A VERY IMPORTANT milestone

It took only a few weeks of diligence, patience and unbridled determination.

I FINISHED CROCHETING MY FIRST HUMAN ADULT-SIZED BLANKET.

Do you fully understand the magnitude of this achievement?!

(And is it not beautiful!?)

(However it's not really my personal taste, what with the lacy border, although I do like the textured herringbone pattern. It *is* my mother-in-law's taste, though, because it's a gift for her birthday, which has since passed, but that's okay because I think she will be elated.)

I have grown as a person because of it.

Perhaps now I will have the fortitude to eventually finish these other projects.

Six Random Things About Myself: Part Deux

I think I'm a pretty patient person ("pretty" as in "generally," although I won't mind if you also think I'm pretty) with a mild temperament. I don't think I rant often (right? Jen? Keith?), and I'm usually not quick to anger; do you know that saying, Beware the fury of a patient man? When I *do* get angry, and I rant and rave and shout and yell and cry and shake and my stomach turns to knots, there's been a LOT going into it.

Yet it's been a common theme in my life lately, wacknoodleness. And at the risk of posting two rants in a row, here's another random thing about myself:

I'm all out out of patience for people who assume too much and listen too little.

It's a newish peeve of mine, really. Or maybe it isn't new, but one that I'm vividly aware of lately. It's all coming from a particularly bad experience I had a few weeks ago with a particular wacknoodle, followed by another less intense but equally bad experience not long after that.

These people, you see, are typically overbearing in one way or another because they assume something about you to be true, despite the fact that you have perhaps made direct statements to the contrary. Maybe they think they know what's best for you, and make decisions that affect you without your consultation; or they presume that you think the same as they do, and make decisions that affect you without your consultation. Both overreact angrily when you suggest they are in the wrong to have done so, and you refuse to just shut your mouth and go along with it. They're passive-aggressive -- cold-shouldering, excluding, guilt-inducing -- and make no effort to understand the heart of what's really bothering you, because (a) they don't listen, (b) they think they have your best interests in mind, and (c) they think you're being unreasonable.

And I'm not putting up with it anymore.

Now, it has occured to me that these recurring bad experiences could be resulting from what might be my own skewed perspective on interpersonal communication, and so I've taken to reflecting very carefully on how the other party might perceive the situation. Because I am not perfect (although I *am* a neurotic perfectionist) and sometimes, I find that I'm the one who needs to chill out (usually because I am a neurotic perfectionist). I like to be as scientific, as logical, as objective as possible -- taking time to consider why I am reacting in a particular way, and why the other person may be reacting in a particular way -- before I actually react, like an internal system of checks and balances: my own legislative, executive and judicial branches, all right here in my head! It gives me a fuller understanding of the situation and keeps me from reacting over-emotionally. I mean, sure I get emotional -- I'm a girl after all -- but at least I usually know why, and I can keep my emotions in check. I can be the voice of reason and logic when everyone else is acting like wacknoodles. And then I suppose I come off as cold and insensitive. (It's a cruel, cruel world.)

Which is probably why I don't have much patience for people who don't do the same thing, who don't think. And who don't confront, who'd rather ignore you and/or ignore the issue at hand. Who'd rather sweep the dust under the rug. Who give you a band-aid to heal a bruise. It probably also explains why it's easier to be friends with boys.

And I really, honestly don't think I'm wrong to want to be treated with respect: meaning that what I have to say matters, whatever you think, and that I deserve to be understood whether or not you share my perspective. I don't think I'm wrong to expect that those who don't know enough about me shouldn't assume anything about me. So here's a hint: those who think they know enough never do. Because if you know enough about me, you'll know better than to assume. Which means you're also probably a very good listener. And I love you for it.

Biznitches

Since when is it so wrong to refuse to go to the trouble of making a dish (a pie, no less) to a meal being hosted by someone else, (a) when your weekend is so full that you won't have time, and (b) WHEN THEY DON'T CALL YOU UNTIL 4:00 THE NIGHT BEFORE?

Also, since when did it become okay to get angry with a guest who says No, I don't have time to make a pie--because in all the history of hosting I thought it was perfectly acceptable for a guest to decline to bend over backwards to make the host's life easier whether it was convenient for the guest or not, *particularly* when said host has gone to no great lengths to make your life easier in attending said function, and has, in fact, made it about as difficult as it could possibly be. And beside that they DIDN'T BOTHER ASKING UNTIL 4:00 THE NIGHT BEFORE. Is it that some people feel okay about taking advantage of their family members? Or are they simply *that* clueless?

Or maybe they're just indifferent to the fact that by the end of this weekend, we'll have had to drive to and from Baltimore--at 2 hours each way--twice, because they've planned this function on Father's Day, and call me silly, but I, personally, like to spend Father's Day with my dad. Instead, I'm celebrating Father's Day with my dad tonight. But shame on me for MAKING PLANS, when I should have instead been sitting around waiting to receive my orders to MAKE A PIE. Because I should have known we'd be asked to do something.

What WAS I thinking?

*HUFF*