Secular Confessions

[Aelith]

Maybe with punctuation it would be correct?

I'm a rocket man, a rocket man, burning out his fuse up here alone.

I don't know.

It's the POV shift, either I'm/my fuse or he's/his fuse. But it kind of works - maybe because I've heard it a million times!

His argument was that he was changing from first to third person and that it was grammatically incorrect to do so without adding "who's," i.e. "I'm a rocket man, a rocket man who's burning out his fuse up here alone." My argument was the "who's" was implied. He then implied I was dumb. I have an English degree, so I'm not a total idiot about grammar. But I have to admit I was a little stumped by this, not to mention completed aggravated with DH. I told him he was a jerk for getting so worked up over Elton John lyrics.

[missychrissy]

Seriously, I thought one of the beauties of songwriting (and poetry) was that you didn't have to be grammatically correct? It's just a song. Go with it. lol

[raspberry]

Chrissy, that is heartbreaking about that boy. How terribly sad.

Katy, sorry about your kitty. My dog went blind when she was 10, and she adjusted beautifully. In the house, she learned quickly how to get around. My vet told me that eventually they adjust and they don't realize they are blind.

[Aelith]

Seriously, I thought one of the beauties of songwriting (and poetry) was that you didn't have to be grammatically correct? It's just a song. Go with it. lol

Also part of my argument That was when he implied I was dumb.

[demigraf]

On the checks thing (or should I say cheques, Myles?)

Sure! Why the heque not?

[missychrissy]

On the bright side, I've finally been able to have a little feel-sorry-for-myself cry. The drawback is I'm at work, so I'm reigning it in and just hoping it'll come again when I'm at home.

[demigraf]

dp

[demigraf]

*Hugs* chrissy. A good cry might just be what you need. Your daughter's school is totally half-assing it in the way they're communicating to the children. They should be starting the dialogue, not saying "Gee, we'll be over here if you feel like hitting us up on that help thing."

katy, I am sorry again to hear about your cat. I hope the poor thing isn't in too much discomfort.

Aelith, LOL. That's a funny argument that sounds like one I might have with my DH. I honestly don't know if the 1st/3rd person switching thing is legal at all, even if the "who's" were actually there in the sentence - and not implied - because at "who's", isn't one already switching to 3rd person perspective? Where is Ash to perform grammar patrol when you need her?

I'm a rocket man who's burning out his fuse up here alone.
I'm a robot that likes to party his way.
I'm a baseball player who is the star of his team.

Hmmm. They all sound just the tiniest bit awkward to me, TBH, if I think about it for too long. I guess I prefer blind, unfettered adherence to the tense you start with. Some might say I'm just anal. What can I say? I'm a rocket man, and I'm burning out my fuse up here alone.

Maybe I can contact Sir Elton and see if I can persuade him to re-record the lyrics. LOL. In any case, I am famously bad about switching between 1st & 3rd person in my Facebook statuses - a throwback to the days when all your statuses had to begin with "<Person's name> is..." . When FB wouldn't let me change the "is", I'd start off talking about myself in the 3rd person, and then editorialize about the previous sentence in the 1st person.

[demigraf]

Also, I don't plan to expose Bodhi to the crucifix at an early age (before 1st grade?) specifically because it's such a complex thing to have to explain, and the imagery is so disturbing. I remember being terrified at the sight of it. Once, as grade-schooler at my Catholic school, a mentally ill woman wandered into the church while we were rehearsing a song, and she started shrieking at the sight of the crucifix above the altar. It was life-sized enough for her to think it was real. That gave all the kids the chills that day.

[demigraf]

Oh, and also, also... L, I think your fears are totally founded about your dad. I feel the same way about my own father waving off my concerns about his driving B around like I'm being silly. I can't imagine just dismissing another parent's concerns about their own child. I hope I don't do that to Bodhi and his kids.

ETA: Whoo! Four posts in a row. That's a home run!

[AmeriBrit]

Where is Ash to perform grammar patrol when you need her?

Sorry, I've been ironing for the past 2 hours! My MIL did my ironing last week and that reminded me of Erin needing an English lady for ironing services....if you haven't already, Erin, find yourself a Limey lady! LOL. She helped out when I was poorly and took the whole laundry basket to her house and ironed everything, socks and underwear included....and here I was tonight just doing the essentials. Aieee!

Any how, on to the grammar issue. In all my writing training, we never discussed person changes in writing much, so I'm stumped. This makes me want to e-mail one of my professors to get his view on it! I think I will; he was an eccentric guy. He'd teach class by sitting on his desk up front with his shoes off while he chatted with us. He was like Yoda, though; he knew everything!

But my view on the EJ song is that I wouldn't mark it off any for being wrong because he's referring to himself as his profession and then going on to talk about it. The one song that makes my ears weep when I hear it is Tim McGraw's "Angry all the Time" when he says "20 years have CAME and WENT since I walked out of your door." I nearly can't listen to that song because of that one line!

Katy, I'm sorry to hear about your kitty. Don't beat yourself over it; if only our pets could tell us when they aren't feeling great.

L, I totally understand your worry about your dad and the kids' safety. I feel the same about my parents but only see them for 2 weeks every 2 years, so we don't worry about it much!

Chrissy, how ya feelin' now? Sending you some hugs!

[daylilies]

I just got back from the doctor to get all my problems straightened out and instead of answers I got referrals to other doctors! I don't remember if I told you guys I switched drs.. Today was my first time meeting this one. She is very nice, energetic and a good sense of humor and I really like her so far. I hope she wasn't just being great so I'd get a good first impression though

Then when I needed all those other appts. and referrals made the secretary was so nice and helpful. The only problem is none of these doctors have middle of the day openings so I need to find a sitter for Josh on a bunch of different occasions.

One thing I asked for was an antidepressant. She put me on Celexa.

[daylilies]

double post

[demigraf]

Sorry your MD visit didn't shed more light on things, Kate. I hope the next ones will. I was going to say to Chrissy, and now to you as well, that I understand people need to experiment with anti-depressants to see which one suits them best. I know some who had to try 2 or 3 before finding the right medication. It appears doctors usually just start off prescribing their favorite one. So if the first one you try doesn't make you feel better, then there may still be another that will work for you.

Another friend of mine tried just about every prescription antidepressant under the sun and in the end found that St. John's Wort worked the best for her. And still another guy friend (who was also in AA) found that surfing and yoga, plus changing his diet to whole foods worked better than any other medication he took. So you've got options.

[daylilies]

I think it's kind of discouraging the meds take so long to work. She wants to see me in 6 weeks to see how I'm doing and I also see my therapist every 2-3 weeks. But my therapist says they can take up to a year to really stick.

I didn't give meds a fair chance last time I tried them so I feel like I'm starting over.

[daylilies]

Going back to the lyrics thing, ever since you guys started talking about Rocket Man I kept trying to think of a song that really bothers me and I just remembered what it is:
You know that song "cats and the cradle and the silver spoon"...yadda yadda...well near the end it goes "it's been sure nice talking to you, dad" and that drives me absolutely crazy.
That's not the smily I intended...he is definitely LOLing more than is necessary ;)

[Bridget]

AF just came back!!
Since you lol'ed more than necessary, Kate, I will cry more than necessary.

[daylilies]

Haha...aww How long has it been?

[Bridget]

Sawyer is just over 10 mos old...

[missychrissy]

Chrissy, how ya feelin' now? Sending you some hugs!

Thanks, I'm doing ok I guess. I know it's irrational, but I got totally bent at my boss by the end of the day. I was obviously having a hard day and he totally ignored me and didn't say 3 words to me all day. Now, I know he has stuff going on with his family and I make a point to ask about it. Would it have been so hard to pretend to care? I could stab him in the forehead with a fork right now. He's a taker...he likes to get support and chat it up about himself, but couldn't care less about me.

It doesn't help that it's just me and him. I haven't really had an opportunity to make any friends at work that I could really bond with. When it comes to office politics, it's a good thing 'cause I can stick to myself and not get pulled into any of it. But now that I'm having such a hard time, I'm feeling very lost and alone and it's a unique kind of torturous hell to sit there all day. I'm 90% sure I'm going to call in tomorrow because I don't have it in me to sit through one more day like that.

I'm not blaming him...I know it's me. But I also know in all my other jobs I had friends I could talk to, ones that would ask, "How's Sydney? You ok?" I miss that.

I just got back from the doctor to get all my problems straightened out and instead of answers I got referrals to other doctors! I don't remember if I told you guys I switched drs.. Today was my first time meeting this one. She is very nice, energetic and a good sense of humor and I really like her so far. I hope she wasn't just being great so I'd get a good first impression though

Then when I needed all those other appts. and referrals made the secretary was so nice and helpful. The only problem is none of these doctors have middle of the day openings so I need to find a sitter for Josh on a bunch of different occasions.

One thing I asked for was an antidepressant. She put me on Celexa.

I had no idea you were considering asking for an anti-depressant. I hope it works and that it works soon.

I have every reason to expect mine will work...I took it before. It's just getting there to that point that really sucks.

[missychrissy]

Whew-I seriously didn't think I'd type all that out. My fingers ran away from me. If I were yacking, I'd say I had diarrhea of the mouth.

[daylilies]

Sawyer is just over 10 mos old...

Hugs. At least you got a nice break from Aunt Flo?

Yeah Chrissy, I haven't talked about it much but it's gotten pretty bad. I totally understand missing having someone to talk to at work. You're there most of the day...it must suck to feel like you have nobody to share with.

On a funny note..remember when I told you guys Jon from the new kids wished me happy anniversary? He just tweeted me again, after I replied to him about, of all things, the Duggars... I don't really want to get into the discussion because I don't want to start a debate about it but let's just say we disagree

[Bridget]

I can relate to the feeling of not having anyone to talk to all day. No one over the age of four anyway. There is one mom who I really like and feel a connection to so we chat a lot when she picks up. Then after she leaves I always start wondering if I'm sharing too much for the relationship we have. But I told her that just tonight actually and she said she thinks the same thing about herself when she vents to me. So I think we're all good.

But I really do crave adult conversation sometimes. I can't even always get it from the adult in my house.

[daylilies]

I think I want adult conversation but when I'm trying to talk to the parents before or after school I can't seem to get past the weather and each other's kids...LOL

[Gwenn]

Seriously, I thought one of the beauties of songwriting (and poetry) was that you didn't have to be grammatically correct? It's just a song. Go with it. lol

Okay, so on this one I'm with Chrissy. But as for the mystery...

His argument was that he was changing from first to third person and that it was grammatically incorrect to do so without adding "who's," i.e. "I'm a rocket man, a rocket man who's burning out his fuse up here alone." My argument was the "who's" was implied. He then implied I was dumb. I have an English degree, so I'm not a total idiot about grammar. But I have to admit I was a little stumped by this, not to mention completed aggravated with DH. I told him he was a jerk for getting so worked up over Elton John lyrics.

Aelith, LOL. That's a funny argument that sounds like one I might have with my DH. I honestly don't know if the 1st/3rd person switching thing is legal at all, even if the "who's" were actually there in the sentence - and not implied - because at "who's", isn't one already switching to 3rd person perspective? Where is Ash to perform grammar patrol when you need her?

I'm a rocket man who's burning out his fuse up here alone.
I'm a robot that likes to party his way.
I'm a baseball player who is the star of his team.

Hmmm. They all sound just the tiniest bit awkward to me, TBH, if I think about it for too long. I guess I prefer blind, unfettered adherence to the tense you start with. Some might say I'm just anal. What can I say? I'm a rocket man, and I'm burning out my fuse up here alone.

Maybe I can contact Sir Elton and see if I can persuade him to re-record the lyrics. LOL. In any case, I am famously bad about switching between 1st & 3rd person in my Facebook statuses - a throwback to the days when all your statuses had to begin with "<Person's name> is..." . When FB wouldn't let me change the "is", I'd start off talking about myself in the 3rd person, and then editorialize about the previous sentence in the 1st person.

Okay, so while I do think the who was meant to be implied, I think I agree with Myles that I prefer to stick to one POV within a single sentence. My creative writing books all say it's bad form to shift POV within a single scene, much less one sentence so I would do anything to avoid that shift. Then again, it is just a song...

Any how, on to the grammar issue. In all my writing training, we never discussed person changes in writing much, so I'm stumped. This makes me want to e-mail one of my professors to get his view on it! I think I will; he was an eccentric guy. He'd teach class by sitting on his desk up front with his shoes off while he chatted with us. He was like Yoda, though; he knew everything!

But my view on the EJ song is that I wouldn't mark it off any for being wrong because he's referring to himself as his profession and then going on to talk about it. The one song that makes my ears weep when I hear it is Tim McGraw's "Angry all the Time" when he says "20 years have CAME and WENT since I walked out of your door." I nearly can't listen to that song because of that one line!

I can't stand the one that goes "Insane in the membrane / Insane in the brain." It makes me foam at the mouth every time, screaming to DH that a membrane is absolutely not in any way shape or form the same thing as a brain, and it's not possible for a membrane to lose its sanity. I can't bear it.

DH and I love to laugh at the Black Sabbath song that goes

Generals gathered their masses
Just like witches at black masses

We can't decide if it's brilliance or sheer laziness to rhyme homonyms.

I just got back from the doctor to get all my problems straightened out and instead of answers I got referrals to other doctors! I don't remember if I told you guys I switched drs.. Today was my first time meeting this one. She is very nice, energetic and a good sense of humor and I really like her so far. I hope she wasn't just being great so I'd get a good first impression though

Then when I needed all those other appts. and referrals made the secretary was so nice and helpful. The only problem is none of these doctors have middle of the day openings so I need to find a sitter for Josh on a bunch of different occasions.

One thing I asked for was an antidepressant. She put me on Celexa.

I wish you luck with the Celexa. I know all these appointments are hard for you.

[Bridget]

I think I want adult conversation but when I'm trying to talk to the parents before or after school I can't seem to get past the weather and each other's kids...LOL

She always comes in and asks me these really loaded questions that set me off. Like tonight she came in and said, "Do you ever wonder if you're doing the right thing with your life?" I was like, "Ohhhhh, hell no you did not just ask me that!"
Lately when dbf is *****ing and moaning and Savana is laying on the kitchen floor telling me how much she hates my turkey burgers (which she always eats) and Kai stomping around saying how much he hates his toys...I think to myself what the fluck am I doing? Why am I busting my arse for all of these folks who seem like they can't stand me??
Sigh. See? She asked a simple question....

[Gwenn]

Hugs. At least you got a nice break from Aunt Flo?

Yeah Chrissy, I haven't talked about it much but it's gotten pretty bad. I totally understand missing having someone to talk to at work. You're there most of the day...it must suck to feel like you have nobody to share with.

On a funny note..remember when I told you guys Jon from the new kids wished me happy anniversary? He just tweeted me again, after I replied to him about, of all things, the Duggars... I don't really want to get into the discussion because I don't want to start a debate about it but let's just say we disagree

LOL ... I'm sorry for all of you who are missing someone to talk to.

[daylilies]

Okay, so on this one I'm with Chrissy. But as for the mystery...





Okay, so while I do think the who was meant to be implied, I think I agree with Myles that I prefer to stick to one POV within a single sentence. My creative writing books all say it's bad form to shift POV within a single scene, much less one sentence so I would do anything to avoid that shift. Then again, it is just a song...



I can't stand the one that goes "Insane in the membrane / Insane in the brain." It makes me foam at the mouth every time, screaming to DH that a membrane is absolutely not in any way shape or form the same thing as a brain, and it's not possible for a membrane to lose its sanity. I can't bear it.

DH and I love to laugh at the Black Sabbath song that goes

Generals gathered their masses
Just like witches at black masses

We can't decide if it's brilliance or sheer laziness to rhyme homonyms.



I wish you luck with the Celexa. I know all these appointments are hard for you.

There's a Kid Rock song like that...he says something like "we were trying different things, we were smoking funny things" and I can't stand that either.

She always comes in and asks me these really loaded questions that set me off. Like tonight she came in and said, "Do you ever wonder if you're doing the right thing with your life?" I was like, "Ohhhhh, hell no you did not just ask me that!"
Lately when dbf is *****ing and moaning and Savana is laying on the kitchen floor telling me how much she hates my turkey burgers (which she always eats) and Kai stomping around saying how much he hates his toys...I think to myself what the fluck am I doing? Why am I busting my arse for all of these folks who seem like they can't stand me??
Sigh. See? She asked a simple question....

Oh wow, well that would be a loaded question for me too!

LOL ... I'm sorry for all of you who are missing someone to talk to.

Now I'm getting all these messages from people who don't even follow me, who saw that Jon tweeted me. At least I'm getting a couple supporters...

[missychrissy]

I feel better about 2 things. Well 3 really if you count the fact that I'm forever grateful I have y'all. The other two lesser important things are that I'm glad I'm not the only one that has those lonely moments. Intellectually, I know everyone has periods like that but it is still comforting that my friends, whom I cannot fathom ever feeling lonely, actually do. That said, I hope those moments are fleeting and I hate that you do experience them. How's that for contrary?

The last thing is that I'm shocked and secretly relieved by a LOT Bridget that you occasionally have those moments of, "what am I doing this for?" I've felt that way a lot lately too, and felt like I was a horrible mother for even thinking that way.

[daylilies]

I wish more parents would just come out and say it's a nightmare sometimes.