One is for the schadenfreudedy aspect of the whole thing: look at those crazy people with their crazy problems!
The other is on the hope that, by some chance, someone will write in with a problem that's similar to what is going on in our lives, and by reading the advice the columnist gives the letter writer we, too, will know what to do with ourselves.
Last year, on Valentine's Day, I ran an advice column; this year, I saw myself in one.
Never mind the question, although you can read what the woman wrote here: this is the paragraph that jumped out at me, in the answer:
I just have this big feeling that you are enormously sweet and quite dangerously cutting and somebody should come into your life and just be a nice guy and gently coax you into being kinder . My only fear is that if a nice guy comes into your life, if you have not dealt with this cutting, biting, uncompromising, demanding and perhaps perfectionist side, you will cut him to ribbons without really meaning to, and he will run out into the street and collapse from contagiously low self-esteem.
Yep. I'm a perfectionist to the point where the first thing that jumped out at me in the paragraph (after the meaning of the text, of course) was the missing Oxford comma. And I'm kind of that way about people, too. I'm enormously sweet and generous and giving and cutting and uncompromising.
What to do? Dunno.
No. Seriously. Dunno.
Hope you all have Happy Valentine's Days! I've got to remember to go out and buy myself my favorite Valentine's-only chocolates: Queen Anne Cordial Cherries.
Cheap and yum!
1 comment:
I've never read that advice columnist before - very impressed.
I get out my uncompromising, sarcastic, and, yes, biting edge by arguing on the internet a la this comic. And then I go read Gretchen's blog and remind myself to be happy. It works, mostly, and when it doesn't I apologize to my husband for being an ass.
Post a Comment