Freckles & Doubt (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
freckles_and_doubt) wrote2006-12-05 09:25 am
freckles_and_doubt) wrote2006-12-05 09:25 am
Entry tags:
strictly alphabetical romance
It's not often that one is privileged to watch the birth of a meme. Patroclus has originated a fascinating exercise in romantic memory, and in certain areas of my version of it, some intense scrutiny for silver linings in rather obnoxious clouds. I am unashamedly leaping on the bandwagon. Herewith "the COMPLETE, UNABRIDGED and ALPHABETICAL list of everything I have learned about" from my serious boyfriends since I was 16.1
alcohol, Ali G, bad sex, Bloodhound Gang, bloody-mindedness, the British army, Bauhaus, depression, emotional fuckwittery, fluffy Cthulhus, good DMing, good roleplaying, good sex, Gor, goth, handbrake turns, Heroes of Might and Magic, infidelity, Linux, manipulativeness, Monty Python, neat cupboards, Pagemaker, Pink Floyd, rally driving, Roxette, Sisters of Mercy, spiritualism, spying for the apartheid government, strip chess, suicide attempts, Swaziland, Talking Heads, trenchcoats, Twin Peaks, wing chun.
That's a long list: I'd think I was a mere sponge to random romantic influences, except that quite a lot of my core interests aren't there, which means I'm a mere sponge to all sorts of other influences as well. (Or that I ferret them out for myself). However, the primary lesson I take from this meme is that I'd probably be a lot happier if, rather than simply listing the influences, I'd got involved with the men in strict alphabetical order, and stopped before the end. I don't think I'd have missed much on the learning experience. (Why the hell do half my exes have names that start with A? It seems unnecessarily thematic).
Go on, you try. I tag anyone who's ever learned anything from a relationship. Heh.
alcohol, Ali G, bad sex, Bloodhound Gang, bloody-mindedness, the British army, Bauhaus, depression, emotional fuckwittery, fluffy Cthulhus, good DMing, good roleplaying, good sex, Gor, goth, handbrake turns, Heroes of Might and Magic, infidelity, Linux, manipulativeness, Monty Python, neat cupboards, Pagemaker, Pink Floyd, rally driving, Roxette, Sisters of Mercy, spiritualism, spying for the apartheid government, strip chess, suicide attempts, Swaziland, Talking Heads, trenchcoats, Twin Peaks, wing chun.
That's a long list: I'd think I was a mere sponge to random romantic influences, except that quite a lot of my core interests aren't there, which means I'm a mere sponge to all sorts of other influences as well. (Or that I ferret them out for myself). However, the primary lesson I take from this meme is that I'd probably be a lot happier if, rather than simply listing the influences, I'd got involved with the men in strict alphabetical order, and stopped before the end. I don't think I'd have missed much on the learning experience. (Why the hell do half my exes have names that start with A? It seems unnecessarily thematic).
Go on, you try. I tag anyone who's ever learned anything from a relationship. Heh.
- 1 Counting on my fingers, I've just realised that slightly under half of my exes read this blog. Good grief. Hasty disclaimer (to the ones I know are reading, at least): none of you count as the obnoxious clouds, and none of the particularly nasty lessons were you. Probably.
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(Anonymous) 2006-12-05 09:56 am (UTC)(link)And the reason I did mine in the first place was that I often worry I'm just a sponge for other people's interests, and I too was very pleased to discover that a lot of my core interests weren't on my list either. Phew, eh?
Patroclus (oo, really can't get the hang of this LJ commenting!)
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Actually, some of my most enduring tastes come from mad, unrequited crushes rather than actual relationships. Particularly in music, for some reason. I suspect the unrequited bit puts the whole thing into a realm of nostalgic idealisation, unlike the nitty-gritty realism of an actual relationship.
Looking back over this, I am deeply saddened that none of my ex-boyfriends appear to have taught me anything about cooking, playing a musical instrument or literary theory (this last possibly because I stopped listening every time the most recent bfriend started burbling about Fanon). Perhaps I should impose more stringent parameters on my choice of the next one.
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let's see...
Asterix, Beach Volleyball, betrayal,depression, firestarting, good sex, Hardy Boys, KY Jelly would be about it. Sad to say, I learned about sodomy and bad sex long before serious boyfriends.
I have a much harder time thinking about what girlfriends have taught me - let's see...
Dead Can Dance, driving,the "G" chord, the "G-Spot", Jung, Tintin and trust would about cover it, I think.
It would seem I am largely a self-made man, then.
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