made the adjustment and learned how to be friends with both of them (sometimes more gracefully than others).</div><div><br /></div><div>But I am tired of always looking for new available friends as others become unavailable. And maybe, the easiest thing to do would be to find a new best male friend and begin that whole monogamous endeavor called "a relationship". </div><div><br /></div><div>Or I could just cultivate a ton of male friends so that if one of them couples, there will be 10 more waiting in the wings to share an order of yam fries and help decorate my backyard with empty toilets. </div><div><br /></div>The Singlutionaryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11199194725578216599noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2779287853088298189.post-54046584577671340502010-09-24T23:42:00.003-05:002010-09-25T00:06:46.399-05:00Singlutionary's Search for a Proper PeerI have a utopian view of the world in which everyone is their own person and people love each other freely and there is no need for jealousy. In this world, new relationships broaden the worlds, not only of the people in them, but of their entire communities as well. This is a pretty hippie-like version of peace, love and understanding and all the crap that goes along with that -- like hemp pants, compost and organic farming.<div><br /></div><div>And then I wake up. And I live in the real world where being single at almost-30 is frightening. Why? Because I'm alone. I'm not talking about being alone in a not-having-a-partner way. I'm talking about being alone in another way -- in the way where my communities have faded, my friends are tied up with their family or with their marriage and I don't seem to have any peers.</div><div><br /></div><div>Where have all my peers gone? In my town, I have ONE uncoupled friend of my age. </div><div><br /></div><div>And lets face it. There is a difference between being uncoupled in your early 20s and being uncoupled in your early 30s. </div><div><br /></div><div>And I'm not talking about pressure to couple. I am talking about finding peers. It is more common for folks in their early 20s to be single and to be exploring the world and to have friends in the same place. </div><div><br /></div><div>Of course, it was never common for me. My two best friends were both married by the time I turned 22 and had been coupled long before that. I've always been the sole single girl in my inner circle. But my outer circle has been full of intelligent, smart women in their early-mid 20s.</div><div><br /></div><div>So why, after 10 years, is it suddenly so much more horrifying to be the only single in my Singlutionary world? </div><div><br /></div><div>Peers. They're harder to come by. Supposedly there are tons of single women in their 30s on this earth but I never meet them. And just because I meet another single woman in her early 30s doesn't mean that we have anything in common! She might be divorced or have children or she might be a rabid racist chicken hater or an exercise nazi or plenty of other things which are totally acceptable but which I am not. </div><div><br /></div><div>Or she might be might just want to talk about how she is so sad without a mate. </div><div><br /></div><div>I get bored with that. I do it enough myself in secret moments of weakness and then am ashamed to have dishonored my Singlutionary costume in such a way (my Singlutionary costume is made of orange spandex). </div><div><br /></div><div>I have plenty of ways to meet people. I meet people as part of my job. I've found that dog people are often single. So that is a start. I love dogs. I love singles. Single dog people = double rainbow of joyfulness. </div><div><br /></div><div>Which brings me back to this blog. I've got peers here. Plenty of them: The folks who read this blog, the folks who comment and the folks who write their own wonderful blogs about being a happy single. And I have my one wonderful late 20s real-life single friend. </div><div><br /></div><div>And I have my dates. Chronically single men vying for a chance to bone me who don't know that I'm really just looking for a peer. </div><div><br /></div><div>Where do you find your Singlutionary peers -- no matter what your age or place in life? Life is about change -- and more often than not -- our best friend's lives don't change at the same exact moment and in the same exact way that ours do. So, while it is totally possible to maintain relationships with coupled parent friends, it is also good to seek out people who are in a more similar place in life. </div><div><br /></div><div>Where do you find them? How do you identify them? And how to you form a real life community as strong as this one here online? </div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div>The Singlutionaryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11199194725578216599noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2779287853088298189.post-71426424773662885632010-09-21T09:52:00.003-05:002010-09-21T11:13:32.208-05:00National Singlutionary WeekIt has been an entire year since National Singles Week. And here it is all over again!<div><br /></div><div>Singlutionary was recently featured on <a href="http://www.relationshiptalk.net/">Relationship Talk</a> in an article about six empowering single's blogs! I've been fairly inactive as a blogger for almost a year now and I am delighted to find that my words are still out there in the blog-i-verse, doing good. <a href="http://www.relationshiptalk.net/6-sensational-singles-blogs-to-read-558.html">Please read the article and check out the 5 other fantastic blogs hi lighted</a>.<br /><div><br /></div><div>Last year, I was honored to participate in <a href="http://www.singlewomenrule.com/">Single Women Rule</a>'s <a href="http://www.singlewomenrule.com/category/blog-crawl-2/">Blog Crawl</a>. Although I am not participating this year, I do want to spread the word. There are lots of wonderful blogs and wonderful things being written about single life and single living and lifting the single stigma. So go, read, and be inspired.</div><div><br /></div><div>As for me, this National Singlutionary Week -- I've had a few revelations:</div><div><br /></div><div>1. I miss my relationship with this blog and my readers and fellow bloggers. And I want to spend more time here. </div><div><br /></div><div>2. There are lots of wonderful bloggers writing about the social & political aspects of being single. What I am good at is writing about the personal aspects. Although I care deeply about the issues that <a href="http://onely.org/">Onely</a> and <a href="http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/living-single">Bella DePaulo</a> write about, that is not what this blog is about. So what IS this blog about then? I suppose it is about my life. It is a personal story. </div></div><div><br /></div><div>So in the coming weeks, I will be more present here. I will also be reorganizing and revamping quite a few aspects of the blog -- including even -- maybe -- gasp -- the template. And you can expect stories and insights and humor as always.</div><div><br /></div><div>Thank you for reading,</div><div>Singlutionary</div>The Singlutionaryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11199194725578216599noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2779287853088298189.post-729819570544095882010-09-05T21:59:00.002-05:002010-09-05T22:13:15.670-05:00Singlutionary Sunday<a href="http://singlutionary.blogspot.com/2009/06/singlutionary-sacrilegious-sabbath.html">I've written twice before about</a> <a href="http://singlutionary.blogspot.com/2009/03/singlutionarys-secular-sabbath.html">the way I spend my Sundays</a>. <div><br /></div><div>I struggle between wanting to be restful, wanting to go on fun & active adventures and wanting to get all the stuff done that so desperately needs to get done but never does. </div><div><br /></div><div>For the summer, I went with the "fun and active adventures" route. I coordinated activities and rallied the troops. It was fun. But it also left me unproductive during the week. I was either busy coordinating next Sunday's getaway or I was still recovering from the past Sunday's funday. Good times were had, new places discovered, conversations were had and new bonds were made and my horizons were broadened. It was wonderful. </div><div><br /></div><div>But now I am broke and tired. So, for the past month, Sundays have been all about lounging around in my pjs and catching up on TV shows and doing pretty much nothing except resting so much that by the end of the day I am so ready for the week to begin again.</div><div><br /></div><div>This week, partly out of necessity and partly because I was inspired by an insanely productive friend, I decided to have a slightly productive Sunday -- a hybrid adventure/restful/catching up day.</div><div><br /></div><div>And it worked. Kinda. I am tired. But I did catch up which makes me feel less stressed about the week to come. I ran, I read, I gave myself a facial. </div><div><br /></div><div>It was pretty much a day for myself. </div><div><br /></div><div>Of course, I had to do some things that weren't tons of fun. But they were productive and made me feel relieved when finished. </div><div><br /></div><div>Today wasn't really profound in and of itself. But it marks a sort of awesome recovery in my life. When I began this blog, I was writing in final attempt to pull myself out of the darkness that I had recently experienced. Being single and happy really was revelatory to me at that juncture.</div><div><br /></div><div>Now, I live every day as a single and every day is just another day, another opportunity for rest or adventure or catching up. Or all of the above! </div><div><br /></div>The Singlutionaryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11199194725578216599noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2779287853088298189.post-8416313509655426462010-08-30T15:35:00.002-05:002010-08-30T15:58:22.331-05:00Warming UpMost of the relationships I've been in have taught me the same thing: I need a lot of time to myself. The last relationship I was in merely confirmed this fact.<div><br /></div><div>There is a tension between the excitement of meeting someone and feeling that mutual attraction and knowing that I need to protect my time so that I can be happy. </div><div><br /></div><div>It seems that whenever I've been in a relationship, or even just getting to know someone in a romantic kind of way, all the time that I usually spend on things like keeping the house/car clean and maintained, taking care of myself, reading, catching up with my friends, writing and art projects -- all that time gets eaten up by the new beaux. </div><div><br /></div><div>And it is great at first, but after a couple months I get angry. I start wondering why I can't get anything done and I start to resent the time spent with said person. I try to draw back and start spending more time doing the things I need to do -- laundry -- for example. But the other person always sees this as a personal affront and the relationship starts to crumble. </div><div><br /></div><div>What is the solution to this? </div><div><br /></div><div>Always be single? That is the approach I have been taking for the past few years. But what if I am ready to be open to a functional relationship where I CAN have enough space. What if I've decided that this IS a possibility and that, now, after 2 years of going solo (and sexless) I am warming up to this option.</div><div><br /></div><div><a href="http://singlutionary.blogspot.com/2010/08/introverted-singlutionary.html">I've written recently about being an introvert</a>. I think that the main thing I need to find in a potential partner -- from the get go -- is someone who can understand and respect my need for personal time and someone with their own interests and friends and passions. Someone who needs time for his own projects and interests and relationships. </div><div><br /></div><div>And then, I need to allow things to be slow and easy instead of fast and hard -- which is my usual approach. </div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div>The Singlutionaryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11199194725578216599noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2779287853088298189.post-54760128026945829302010-08-13T16:25:00.003-05:002010-08-13T16:51:42.382-05:00Singlutionary's 30by30I'm back with a <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">vengeance</span>!<div><br /></div><div>I'm blogging again -- all self-imposed gag orders have been lifted!</div><div><br /></div><div>And I'm running.</div><div><br /></div><div>And I'm going to quit eating like a teenager locked in an abandoned convenience store.</div><div><br /></div><div>Two months ago, I went to a family reunion followed by a roadtrip with my parents followed by a childhood friend's wedding. I am not even going to touch upon the wedding on this blog (its all been said before) but what I decided on that trip is that I need to get my body back.</div><div><br /></div><div>Get my body back from what? No, I didn't have a baby. But I feel like I did. I look like I did. But I have no excuse. There are no babies waking me up all night -- I sleep well. There are no children crying for a snack all day long -- I have a schedule where I can provide myself with nutritious meals without the temptation of grabbing something just to get through the day. I need to claim my body back from our culture of instant gratification, from two years of eating away my worries and sorrows, from the soon-to-be distant memories of struggling to become the Singlutionary that I am today. </div><div><br /></div><div>On the trip I took my my parents, even my biggest pants were beginning to feel tight. And I realized that, as I approach 30, the time to deal with my bad habits is NOW. I want to enter my 30s in the best shape of my life. I want to be active. I want to climb mountains and forge rivers and do all sorts of Oregon Trail type activities. And I want it to be easy. So, while on this trip, I texted a Singlutionary friend and said "What about training for a marathon?" Her response was: "Sure, I need a absurd goal".</div><div><br /></div><div>My absurd goal begins with running. I found a marathon training program online and, despite several little setbacks, I have been sticking to it. So far I've gone from not even being able to run a half a mile to being able to run over 1 mile without stopping. I've also gotten faster. I've never been a runner or an athlete of any kind. What I am really learning from this, is NOT to be intimidated by physical challenges. My body began to change right away. It tightened up. I have muscles in places that were formerly dough.</div><div><br /></div><div>But I haven't lost any weight. This doesn't concern me at this juncture. As I keep running, I'll get more confidence and I'll be better able to keep those eating demons off my back. I don't want to diet. I don't want to deprive myself of food in the sort term because I know that I'll just end up pigging out in the long run. I want to finally overcome my horrible addiction to sweets and I want to nurture myself enough that I can create a lasting habit of cooking and eating good food at home. </div><div><br /></div><div>So. Blogging: Check. Running: Check. Eating: I'll get back to you on that one.</div><div><br /></div><div>The name of this project is titled: 30by30. I want to lose 30lbs by my birthday at the end of October.</div><div><br /></div><div>But it really isn't about weight loss -- that is just the title of an absurd benchmark. This is about allowing myself to become the woman that I've always had the potential to be but never let myself become. It is about freedom -- physical freedom, freedom from my food issues, freedom from all the doubts that ganged up on me in my mid 20s. </div><div><br /></div><div>On Halloween, I've invited my friends to run with me for 16 miles through out the city in our Halloween Outfits. And on New Years Eve, I am going to run 26 plus miles -- the length of a marathon. </div><div><br /></div><div>Absurd goals are my new best friend. </div>The Singlutionaryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11199194725578216599noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2779287853088298189.post-3791296382671624292010-08-06T10:00:00.003-05:002010-08-06T10:07:09.334-05:00How to Be Alone<div>This <a href="http://www.wimp.com/howalone/">video</a> speaks for itself. I want to make art like this -- although mine would be wild & irreverent where this is beautiful and comforting:</div><div><br /></div>http://www.wimp.com/howalone/<div><br /></div><div>Thank you to Akirah Watt at <a href="http://schoolofathens.com/quarterlifelady/">Quarter Life Lady</a> for finding this gem of love and inspiration</div>The Singlutionaryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11199194725578216599noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2779287853088298189.post-68585986021434168922010-08-03T10:28:00.003-05:002010-08-03T11:02:40.935-05:00The Introverted SinglutionaryI am an introvert. This has been brought to my attention in many ways over the past several months.<div><br /></div><div>As an introvert, I need a lot of "me" time. I need quiet. I get easily overstimulated. The only problem is that, I don't LOOK like an introvert. I am animated and gregarious and very talkative. I enjoy people. I am always planning activities and building community. I live in a house with 3 other people. Writing this blog is a great way for my introvert to relax because I can be alone & quiet when I write it, but I can still engage in lively interaction and conversation with others.</div><div><br /></div><div>Is it easier for an introvert to be a Singlutionary?</div><div><br /></div><div><b>Spirited Children (or something like that)</b></div><div>My best friend, the Purple Turtle is an introvert with an extrovert for a husband and a 4 year old extrovert for a son. I used to find her husband exceedingly annoying because he never rests. He never stops talking and he doesn't understand that other people need time and space to think. Purple Turtle read this wonderful book about raising her extroverted son but she really learned more about how to nurture her introverted self. This book talks about how to deal with introverted children (of which I was certainly one) as well as introverted ones. It says that when they get home from school, introverts need time alone and so it is best to let them be by themselves until dinner time and <i>then</i> engage with them, ask them how their day went, etc. </div><div><br /></div><div>When I come home from work, I do not want to be bombarded with hugs or requests or questions or invitations to go out. I don't want to interact. Or, maybe I do want to interact but only with very specific people in a very specific way. </div><div><br /></div><div><b>Sacred Solitude</b></div><div>The reason I haven't been writing much lately, is that I've been in a very conflicted relationship that I was never fully on board for. Many people in my inner circle don't even know about this relationship because I didn't want to announce something that I was never sure was going to last. It didn't. There are many reasons for this. I learned a lot about myself, who I am and who I am not. Perhaps the biggest lesson of all (aside from being a little more cautious before committing to being in a relationship and NEVER telling potential partners about this blog) is that I am intensely introverted. Yes, I go out in the world and interact with strangers. Yes, I am always creating events and hosting get-togethers. Yes, I even have my own meetup group. But I have a secret life outside of all of that that most people never see. This secret life is quiet, introspective and solitary. I need this secret life to be well and thriving in my public life. In order to go out into the world and be the vivacious, active, creative and ambitious person that I am, I also need this deeply personal sacred time. And I need a lot of it. In a relationship, a lot of this time seems to, for me, get negotiated away. It disappears under the expectation that being involved with someone means wanting to spend ALL free time together.</div><div><br /></div><div><b>Deceptive Appearances</b></div><div>Our culture worships the extrovert. If you are a quiet, shy or reserved person, you might be perceived as rude or unhappy or maybe even stupid. Social, gregarious people are seen as smarter, sexier and more likely to be successful. I've adapted. Last week, I was told by a friend of a friend that I seem to be an extrovert. This makes it even more offensive to people when I frequently turn down social invitations. There is often an attitude, especially amongst younger folks, that if you're not doing anything particular, you're available to socialize. So, on a Friday night, if I don't have plans, I am expected to accept invitations to go out or do SOMETHING. When in fact, I do have plans -- with myself. And no, this is not lame and pathetic but vitally important to my well being, my ability to function in the world and my ability to be who I am. </div><div><br /></div><div>It is difficult for me to explain this to people sometimes. I've had to become comfortable with saying "no" and knowing that for some people, it will seem as if I am rejecting them entirely. </div><div><br /></div><div><b>Private Life</b></div><div>This private, solitary life that I lead in the corners of the day when I can sneak away from demands and social expectations is usually enjoyed 100% alone. There are a few people who I could be in the same room with and still feel this sense of peace and rejuvenation. The folks are also introverts. I suspect that all introverts have private lives and sometimes we lead them in the same room. Purple Turtle, my best friend from childhood, is someone who I can be around for days on end -- mainly because we have the same need for quiet and introspection. If she grabs a journal and a book and goes to sit in a chair on the other side of the room, I know what is up and I follow suit. I have a cousin that I also can spend a lot of time around -- and my parents -- the biggest introverts of all (almost to the point of being hermits). </div><div><br /></div><div>It was very difficult, in many of my past relationships to have this private, quiet, reflective time. The extroverts that I was dating did not understand. They felt shut out. They wondered why I didn't want to do things with them all the time. Meanwhile I felt drained and angry. Sacrificing this time is not an option for me. </div><div><br /></div><div>Now that I am back to being single, I feel this huge sense of relief. I can be myself again. I can shut the door and lock it. I am free to be alone. And then, when I am done recharging, I am free to go back out into the world and be me. </div><div><br /></div><div>Does my introversion prevent me from being in a relationship? No. It just narrows the pool to people who can understand my need for solitude. Should I only date introverts from now on? Maybe. Or at least people who understand the need for quiet and peace and aloneness and who enjoy it themselves. </div>The Singlutionaryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11199194725578216599noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2779287853088298189.post-63354242157257208232010-07-04T23:26:00.002-05:002010-07-04T23:40:03.252-05:00Independence DayI miss so much writing on this blog and reading the other single's blogs:)<div><br /></div><div>This year I am celebrating my independence from desperation.</div><div><br /></div><div>Tonight I went to do some catering work which I pick up in hard times to pay bills. </div><div><br /></div><div>Tonight was my last night with this catering company. From now on, I'll do catering only on Saturdays and only for the one catering company that I LOVE. I'm not going to pick up work that I don't love on days that I need for other things just because I feel desperate for money. I'm asking myself what I enjoy, what makes me happy and not accepting any thing outside of those boundaries. </div><div><br /></div><div>This fall I am turning 30 (I've begun to train for a marathon and I've invited my friends to join me in a "30by30" (lose 30 lbs by age 30) celebration.)</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>One thing I've learned in my 20s is that while money comes and goes, time is gone forever. Acting from a place of desperation has caused me to spend years of my life in bad relationships, maintaining bad friendships and at god awful jobs. </div><div><br /></div><div>I can make that time and those experiences work for me in what I am doing now (and I do), but I can't get that time back.</div><div><br /></div><div>So no more Sunday catering events (I'll be too busy with marathon training anyways) and no more picking up work that I feel not-so-excited about. </div><div><br /></div><div>Will I have enough money? Ahhhh. That is always the question. Will I be able to make it? Will I be able to pay my bills? Will I be able to get gas in my car? Will I be able to repay my debts?</div><div><br /></div><div>Will I be able to survive on my own?</div><div><br /></div><div>The answer is always yes. There is a way to make it through even if you have to quit feeling desperate and start trusting, start reaching out and start letting the world in.</div><div><br /></div><div>In all parts of my life. I declare my independence today from desperation.</div><div><br /></div><div>What are you independent from today?</div>The Singlutionaryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11199194725578216599noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2779287853088298189.post-62804739506417998462010-05-09T19:34:00.003-05:002010-05-09T20:36:20.145-05:00Singlutionary WeddingI've been working a lot of weddings lately as catering staff. This is something I did after college for extra money and something I'm now doing again in order to get my new adventures off the ground. <div><br /></div><div>I generally dislike weddings mainly because I fail to comprehend them --- why would you ask people to come from all over the world and then just talk about how you love one person more than them? But I also secretly dislike them because I've never had one.</div><div><br /></div><div>A wedding may not be something that every little girl wants but I certainly did. I wanted to get to wear the big wonderful dress and have all my friends together and I wanted to have all the beautiful lights in the trees and tulle dancing in the breeze and the candles and the music and the sense of community and the sheer beauty of it. I've always been interested in creating beautiful spaces and beautiful events and the wedding event is the epitome of these things.</div><div><br /></div><div>Of course I grew up in an unconventional family and a slightly unconventional community so as a little girl I felt completely free to imagine my wedding pretty much groom-less and I did. In many ways the groom is absent in most little girl's fantasies of their own wedding. It is about the dum-dum-da-dum and the dress and the flowers and the bridal party more than anything else. My fantasy wedding would include a multi-family improv show in lieu of a ceremony and feature a performance by Marilyn Manson at the reception and would take place in the very same location where <i>Jurassic Par</i>k was filmed. </div><div><br /></div><div>The wedding I was working last night was deeply conventional in a Texas twang kind of way. The outdoor ceremony began with the lords prayer and the reception (which was held in a barn) featured country music (most of which included the word "Texas" in the song). The bride and groom ended the night by running a gauntlet of sparklers -- the bride, of course, in cowboy boots. And somewhere during this evening while I oversaw a buffet of sliders was this: I would have gotten married and lived a "conventional" life if that life had been presented to me.</div><div><br /></div><div>I always think that somehow it is a different breed of person who gets married in her early-mid 20s and has 2.5 children and lives in a single family home with a flawless front lawn. I've always felt like some kind of an outsider to that life -- like a little girl window shopping for her future but never being permitted to enter the store.</div><div><br /></div><div>What I realized last night is that what I have done in my life and what I haven't done has nothing to do with the kind of human I am. I am not a different breed of person who is immune to a more conventional lifestyle. If given the opportunity to live a more usual life, I would have jumped at it. I would have worn the white dress down the isle with the candles and the flowers and the tulle and I would have rode off into the sunset in whatever kind of footware was appropriate for my location and my upbringing. </div><div><br /></div><div>In many ways I was taught and I accepted that a wedding is the beginning of adult life. But what happens when you're well into adulthood and there is no wedding in sight?</div><div><br /></div><div>My life has presented me with singleness just as other people lives present them with a spouse or partner. And being single has made me who I am just as being married has made others who they are. It isn't a singles vs. coupled world that we live in. It is simply a human vs. sacrifices world. Are we going to live our dreams even if they make no sense or are we going to give into the comfort and stability of the daily grind? Which do we want? Most likely a little of both.</div><div><br /></div><div>Do I still dream of my improv-show/controversial-yet-oddly-eloquent-celebrity-performance/dinosaur-landscaped wedding? Yes. Do I still dream of me going it alone in the beautiful dress on top of some rock outcropping with the sun setting into the ocean and then ride off into the sunset on a tulle clad brontosaurus? Yes. Do I have the energy to ever pull this off? Maybe. But for right now there is a dirty car that needs to be washed and baby chickens that need to be integrated with the big birds and a dog with too-long toe nails and a new business endeavor to start tomorrow.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div>The Singlutionaryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11199194725578216599noreply@blogger.com13