12.31.2006

STFU (and NYE Redux)


STFU
Originally uploaded by tjdee.
Exhibit A: Before leaving for Denver I left this note. "TJ's back on the 30th (unless there's another fucking blizzard)."

Sure enough, two days before my return a flight, Denver gets its second blizzard in a week. The storm dumped close to two feet of snow at my mom's place. Frontier cancelled 30 percent of flights on Friday. I was stressing my Saturday flight big time. I made it home without any problems, but still ... I'm convinced if I hadn't written that parenthetical sentence the snow would have stayed away. Yeah ...

Exhibit B: While in Colorado, prompted by my mother's annoyance over the fact that two or three of her watches needed new batteries, I bragged that my nice watch had not needed a new battery in the four years (!) I'd had it. Sure enough, the day I left, I went to change the time and realized it had stopped ticking.

My 2007 resolution: STFU!

I have others, of course. Healthier lifestyle, more risktaking, less drama. That last one is a big one.

I don't think it's possible for this NYE to be any more ridiculously dramatic than last year's, when I learned that my fairly recent ex was dating again. And not just anyone. A really good high school friend (with whom I had hung out a few times). Who is not a gay man, but rather a woman. Who was totally lesbionic previously. That's enough of a shock to the system, but then there was the effed-up timeline of how everything ended and began, not to mention the sitcom-style (but not really funny at all) misunderstandings leading up to the actual realization that my ex boyfriend now had a girlfriend who previously had girlfriends (and all this on what would have been our fifth anniversary).

I think the most interesting thing about it all was that it made me really question my openmindedness when it comes to sexuality. I basically rolled my eyes at the idea that these two people could be truly bisexual. And talking to other people about the situation (it makes a really great brunch anecdote or icebreaker when interacting with strangers), I realized how common my new belief was. I think I'm over it, for the most part. But it was really interesting to me how quickly an idea I held changed when it touched me personally. Bisexuality in general? Sure! Of course. But with those two? Oh hell to the no! They're so ... gay.

So that's another one: I wouldn't dare pledge to be less judgmental. It's what makes me me, really. But I do want to be more willing to really consider new ideas without balking right away. And if that's not possible, at least STFU a little more often.

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