(no subject)

[tinyjo]

I'm feeling extremely low today. I don't really know why though. I was in tears last night trying to talk about attitudes to child free women in society with Alex (triggered by that obnoxious Observer article white_hart linked; they'll be getting a letter to the editor from me). It is something I find very frustrating but not normally something which would reduce me to tears, even when tipsy. And just now, I suddenly thought; what if this is PMT. What if I'm about to have a period for the first time in years? Just the thought is enough to make me want to cry on it's own. Still, I won a minor victory. I managed to decide that there was no point in making myself feel more depressed by going over to the snack machines and buying chocolate or a pack of carbohydrate-y sandwiches to cheer me up and then not losing any weight either. Instead, I'm treating myself to a crispbread from my desk drawer stash (!) and have just noticed a cup-a-soup in there which I might also have to supplement my breakfast (a banana).

I'll be able to get Zetti's review finished at lunchtime I think, which should give me a sense of achievement and then after work, there'll be a pub meetup, which always cheers me up. Chequers again? I'm not eating this time (I have cooking plans) so if anyone who is wants to go somewhere else, speak now and ye shall be heard. Well or anyone else of course, but I think the eaters probably get the final say - after all, anywhere we go is likely to serve drinkables :) Then I just have to get my Brownie planning done after dinner so that I can go to roleplaying tomorrow with a clear conscience.

It occurs to me that if I do have a period I have literally no stuff for it. And to be honest I have kind of deliberately not got round to buying anything in a kind of "bury head in sand about possibility" way. Perhaps I should go out at lunchtime and buy some panty-liners just in case. Also, I think I may be likely to post a lot today.

Comments

Of pubs and such like

[cloudhigh.livejournal.com]

Hi - for some reason I was just thinking of you this minute and dialled up LJ to see if you had written something today! The child-free thing is a complex issue, to say the least, and one which I've spent a lot of time considering.

Looks like I have a free spot in my diary this evening, so if you're Chequersing tonight I might be able to pop by? What's a good time?

ROFL

[t--m--i.livejournal.com]

One can have PMT without having periods. Trust me. (I feel a bit like that guy on Futurama: "Good news, everybody!...").

And given that on your LJ you periodically mention outbreaks of things that I would recognise from my own experience as being associated with hormonal fluctuations like outbreaks of listmaking and brain-dead lethargic days, well, maybe you *are* experiencing hormonally-related mood variations.

YMMV but I certainly do. It used to be a real problem until I overhauled my diet with that in mind (not just taking EPO though that helps), made sure to always take regular exercise and stopped trying to do more than I could sensibly fit in.

Yes, it's true: I used to be much crankier (hard to believe that such levels of crankiness could be reached by just one person but true nonetheless). And nary a period in sight.

sorry, that was probably after me

[cleanskies.livejournal.com]

ranting about Elle again, wasn't it? It's driving me nuts, though. I'm seeing her on Fri, I'll probably calm down a bit after that.

[dyddgu.livejournal.com]

I'm up for Chequers tonight, if that's ok.
Also, if you need any girl stuffs for emergency purposes, I have loads in my bag with me, and you're welcome to take them away, rather than spending money and have it not turn up.
I hope you're feeling a little better post-lunch *gentle hugs*

she wants a good slapping

[vinaigrettegirl.livejournal.com]

"Hair's breadth away?" No, she IS a smug parent. Definitely a self-obsessed fuckwit journo. Yes, I *know* I am loopy about my own kid, but I did have him at 43 and only bore about him on my LJ. I left my own church in tears after listening to a self-obsessed female priest go on and on about her own upcoming marriage and future kids in a sermon.

As for the UK being better for kids: ten years ago it was bloody awful for children, now it's slightly better, and the long-hours workforce culture has bugger all to do with children and much to do with preferred male patterns of work. Women-with-children-screwing-up-our-lives is an old, old song; and Jonathan Whosis may be a git, but he doesn't represent people who choose not to have children, AFAIC. He's just a git. And so was the author of the article. They'll go to hell in their own handcarts, I'm sure.

Pay them no mind.

Why so bothered, though, about a period? One every few years, [shrugs shoulders]: forgive me, you can tell me to push off, but what gets to you about it?

[white_hart]

I'm afraid I won't be coming tonight, as we missed the gym yesterday because I was stuck at work until half past six, so we're going tonight instead. Have fun, and I'll definitely be there next week (and probably very much wanting a drink, as I have my appraisal that afternoon!)

[pennyroyalist.livejournal.com]

*hugs* i truly hope everything works out for you. if people want to have ignorant opinons, let them. i'm glad that you plan on sticking it to the editor *virtual high five :P*

also, thanks for working on my review, i can't wait to recieve it, don't worry about it if you get too busy. i'd hate to think of you wasting your lunch hour on me!

talk to you soon.

Swimming against the tide

[brixtonbrood.livejournal.com]

I read the Observer article with interest on Sunday and thought that the bulk of it was interesting and reasonably well balanced. I can hear the calls of "Well of course you think that, your situation is the same as the author's". Which is true, but the substance of the article is objective fact - Gordon Brown's revolution in parental leave, the SureStart initiative, later motherhood, the huge growth in the middle class parenting pound and the corresponding growth in businesses exploiting that.
Sure he's putting a personal spin on this stuff, but at least he's making it clear where he stands and not trying to pass his stance off as unbiassed (and where his interviewees are picked from the people he meets at his kids playground he makes that clear rather than pretending that they are fully representative (a frequent crime of that sort of journalism)).
However, when I got to the last bit I groaned "They'll get letters" partly because the level of abuse overpowered the rest of the article (he tried to lighten it up with the flip "anything this guy's for, I'm against" comment, but it was still a big failure of tone) but mostly because people would inevitably (IMO wrongly) interpret it as a blanket attack on the childless/childfree rather than this particular bloke.
In his defence, stuff I've read from the pro-childfree/anti kid movement can get very annoying. They always start with really good stuff like the appalling things people say to childfree women and the lack of flexible working for people caring for parents/spouses and end by moaning about perfectly reasonable stuff like parent and baby film screenings (at 10:30am for heaven's sake), family carriages (aka ghettos) on trains, and the demise of the Routemaster bus. I don't know whether they've been embittered by society's undoubted bad attitude or whether only someone who was a miserable git to start off with would go to the effort of starting this sort of campaign.

To change the subject - I recommend vitamin B6 - I've been on it for years and haven't knifed anybody