Friday, June 4

Sir? Do you get extra credit for this?

The way men ‘measure’, nix that - the way men ‘measure up’ has always been a rather contentious point to dwell upon. It seems the keys is in the inches; in measures, in defining a mathematic, quantifiable version of themselves. Less so for women. But then again keeping score was just never my thing. My foray into the numerical sphere halted at about the same time I rather decided I liked almost everything else instead.

Yet a rather curious thought occurred to me after reading a witty little book by Father Pat Connor – correct ‘Father’. Apologies to the non-religious who might take offence, well, you know, some people treat religion as a dirty word these days.

So we place a lot of time and over analysing energy into establishing how men measure up as boyfriends but exactly how much attention do we pay – or even think to pay when making the marital leap? It’s all nice they make the grade as boyfs, but how will they measure up as husbands?

Plenty of chivalrous, effort filled dating men, could, for all intents and purposes potentially live up to all our delicious fantasies. Leaving us to salivate over how simply wonderful they are. And yet rice thrown and promises made? Do they really stand up to the test or somehow have we been slyly developing characters no self respecting boyfriend-husband morph could ever actually live up to? And lord only knows what the score sheet looks like? I guess the boring Cosmopolitan magazine oldies just get trodden out.

Well – despite what the score card says and what conclusions you come to I guess it doesn’t change much in the end. 9 times out of 10 men measure by maths, and women by virtue. Spin it any way you want – multiple choice, essay, short answer or verbal exam – you end up with the same question. Is he the one? And quite frankly, no extra credit class on ligand-binding theory can help you with that little gem.

Thursday, June 3

Do you think Romeo has a Facebook page?

To facebook relationship link or to not facebook relationship link? That seems to be the question…

It’s ‘oh-so-Romeo’ that I cant even bare to think of its romantic implications on the future of English literature. Really? Is this what my life has been reduced too? Wow. But then again I’ve heard successful relationships are not just about merging finances and furniture. Apparently it’s about declaring your electronic dependency. Well he did pirate a program for me and I expanded his iPod horizons. Dependant enough for you Mark Zuckerberg?

To begin with, I’m fairly new to this whole facebook scenario, but I have not resisted because of archaic aversion. I am just fiercely protective of spreading myself over a medium that does little good for many people. See Paris Hilton’s sex tape. I mean some of the pictures on FB are boarder line worrying – and if one more person spouts the virtues of de-tagging… What happened to the old fashioned burning of prints and theft of negatives? Nothing like a smidgen of arson and burglary to enforce peace of mind!

That being said, last night I sucked up my courage and asked the 20% Russian to please remove some latent photos of his ex-girlfriend I had cruised. (You must remember the myth of the Minator?) Not him and his ex. Not him and his ex “avec les autres”. Not even the ex in a group with other people. But just 2 of her standing solo. The combo pics can remain. Past is past and she was a player, but the solo ones? And to that fact, not even good pics. No. Sorry. They’re going. Beats me how they ended up tagged in the fist place, but perhaps that shows a newbie’s naivety. Attention needs to be paid, Zuckerberg – on to it please.

And after that useless deliberation which saw a serious focus swerve, I’m no further down the line than I was when I started this piece, nor 3 months ago when I was forced to join the site for fear of misrepresentation (you know who you are Miss Harvard). The relationship linkage still seems cheesy, fake and forced as it feels like a redundant symbol of electronic abdication. Frankly, at this stage, I’ll just be happy knowing that there isn’t an effigy to his ex hidden somewhere in the trite ‘random pics’ collection. (4th thumbnail across, first page of the ‘Europe and Random Album’ circa 2008, if you’re interested)