Thursday, December 13, 2007

Seven negative things (only 7?!)

JMC challenged her readers to do a Seven Negative Things meme. Negative, I can do!

1. I will go out of my way just to avoid rejection. Like the time in grade nine when I quit the basketball team rather than tell the coach that I would have to leave early from the Wednesday practice to make it to my piano lesson. My 13-year-old logic concluded that it was better to miss the whole season of basketball, rather than: a) talk to the coach and ask for an accommodation; or b) talk to my piano teacher and ask to change my lesson time. All these years later, I still hate myself for being so stupid.

2. I am very secretive. Tell me a secret and I won’t tell a soul… you can take that to the bank. While this isn’t necessarily a bad thing, it can become bad when it hurts someone to know that I didn’t trust him or her enough to share what I know.

3. I have zero tolerance for people who make excuses instead of taking responsibility for something they have done. I get sarcastic, quiet and bitchy and instantly think less of them.

4. I also have zero tolerance for people who complain all the time. Everyone complains now and then, but there are some people just have such a rough life that they must complain about it constantly. That’s me being sarcastic, because my experience is that people who actually have a hard life are much better at coping with it than the complainers. I can’t even fake that I feel sympathy for the person. I just think they’re weak.

5. I have serious self-image issues. Okay, not serious in the sense that it would lead me to any kind eating disorder or other self-destructive behaviour, just serious in that it’s out of whack. I hate my skin (pale - but not porcelain pale, rashy), my hair (not curly or straight, mousey colour, never had a hairstyle I was crazy about), my body (boobs too small, bum too big, arms not toned enough). I don’t complain about any of these things (see number 4), but I always wish I were just a little bit better.

6. I am terrible at keeping up with friendships. I think maybe if something like Facebook was around when I was in high school/university, I may have been better. I can barely get Christmas cards out, let alone remember anyone’s birthday (or send a card or even email if I do remember). My best friends are my circle of friends from high school. They are good at keeping up, so I haven’t lost them yet.

7. I don’t have a sentimental bone in my body. I’ve been married for 10 years, and I have never once bothered to watch the wedding video. Our wedding album is the book of proofs provided by the photographer (we ordered 1-5x7 and 1-8x10 for ourselves, plus a few for our families.) I don’t keep notes, cards, report cards or anything else from my past. I have some photos from different times in my life, but they’re all in the basement, just thrown into a box. I keep them, because I know I should. I will do baby books for my kids, but I have yet to get past the ultrasound pictures for Lisa’s. Bart and Maggie don’t even have a book yet.

So, that was cheery!

9 comments:

Family Adventure said...

Lori, we are so alike it's almost spooky...I could have written all of these. Except the basketball/piano situation. Never did either...:)

Heidi

Jess said...

I don't think that last one is necessarily negative. It's just how you are. And also, the zero tolerance (numbers 3 and 4) aren't necessarily bad either.

Also, I totally have regrets from when I was in preschool. I was really shy and at naptime the teachers would walk around offering to rub everyone's back, and even though I really wanted a backrub, I always said no, and then I would always lie there wishing I had said yes. I found out years later from my mom that the teachers felt very sad about the fact that I would never let them rub my back. Maybe this explains why I'm a total sucker for backrubs now.

email said...

I have to first say that I didn't realize that anyone would actually DO this. I have INFLUENCE! Cool. ;)

Your kids new names are totally throwing me. This is going to take a while to get used to. My first thought after reading "the ultrasound pictures for Lisa’s", was, "Who the hell is Lisa?"

I like your seven things. I can relate with most, if not all, of them. And we are sisters in sarcasm. The only person in my household who doesn't understand sarcasm is the baby, but maybe she does. My four-year-old is always saying, "You're just being sarcastic."

Mighty Morphin' Mama said...

Even if it wasn't the cheeriest, I liked this post a lot. I feel like I can relate to so much of what you said. Except number 7. I am so sentimental, but lazy about it. So my kids don't have baby books either. I am working on keeping up with the present though:)

artemisia said...

I am not very sentimental, either. I used to be, but not so much anymore.

A. is through-the-roof sentimental. It makes for some good "CAN-WE-PLEASE-GET-THIS-CLUTTER-UNDER-CONTROL" brawls.

Eh.

Flibberty said...

I liked this post. I'm not sentimental either. In fact, I don't keep anything. I've kept all the cards Brett has given me since we started dating, but honestly, I dont't know what to do with them. What do sentimental people do? How much closet space do these people have?

Saly said...

I have good intentions of being sentimental, but being lazy usually gets in the way. We are all very big on the sarcasm in my house too. It's kind of our way of life.

I liked this entry.

And sorry I'm being a huge whiner/complainer lately. :)

LoriD said...

jess - that preschool thing is heartbreaking! Seriously, my heart is melting for baby Jess.

Tess said...

I really, really, liked this post.

I don't like complainers either. Even though my blog is a total bitchfest, I almost never complain in real life. It is strictly verboten in my fine midwestern tradition.