Hey everyone! Yet another day where i can't stop smiling! :)
Tigerstar....I"m flattered that you can relate to "perfect" it makes me happy to know that there are other people out there who are just as happy as i am :)
Dee......BIG HUGS!!! You are awesome! I had him go read your post tonight too :) Anyways, keep emailin...i love to share stories
Everyone take care...and be happy!
Beth
Beth... <grin> you are cute... if you don't calm down your head will explode though! hehe.. Although, you have won a good prize.
I found a good waste-of-time-site its http://match.thespark.com, its a fun quiz that you take and it matches you up with other quiz takers, you can search for someone to argue with or a lover.... not to be taken seriously but its pretty fun.
dee
Dee,
Nah, i don't think my head will explode anytime soon....although my face might get stuck from smiling so much!!
Beth
I wanna know what love is....
Hey Blenderites---
In honor of Valentines Day, I want to toss something out for discussion---I know what love is to me---but I'm sort of curious about other minds...
So here's the challenge...3 questions---answer one, two, or all three...but try at least one.
1. How do you know if it's love---or lust? Both can be powerful---weak knees, dry mouth, butterflies---so how do yout tell if it's rockin pnuemonia---or boogie woogie flu?
2. Based on your own experience (no wishing or guessing) what is the difference between how men and woman view love?
3. Both sides of the battle of the sexes cry foul about something---Tell me what pet peeve you have about the opposite sex---but you must also admit which flaw you personally are guilty of in the battle of the sexes!
So are you game, people?
Ready, set, go!
Gala, firing the strating pistol!
Make that starting pistol...
Oh, and people?
I was thinking outlawing cliches---but the screaming would damage my delicate ears...so you can use them---if you can back them.
And please---"Love is never having to say you're sorry." will result in me spewing fairy dust at you from ten paces....
It sure seems like everyone is "arguing" about what other pepople write. We need to remember that people write about their feelings and no one can say that those feelings are meaningless or shouldn't be written about or that they way they are portrayed is "below standard," useless, garbage, etc. I understand the constructive criticism, but let's try to keep it constructive. Maybe I'm misunderstanding some of the tones behind the comments, but I'm getting negative vibes here. Kinda makes me wonder if I'm even "good-enough" to be posting submissions here. If we're not here to encourage one another, then I don't want to be a part. I was under the impression that this site was set up for amateurs, not for people to bow down and worship anyone particular author.
For the sake of interest, let me post this question: "what appeals to all of you?" I have asked for comments on my stuff before and have received little. That's ok, just tells me that my submissions don't really appeal to many. That's ok, too. I'm not here for praise and attention, I'm here to bare my soul in a "protected environment." Protected meaning, you don't really know who I am and therefore, I feel secure in sharing my writing.
However, I am very interested in knowing what types of submissions you all like to read. That might even challenge me to branch out and write something different, with a different style or tone.
I think we should just remember the reason we're contributing to this site. I'm tired of reading the bickering!! Criticism is welcome by most here, it seems, but, like I said, let's keep it constructive, helpful, not degrading or discouraging. That's my two cents..
Gala--- excellent suggestion with your 3 questions--- some I struggle to answer almost daily (I am only a baby after all) I will put my two cents in since that is what I do even when NOT asked.
1. Love vs Lust? I wonder about this one all the time. I think (from current experience) love has so many more facets than lust...my current lover (in a VERY lusty sense) is also my best friend (ya that sounds clicheish) but I just feel like lust is merely a component of this crazy thing called love...Lust is what makes up a one-night stand and Love allows you to be confident when he sees you the next morning <cringe>
3. My pet peeve and sometimes the only criticism I have of the love of my life is his hideous sense of the romantic...all very copy and paste (but sweet when I consider the source). That could of course just be a difference in our personalities as I THRIVE on storybook romance. To be fair...my biggest fault is my feminine tendencies toward insecurity and sometimes even jealousy <gasp ME>
Those are all the thoughts off the top of my head. Maybe what you are looking for? I hope others share their answers or I will feel TERRIBLY self concious.
Megs,
Here I come to save the day. Couldn't resist the temptation.
1. I know it's lust when I'm too scared to approach him. I know it's love when I make myself approach him. I'm referring, of course, to the way I met my ex at a dance club in Austin last April. I saw him on the dance floor and I just knew that if I wanted to improve the quality of my life I had to approach him. So many drinks later, I did just that, and even though we only had four months they were a decent four months and I have no regrets. So, yeah, I guess I do believe in love at first sight. I also believe that green and orange M&Ms taste better than the other colors.
2. From my own personal experience, men only appreciate love if it's a challenge. The less I call them, the less nice things I do for them, the more they love me. When my ex dumped me in October, he almost took me back when I told him that I had cheated on him once. Again, from my own personal experience, I think love is waking up with a smile on my face because I just had a dream about him. Love is also him waking you up with a phone call to tell you that he's driving to work, he just wanted to say Good Morning.
3. My pet peeve with the opposite sex is guys who don't wash their hands after using the bathroom. I also don't like guys who pick their nose and talk about their ex and past lovers all the time. I also don't like it when they have weird taste in music. Rick Astley, for example. Jealousy/insecurity is my biggest flaw. That's something I need to work on. And I'm very closed off. I have a huge ego. I'm neurotic. I like to show off. I like to get drunk.
....Gala, have you seen "200 Cigarettes"? I love it when Martha Plimpton is watching "Love Story" on TV and she tosses her drink at the set when Ali McGraw tearfully says,"Love means never having to say you're sorry."
just soem quotes i thought of after reading the q's that were posted....
"Love does not consist of gazing at each other but in looking outward in the same direction."
--Antoine de Saint Exupery
* * *
"The word love has by no means the same meaning for both sexes, and this is one cause of the serious misunderstandings that divide them."
--Simone De Beauvoir
* * *
"I knew what love was supposed to be: obsession with undertones of nausea."
--Cat's Eye by Margaret Atwood
* * *
Gala,
1. I've had to wonder about this one recently. There was this guy that I've known for over a year, and every time I see him, I get the "angels singing", goofy-grin, etc. But I couldn't decide if it was because I was extremely attracted to him or if I really did care about him. You wanna know how I figured it out? Because I couldn't talk to him. I mean REALLY talk. We would just kind of talk about like the one thing we had in common, but after that, we had to be doing something else or talking to someone else. The guy I'm seeing now, I know it's love because I can talk to him about anything, and I get responses instead of just blank looks :)
2. Based on my experience, love to men is more of a comfortable thing. It becomes a satisfying part of their day, it makes them feel complete in a sense. Women feel that too, but women also love the element of suprise. Men think being in love is being able to do things in front of the women their in love with that they didn't do to begin with, to be polite (think of some examples, I know you can :) I love it when my boyfriend suprises me with a phone call or is waiting outside of my next class, unexpectedly, just so he can have five minutes with me.
3. My pet peeve is that if you hang around them when they're with their guy friends, you will hear things about them that you didn't want to know, and they don't realize they're doing it! I've heard my bf say things I never want to hear him talk about again! But in my case, it's that sometimes I talk wayyyy too much, and about the silliest things!
Gotta go to work. See you guys later!
Tiger
Pet peeve - OK I've gotta start slow.. I might answer more later when the 'correct' answers hits me.
My Pet Peeve about the opposite sex, (the before relationship kind!) Is this... if you get one that will ADMIT that damit yes he is attracted to you he is also OBSESSIVE about you.
My worse habit, <grin> if I am really attracted to someone I won't admit it. hehe
Julie in response to you - I think you really have nothing to fear... firstly you have great talent and often produce great work, and secondly I think that you missed a major point and that is that work should only be constructively criticised if it is not up to THAT authors USUAL standard... its not about picking out bad writers its about helping those of us that are stuck in a rut (like me right now) and helping them to move up to a greater level of understanding and writing. (hopefully.)
dee
PS and don't think I've not noticed Ms Gala has herself not answered... and gup... come on... you too.
btw gup... you sure that ones not about me? <grin>
Okay Gang---
I issued the challenge---so I must take it as well...and what's with the men folk? Silence? C'mon guys...
(deep breath)
Okay---love or lust....
Lust is fascination---you can't take your eyes (or hands for that matter) off the item of interest. You hang off their every word, and read deep into their every motion and nuance...and you live and die for their smile. But lust burns itself out. Love doesn't really start wih things in common---but love can incline you to develop things in common. Love needs lust as part of the equation (and to anyone who doubts this---same man, 20 years---okay?)
but lust can't be the whole.
Love is durable and enduring...it's the desire to protect and shelter---and the spirit to give...even when you'd rather take.Add all that to mutual respect, a touch of lust, and humor and viola!
2. Men think of love as a restraint---or so it seems to me. Women tend to view love as a creative force. I've seen enough men do the "I gave up my freedom for you" routine---but women do the same...and don't ever seem to be regarded for that "sacrifice." It smacks of we enjoy emotional bondage---which I think applies to neither men, nor women.
I know there are women who use sex as an emotional bargaining chip, so chill guys...but that has nothing to do with love. Women want to be loved--and cherished. Men want to be loved---and valued beyond their ability to earn a paycheck Round and round it goes...
Pet peeve? Men who fall in love with a woman because she is xyz---then fall out of love with her because of the very same traits....
My flaw? I try and convince myself that I can give selflessly---and not expect the same in return---but I screw up. At some point, I do expect a loved one to give back...maybe not as much, maybe not the same things---but something. And guys and gals---casual ain't. Keep it light are the cruelest words you can hear from someone who already has half your heart....
So says Gala....
erin,
Love the Dorothy Parker poem you submitted. I'm a huge fan. I forget the title, but I've got this one hanging on my bathroom door (it's part of a collage):
Some men break your heart into
Some men fawn and flatter
Some men never look at you
And that cleans up the matter.
Misti...
Glad I am not the only neurotic insecure nut (and I STILL won't eat red M&M's because my Mom told me once they had poisonous dye in them)
Gala...
Wise one. :) I have the tendency to empty myself giving and giving and then (weeks, months, later) realize that I am empty because I have received nothing back...
Guppy...
I am QUITE interested to hear your point of view.
I found some quotes, too. . .
HOW DO PEOPLE IN LOVE BEHAVE?
* "Mushy ... like puppy dogs ... except puppy dogs don't wag their tails nearly as much." - Arnold, age 10
* "When a person gets kissed for the first time, they fall down and they don't get up for at least an hour." - Wendy, age 8 * "Love will find you, even if you are trying to hide from it. I've been trying to hide from it since I was five, but the girls keep finding me." - Dave, age 8
* "Never kiss in front of other people. It's a big embarrassing thing if anybody sees you....If nobody sees you, I might be willing to try it with a handsome boy, but just for a few hours." - Kally, age 9
WHAT FALLNG IN LOVE IS LIKE
* "I think you're supposed to get shot with an arrow or something, but the rest of it isn't supposed to be so painful." - Manuel, age 8
* "If falling in love is anything like learning how to spell, I don't want to do it. It takes too long." - Glenn, age 7
* "It isn't always just how you look. Look at me. I'm handsome like anything and I haven't got anybody to marry me yet." - Brian, age 7
* "It gives me a headache to think about that stuff. I'm just a kid. I don't need that kind of trouble." - Will, age 7
SOME SUREFIRE WAYS TO MAKE A PERSON FALL IN LOVE WITH YOU
* "Shake your hips and hope for the best." - Camille, age 9
* "One way is to take the girl out to eat. Make sure it's something she likes to eat. French fries usually works for me." - Bart, age 9
* "Yell out that you love them at the top of your lungs ... and don't worry if their parents are right there." - Manuel, age 8
* "Don't do things like have smelly green sneakers. You might get attention, but attention ain't the same thing as love." - Alonzo, age 9
Julie - I agree with deevaa - an artists work should only be constructively criticised (and ok, so I wasn't so constructive with Misti as I could have been)if it is not up to his or her usual standard.
Wow! Great reaction people---thanks!
Madison---that's cheating....come on---take the quiz!
And Guppy---c'mon guy! We need MALE imput and since Kev's away for a few more days, it's up to you to defend your gender---or maybe...HEY KIRK! you're always interested in rambles related to romance! How about it Big Kahuna?
Gala, laughing with delight