HORRORoscope

My horoscope for today:

There are some things in life that, no matter how hard you polish them, will never shine. You are considering the fact that a particular situation is likely to never change or improve, no matter how much effort or possibly money you invest in it. Don't see this as a reason to be regretful or despondent. It's this realization that will free you from an unhappy or undesirable scenario.

WOW. This could apply to SO MANY issues in my life that are at a complete and utter impasse. Dating, job situation, school, certain relationships I have. I appreciate the brutal honesty, guess I gotta figure out some new strategies, FOR REAL!

You Blew It...Again

This thought just occurred to me while riding the train home today...

That an individual could have had so many chances at love and somehow manage to blow them all is disgusting, sad and unfathomable!

Dum de Dumb Dumb

I finally have a new home! I'm away from the ceaseless background roar of the BQE! Horray! Away from the fake awkward conversations with my antisocial roommate. Away from my tiny cramped room. Away from my rickety metal IKEA loft bed. Away from the stroller pushing yuppie yoga moms of my former 'hood. Away from the morning smells of burnt coffee, the muted earth-tone decor, the 'Squeeze me, stomp me, make me Wine' plaque at my old house. Yay!
Of course now I am living with an eccentric playwright and some other guy who I barely met before moving in. I traded in the pristine, snobby, White affluence of Carroll Gardens for 'Do or Die' Bedstuy. And on my second night here my roommate and I managed to drink a bottle of wine and an ENTIRE bottle of vodka! When we finished the wine he said he was going to run out to the store to get some beer, then he asked if I wanted vodka. I was like 'Uhhhh...well that's not necessary. But well, I guess I won't say no.' I have a little problem turning down vodka, lord help me! He kept making me drinks in a pint glass and continually refilling it. We rambled on for 4 hours about organic farming, dating, sex, activism, politics, San Francisco, blah blah blah and before you knew it we were both wasted and the bottle was empty. I can't tell if its a promising start to things or not...

Immaturity

I was dating an interesting, smart and sexy music producer casually for the past month and a half. Besides the obvious flaw of being emotionally unavailable (that's how I like all my men, I guess)due to a recent separation from his wife of 13 years, he was a bit different from my 'normal' type. First of all he had money and a good job, secondly he was white and to top it off he was older than me - in his 40s. My dating preferences as of the last couple years tend to run towards young, brown, marginally employed and foreign!
Even though I had little expectation of anything serious happening with this guy, I felt that he was mature, financially stable and educated - a step in the right direction, at least. We had lots of interesting conversations, made out in his art studio, he showed me a video of his son's band, I met his dog and his favorite bartender, he told me stories about his grandparents during W.W.II and how they stayed in touch even though they were in separate concentration camps, we discussed religion, politics and music. He was a cool guy and I was enjoying getting to know him. Well, turns out he's pretty much similar to the rest. Three days after having sex with him for the first time on the (4th or 5th date)I received this text message:

"Violeta, we talked a lot about doing the right thing and being a good person. I want to do that, and be up front that I'm not ready to keep dating. I think you're so sweet but my situation isn't going to make for anything very secure. I'm here now if you want to talk on the phone, or we could get together for coffee or a beer again. I hope you understand. Hugs, J."

Just when you thought you were dating a 46 year old man and things might be different - he dumps you by text message after sleeping with you! Ahhhhhh...is there no justice in this world??!!! Technology has absolved us of all propriety.

Is it Me or is it Society?!

I'm reading an essay by C. Wright Mills called 'The Sociological Imagination' for class. I've long suspected that beyond my own personal struggles to find love and companianship, that there is something wrong on a larger level - some insideous social breakdown between men and women - well, not even - between HUMANS in this country that prevents us from relating to one another in an open, sincere and loving way. My single friends report the same things time and time again - its hard to meet anyone interested in a relationship. Women complain the men are guarded, jaded, unable to comitt. Men complain the women are jugdgemental, overly emotional, demanding. (Forgive the apparent stereotypes here, but these are the common complaints that I hear from each gender.)Its helping me to view my own personal problems of lonliness and lack of a partner as a part of a greater issue. According to Mills, 'Troubles occur within the character of the individual and within the range of his or her immediate relations with others...A trouble is a private matter: values cherished by an individual are felt by her to be threatened. Issues have to do with matters that transcend these local environments of the individual and the range of her inner life...An issue is a public matter: some value cherished by the public is felt to be threatened.' Superficially, my failure to connect appears to be a private problem, my own personal hell. However, when we look at the swelling tides of isolation and lonliness around us, that more Americans are single than ever before, 27% of American households now consist of single individuals living alone - the highest number ever - we see that this is not just a personal trouble, this is a national epidemic!

As Mills goes on to say, '...consider unemployment. When, in a city of 100,000, only one is unemployed, that is his personal trouble, and for its relief we properly look to the character of the individual, his skill and opportunities. But when in a nation of 50 million employees, 15 million people are unemployed, that is an issue, and we may not hope to find its solution within the range of opportunities open to any one individual. The very structure of opportunities has collapsed. Both the correct statement of this problem and the range of possible solutions require us to consider the economic and political instituions of the society, and not merely the personal situation and character of a scatter of individuals.'

Panic on the streets of London

What seething rage lies in the hearts of these hopeless young people?
When even their small dreams are denied and life seems pointless...
In the darkness of my own smoldering anger, I can hardly blame them.

Social and economic inequality
"Britain is less equal, in wages, wealth, and life chances, than at any time since" the last major financial upheaval, the great crash of 1929, says Mary Riddell in Britain's Telegraph. It's almost poetic that when the riots broke out, the same ruling class that failed this angry "lost generation" was vacationing abroad, "parked on sun-loungers, as London burned." Indeed, the cause of this week's unrest mirrors that of the riots of 1981 and 1990, says Steve Hynd at Newshoggers: "Brutal cuts, forced austerity," and the shakedown of "the common people to finance corporate giveaways."

A British blogger wrote of the factors behind the riots: “Cuts to everything, including welfare and education, have created an atmosphere where the poor and alienated feel that the basic means to the ends of success are no longer available. Moreover, at the same time that austerity is expected of the poor, who are simply meant to swallow their lack of opportunity, it is, of course, business as usual for the rich who continue to consume and the mass media which persists in selling everybody a consumer fantasy. “

This Hideous Life Part 2,000,000,000

WARNING: THIS IS A RANT

I've been trying so hard to be positive, but the last 2 days I would like nothing more than to punch someone in the face. Hard. Actually, I can think of a couple candidates...

As if months of sexual harassment, physical threats, 2 weeks of UNPAID 'training' shifts, getting fired for no good reason, a nearly austistic roommate who can barely carry on a basic conversation, dating a guy who lied about his name and tried to trick me into not using a condom, a date with a guy who grabbed my breasts and squeezed them in a restaurant, another who reached over and pinched my ass while we were walking down the street, having a guy tell me he loves me only to have him tell me several days later that he can't have a 'serious relationship', going to a graduate school that barely offers any classes in my department, wandering the streets at night because I don't feel comfortable going home, isn't bad enough...I've started a new job in real estate...and I haven't earned a penny in 3 weeks!

This is so frustrating. I'm tired of being poor and alone. I'm sick of people being disingenious at best and outright liars at worst. I don't understand why its so difficult for people to be honest,to do what they say they are going to do and to take other people's feelings into account. I don't understand why common courtesy and human decency are so difficult to find. I know I'm not perfect but I'm honest, loyal and (usually!) kind. To me these should be baseline human qualities, not exceptions. What the hell is wrong with people these days?!

I Can't Give It Up

Baby how could you trick me like this? After I gave up all my pride and completely subjugated myself to you? After I let myself go...and even then I longed to go so much deeper with you. But you got scared, you lost control, as you said, and you caught yourself. Well, me, I wanted to take it even further, abandon all inhibition and shame, delve into the deepest, darkest part of ourselves. But you pulled away and then I did too. You felt too much, said too much and then you wanted your independence. I would never desire to possess you completely and I would never want to be entirely yours. Please forgive us. Our desire. Our greed. Our confusion...
I don't want to lose you completely. I know most everything is ruined. And I blame you, maybe myself a little bit too. If it wasn't for our romantic delusions, maybe things would have been different. I doubt it though.
Anyway, I miss talking to you about life, everything. I compare all the other guys to you. And they always disappoint me.

Family

My brother and his wife were just here visiting me in the city. (As it turns out I’m probably gonna stay after all – I am still a little in love with this place.) It was so good to be with family. The warmth and comfort of someone who knows you so well – all your annoying quirks, who tolerates your never ending complaint sessions about the same old things, who you can talk to for hours on end about the state of the world (or just the state of your life) and who loves you in spite of it all. Such a relief, because there’s not exactly a ton of unconditional love floating around in my life.

I feel the sweet tang of sadness when they go. I am snapped from the cushion of companionship and returned to my strange and elusive solitary ways. After hugging goodbye outside the subway stop on 14th St they disappeared into a hole in the ground. I was alone again on a warm night in Manhattan. The breeze picked up softly, bleeding the darkness and lights together as I drifted off into the miasma of the city. In love with loneliness and being lost.

Where I Came From

Twilight closes in and I step outside. The dry air is silent, hovering on the verge of darkness. Trees have grown up along the old path, obscuring the view of the meadow below. Once a tiny sapling in my memory, a large oak now huddles in a verdant clump surrounded by young pines. The growth of these trees surprises me but then I am reminded time has been passing. And not a little bit of time. It will be 20 years this summer since I left, all my belongings thrown carelessly into big black garbage bags. I drove away down that long dusty hill in my Toyota Tercel, with pictures of Robert Smith taped to the back window, blasting some staticy ‘modern rock’ radio station. I was headed to the big city for college and a better life – to forget my small town shoddiness. To leave the chaotic, eccentric poverty of my parents’ weird lifestyle, to make new and interesting friends, to take drugs and stay up all night, to not be fat, to not be a virgin.

Here I am no longer a child, not even young anymore. And still the silence and isolation of this place holds me in its thrall. I can see now that it is beautiful in its remote uncultivated way. My Dad struggles incessantly, fencing gardens, pulling weeds, cutting grass, sawing down trees, repairing old buildings and yet everything rebels and returns to nature – paths overgrown, thistles and weeds thrive, trees rot and fall under the weight of winter snow, the buildings slip into disrepair – the wood going grey and brittle, birds eat the fruit from the trees, gophers pilfer the gardens and rattlesnakes lurk in the grass.

How can this relate to my life in New York City? These worlds seem at odds, split entirely from one another. And yet I am part of them both, even though I have wanted to disappear. I am from here. This solitary wilderness still flowers within me, inescapable as nature.