Monday, October 26, 2015

Girl friends

No Dorothy Black, this is not lovely....

this actually pissed me off so much, that I had to have some calming tea. All I see is a couple of lying bitches who want to see you fall.

*sigh*

At least I know why this pisses me off. For me, I have never been able to trust female friends. They've always seemed to betray me in some way or abandon me or generally not be reliable in any way. Because of this, I have tended to stay away from female friendships because I just dont trust women.

I know (through therapy), that this is largely due to my mom's inability to show me unconditional love. I know she loves and cares about me in her way but her way is filled with a lot of conditions, including "be good", "be quiet" and "dont embarrass me." (And I'm equally hard on others for the same things, of course.)

This affects so many things in my life. I lose myself in relationships with men because I so desperately want to be loved. I hold back in friendships with women because I'm so scared of being judged. I'm constantly self critical despite because nothing I ever do is ever good enough. And I've learnt not to trust anyone or anything and just do everything myself.

In fact, today, on the way to work, I saw a dog that had been ridden over. My only thought was that I should probably call someone to clean it up. It bothers me... a lot... that I have very little compassion for animals. It's not something I openly admit to because then people assume you're a psycho killer. I once explained to someone that I dont trust animals because I think they're just after something (food, shelter etc) and I dont see how you can care for something that just uses you. I realise, deeply and painfully, how fucked up this is. I'm kinda glad that motherhood seems to evade me. :/

You're supposed to learn unconditional love from your parents. If you dont, are you doomed to just never be able to accept love from anyone or anything?

Well maybe you're just doomed to life time therapy and learning to be ok with being alone.

Hat tip to Bean for this.... because I just dont get it. 


meh.

~anib

Friday, October 23, 2015

Stone heart

It's been a hectic week in South Africa. The hashtag generation decided to change the world.
#feesmustfall #nationalshutdown #uctshutdown #etcetcetc
I'm hashtagged out, lost a few facebook friends, emotionally drained and so so proud of my country. I really have much more to say on the topic but I've definately overdosed on this topic and I need a break.

So... cute kittens with Hannah? Yes.



I was chatting to a friend about life and love and stuff, as one does. He met up with an ex and I said "be careful with your heat." He said he'd be fine as he only had a stone cold heart left. Yeah right. Our hearts keep beating, despite all the beatings it gets.

And on that note.... GOOD GOD I LOVE YOU ADELE. New single released today. THIS IS MY LIIIIIIIIIFE :) <3 p="" queen="">

I'm going to London in two weeks. So much squee. So much OCD on planning.
And breathe.

~anib

Wednesday, October 14, 2015

Biting my tongue

I woke up on Tuesday morning from another weird dream/nightmare and thought "oh that's pretty interesting... I should write it down." And then I fell asleep again and forgot the dream. However, I found that I had somehow managed to bite my tongue in my sleep. It's still really sore a day later so who knows what I was up to.

I logged onto twitter and people were bitching about some no bra day thing. Yes, I agree that no bras and pink shit doesn't help cancer but adding your voice just adds more noise sometimes. Maybe I'm super passive aggressive and not a fan of conflict, but I believe my silence says more than a verbal protest. Either way, I decided to ignore the drama and focus on the beautiful morning and forge ahead with a busy work day.

And then timehop gently reminded me that it was Yvette's birthday. I wish she (and her family) knew how much I still think of her. I still dont quite feel right having purple hair because that was her colour. And I wish I could plaster "please wear sunscreen" everywhere at outdoor parties. We haven't had too much sun yet but it's coming. Please please.... cover up and take care of your skin.

Anyhoo.. it made me a little sad to remember her, but such is the price of love. So on we keep moving with the day.

And then Facebook. It was pretty funny that in an informal twitter poll, I was one of the few people that chose Facebook as my favourite social media place. Look, it's full of conservative and/or racist friends and family.... but it's easy to hide those kind of things. Generally, the people that I follow are pretty interesting and entertaining. I guess I'm lucky in that way.

But then there are Facebook groups. ARGH. It can sometimes be a minefield to navigate the mini dramas that enfold. I am super grateful that I got my training in the old StumbleUpon groups on trolls and group moderation. Generally, it's a good idea to ignore the trolls. Let them have their say until they tire themselves out. And then you can update with the facts and leave them to carry on or lock the threads.


So I had a situation arise yesterday in one of my FB groups that made me super super angry. I remained calm when I was online and answered the necessary questions without responding to any personal attacks (aka "argumentam ad hominem", a much loved phrase). But damn was I angry offline. I was more angry that this was going on and on. Eventually I had to remove the thread from the public group because it was getting out of hand and I dealt with the issues in private message.

And then I went home and had a life.

I had actually almost forgot about it and was about to blog about it in anger last night when I got two apologies. Huh? I really didn't expect that. I generally avoid all conflict as I believe it never ends well. Granted, this was not really a personal issue so it was easier for me to stick to the facts and not feel too personally attacked. I guess I was just irritated that it was so public and embarrassing.


There're some lessons in here about keeping my tongue when I'm angry but also about learning when to speak up when I know something is wrong. There was a lot of stuff that I wanted to say, but it wasn't really appropriate or relevant to the particular discussion. So I'm glad I didn't say things that I would regret now.

In the end, it feels pretty fricking awesome to be validated and I think I did the right thing in this situation. I'm definitely not perfect though and I do make errors in judegment but I am always willing to learn from them. There're a few people that I trust that I will seek advise from tonight.... so we'll see what happens out of that.

Overall... twas a good day.
My tongue is still sore though.


xx

Thursday, October 8, 2015

I am

It's not news to me that I can be a drama princess. I'm aware of how I can blow things out of proportion and focus too much on the negative.

So, after yesterday's post , I contacted two friends in the UK who jumped at the opportunity to see me, even if briefly. One was prepared to fly in from Isle of Man and another said she would just "MAKE" time. And I was deeply humbled and touched. And suddenly, very very over the "maybe" guy.

I've "known" him for almost nine years online... which is pretty ridiculous, come to think of it. But if I'm a lot more interested in meeting him than he is in meeting me.... then what the hell dude. Buh-bye.

*and breathe*

In other news, I've been re-learning Hebrew because my favourite Israeli will be back in town soon. I stumbled across this phrase "Ani". Apparently it's a way to introduce yourself* ie Ani Ani. Heh.
So the translation is: "I am".

I AM.

Man... I can't begin to express how happy that made me.

The main reason I landed up online was to discover who I was. When I first started on mIRC, I struggled with finding a pseudonym. I used to change it every couple of days and try different personas with it... but it didnt last very long. Eventually, I decided to go with my given name.

Ever since then, every place that I signed up for online was a place to discover who "anita" was. On StumbleUpon, I was given the nickname ani, which has stuck and developed into its own little persona based on what everyone else was telling me who I was.
When I first started this blog in 2009, it was about claiming back that name "ani" and trying to figure out who I was outside of everyone's expectations.
At the time, I wanted to be small and invisible and quiet and alone. Now, I'm much louder and brighter and sometimes too much in the light.
But, through all of this... I am.
With or without you, I am.



After spending so many years wondering "I am?", I'm finally starting to drop the question mark. Here's to finding the explanation mark and learning to love all that is "I". :)

i am

xx

~anib

* I got that from a youtube video but subsequent research has said Ani translates to I. Whatevs. The insights matter. :)

Tuesday, October 6, 2015

Blogtober

So I really miss blogging. Not that I ever really blogged with any real consistency here... but I used to in other places (*sob* stumbleupon *sob*).
I've tried to cut down on Facebook and limit my status posts to a max of one a day. Twitter is more of a stream of consciousness thing that I hope no one actually reads. And tumblr... urgh. Look, I've tried but I really just dont like it.

So... let's try Blogtober. I'm not going to blog every day but I hope to blog more - at least about once a week. There's lots of things going on in my head but I dont always write them down because I'm still trying to figure them out. I like to write a blog post with a conclusion in mind. I hear my English teacher in my head when I write that. But maybe you dont always need to have the conclusion at hand.
I also rely on my therapist to talk things through and maybe having another outlet would be a good idea. The public nature of this blog does make me a little nervous but I'll try to be a little braver.
I'll also try to post with little editing as I often get stuck in edit mode (post edit: as I'm doing right now....). It's my little perfectionist streak and I dont want to appear stupid. Like, I'm very much aware how bad it is to start sentences with "and" and "but"... and "like". :)

Anyway.... here goes.

Not much going on today other than I'm busy planning a work trip to London in two weeks. I dont have any confirmation of dates yet, so it's really messing with my slight control freak (SO FREAKING OUT WITH LACK OF CONTROL). ahem.
Also I'm a little disappointed in someone that I.... oh how do i put this delicately.... kinda want to love me but who doesn't give me what I really want. bleh. Really not sure how I feel about this friendship that isn't just a friendship and probably shouldn't be a friendship. But I feel like it's the last bit of romance I have left in the world. So... that's a pretty sucky feeling but I'm working through it.


Otherwise, work is good. I'm good.

Laters.
x