A Break From Blogging

I'm just taking a self-imposed three day break from blogging. I need to focus on my upcoming GRE test and job interview. I'll be back shortly, but maintaining three blogs is a lot of time that could be better spent improving my future, you know?

See you all Thursday or Friday!

Gloria's Romantic Monday: Having The Means To Make It Happen

***Gloria is a friend of mine I know from church. She is a single mother. She has a boyfriend, Gregory, who we all love and her son's father, Rufus, who we all hate. She is fun-loving and hilarious. Gloria is the type of friend who'd be there for you at a party, when things get tough, or even if you need help applying for school.***

Read Romantic Monday posts.

Last week, I talked about Gloria's wedding that will happen at some point in the future. It will be sooner rather than later. As in, at some point in the next two years. I talked a bit about bridesmaids and the fact that Gloria will probably not have any.


This week, I don't have anything new to report. Of course, that doesn't mean there's anything new, I just don't know anything new to add to the blog. Therefore, I'm going to do my thing out on the internet, seeing what I could find that would relate to Gloria's current romantic situation.


Google search term #1: waiting to get married.
Found: all types of crazy stuff. Everything from people waiting to get married until homosexuals have equal rights under the law to people encouraging waiting til after age 25 because of divorce statistics. There was even this one trippy article about this woman lambasting early marriage but offering a disclaimer of her mother's and father's multiple marriages. I'm going to try again.


Google search term #2: marriage without a wedding.
Found: Some interesting articles about not having the means to get married, which sort of applies to Gloria and Gregory. Actually, reading it further it sounds just like them (except the common law marriage thing in NY).

It was in Yahoo Answers. You can read it here. There was another article where a woman was talking about a man who was refusing to have an engagement or a wedding, he just wanted to go to a courthouse. That definitely sounds nothing like Gregory.


I think the first article is the one I'll go with. The woman in the Yahoo Answers thing talks about wanting to make what they have official because they have children. Gloria has a son and so does Gregory. Gloria is interested in making what they have official and starting their family together instead of still operating as two different family units.


If they had the means to, I know they'd probably be married--or at least engaged--already. But I don't know how far from "the means" they can be before Gregory is still trying to wait to see if the situation improves.


I just don't even understand this sentiment. I think it's better to build together rather than build separately and try to combine. But that's just me. I guess we'll see what will happen with Gloria and Gregory.

Michelle's T.G.I.Fridays: 10 Steps For Cyclical Casual Relationships

***Michelle is a girl that grew up next door to me and we attended the same church. Now she's in her early 20s and living the single life. She goes on these dates that are either lovely or horrific. She's slightly terrified at the thought of committing to someone any time soon. And of course, she has the occasional man who really catches her eye and her heart.***

Quick Recap [The last post I wrote about Michelle was two weeks ago. In that post, I related two stories of updates about men from Michelle's recent romantic life. The basic story is that she received apologies from both of these men in just a short period of time about the crappy way they both treated her. I was very glad to report the apologies because that meant I could stop planning how to end these two guys.] Read T.G.I.Fridays posts.


This week, I want to talk about Michelle's dating pattern. It's happened more than once now and I think it is an official trend (not a scientific trend, but who cares about whether it's statistically sound?) What happens is pretty interesting. I may get some steps out of order or they may not apply to each guy, but I hope I've got the pattern down.


1. Michelle meets a guy in a group setting.

2. Her and the guy cross paths a couple more times over a period of time. During this time, they realize they have an interesting chemistry that may be worth exploring.

3. The guy lets Michelle know he's interested and gauges her interest. She's usually noncomittal.

4. At this point, Michelle compares the new possibilities guy to whoever is currently on the roster (and has yet to secure an exclusive commitment).

5. If this guy has potential and isn't an immediate threat to her current lifestyle, she lets things evolve with him to see where they can go.

6. The new guy decides he's some version of smitten with Michelle and requests things be taken to the next level. He may or may not have worked to build a good foundation with Michelle that would support such a request.

7. Michelle responds with, "I don't know" at first because she really doesn't know. She tries to figure out if this guy could really be worth that scary exclusive commitment.

8. The other men orbiting around just happen to try and make a rebound, further complicating her decision.

9. Right when Michelle is truly considering taking that leap into the unknown with the new man, he decides his patience has run out or his insecurities have built up or he's met someone else who doesn't have to think as hard about taking the leap.

10. Things fall apart, they decide to become friends, they start back at Step #1.


This is Michelle's pattern. At least it has been since I began writing blog posts about her love life. It's quite an interesting pattern and I'm dying to know if she thinks it's an accurate pattern and what she plans to do about it.


It's actually a perfect pattern for someone who isn't looking to be tied settled down. She graduates with a Bachelor's degree in three months and then moves on to get her Master's immediately after. All the men she's recently come across have been particularly selfish, so Michelle's pattern definitely keeps her safe from getting in too deep with any one guy.


Besides, she's only 23. Now is the time to date and have fun and get to really learn yourself as an adult. She will learn her adult preferences and her must-haves. I think she's right on track. If she wanted to be married tomorrow, she'd be screwed. Actually, she wouldn't. She'd just stop at Step #6 with the next guy and marry him. Thank God she's not ready to settle down, haha.