Category Archives: Friends

I am pretty conscientious about how other people feel. I try to be thoughtful and anticipate issues. I spend a lot of time listening to people about their feeling and advising them, and I’ve got a pretty good grasp on how people react to what type of situations.

It’s safe to say, I think, that people aren’t often upset or angry with me because of this. And when they are, it’s often because of how they filter and react to the world around them and less about what I have done. But because I have tried to do everything as “right” as possible, I wind up feeling so confused and hurt when people are angry.

I try to chase them down and change those feelings, and this rarely makes things better. But in my mind, I would — and often do — cut someone slack when they have good intentions. I am sympathetic to others’ feelings, even if it means understanding both sides of the issues when one person wants me to be on “Their” side.

The last 24 hours have been frustrating for me, as someone expressed anger in my direction although not entirely at me. I felt as though it was my fault and worried that more people were angry. Truly, the situation was no one’s fault and just a bit of a misunderstanding. At best, it resulted in a “bummer” for people involved who weren’t me. It boggles my mind that someone could become so angry over it.

At the same time, I know why feelings were running so high, and I also knew it had nothing to do with me. But it was hard to see outside my role and not try to fix it.

I think I need to realize that I can’t “fix’ another person’s feelings — and that I shouldn’t have to. Those feelings are on them, and I don’t need to let them drag me down, too, especially when I can see how irrational those feelings are.

But it’s hard. IT brings me back to my ex, who would hold every negative thing I did or “made” him feel — no matter how unintended — against me. This screwup might be the time he stops dealing with pathetic, unworthy Cole. This might be the time that everything falls to pieces, and it’s all my fault.

He was incredibly manipulative in that way, and while I can see in hindsight that’s neither a person I should love, a relationship that’s healthy or happy to be in or a situation that I am creating, those feelings still creep up on me.

After my divorce, I’ve tried and continue to try so hard to be above criticism, to be so good that no one could again blame me for anything.. even if that’s unrealistic. Because I don’t want to be the person my ex painted me as, whether or not he even believed it. Because I did.

And while I know I am not the same I person if I ever was that person, I guess. It’s also important to remember the people I’m dealing with now aren’t my ex.

This is perhaps a good place to leave off, with thoughtful reflection and while watching an episode of Girls Meets World about conflict in the background.

I suppose I ought to write something since it’s been almost a month since my last post, and what a month it’s been!

The first week of August included my cousin’s birthday, my aunt’s wedding, the annual fair in town and GISHWHES, which was exhausting yet exhilarating. It gave me anxiety, but also a reason to talk to everyone I knew. It tested my creativity, introduced me to people and reconnected me with old friends. While I woke up anxious on some days, I went to bed feeling accomplished.

We won’t have the results for a while yet, and while I don’t know that we will win, I feel happy with that our team was able to do and what I was able to do specifically! I’ve signed up for the coffee table book review team, so I get a peek at what some of the other teams have done, which has mostly be reassuring!

My sister, cousins and a lot of children I know participated and had fun. My sister in particular enjoy spending time with me “doing cool things.” I think I need to spend more quality time with her.

My aunt’s wedding was hectic but fun, and I had an overnight guest that weekend. There was a lot of scrambling as I finished up GISHWHES. Luck would have is that my main client took off this week, so I’ve been working on catching up with blogging.

However, I’ve also caught some sort of a virus, which resulted in a cold. It’s not unusual because stress makes my immune system tank. I caught it early enough to take some supplements, so it’s not as bad as it would be otherwise.

It hasn’t stopped me from enjoying what was turned out to be a silly and alcohol-induced game night with friends, and I’ve got the bruises and stomachache to prove it. In true Cole fashion, I tried to walk it off for five miles exactly, and now my knee is throbbing and not entirely happy with me.

I’ll spend the rest of the night relaxing with my kitties and playing video games, in which I’ve been making quite the progress during my week off! It’s already 5 in the morning. I don’t know where the time went!

After a very long sleep following an exhausting weekend, I can finally breathe. This weekend started with the city’s annual Summer Kickoff, where I took my sister to play games, jump in bounce houses, see a firetruck and eat deep-fried junk food. We met up with our cousins, and it was a good time.

I left from there to see Jurassic World, which was a great movie. I think I’ll review it soon on Reviews by Cole. It’s funny — I didn’t realize I wanted to see it until after after else already had and was raving about it.

I came home with enough time to pack to leave for Minneapolis early Saturday morning. We stopped on the way for breakfast and then to visit Crystal Cave, a sight I don’t remember visiting before but have heard stories about from mom. It was cool, literally and figuratively. Although it’s warm enough outside that only four bats currently call the cave home, we were able to see two of them, including a fuzzy little thing right next to us on the other side of the glass. I stopped by the gift shop to pick up some things, including a gift for my sister and some small trinkets to hide.

We arrived in Minneapolis, grabbed a quick lunch and then headed out to the U of M, where we intended to see the replica of the sitting room in 221b, Sherlock Holmes’ apartment. Alas, the information online wasn’t quite updated, so we wound up at the wrong library because it’s such a large campus. When we found the correct one, it was closed for the day. So we got to wander around a large, beautiful and fragrant campus. I would have spent more time there, but my comrades weren’t down.

Instead, we headed to the next stop on the trip: Lakewood Cemetery. This cemetery makes many of the things-to-do-in-the-cities lists, and I had heard it was large, park-like and had a chapel with some great stained glass. When we got there, we were wary about being there, but we wandered around. There was a water feature, the older chapel, newer reception buildings and the most welcoming atmosphere of any cemetery let alone park I’d ever visited.

Wendy and I wandered over buildings set into the grassy hillside and saw some great monuments and headstones. During this, park security approached us to give us a pamphlet and map! We expected to be in trouble, but it was the opposite. And the information contained in there was interesting and helpful. We discovered a lake in the cemetery that was as big as our big cemetery back home, and drove around it. There were cranes, peacocks and robins chirping away, and some beautiful stained glass monuments. Unfortunately, the chapel was closed for a private function — a wedding! — by the time we got there, but with so much space to explore, I will definitely be going back!

We returned back to Wendy’s and enjoyed some frozen yogurt at her local mall and stopped in at a few shops to see what they had. Everyone bought awesome things from Hot Topic, including my new Day of the Dead damask shower curtain. Woot!

Yesterday, the only thing on our plan was the Mall of America. Robyn wanted to see the Star Trek exhibit. We snacked on crepes from a shop at the mall before I broke off from them. In the 2 or so hours they spend doing that and walking through the Nickelodeon theme park, I shopped the entire second and third floors. I got the only thing on my list — stylish black shorts — and some snacks in addition to splurging on some Mac nail polish for myself.

The drive home was relatively unexciting — though some sort of wreck did mean we got home a little later. I’ve just been trying to cool off because the heat, humidity and activity have got me beat! I’m headed back for Convergence in two weeks, though!

I feel so busy lately. Not in the I-have-to-work-13-hour-days way because I actually have a slow two weeks due to my main client taking some time off himself. No, I am busy in the my-social-calendar-is-full-and-I-have-no-time-to-just-veg-out with a side of social-interactions-drain-me-because-I’m-an-extrovert. I’m sure that scales terribly if you’re reading on a mobile device. ;)

So I am fortunate, no doubt, to have the time and money to do things with friends and family and to have a fairly long list of people who seem to want to spend that time with me. Don’t get me wrong about that.

It just all seems to exhausting.

This last week has been full of  ice cream (twice), walks (many times), shopping, going out for drinks, video games and more meals eaten out than is probably healthy.

There has been little time to just stop for myself to watch TV, read a book or play video games in the mindless way that is sometimes necessary to relax entirely.

I’ve had good food, laughs, inside jokes, marbles found and re-hid again, video games played, much exercise (with new shoes!) and a generally good time all together, but it leaves little time to relax by myself let alone to sleep.

So I declined a day trip tomorrow because not only will my schedule not work with it, but I just want to spend some time by and with myself. Especially while it’s been so generally warm and humid, and my apartment doesn’t have good air circulation.

When trying to describe how busy I feel to others, they don’t get it because I’m not talking about work. I’m not talking about things that are necessary, I suppose. They’re social. They’re fun, sure. And I don’t have to say “Yes,” but I do feel as though I should do as much as I can while I can. Because who knows when that will change?

In the mean time, the 4th of July is quickly approaching, which means a trip back to Minneapolis, Orange is the New Black has been released and I’ve yet to get a tattoo. I better get busy!

At first glance, I am so unlike my mom. She is more rough around the edges and simple in many ways. She’s not only driven by emotions — she’s fueled by them. I try to use logic to make better decisions and communicate more effectively. I’m a complex person, even though I’ve come to understand that I can be simpler than I ever thought and that maybe being complex isn’t bad.

I care more about appearances and presentation. I take more care with my looks and the words I choose. I am better, overall, at language and communicating effectively. I also have deeper understanding of the interactions people between and how things work, especially when it comes ot technology.

But when you compare us, you’ll see likenesses. We say some things in similar ways. It’s a tonal thing; although, we do use some of the same turns of phrase. There’s another similarity that I’ve been thinking about lately, too.

Both my mom and I come off as the type of people who won’t stand for anyone’s crap. In reality, we both shy away from confrontation more than you expect. I think this surprised people. No one is super comfortable with confrontation, and the way

I “avoid” confrontation by attempting to deal with issues in a forward and logical way. Thanks to marriage counseling, I’m much better at arguing in a constructive manner than, well, many people. So confrontation becomes less about fighting and more about understanding, thus making it less anxiety-causing to begin with.

Mom, on the other hand… Well, she’s not so good with the communication. If she’s frustrated with you or you’ve hurt her, she’s more likely to tell other people. This only increases her frustration and multiplies the drama. Of course, the original issue remains unresolved.

There is a common thread, I think, between the two of us. There’s a sort of fear about dealing with other people, I think, and not being able to express ourselves or appearing foolish. While Mom takes the angry route, I try to aim for the higher road — to understand why people do things, to forgive them and to be the bigger person as much as possible.

I’m generally more at ease and content with this aspect of my life because of this, and it’s something I wish she was more self-aware about because then she could be, too.

Still, I’m not so good at dealing with certain people. Usually it’s because the way they argue triggers a more emotional response to me. Some of my friends fight in a way that reminds me of my ex, and I respond in kind. It’s not so pretty.

I’m also afraid of pushing some people away with confrontation. While I realize that I have good intentions and anyone who should know this but runs away maybe isn’t the sort of force I need in my life to begin with, it’s hard because sometimes I wind up caring about those types of people.

Ultimately, I would rather err on this side. But there is still progress to be made. I think I can be understanding of others without selling myself short. I can — and should — be able to explain myself in a reasonable manner and should expect others to react in kind as much as possible. Realistically, I know we are fallible humans, but I should be able to confront people when it’s called for and be prepared to lose people who aren’t as rational as I am.

But I’ll probably avoid that change for a while. ;)