Archived comment by xina:
"The words of the prophets are written on the subway walls"--Paul Simon

Archived comment by Billy Bob:
Actually, I have things pretty good with almost all of my exes. I'd even say that most of the time I become better friends with them afterwards. (after the usual 'akward phase") Maybe its them feeling sorry for me though....

Archived comment by Arlene:
Ah, there's the difference. I don't fall, I just kind of lean over.

As in "hmm, that guy just asked me out. He seems nice. We have lots to talk about. Sure I'll date him. We'll see what happens."

Archived comment by Saint:
I've never had a good relationship with an ex. I might pretend to be okay with breaking up, might even go through the motions of being a friend; but if I fall at all, I usually fall hard, and I hate getting my heart broken.

Archived comment by Arlene:
And a true observation it is, too. Although, I don't have things that bad with any of my exes.

Of course, I never thought, even while we were dating, that 'he is the one'. There's one that claims I'm his only ex that will talk to him. I'm not certain if that says something about me or something about him. Of course, this is a guy I dated in high school.

Archived comment by Saint:
I was just making a general observation.

Archived comment by Arlene:
Bittergirl, paging Bittergirl. We have a call for Bittergirl.

Archived comment by Saint:
Nobody's perfect until you fall in love with them, and no one is the living incarnation of pure elemental evil until they break up with you.

Archived comment by mej:
try spelling it 'culottes' :)

Archived comment by Jon:
triticale, what are "Cullotes"? Babelfish can't translate it for me. %)

Archived comment by triticale:
"La Belle Dame Sans Cullotes"

Archived comment by Arlene:
Hmmph, he just swiped it from "La Belle Dame Sans Merci"

8-}

Archived comment by Penny:
Leigh: I use that phrase all of the time. I absolutely love it. "Good luck with that."
Heh.

And Sting? Mmmmmm.
Any man who sings in French. Sigh.
"La belle dame sans regret" in case you're wondering.

Archived comment by Matt:
Actually, Passerby, I tried your link, but it wasn't the right one. It has me making mention of the formula but, as I said in the link you gave, I was referring to a not-too-previous thread. A thread I have yet to find. I swear I'll either drink myself dead from the stress of trying to find that damn thing or I need to just give up now and move on. We'll see.

Archived comment by slugbuggy:
Montygirl-shouldn't that be

"I will follow them,
follow them wherever they may go?"

Or have we dropped that running joke already?

Archived comment by steff:
i heard that he wrote it for an ex-wife, but "never meant for her to hear it every time she stepped into an elevator". which would also explain the snide "good luck". heh.

Archived comment by Leigh:
That's true (song is about stalking in general)- I saw an interview with Sting and he talked about how people come up to him all the time and tell them that was their wedding song, and he said "Good luck with that."

Archived comment by umrguy:
You want a stalker song, try this one:

Every breath you take
Every move you make
Every bond you break
Every step you take
I'll be watching you.

Every single day
Every word you say
Every game you play
Every night you stay
I'll be watching you.

Oh can't you see
You belong to me?
How my poor heart aches with every step you take.

Every move you make
Every vow you break
Every smile you fake
Every claim you stake
I'll be watching you.

Since you've gone I've been lost without a trace.
I dream at night, I can only see your face.
I look around but it's you I can't replace.
I keep crying baby, baby please..................

Every move you make
Every vow you break
Every smile you fake
Every claim you stake
I'll be watching you.

Every move you make
Every vow you break
Every smile you fake
Every claim you stake
I'll be watching you.......

The Police, "Every Breath You Take"

If memory serves, they admitted it was written about a stalker (i.e., from the perspective of one, not any real stalker in particular)...

Archived comment by Montygirl:
Sort of on topic... but I love this poem.

"The Look"
Strephon kissed me in the spring,
Robin in the fall,
But Colin only looked at me
And never kissed at all.

Strephon's kiss was lost in jest,
Robin's lost in play,
But the kiss in Colin's eyes
Haunts me night and day.

-- Sara Teasdale

Archived comment by Arlene:
Is it just me or does that song really read like a stalker anthem?

Archived comment by Montygirl:
I will follow him,
follow him wherever he may go
There isn't an ocean too deep
A mountain so high it can keep me away

I must follow him,
ever since he touched my hand I knew
That near him I always must be
And nothing can keep him from me
He is my destiny

I love him, I love him, I love him
And where he goes I'll follow,
I'll follow, I'll follow
He'll always be my true love,
my true love, my true love
From now until forever, forever, forever


- "Little" Peggy March

Archived comment by Jon:
I'm guessing the one who found the August post was Mike, lurking in anonymity. Or forgetting to put his name in, as we all do sometimes.

You put your left name in,
You put your right name out,
You put your right name in,
And you shake it all about...

- Badly corrupted version of American folk song

Archived comment by slugbuggy:
"Are they really going out with him?

Are they really gonna take him home tonight?

Are they really going out with him?

Cause if my eyes don't deceive me there's something going on around here..."

-Joe Jackson

Archived comment by Passerby:
"They love you, yeah, yeah, yeah

They love you, yeah, yeah, yeah,

They love you, yeah, yeah, YEAHHHH!"

-The Beatles

Archived comment by Passerby:
Urgh...

August 20, 2001, Matt.

I guess this'll teach us to go so far afield in the threads that the conversation has little to do with the initial quote and we can't remember where the heck it is.

Um, isn't there a way to focus Google onto the site and do word searches? Seems easier than eye-scanning and less demanding than a search engine.

(*attempt at on topic-icity*) I heard somewhere that the very thing that initially attracts you to someone is quite often what eventually drives you away. True?

Must go rest eyes now.

Archived comment by slugbuggy:
I just thought it was nice to see Eve's personal reaction to a quote or scene; like you said, most of her comments clarify a situation or provide context.

Archived comment by sg:
Thanks for the link Meggie Moo. I already have the complete works of Brecht (in German) sitting on my bookshelf, I was wondering if anyone knew of a translation so I could post it. It seemed like an interesting addition to the topic of perfection in relationships. But the reviews were interesting to read too.

Archived comment by Meggie Moo:
Hi sg.

Try this site...not posted but you can order and read reviews...

http://www.complete-review.com/reviews/brechtb/keuner.htm

Archived comment by sg:
There's a little story by Brecht called 'Wenn Herr Keuner einen Menschen liebte' (when Mr. K. loved a person) on just this. I wonder if anybody else knows it and has a decent translation? I tried to do one myself, but the crucial bit is impossible in English, because English uses neutral pronouns for non-gendered words.

Archived comment by Montygirl, a.k.a. bittergirl:
Nobody's perfect... until you fall in love with them. Then they decide to break your heart. Yeah, they just walk up to you and without explanation, they rip your heart out of your chest and stomp on it. Then they walk over to the grassy knoll trying to get the mushy bits of your heart off their shoes while hitting on someone new.

I should write for Hallmark!

Archived comment by Meggie Moo:
Ah but the initial impression of perfection leads to such a letdown later...as is demonstrated when the Perfect One becomes the Flawed Ex and you find out (and adopt) your friends' nicknames for him (which are, of course, perfect): Pawnshop Boy, the Biter, Wine in a Box, Joe Pesci, the
Hard-Bodied Accountant, the Captain (he liked to brag about the size of his...boat)

Archived comment by JK:
Of course, they only become perfect after years of their S.O. "tidying them up" I have yet to see a relationship where one or the other party didn't see "potential" that needed refining.

And don't even ask friends. They never see whomever you are with as perfect. They might not say it, but......

Archived comment by sg:
sligbuggy: arrrrrrrrrrrrrrggggggggh!!!!!

*going away to strangle myself*

Archived comment by Matt:
Actually, slugbuggy, I'm sure she's done it before, though it hasn't been for many months. I can't link exactly, but I can remember a few "back in the day" in late 2000.

Archived comment by Jon:
Rather depends what exactly you consider "editorializing" the comment... there have been corrections, updates(location was "x", time of day), and the occasional "yes, it was that goofy" kind of thing.

Which is OK, because Eve is perfect. ;)

Archived comment by May:
Heh! When it's a crush, I just HATE admitting they have flaws, but as soon as it becomes a relationship, why not?

Archived comment by slugbuggy:
Is this a first? Usually when Eve posts in the comments section it's in response to someone else's question or remark. I'm not doin' the research, but I don't think I've seen her independantly comment on her own original posting. Sometimes she'll editorialize within the original posting itself, but not much. It's just wierd seeing her out of her official webmistress role. Kind of like the odd occasional passage in the Bible where Yaweh is seen walking around the Earth getting his feet dusty.

"Hey, wasn't that...?"

I've always thought she's shown a great deal of restraint in maintaining a certain distance from the conversation, i.e., not interjecting too much of her own reaction to the quote into the thread, just letting it stand as is. Which is kind of unfair to her, because half the fun is in the tangental, freeform, Wayne-and-Garth-style riffing that goes on. I guess it's like an artist who doesn't want to get involved in a discussion about her paintings, partly because she wants them to mean whatever people think they mean and not just what she says, and probably because it's just fun to see what happens to something once it's out of your hands. Anyway. (See how some threads won't die? They just reincarnate themselves.)

Yeah, we still don't have a pronoun that means "him/her" or "he/she."

Archived comment by triticale:
I had posted that formula, and I don't recall how long ago or in which thread. I will, however, mention that it came from a converstion I was on the fringes of, so I did, in fact hear it in passing.

Archived comment by Matt:
Speaking of things we've heard "in passing," I was having dinner with a friend last night when I heard the table next to us (two guys and a girl) discussing the dating age formula.

...Okay, so I searched IP for over an hour for the link to the dating formula and came up empty, though it was kinda nice to reminisce through some of the old topics. I am, of course, referring to the situation where a guy shouldn't date a girl any younger than half his age plus 7 years.
Damn I wish I could find that link... help, anyone?

Archived comment by K.W.:
Very very true! My Kimu-chan wasn't perfect.... Well, still isn't to the rest of the world, but she's just perfect for me!

Archived comment by Faithful Lurker:
This (and the next IP nugget) are more evidence for my theory that graffiti in women's restrooms is far superior to that in men's rooms. Direct comparison is, of course, rather awkward...

Archived comment by Karin:
I agree. I have come to live with my longtime boyfriend's faults.

Speaking of being not quite perfect and in the spirit of In Passing... I was leaving the dining hall tonight and the guy in front of me was talking quite loudly: "I could hear him on the other end going 'Hello? Hello?' So I guess he could hear me, but I couldn't hear him." The sad thing was, none of his friends seemed to have a problem with this while I was trying hard not to laugh until he was out of sight.

Archived comment by Julia:
You're not the only one, Mike. I'm well aware of my husband's flaws, as he is of mine! But I guess learning to accept each other as you are is just a part of making your marriage work.

Archived comment by Mike:
Hmm. Something must be wrong with me. I don't think I've ever seen one of my... um... affectional objects as being perfect, no matter how deep the crush. C'mon, I can't be the only one who can be attracted to someone without losing sight of their flaws, right?

Right? (*crickets*)

Archived comment by umrguy:
Eve: Finest Kind.

Archived comment by Suplexia:
I'm perfect.

Of course I'm in love with myself, so I guess it all makes sense.

Archived comment by Eve:
Personally, I like the use of "them." For those folks always falling in love with a couple of people of indefinite gender at once.

Archived comment by Chococat:
But they become imperfect again after about 2 years.

Archived comment by Mel:
o how true!!!! yay 1st entry!!!!!!