Friends, Lovers. What? Why? Huh?

What makes us want to be friends?
What makes us want to be lovers?

Oh no...TANGENT ALERT!

I really hate the word ‘lovers.’ I despise that painful designation with every fiber of my being as well as the fibers of three other beings -- human or not

The word just skeeves me clean out. It puts the '70s in mind -- being at parties where guys were heavily voguing the James Taylor/Jackson Browne/Kenny Loggins look and vibe. They’d each knocked over the Fort Knox of Self Confidence before breezing in the door and were fully confident that every last chick was gonna fall over them.

2 things:

1) yes, those guys did score big with their “god, I’m unfathomably deep, laid back, handsome and monstrously sexy in these cool, cotton scrubs -- n'est-ce pas. (and, no, it was never a real question, implied or otherwise) Of course you do. Now, listen to me expound on the wisdom of Allan Watts, the absolute beauty of a suspended 7th chord and ME”  rap.

Sadly.

2) None of them, (OK, one or three maybe), responded well to my *ahem* directness. The “no, look man. Talking Heads, Sex Pistols -- THAT’S where it’s at. Now then, you wanna f*ck or what?” response to their shtick rarely did more than get rid of the poseur. I’ve never been the Harlequin Romance type and, even pre-carnie days, not so easily snowed or taken in by such lame ass, condescending, unimaginative pick up line excrescence.

*Cough* -- back on topic. I was wondering how it is that any of us ever connect, stay connected and/or go deep on that connectedness stuff. I asked my fellow Valhallians, of course.

Me: “Jen, what do we have in common?”
Jen: “F*ck you.”
Me: “Yes dear.”

Mind you, she said this with a smile and a laugh but still, she can be a real wolverine on the way into work in the morning. Oh please, she can so!

Me: “Oni, what do we have in common?”
Oni: non verbal response. I got his WTF look -- half his face skews upward, half down. His eyes take on this gleam that’s half OMG-she’s-finally-totally-flipped. The other half is  all curious -- “the hell is she on about now?”

Me: “Honey Pie, what do we have in common?”
The Amazing Bob™: First there’s a look very similar to Oni’s. Second, the reply: “Does my Honey need a cuppycake?”

The man’s a god. Seriously.

Jen, as usual, came up with the response -- it’s how we view the world, how we function on a daily basis -- alone and together. It’s about our priorities -- they’re in line. It's not about specific details. Like:

a) We all play death match rugby
b) Read Wittginstein for fun
and
c) ONLY listen to Bach sonatas as performed by Glenn Gould. Period!

 Eh -- no.

Jen's the wisest chica I know. Or maybe she's just the wise-assest. I forget.

Her least favorite word on the planet -- the word that puts her into immediate deeply offended, wounded even, argot spasms?  “panty”

Simon and Garfunkel -- Old Friends