A learned haircut, and a foul word
Barton is cold. I had my head shaved yesterday. I'm now wearing a hat. Indoors.
Saw colleague Catherine yesterday evening. Her car was off the road, I gave her and Gemma (daughter, aged 3) a lift home from nursery. Following a handsome tea of pumpkin and aubergine curry, Catherine got out the rather ancient hair clippers, and got a-clippin'. Undisturbable - due to a sleeping 3-year old - I returned to my "defensive" performance of last Saturday evening.
Shane: "About my one-night stand, I am going to tell you about it"
Catherine: "Oh dear, bothering you is it"
Shane: "Please"
Catherine: "Sor-ry"
Shane: "A long time ago, I had a one-night stand with a fellow student - we were both very drunk. At that time I was not single. Soon after, I split with my girlfriend - that was supported by my receiving legal aid and a my ex-girlfriend receiving a restraining order. Six months later my one-night stand and I got together - that lasted for just under a year."
(Brief pause - barring the hair clippers' buzz)
Catherine: "Hmm. May I ask a question?"
Shane: "I haven't finished yet. On another occasion - very sober, and without any talk of a 'relationship' - I had a one-night stand with someone who'd been a friend for a long time. Soon after, that friendship - or at least all contact - ended. That was supported by my feeling unmoved at having had the one-night stand and, I suspect, by my ex-friend feeling used or angry at herself. I never found out."
(Pause - barring the hair clippers' buzz)
Catherine: "Finished"
Shane: "It doesn't feel finished"
Catherine: "Not your hair - you clown, your monologue"
Shane: "Ah. Yes. I think."
Catherine: "Ok. So why so defensive when I approached this the other night?"
Shane: "I was willing to talk about this the other night. However, in answer to your question, doing this kind of talk can remind me of the sick feeling I got when I found out that I was my first girlfriend's - my first sexual partner's - thirteenth sexual partner. You could say her sharing that - she thought I'd be "impressed" - kind of took the edge off how I felt about us. In practice, it also meant that whenever we went out we'd end up running into ex-f****s of her's. I didn't like that."
Catherine: "Mm"
(Hair clippers' buzzing stops)
Catherine: "That, dear boy, is one very mean-looking haircut. My advice: get a hat. And by the way, that was two one-night stands."
Shane: "I know. I don't remember which one I'd have had in mind - if I previously said there'd been one."
Catherine: "The second I reckon."
It felt good to have shared that. And thank you to Jay for the comment to the previous post on the subject - a decent prompt. ":)" as you say.
Following Monday's very pleasant non-date (official version) with Emma, she called me today and heard me out on my views re educating children - I began by stating that 'education' was a foul word, and that to conflate it with schooling produced a terrible under-sale of the value of home-based and leisure activities. And, I managed to do this without sounding like the kind of cretin who would bang on about "family values". What a talent. Ms Emma that is. She also apologised for being "so embarrassingly drunk" the other night - first time she'd touched alcohol in months. Apparently.
Have begun to ponder what I would want from an "arts and cultural scene" were our little town of Barton - think Bethlehem, but with more bedspace - to host such a phenomenon. The implausibilities are endless.
Saw colleague Catherine yesterday evening. Her car was off the road, I gave her and Gemma (daughter, aged 3) a lift home from nursery. Following a handsome tea of pumpkin and aubergine curry, Catherine got out the rather ancient hair clippers, and got a-clippin'. Undisturbable - due to a sleeping 3-year old - I returned to my "defensive" performance of last Saturday evening.
Shane: "About my one-night stand, I am going to tell you about it"
Catherine: "Oh dear, bothering you is it"
Shane: "Please"
Catherine: "Sor-ry"
Shane: "A long time ago, I had a one-night stand with a fellow student - we were both very drunk. At that time I was not single. Soon after, I split with my girlfriend - that was supported by my receiving legal aid and a my ex-girlfriend receiving a restraining order. Six months later my one-night stand and I got together - that lasted for just under a year."
(Brief pause - barring the hair clippers' buzz)
Catherine: "Hmm. May I ask a question?"
Shane: "I haven't finished yet. On another occasion - very sober, and without any talk of a 'relationship' - I had a one-night stand with someone who'd been a friend for a long time. Soon after, that friendship - or at least all contact - ended. That was supported by my feeling unmoved at having had the one-night stand and, I suspect, by my ex-friend feeling used or angry at herself. I never found out."
(Pause - barring the hair clippers' buzz)
Catherine: "Finished"
Shane: "It doesn't feel finished"
Catherine: "Not your hair - you clown, your monologue"
Shane: "Ah. Yes. I think."
Catherine: "Ok. So why so defensive when I approached this the other night?"
Shane: "I was willing to talk about this the other night. However, in answer to your question, doing this kind of talk can remind me of the sick feeling I got when I found out that I was my first girlfriend's - my first sexual partner's - thirteenth sexual partner. You could say her sharing that - she thought I'd be "impressed" - kind of took the edge off how I felt about us. In practice, it also meant that whenever we went out we'd end up running into ex-f****s of her's. I didn't like that."
Catherine: "Mm"
(Hair clippers' buzzing stops)
Catherine: "That, dear boy, is one very mean-looking haircut. My advice: get a hat. And by the way, that was two one-night stands."
Shane: "I know. I don't remember which one I'd have had in mind - if I previously said there'd been one."
Catherine: "The second I reckon."
It felt good to have shared that. And thank you to Jay for the comment to the previous post on the subject - a decent prompt. ":)" as you say.
Following Monday's very pleasant non-date (official version) with Emma, she called me today and heard me out on my views re educating children - I began by stating that 'education' was a foul word, and that to conflate it with schooling produced a terrible under-sale of the value of home-based and leisure activities. And, I managed to do this without sounding like the kind of cretin who would bang on about "family values". What a talent. Ms Emma that is. She also apologised for being "so embarrassingly drunk" the other night - first time she'd touched alcohol in months. Apparently.
Have begun to ponder what I would want from an "arts and cultural scene" were our little town of Barton - think Bethlehem, but with more bedspace - to host such a phenomenon. The implausibilities are endless.
posted by Shane @ 8:12 pm
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