Sit down....Sit down...Sit down...Sit down...Sit down you're rockin' the boat!

I love GUYS AND DOLLS. I was stage manager for a production and really enjoyed it, but I'm always nostalgic for the 1955 movie version with Frank Sinatra and Marlon Brando. But GUYS AND DOLLS is GUYS AND DOLLS. Before I went searching for my YouTube clip I even found where Ewan MacGregor played Skye Masterson in the 2005 London revival. I'd have loved to see that one! But I digress...

As for the boat rocking, well I'm in a mood. Have you ever had a friend treat you very badly? So badly that you felt you had no choice but to end the friendship? How flabbergasted would you be to receive an email from that person more than a year later acting like nothing had happened?

I have no problem sticking up for myself in a confrontation, BUT I do have a problem being mean when the response is disproportionate to the offense. So ex-friend has offended me by sending the email and acting like nothing happened, but I don't have it in me to be mean. GG, one of the kindest and gentlest men I've ever met wants me to be mean, but I just can't. Ignoring the whole thing seems like a more appropriate response to me.

However, sometimes I want to rock the boat and really sizzle someone's garters. Sometimes I don't feel like being nice. Sometimes I want to rip off an email that says something really mean. Like well...mean. I thought of a couple examples to type in right there but when I read it back I got to thinking about the bad karma I might get by putting something like "drop dead" out there. Seriously, telling somebody that in an email and only that would be pretty mean...wouldn't it?

You know when I was a kid and went to catechism the nuns had me believing there was a sort of angel accountant with a big book that had my name on one of the ledger pages. All the bad stuff I've ever done was duly recorded right there day by day along side the good stuff. I'm guessing that sending someone a note with with the aforementiond "drop dead" would probably negate a whole lot of good stuff on the other side of the ledger. So, I decided I just can't risk that sort of thing. Aren't I special or what?

But if I was willing to risk my immortal soul I'd really say some mean, mean, stuff and then hit "SEND". Really I would, but I'd rather listen to the sound track to GUYS AND DOLLS and sing about rocking the boat rather than actually doing it.

Got Friends?

Ah...the treasure of friendship. If we are lucky we have one or two real friendships in our lives. I've been fortunate to have my three sisters as dear friends along with some very special women, Steadman, Kellstance, Vicki and DivaZ. I've known all of them for years and we keep in touch and keep up with each other's lives. We've laughed, we've cried, we've shopped, shared meals, joys, tragedies and drinks. I have many other friends with whom I spend time, but these women are the nearest and dearest. For each of them I am truly grateful for their presence in my life.

So imagine my surprise when I had the good fortune to find out recently that I'd lost my "last" friend. No she didn't die...her over inflated ego and arrogant self righteousness helped her deconstruct an already tenuous association.

Of course she lacks the courage and integrity to give me the devastating news herself that she is the self-appointed last friend I have. No, she gave the news to a poor unsuspecting third party who didn't know that I'd lost my "last" friend. In the ultimate act of passivie agressiveness she favors, she makes the "last friend" comment as though it is with regret and sadness for me. Could she get more pathetic? The comment was made with the express intention that it would be dutifully repeated to me. Guess what happened? I laughed out loud! Joke's on you lonely old lady living with a dog, two cats and neglectful husband. Good God your two two closest companions are also lonely old women who are both drunks. Have a nice life!
What's really sad is that this self appointed "last friend" hadn't realized that our friendship had ended more than 8 years before. She strangled it single handedly. Ka-put!! Didn't she notice when I started working with her 3 and 1/2 years ago that I never engaged in the relationship in the same way as years before? At best we were co-workers. Despite all my personal feelings about her and her behavior and ethics, I was loyal, respectful and hard working during the tenure of our work relationship. Now this. This past month when I didn't think she could sink any lower she has. So she wants to write nasty letters? Gossip with the tenants? Go ahead. What she doesn't get is that she doesn't matter.

The real head scratcher? If her life is as fabulous and care free as she professes, why meddle in mine? Why does she care? Why does she bother? Why doesn't she get a life of her own?