mixed nuts part 1

[dragonlady7]

I just somehow crashed Word and lost the 800-word post I'd been writing.
Oy.
I was just writing a mixed-nuts kind of post-- I can't manage to be particularly interesting, so I'm just kind of cataloguing things in the hopes that perhaps I can impose some sort of meaning on it by extensive reflection.

So Tuesday was a coworker's birthday. Last week she had a lamp post fall on her car, narrowly missing the windshield (it hit the bar at the top of the car that supports the top of the windshield)—if it had been about 2 inches lower it probably would have fallen into the car and killed her and my sales manager, her passenger.
She was interviewed by the news and referred, somewhat inadvertently, to her "fiancée." She and I have bonded over being the same age, and having long-term boyfriends that we've been living with but who we haven't married. "It just slipped out," she said. "It seemed less white-trash to call him that than just my Boyfriend."
He just rolled his eyes at her, and they went on with life, with some difficulty as without a car she's got to rely on a carpool buddy. They have no money at the moment, as they've just bought a house. And the city has said they'll probably take at least six months to reimburse her for the damages, even though it's plainly their fault that a lamp post fell on her car out of nowhere.
She got home Monday night, the night before her birthday, and the lights were all off in the house, there were candles burning, there were flowers everywhere, and her boyfriend was waiting on one knee. "What the fuck are you doing?" she asked crossly, having nearly tripped over him. Then she noticed the ring and burst out laughing.
"Could you at least let me say it before you start laughing at me?" he asked, wounded.
She recovered herself, he proposed, and she showed up at work the next day radiant, with a big vase of red roses and a beautiful ring set with a large aquamarine.
We discussed the politics of not-diamonds, and she sent me a link to a website full of lovely non-diamond jewelry.
It is so, so tedious to be conventional.
It is so, so tedious to be 28 and coveting The Shiny.
I really don't want to be the 28-year-old woman coveting The Shiny. It is boring.
But… shiny.
I should just buy myself a fucking necklace or something for Christmas.
Maybe if there's a sale in January.

Comments

[kkatowll.livejournal.com]

The only good thing I could ever come up with about not being married (this was back when, you know, I had somebody to not be married to), is that the ring is really annoying. It catches on things, like hair, and for the life of me I cannot break that awful habit of running my hands through my hair. And just think of trying to not lose it, and remember where you put it if you take it off, and keeping it clean....lord what a pain.
So really, the shiny isn't worth it. But you know, the whole married thing... Well. I've decided I am Having More Fun as a single person. But. I'm with you on the marrying thing.

[jennnlee.livejournal.com]

That's a pretty awesome proposal story. One that includes "What the fuck are you doing?" is excellent in my book.

I don't find being conventional all that tedious. I never really coveted The Shiny, though. I was engaged at 22, and my ring belonged to Grandpa Lee's mother, and while it's a sparkly Shiny, it's pretty small as Shinies go.

That said, there's nothing wrong with buying youself your own fancy Shiny. Then you'll know you're getting exactly what you want. Next time I crave a shiny something, I'm marching down to Tiffany's and getting it myself. (This will be, of course, when we have money again.)