girlfriend - Rob, Rambling

03.03.10
18:16:15 - Comments (View)

text, relationships, girlfriend, introspection,

Is having fights a sign of being in a more mature, longer term relationship? The girlfriend and I seem to have had more arguments in the last two months than the previous two years, although they’re still very few and far between.

We seem to end up having arguments about the bigger things in life: where we’re heading; marriage; religion; our future; etc. Thankfully, we don’t argue about minor, trivial things, which I guess is a good sign.

I just struggle to talk about the deeper things, I guess. I enjoy living life day to day, and figure that if today was great then tomorrow will be better. And that’s how I feel about our relationship too: I enjoy each day more than the last, because things aren’t necessarily changing.

It’s when we talk about the future, the changes that something like marriage will bring, that I find myself not wanting these changes. I’m comfortable with how it is, I really am, and I don’t feel the need to introduce unnecessary changes to anything.

Call it comfort, call it fear, call it what you will, but it’s how I am. I like my life right now, I really do, and I don’t see why it has to change.

And, with a nod to the whole theory of the act of merely observing something changing it, when we begin to talk about changes, then the relationship itself changes too. I’ve felt more uncomfortable recently than I have done previously, purely because we’ve started talking about these things.

It’s not that I don’t want to get married, have kids, and do all that. It’s that I feel I’ll just know when the time is right to do those things. I don’t want a time-frame, or pressure to do certain things by a certain time. I’ll do it when I’m good and ready, really.

She wants reassurance from me that I’m in this for the long term, and that I’m not going to just decide one day that it’s not working. I can see it from her perspective, I can, but I struggle to see how I can provide absolute reassurance when I simply don’t know myself.

I love this girl, and never want to let her go, but I find it incredibly difficult to adjust myself to doing/saying exactly what she wants. She’s been in long-term relationships before; I haven’t. I’m still learning it all as I go, and probably fucking it up a lot. One previous girlfriend used to call me (only half-jokingly) a terrible boyfriend.

I think we cleared things up last night, but who knows.

25.02.10
14:00:07 - Comments (View)

chat, girlfriend, food, narwhal, creme egg, self referential,

1 note

Resurrecting an old joke

The Girlfriend: do you want me to get you anything from ASDA?
Me: narwhal tusk
Me: creme egg
The Girlfriend: realistic things
Me: A creme egg IS realistic!
See Also: http://blog.gooneruk.com/post/90058878/a-narwhal-is-quickly-becoming-my-stock-answer-for

21.02.10
15:13:00 - Comments (View)

photo, food, creme egg, self referential, girlfriend,

5 notes

It’s Creme Egg season again! There’s one missing already, courtesy of the girlfriend’s inability to wait…

19.02.10
20:10:00 - Comments (View)

photo, food, arty, girlfriend,

4 notes

Shortly, this little riot of colour will become a fantastic paella, if the girlfriend is to be believed. Yum!

Update: It was goooooooood.

18.02.10
18:23:01 - Comments (View)

chat, books, girlfriend, introspection,

On books, and reading.

The girlfriend: Woo hoo! I have just discovered another series of trashy novels to get into
Me: Which ones?
The girlfriend: They are about an author called Diana Gabaldan
The girlfriend: The kind of book you would hate :)
Me: Why's that?
The girlfriend: Because you only seem to read intense literary stuff
The girlfriend: Whereas I'll take a good old yarn and I love my trash as much as the literary stuff
Me: I don't read JUST literary stuff
The girlfriend: I know
Me: But I do quite like it!
The girlfriend: You like your books quite dark and full on
Me: Yeah, I guess I like to see the darker side of life when I read
Me: The things I don't do: murder, drugs, violence, etc
The girlfriend: Whereas I am an utter escapist
The girlfriend: The more unrealistic the better
Me: I like hyper-real settings with fucked up people in them, as a rule
Me: Somewhere I can identify with, but people that I can't

18:06:35 - Comments (View)

quote, girlfriend, beard, grooming, vanity,

Just looking at pics of you without a beard in Egypt… you look so strange!

The girlfriend, commenting on how long I’ve had a beard for. We went to Egypt in June last year, and I think it was shortly after that trip that I started growing the beard, which has been in permanent residence ever since.

I’m getting bored of it though, so it might not last until March… Time for something different.

11.02.10
17:47:21 - Comments (View)

text, question, girlfriend, relationships, london, valentines day,

2 notes

So, it’s Valentine’s Day on Sunday, and I’m wondering what to do with the girlfriend. We’re going to be getting back to London around 2.30 in the afternoon from my parents’ house, giving us the whole afternoon and evening.

I don’t particularly want to go out to dinner and get absolutely fleeced in a restaurant, so am trying to think of something a bit different.

My current idea (if the weather’s ok) is London Zoo, which I think will be quite fun. We don’t really make enough of all that London offers as it is, so this would be a good chance to do that. I’m a kid at heart, and so’s she, so wandering around looking at animals could be a good laugh.

Any other ideas?

10.02.10
14:19:00 - Comments (View)

photo, venice, gondola, holiday, review, girlfriend,

6 notes

So yep, I was in Venice this weekend with the girlfriend, for a little bit of culture and a chance to get out of London for a few days.

It was the start of Carnival whilst we were there, which is the 40-day build-up to Easter that is celebrated across much of Europe. In Venice, this means dressing up in masks and costumes, and you couldn’t move for masks and medieval dress. It was a riot of colour, and really good fun. I’ve got some video which I’ll put up soon.

Apart from that, we did the usual touristy stuff, of which I was most impressed by the Doge’s Palace, where the ruler of Venice used to live for many centuries. It was an incredible building, with an utterly ridiculous collection of art inside. All of the rooms are pretty much covered in pieces by Titian and others, and the sheer scale of some of the paintings needs to be seen to be believed.

On the Sunday, we finally got some good weather, and had a little gondola ride along the Grand Canal and a few back-canals. It was blissfully relaxing, and our boatman was really well-informed and entertaining. I’m pretty sure the girlfriend was itching to do a gondola ride, despite saying earlier in the week that she wasn’t fussed…

One thing that struck me about the city, especially when you got away from St Mark’s Square and the Rialto Bridge, is how quiet it is. Living in London, I just don’t notice traffic noise any more, but its absence in the middle of Venice is really quite remarkable.

Despite this relative silence, you can still tell that the city is buzzing, alive with people and happenings. I loved just getting lost in the narrow alleyways, aimlessly wandering from one place to the next and just being amazed that the city actually functions/survives.

I highly recommend staying on the Lido, because it’s actually really quick to get into the city from there, and a hell of a lot cheaper. Plus you have the waterbus ride across the lagoon a couple of times a day, which is a fantastic view.

04.02.10
11:47:09 - Comments (View)

picture, weather, holiday, venice, question, girlfriend, christmas, relationships, self flattery,

7 notes

I’m off to Venice tomorrow for a long weekend with the girlfriend, and am thoroughly looking forward to it. I’ve been before, once when I was really young with my family, and then on a whistle-stop day or two as part of a longer road-trip with some friends a few years ago.

She’s never been, and has been mentioning that fact for at least the last 12 months. Shortly before Christmas, I bought a guide book for the city, and booked flights and a hotel, without telling her.

On Christmas Day, one of my presents to her was the guide book, which she seemed a little surprised at. She asked “Are we going to Venice?”, and I told her to look inside the book. There, waiting, were the flight bookings and hotel reservation, ready to go. She had tears in her eyes, which I think is a good sign.

I admit it, I’m damned good at this relationship stuff sometimes.

Unfortunately, the weather is conspiring against us this weekend. Rain, rain, and more rain. Just like being in London, but with water below as well as above…

Anybody have any tips, restaurant/bar/sights-wise?

29.01.10
10:39:32 - Comments (View)

chat, girlfriend, twitter,

2 notes

We're so very different, you and I

The girlfriend: Ha! I last used twitter 8 months ago
Me: I think I last used it about 8 minutes ago
Me: 17, actually

Rob, Rambling - A lot of things interest me...

Resurrecting an old joke

On books, and reading.

We're so very different, you and I

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