Relationships

Relationship Checklist

During the month of July, 2010, I did a video blog – or a vlog – called “Lesbian Dating Application” which was very funny, but serious too as it laid out all of the things that would and would not work in a relationship for me. Here I would like to revise that previous performance, and update it, because originally it was filmed over 2 years ago, and we all know how life and situations change; how we can change too.  So I believe updating in both written and video is necessary at this time.

Script goes something like this. 

Dating is hard these days.  You never know what kind of weird stuff that beautiful Femme in front of you has going on in that pretty little head or what she will pull out of her Guici handbag of tricks.   Wouldn’t it be cool if we had paperwork? Like a “lesbian dating application” listing out what will and will not work for use and ask them to indicate their take on each question.  While some can and would be simple yes or no, others would probably require some thought and effort in putting together a serious answer.

The Interview Itself:

  • So if you throw  the application back in my lap and stand up to leave…it might now work out.
  • If you show up to the interview looking like a 14th street hooker….it might not work out.
  • If you have more tattoos than I do…it probably won’t work.  While the occasionaly tat is nice on a woman, I find large tats and full sleeve tats to be a bit over the top for my taste in who I can see myself with long term.
  • Same goes for piercings, if there is metal protruding from your face or your ears are gaged and flopping like a basset hound’s then I am just not interested, thus it just won’t work.
  • If you sit there smacking gum, talking with a thick hood-style accent and vocabulary…nope, definitely won’t work.
  • If your cell phone is not set to silent during my time, my interview time that is, and she stops me mid-question to take a call from your recent ex-lover…get the fuck out.  Not going to work.
  • If you must bring a girlfriend or friend to the interview for “moral support” you might as well turn around and exit stage left cuz that shit just isn’t cool and it will not work.  I had asked to spend this time alone with you, and do not need a chaperone.
  • If you show up on your lunch hour and expect to be munching on your lunch while I am trying to interview you, it will just not work.  I need your focus and undivided attention during a serious conversation.  Had I wanted to do a lunch interview I would have reserved a table somewhere.
  • Now if you show up with lunch for both of us…we might be able to work something out because you obviously took the time to think of me as well, and that is impressive.
  • If you start any answer with the word “Ya know Girl” or “Oh Girl let me tell you….”  It’s just not going to work, because you obviously have me confused with some Femme you must have applied to for the same reason. Same goes for the pronouns, miss, ma’m, lady, and sometimes woman, in the way you are addressing me as a persona senses of the words.  If you know I am Butch you would know that I do not care a lot for the prissy female ways of being addressed.
  • If you come to the interview and are polite, courteous, smiling, have a great attitude and you obviously took the time to dress nicely and do your hair and nails, then I definitely am interested in seeing if we can work this out.  Especially if you brought lunch…awww, how did you know that liverswurst is my favorite??

Remember, your chance to leave a good first impression on someone will stick with them. And that first impression is made in the first 30 seconds of contact.  I can tell if you are someone I would date within a very short period of time.  I am all about first impressions, and about being with a woman who takes the time to make sure that she is always up to par and giving off good first impressions – even in her everyday life.  I do not want things to become “sweatshirt and braless” within 2 weeks of us starting a relationship.  Because that means you just did the interview appearance up to impress me upfront, but aren’t interested in how much I love my woman to look damned good every day; as well as for her to be making great first impressions on my family, friends and the general public And I like it when you are on my arm and we are out around town together, and we both look good…getting smiles from friendly strangers wherever we go…that is important to me and if you are like that too, then this will definitely work.

Key Points of the Relationship Expections: The Issues

  • Sundays are reserved for football, and I love my Sunday games, so scheduling a 1:00 dinner with your friends from work and expecting me to go with you….just not going to work.
  • If you are going to force me to go shopping for “girl things” like clothing, handbags or shoes…we will have issues.  I don’t care for that kind of shopping, and unless you are ok with me perusing the tool department while you clothes shop, then we’ll definitely have issues.
  • It’s 2012…if you have to question every cell phone call and text I receive then we will have issues.  Trust is a big thing, and jail breaking my cell phone while I sleep is punishable by breaking up!
  • Same goes for my computer.  It’s my private world, my solace and my place of refuge.  I have a lot of private writing on there, and when I want to share it I will, but catching you at 3am trying to figure out how to close out of my email account will piss me off and you will be leaving shortly there-after.
  • I suffer from B.E.D.D.  This is Butch Emotional Deficit Disorder which is the basic Butch trait of not always showing emotion or emotional reaction to things you think I should react to right away.  I sometimes appear clueless when you are crying, you have to tell me why..I can’t read your mind for hell’s sake!  And when I am not reacting in the way you think I should, remember BEDD.  It’s not contagious.
  • If we have to ever use the word “let” in a sentence accompanied by “you” then we will have issues.  I am my own individual, you will not have to “let me” do anything once you are standing outside with your suitcase packed.   Yes, “let” will definitely mean we have issues.
  • If you don’t love my dog, or are jealous of Nola, it will cause us to have issues.  I adore that dog, and she doesn’t talk back, nag or require weekly manicures, so she’s an easy keeper.  Are you?  If not then I can see issues in our future.
  • If you think you are going to drive when I am in the car we will have issues.
  • Same goes for pumping gas and getting maintenance done on the car.  I like to do that stuff, it’s a Butch thing…let me, or we will have some issues.
  • If you are highly jealous it could cause nasty issues.  I am a very social person, I have friends that I go fishing with, play pool with and hang out with (sometimes without you) and I get phone calls, texts and emails from them.  Because I have friends does not mean that I am any less committed to our relationship, it just means I am a social creature…and I encourage you to have friends too.  We can be happily individualized, and still be a great couple!  I get aggravated with jealousy.  Trust me, and I will trust you.
  • Baggage is something we all have.  Dragging up my past and using it in anyway against me will decidedly cause some issues.  I won’t throw your baggage around, so don’t toss mine across the room either.  If my baggage concerns you then we need to do some talking, so that we don’t have issues.
  • Addressing a Butch can sometimes be a mine field.  Our personalities and outward appearance often doesn’t match our mental state surrounding our identification.  Calling me cheesy pet names like “pumpkin, peaches, or tootsie” will drive me nuts.  Calling me Babe or Honey can work, but be very careful in that minefield please.  I’d hate to see you blown up by this issue.
  • If you have a drug and alcohol problem worse than mine then we will have issues.   Because I detest drunks, and will not put up with drunken behavior…now if you want to have some wine in the evening while we cuddle in front of the TV I am cool with that, but constant drinking will bring up serious issues.
  • The only time I am okay with lying is when it’s to hide a surprise party or something special.  Lying will cause issues.  I can smell a lie on your breath, so don’t’ even try it.  Plus, if you feel it’s necessary to lie to me then we determinately have issues.
  • I am playful and like to tease.  If you take everything I say seriously then you will have issues.

So, in closing up here this is basically what I am saying; I’m easy to get along with and pretty laid back.  My biggest fear is being able to trust someone with my heart and life in general.  Any kind of hidden agenda will not go over well with me.  You have no need to be sneaky, conniving or to hide things from me.  Be up front, be honest and we will never have issues.  When I ask you a question I like to get straight forward answers to the whole question, not the bare minimum that you think will cover it.

To quote the song, I’m lookin for a lover who won’t love another, but she’s so hard to find.  So I’ve been taking it easy, and not doing any deep searching.  If  she walks in and wants that interview, I have my pad and the applications all ready to go.  Of course I will also need your Carfax. LOL

In all seriousness, dating is scary.  Relationships are sometimes frightening prospets of vulnerability to a Butch.  It means laying ones heart on the line and hoping like hell she doesn’t stomp on it with her 4” stiletto heels.  It means having a confidence that she’s going to protect that heart and bear witness to an oft tormented soul and that she’ll do it with the utmost respect and privacy.  The lifetime I’ve seen of wear and tear on my heart has perhaps hardened it slightly, but it’s still pumping life-vital blood and it still has room for more cracks and chips.  I am still a loving and caring Butch, and I still want that perfect-for-me Femme in my life on a daily basis. I’m ready to love again; ready to give it my all.  I just hope she shows up soon and that she’s ready for the challenge of MainelyButch.

Thanks to all of my readers here and my viewers on Youtube who cross over here to read my stuff as well.  I truly appreciate you all and I so enjoy sharing my writing and thoughts with the world and all of you.  Comments are encouraged and appreciated!

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General Blips

Older Posts …

In transferring files from another computer I am encountering writing that I have done in the past and will be posting, to keep them where I am hoping that they will not be lost should another computer glitch happen.  So if some of my posts seem to be out of time-sync please understand that some ARE out of sync!  Especially some of the poetry.  And because of WP’s inability to seemingly save drafts lately I am now doing all writing in MS Word and bringing it over to WP by copy/paste options.   I got a bit tired of rewriting, although sometimes rewriting is a good thing, pulling it all out of my brain repeatedly is tiring.  Thanks for the support of my readers like you…and enjoy!  Leave your comments when you feel compelled!  

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More…3/09

You sense I’m coming round

Lately, nowhere to be found

But my steps coming near

And only your ears shall hear

As I knock upon your door

Feet floating across the floor

You answer in a gown so white

Visions of power at midnight

Let me in to be with you

Erasing your mood so blue

Let me take you into my arms

And work my magic charms

As I force you to the floor

Kicking closed that old door

And you stare straight up at me

I want to be all you can see

Sweet eyes pleading for more

Pleasure yearning to be free

Our unbroken silence is golden

It is you that I am now holding

Your fear of me subsides

Stars reflecting  in your eyes

As I revel in your scent

My mind twisted and bent

I make you beg for more

Feeling you in my core

Our lips and skin do meet

In your melody so sweet

You, dancing in my head

I throw you onto our bed

And the angry ocean outside

Our balcony does somewhere hide

Like waves crashing on your shore

Again, you plead and beg for more

I bend to whisper in your ear

Just loud enough for you to hear…

That comfort you feel inside

It is where I do always hide

Until the next time my dear

Remember, nothing to fear.

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More on My Personalized Butch Template

More great things I did not include in the last blog about the”Butch Visibility” stuff.  These are just  sort of some of the things incorporated into my own Butch Template, they feel engrained, sort of like they are just THERE and I can’t explain why; but they are  reasons and nuances of my own Butch-hood…the way it’s gone down for me and whatI enjoy about it all.

  • Sports bars and fist pumping
  • Fishing with the guys at 4am on a Saturday morning
  • Burnouts, 360’s and wheelies, yeee haaa
  • The hardest wardrobe choice I have to make is what color boxer-briefs I will wear today.
  • I can be up and ready in 10 minutes…power shower included.
  • Old spice deodorant
  • Aero Cologne…with Lagerfeld and Tommy Hillfiger as my back up go to guys
  • John Wayne….Brad Pitt….Johnny Depp….all great Butch idols
  • Going into an auto supply or a mechanic and having them actually listen and take me seriously.
  • Fixing things…anything, the car, the house, her blow dryer…
  • Techno gadgets and the fact that I am a Techno-Geek-Butch who Femmes often email or call for computer help and advice
  • Being able to hold my own in a good debate, argument or the occasional bar fight of days gone by.
  • Hanging out with strong, rough, well defined males role models, who teach me the finer points of being dashingly Butch without the macho crap of some male personalities.  I can leave the crap on the cutting room floor.
  • A firm FIRM strong handshake!
  • The days of drinking, shooting pool, winning and dangling ciggs as I hung over the pool table to take my shots.
  • Driving muscle cars and kick ass trucks, ATV’s, Smowmobiles, Stomp Chompers, and dirt bikes.
  • Working hard and proud at predominately male dominated jobs.  And doing a damned good job!
  • The sound of high heels walking next to me.
  • Victorias Secret catalogs….need I say more???
  • Spitting contests…for which watermelon seeds work the best.
  • My knife collection…just makes me happy as hell.
  • Sunday, Monday and Thursday FOOTBALL!
  • Driving…long distances and short, I just love to drive.
  • Being a bit sentimental and sending notes and cards to friends…hey not everything is so Butch!
  • Tatoos that mean something.
  • Social networking and meeting great new people…like here

I am not sure how we got onto this subject, but it’s just played around in my head, and I do things and think, “hey there’s another one!”  I just enjoy life, writing and being Butch.  Butch is Good.

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So I wrote this long and very cool blog post yesturday…wordpress used to auto save your drafts, what happened to that feature???  I am going to attempt to recreate it today…ugh….I wanna scream!!! ( A very Butch scream that is.)

WordPress Aggravation

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General Blips

Have you ever received a little note, tucked into your lunch or the pocket of your jacket?  Maybe attached to an article you wrote for your local paper?  A note that said “great job, I am proud of you” or something of similar praise?

How did that note make you feel?  Did you smile and feel great for a few moments?  Did you keep the note safely tucked in your jewelry box or wallet?  Reading it when you were maybe having a tough time or a bad moment in a day?  Did it uplift your spirits and make you want to write a note to someone too?

Little notes and cards can touch us in ways that are insurmountable.  They can change us forever with just a few words scribbled hastily on a scrap of paper or a post-it note.  Cards can be even more impactful sometimes – although the spur of the moment note can be our favorite.  The little “Thank You” card you receive for doing some seemingly small thing for someone that helped them and changed the outcome of a particular day or event for them is just as powerful as that scribbled note.  And it’s the more formal salutation to someone we noticed who took care of us in some way.  

I love to get notes and cards, like anyone.  But I love to send them more than I like receiving them.  It makes me feel good inside to sit down, write out a small card as a token of my deepest appreciation; a sign of my caring for someone in some small – or big – way and letting them know that they make a difference in my life every day.

It doesn’t take a lot of energy or time to write these words of encouragement, thanks or gratitude to a person in your life.  And that time and energy is worth it tenfold on the other end.  

My father once said “It is an honorable and classy person who sends Thank You notes and the such.”  I took his words to heart, and wanting to BE that honorable, classy and memorable person to others I have made it a habit to send them to people.  Especially when I know it will touch that person, boost them up and lift their spirits when they open it and read it.  

Writing out cards and notes is just one of the ways that I try to change the world for others.  I offer up words of thanks, encouragement, sympathy or inspiration – whatever is needed and appropriate at the time.  I picture the person opening or finding my hidden note, and the smile that will spread across their faces.  I write in hopes of changing one stressful moment in a day into something memorable and peaceful for their hearts.  

I am very careful not to “fluff” my notes/cards.  I write the truth and I write with sincerity and compassion for the receiver.  I don’t want them to ever feel that I just wrote to be cordial or proper, but that I wrote the words specifically for them and from my own heart.  

Here are my hints for writing a good note or card to someone who has impacted your life in some positive way.  

1.   Be specific, tell them why you are writing, what thing they did that you noticed or appreciated.

2.   Be sincere and honest.  Tell the person exactly how they made you feel, or how they made your day.

3.   Be brief, but to the point. Don’t over do it. Flattery will get you everywhere, until you sound like you are going over the top.

4.  Be prompt, write the note shortly after the fact.  After 2 weeks your message will be old, and outdated to the receiver.  They will still respect receiving it, but it won’t have the same bold impact as a prompt volley.

5.  Unless you live with the receiver, send your note or card in the US mail.  Splurge for that over-priced stamp, use nice paper and a nicely writing pen or choose an appropriate card for your local card shop or your desk top collection (everyone should pick up cards and note cards in their travels for future use, you often see unique ones in your travels, why not buy a few for future use?)

6.  Make your recipient feel valued and special.  Many people work in thankless jobs today, the secretary at your child’s school who helped with a minor problem, the doctor who saw you on the spur of the moment for that sore throat or who went above and beyond with time for you, the bus driver who waited for you while you ran helter skelter to catch the bus, the cashier that always makes sure your groceries are bagged exactly as you like them….there are countless people you encounter every day that are only trying to make you happy and make your day go easier…think of them and drop one a note today  – just because they did what they did.  

7.   Email is NOT a note.  Don’t even go there.  Nor are those online “cards” you can e-send.  Not honorable like a hand written, personalized note or card.

Note writing is becoming a lost art in this cyber age.  Email thank you’s are so generic and in my opinion just plain tacky.  It takes someone to think and take action to hand-write a quick note of thanks, encouragement or inspiration.  You will be remembered for it and you will be blessed with happiness in yourself for sending it, because you just know you are making someone else’s day a little less stressful and a little more bright.  

Write a note to someone today.  If you have a child or a romantic partner put a note of love, pride or encouragement in their jacket pocket or lunch today.  If you had a particularly good experience last week at the town hall with the clerk while registering your vehicle, tell her. Whoever you write to today will certainly smile and feel good about themselves and about you.  They will know you have class and are honorable and their efforts were not for nothing.  You were appreciative, and that is all they want – a little recognition sometimes.  Pulitzer Prizes are nice, but hand-written notes will be saved in jewelry boxes and wallets forever.  Perhaps you will even inspire them to write someone else a note.  In time those notes will even come back to you – tenfold.

 

 

The Art of the Note….

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Regarding our local school district (Maine SAD 35) purchasing supplies via a “bid system” online.

Dear Editor,

I read the article about South Berwick/Eliot’s school District (SAD 35) saving $100K via a “best bid” purchasing program.  I am all for saving money, but as a citizen of the area, and a local tax payer,  I would like to know if there is transparency in the purchasing program, and where they are purchasing from…are these “bidders” local to the area, the state, county, or even the country? And is there any program in place to give American – and even more so LOCAL vendors – a preferred shot at the bidding, and providing this kind of local advantage because it assists the local economy?

I am interested to know that the local school districts are “putting out to bid” things like supply of copy paper, when Maine is a paper producing state, and I do hope they consider this factor in their final purchasing decisions.  A bidding system is fine, but being discrete in who you allow to bid, whether you prefer bids from local businesses over those from foreign interests should be a deciding factor, especially in the current economic climate.

Purchasing copy paper for the whole country from China would (to me) be akin to Idaho purchasing Maine potatoes for their school lunch programs.  There was also mention of the food service programs at the end of Thursday (10/18) article on page A11.  I would also like to strongly recommend that SAD 35 and every other school district in the state, and around the US and it’s territories to be buying as locally as possible to help us in the economic recovery and to teach our children who are attending these schools the skills and importance of buying local – especially when it comes to fresh foods. 

Buying fresh local foods, and even packaged local products, will save on freight costs, promote jobs and economic growth within the local and regional community.  I believe it is important for all of us to start to become more educated and aware of where the products we consume, including but not limited to food and beverages, are made and from where they originate.  I hate to think that I am eating dinner at my favorite local diner and find out that the potatoes are from Idaho and the Blueberries are from Columbia.  Not when I live in the potato, blueberry and lobster state!

Recently I was shopping at Portsmouth Market Basket on Woodbury Avenue.  As I approached the seafood case I was totally astounded to see only 1 item in the entire case of probably 40 different items of seafood, that originated from Maine.  I saw lobster imported from Canada, Scallops from Portugal and Shrimp from Chile. It was ridiculous.  Here I am standing in one of the most seafood producing areas of New England and I am expected to purchase foreign fished products? Who does that benefit?  Not my fishermen friends in Maine and New Hampshire.  No wonder they are suffering, when even the local grocery stores won’t or don’t carry their products.  It is just not right, and Market Basket should be ashamed to even uncover that fish and seafood case.  I am only glad that they do have to label the products now and state the place of origin for the consumer to see, and I hope that many consumers who shop at these stores that support the foreign fishing industry and not the local fishing industry, have cases full of spoiling seafood as people get with the program and refuse to buy the foreign caught and imported products.  There are plenty of local fish and seafood supply businesses where you can purchase products native to the area and probably caught that morning.  Anyone who is local knows of at least one local fish joint.  And by stopping there on your way by, you will support the local vendor, the fisherman of our own region and in the end your own local economic health. 

We are allowed to view our school district budgets, and their annual expenditure reports.  I also would like to know and see in writing just where these purchases of supplies and necessary equipment for every governmental organizations such as our schools, town halls, police, fire and ambulance services and all public works and tax payer funded organizations.  It’s only right that they would be buying as locally as possible.  And that any work needed on their infastructures be bid to the most reasonable bid coming from the closest local vendor or company.  That doesn’t mean it has to be from Maine…but let’s not hire our bridge work to be done by some company from California (hypothetically speaking) when we have very capable companies right here in New England that can competitively bid and do the work, or supply the materials – US made materials!

I believe it’s time for transparency in purchasing by all governmentally run organizations – schools included and it’s time to bring it home to America.  And to the states that pay the taxes to fund every one of these organizations. Let private schools do what they wish, but if my tax dollars are buying foreign made and supplied products within my own community for community use, that’s just not right.

Buy Local.  Buy America.  Bring it home. 

Letter to Editor of My Local Newspaper

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TED Talks

The need inside of me to find and know about new and innovative things is immense.  Recently I have stumbled upon “TED Talks” which is some of the most incredulous stuff I’ve ever encountered online.  What a brilliant and world changing project!  Or rather “set” of ideas and projects.  The theme seems to be various very good speakers, who each hold some powerful ideas about how to change the world in some small way or another, are given 18 minutes to do just that – empower an audience to want to change the world.  Some of the projects are just astounding.

Turned on to this site by fellow Youtube vlogger, Pogobat, or Dan Brown, I have become very enthralled with the site and all of the projects.  The human brain has a thirst for knowledge, and these 18 minute “talks” can seriously change the way one thinks or reacts to be different from how you would have thought or reacted before the “talk”.  Interesting stuff.

I love blogging/vlogging and the interactions that I have with other people.  I’ve learned so much over time with my Youtube page and from all of the people I have touched lives with via that venue.  It’ has carried over into my daily life, I have used information and changed myself in some ways with that information.

TED talks are about a wide, wide variety of subject matter; each one in it’s own way,  pertinent to the human condition.  That one commonality intrigues me so very much.  Anything that fires up my mind and thought processes is almost akin to taking drugs to me!  I love to be stimulated by ideas and thought processes.  When you aren’t having a lot of sex, this is the next best thing – brain stimulation!

After posting a video blog about this I have gotten feedback from other people who are TED addicts!  I didn’t know we all had this in common!  Were we hiding it, perhaps afraid to be seen as nerds extraordinaire? Hell, it that’s nerdy then I am King of Nerds!  *laugh*

I am mostly interested in TED Talks about things that relate to life and good living, solving problems in living and in communities.  I’m not so much into the medical or math angles, so I do pick and choose the talks I listen to..but there are over 1000 so I have tons to catch up on while more and more are being added all the time!

If you have not checked out TED talks go to their web site or look them up on Youtube.  http://TED.com  or http://youtube.com/tedtalksdirector are the two web links I have for you.  Explore and enjoy!

Peace!

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