Halloween Goodies!
Would you eat an eyeball? YUM!
Drawing by Marty Coleman, who hasn’t ever eaten an eyeball, but has eaten brains (non-human).
The Fearful Mermaid – A Short Short Story
The Fearful Mermaid – A Short, Short Story
Chapter 1 – The Chase
Satine, the mermaid who liked her blue eyeshadow and mascara, didn’t know why they were chasing her, why they were so angry. She swam as fast as she could to get away, all the time trying to remember if she had done or said something to upset them. After a long time swimming she finally remembered what it was. She had eaten their mother for lunch.
She swam until she reached a rock near the shore. She climbed up on it and waited until they got tired and hungry and went away. Then she swam off to find her sisters and tell them about being chased.
The End
Here are the other mermaids
- The Virgin Mermaid
- The Night of Mermaids
- The Modest Mermaid
- The Arctic Mermaid
- The Lake Mermaid
- The River Mermaid
- The Fearful Mermaid
- The Influencer Mermaid
Worth Sharing:
The Woman with Bacon Hair and Big Breasts – A Short Short Story
The Woman w/ The Bacon Hair and Big Breasts
The woman was happy. She had hair like bacon, which she always wanted, and her big breasts had finally healed from the surgery.
She liked finally being thin. she had dieted and worked out hard to attain her new shape.
Someone took a photo of her and she stuck out her tongue.
Her friend standing next to her also had big breasts (but not bacon hair) but she was not happy about it.
The End
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Short short story and drawing by Marty Coleman
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Worth Sharing:
Attraction and Awareness – Dating 101 #4
I hope you are aware that today is day #4 of Dating 101
Who are you attracted to?
I think we all will admit there is a certain type of look that we are attracted to. I have explained it from the point of view of an artist this way; Sometimes you see someone and you can evaluate perfectly why you think they look beautiful. The hair, skin, smile, eyes, shape, etc. can all be evaluated and as a result you might say “I think that person is attractive.” There are a lot of people like that for me. And I like it that way. I love finding beauty in most everyone.
But there is another level of attraction that precedes evaluation. It is the visceral, immediate response to a beauty that hits you without any thought or evaluation. It isn’t a matter of choosing, it just is. I like that as well.
How Much Are You Aware Of?
But with that visceral response that comes before thinking, we can get ourselves in trouble. It may not just be ‘I like blonde men’ or ‘I like short girls’, which is fine and doesn’t need to be evaluated really. But it might be ‘I am attracted to bad boys or bad girls who treat me like crap.’ Then what? When our immediate attractions lead us to trouble again and again, we need to become aware of it. Maybe not the first time, but after that, not paying attention to why you are attracted to someone who is going to hurt you, is compounding danger for yourself.
Then What?
So, if you do know your attractions are dangerous, what can you do? I believe maybe you can change your attraction. But you can’t do it directly. You can’t say, ‘I will now like men or women who are this or that way’. But maybe you can do it indirectly. If you work on seeing why you like who you like, perhaps that gives you enough insight into some of the underlying reasons. Then, little by little set free from those unconscious responses, with practice and awareness maybe you can start to see other qualities that become more attractive.
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Drawing and commentary by Marty Coleman
Quote is adapted from one by David DeAngelo (I added the last line)
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Worth Sharing:
Are You Two Too Together? – Dating 101 #3
I got it together in time to post #3 of Dating 101
Silly Love Songs
I remember reading a Paul McCartney interview after his first wife, Linda, died. He told that through 20+ years of marriage they had only spent something like 4 days apart from each other. That’s saying something considering he was a traveling rock star. Yes, she was in Wings, but she also was a mother of young children, and an author in her own right with her own business identity. Their marriage has always been held up as a paragon of romance and love, in large part because of stories like that and Sir Paul’s inclination to write silly love songs to her. And I think that’s great.
Familiarity and Absence
But for most relationships, married or not, constant togetherness isn’t always ideal. It does a mind and body good to be independent for stretches of time. Too long obviously and the relationship can fall apart, but not enough time away from each other can be just as detrimental. The two famous cliche quotes, “Familiarity breeds contempt” and ‘Absence makes the heart grow fonder” are cliches because they are repeated again and again. And they are repeated again and again because people discover them to be true again and again.
Fear of Aloneness
I often see updates on Facebook or elsewhere from a woman (in most cases) who states something akin to, “Wow, boyfriend is on a fishing trip. I don’t know what to do with myself.” When I read these things I sometimes worry about what will happen if her boyfriend and she break up? Will she know herself well enough to know what she wants to do with her time?
Courage to Keep You You
In my mind the way to avoid that issue is to never let go of what interests you and what you like to do. Always take the time to follow those interests. For example, when I go on a trip, I like, if possible, to spend an extra day dedicated to going to museums. Could I come home a day earlier to be with my wife? Yes, I could. And I miss her so it would be nice to be home. But it’s also nice to explore what I like. And it makes me a more interesting person for her to be married to. And it backs up the reality that I am an individual and will be the best individual I can be if I have a strong identity on my own. It strengthens my marriage, my relationship with my daughters and my friends, as well as my work as a blogger, artist and coach.
So, my advice? Don’t meld into cosmic oneness with your boyfriend and lose your identity. Instead lean into your boyfriend, and let him lean into you, interdependent, interesting and individual.
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Drawing and commentary by Marty Coleman
Quote by Victoria Billings, 1945 – not dead yet, American Journalist
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Worth Sharing:
The Napkin Dad