Okay, well, I spent most of yesterday dorking around and not doing the work I'd honestly meant to do. Maybe I'll get to it today.

I have even less to talk about today than I had yesterday, though.

Mostly, my thoughts are wrapped up in something that I'm not really at liberty to talk about in detail. Let's see if I can summarize it without giving anything away that might be google-able. A friend of mine met a guy she thought was amazing, and after he slept with her a few times, he dropped her. Told her that he didn't feel that "special connection."

Heartbreak, yes. And then he threw down the Friends Speech -- which sometimes is sincere, but I'm guessing in this guy's case it meant, "I'll call you when I want sex." Anyway, she was talking to him a couple of days later (because she wanted to believe the Friend Speech, I guess) and he kept talking about the "special connection" he didn't feel until she was more or less forced to ask him to clarify. At which point he started to tell her that she was unattractive and not very good in bed, besides.

At which point she IMed me. I told her to disconnect the evil fuck and not talk to him anymore.

It's a good thing I never met him, because I want so badly to kick him in the... Well, I'm sure you can imagine.

Bad enough that he charmed her into bed and then dropped her like a hot potato. It's an asshole thing to do, but the world is full of assholes. She got burned. It happens.

But what's with the whole needing to tear her down afterward? It wasn't enough for him to shatter her hopes, he had to make her feel small and insignificant on top of it? Merciless gods, why? I don't get it. Is making her feel worse about herself supposed to make it easier for him to screw her again later? Is that the idea?

Well, if I can get her to listen to me, it won't work. If I had my way, she'd never so much as look in his direction again.

Unfortunately, I know what it's like to be young and insecure and desperate for affection. She's a beautiful, vibrant woman who does not have to settle for being treated like a second-class citizen, but she doesn't know that, yet. She hasn't found her center, and until she does, she's going to be a target for the evil fucks of the world.

Dammitall to hell, anyway. Sometimes I wish I could go back in time and fix things, you know? I wish I could be sixteen again and not be so damned shallow. I wish I could be twenty again and take life a little less seriously. I wish I could be twenty-four again and grow a spine. If I knew then what I know now...

But that's the trick, isn't it? You can't appreciate the light until you've walked through the dark.

But damn, those stubbed toes hurt.

--Liz