Just returned from the most excruciatingly long shift I've ever worked, and I'm absolutely amazed. You people. You people are wonderful. I mean, you don't know me as anything other than an occasional presence on a message board. And those of you who do know me, in the corporeal form, know me only as a plotting, grinning goober huched over some cards and a pile of poker chips. You took some time to write to me, to offer some kindness to a stranger (not a stranger even: the disembodied words of a stranger), and I am so grateful.

I honestly expected this thread to die quietly after Scott said something about Crap Ass. I was mortified that I actually clicked the SUBMIT button. I'm real glad I did. Thank you all. mandroid, Tim, Scott, Al, Bumble, BE Ralph, Angry Chris Dragon, Bumble, all of you. Amazing people.

tmidgett wrote:You may learn to love dub, if you do not already.

Yes! Yes! I have found dub! The one King Tubby song on my iPod played on my way to work this morning. Such a wonderful gift! It reminded me of . . . nothing at all! Beautiful bouncy nonsense!

Hey FMajcinek,

I'm in the same boat as you right now. Though maybe a little further on in the process. My wife and I have recently decided to split up after ten years together. It's been really tough, especially 3-6 weeks ago when we were working though all this shit - talking, and arguing, and talking more....This whole thing has been building up for the last six months or so. I'm past the anxiety, anger, crying, resentment, rejection, etc... You'll get there too.

All this advice is wonderful. I have taken some, and unfortunately, not others. I've startet playing guitar alot and doing ceramics. I'm going to start painting again this week. I've tried spending more time with friends, and would like to make more friends and expand and meet more. I'm trying to flirt and talk with other women - just to know I won't be alone forever now. Unfourtunately, instead of exercising I started smoking again after having quit for five years. Hopefully that won't last long!

We should get together for a beer sometime. I think it might be good to talk with someone in the same boat, so to speak. PM me if you're interested.

Mission of Burma said one of the best things I have ever heard, which can be applied to anything and which is:

"The tools of the trade are the head and the heart...
You don't give in, you don't give up.

Learn How. Learn How.

Every raw material at hand..."

In time you will find it amazing how brilliant you are when solving these problems that absolutely need solving. Realizing that is powerful. That power cannot be taken away.

FMajcinek wrote:Just returned from the most excruciatingly long shift I've ever worked, and I'm absolutely amazed. You people. You people are wonderful. I mean, you don't know me as anything other than an occasional presence on a message board. And those of you who do know me, in the corporeal form, know me only as a plotting, grinning goober huched over some cards and a pile of poker chips. You took some time to write to me, to offer some kindness to a stranger (not a stranger even: the disembodied words of a stranger), and I am so grateful.

I honestly expected this thread to die quietly after Scott said something about Crap Ass. I was mortified that I actually clicked the SUBMIT button. I'm real glad I did. Thank you all. mandroid, Tim, Scott, Al, Bumble, BE Ralph, Angry Chris Dragon, Bumble, all of you. Amazing people.

tmidgett wrote:You may learn to love dub, if you do not already.

Yes! Yes! I have found dub! The one King Tubby song on my iPod played on my way to work this morning. Such a wonderful gift! It reminded me of . . . nothing at all! Beautiful bouncy nonsense!

Well, if there's one thing most everyone can relate on...It's heartbreak! It sucks, no question about it.

Just keeping moving forward.

Seeing as I'm 19 and can only associate with this to such an extent (I relate it to a breakup I encountered this summer), I would like to offer what sympathy and advice that I can. There seems to be a lot of good advice on here already, but I'd like to offer a bit relating to music.

I know the music thing well enough (I haven't been able to properly listen to Pet Sounds for months), I would suggest trying some hip hop.

Good hip hop is really feel-good music, and, chances are, if you're here because you know of shellac and steve albini and what not, you haven't listened to too much hip hop (granted, there are many folks here who have... i'm just saying)

GZA/Genius' album "Liquid Swords", Madvillain's "Madvillainy", and Viktor Vaughn's "Vaudeville Villain" are some that come to mind immediately, but most early Wu-Tang related stuff, or Nas' Illmatic are really good. Boogie Down Productions and Eric B. & Rakim as well...

It may not be your favorite at first, but listening to new music (i.e. no prior personal connection) may be better than silence and speaking all the time, no?

FMajcinek wrote:Thank you all. ...Angry Chris Dragon...

Did you do the grapes thing?
Did it work?
I don't have any grapes and I wanna know if it actually makes you Tony Iommi.

Christopher_Dragon wrote:

FMajcinek wrote:Thank you all. ...Angry Chris Dragon...

Did you do the grapes thing?
Did it work?
I don't have any grapes and I wanna know if it actually makes you Tony Iommi.

I'm just happy he found the pleasures of King Tubby.

When my partner of 8 years ran off with her ski instructor, she at least had the decency to suffer an almost immediate mental breakdown resulting in enforced hospitalisation.

Highly recommended, although not necessarily easy to orchestrate.

Other than that, I completely agree that the old 'get in serious shape' cliche is very, very good advice. Self esteem improved, dating chances improved, life expectancy improved, good way of avoiding depression, good way to achieve a fairly blank state of mind...

Horrible thing to experience, really, really horrible.

Exercise - anything that breaks a sweat. And then take a shower and imagine all the crap from the past washing off.

Mandroid2.0 wrote:

Trust me, I'm pretty honest to a fault and I don't believe in "saving the other person from hurt" by not telling them the truth. However, there is a difference between (in my case), "I am doing this because we no longer do anything other than watch television/play video games together, you don't care about anything I am interested in, I seem to be a replacement for the mother that was absent in your youth, you refuse to move out of Wisconsin even though I really need to do so for school, and we haven't had sex in 6 months," .

Ok Ok Ok, Mandroid way to much info for me here (I am the one who they met through) Dang girl, warn me first...