Stream of Consiousness Sunday: Between a Rock and a Hard Place

I am always thrilled to participate in Jana's Sunday Stream of Consciousness. Who doesn't like a five minute brain dump that you don't have to edit? Today I will call it my five minute rant.

I detest feeling frustrated. And I equally detest feeling annoyed. But the feeling I detest even more, whipping both frustration and annoyance into the frothiest mixture of icky feelings, is one in which I feel between a rock and a hard place. It's that dreadful place where you have no choice, or feel as if you don't, because if you exercised your right to make that choice, a certain choice, you would be "the bad guy". Or deemed unreasonable or a bitch or probably even other worse things. 

You are asked if something is okay with you; works for you. Do you mind if...?

And the answer is "no"; it's not really okay. It doesn't work for me; I do mind.

But you feel you can't say "no". And you have to do it. Then act like you don't mind if it goes down at all.

You can express how uncomfortable it is for you fully understanding it's going to happen anyway. Because you have no choice but to say "yes". 

So you try to put some boundaries on it to make it seem better. And you throw out a "I know other people who would feel the same as me" for good measure. You feel like a heel for even feeling this way at all. And you feel like some sort of brat. But you can't help it because it's just how you feel. 

This is how I feel at this very minute. And I detest it.

Ever felt this way?

www.janasthinkingplace.com

Trifextra: You Can't Go Back

Trifecta gave us three words:

Charge, Century, Lost

We are to add 33 additional words. And here are mine.

************************

“Let’s go back.”

“A century?”

“No...”

“When then?”

“When we felt in charge of time yet to come. When we had a grip. When we didn’t feel so lost.”

“You think then was better?”

“Yes. Then.”

Intouchables (The Movie) and I Told You So's...

I don’t have to be “right”. I don’t actually care if I am or even if no one notices or acknowledges it. I can keep the self-satisfaction to myself. I hate gloaters!

After 24 years as a wife and mother, I am a professional battle picker! I don’t often push hard for something that doesn’t really matter much to me. Like with family movie night, I’m the first to cave because I’d rather have us together snuggling under blankets than someone leaving the room in a huff.

So last night when movie negotiations began, I decided it was time to hold my ground and insisted we watch something I saw a few months ago called Intouchables (of course pronounced in the proper French way). I had a few reasons why I wanted them to see it, at this particular time, though one of which is that it's outstanding.

(They wanted to watch a soccer movie with Gerard Butler and Jessica Biel. Uh, uh!)

“What’s it about?” my daughter asked.

“Well, it’s a French movie about…” I replied.

“Don’t tell me it’s subtitled,” said my other half, stirring the pot.

“Yes. It’s subtitled but you won’t even notice it.”

“You don’t think we’ll notice that we are reading THE WHOLE THING?”

“Nope!”

“GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!! I know I’m going to fall asleep,” added the college student.

Within 15 minutes, I heard the first chuckle. I smiled knowing no one would doze off any time soon.

Intouchables is a true story about an unlikely relationship that develops between a down on his luck ex-con from a difficult upbringing and an extremely wealthy wheelchair bound quadriplegic who requires full time care. They need each other.

It is oftentimes extremely touching and there are at least five scenes in which it is impossible not to laugh along with several opportunities to reflect on how even people with opposing personalities and lifestyles can and do often connect. Our basic need to rely on other people comes through too.

As the credits rolled after midnight and neither was remotely close to falling asleep, I asked the doubters what they thought.

“I really, really liked it. I'm glad we saw it,” said my husband.

“It was really funny but that could have been you, Mom,” solemnly added my daughter.

As much as I knew they'd like it, my daughter hit the nail on the head. That was the reason I insisted we watch it because it could have been our lives right now.

I never said, “I told you so or I knew I was right.”  

But it didn't stop me from smiling to myself knowing I was.

Or from subtly mentioning my "rightness" this morning!

***************************

There is nothing more fun than hanging with the weekend Moonshiners over at Yeah Write. AND it is an especially special weekend as we whoop it up with Erica for her birthday! Hope you're having a good one, girl!!!! Come check it out!

Trifecta: Flip A Coin

Andy Rooney created something called “The 50-50-90 rule: anytime you have a 50-50 chance of getting something right, there's a 90% probability you'll get it wrong.”  Trifecta wants us to formulate our own probability equations.  Use whichever numbers suit us, and make it about whatever we'd like, but give them something to think about.  In 33 words, of course.

From Life123.com

Marrying for love; being right > 51% 

(Fingers-crossed!)

Raising upstanding, compassionate, 

world contributors > 73.575% 

(Subjectively optimistic!)

Both easy < 10%

(Nonstop excitement!)

Value on E-Bay = Priceless 

(I checked! ;-))