Category Archives: Relationships

State of the Union

30 Friday Nov 2018

Posted by in Red Pill, Relationships

≈ 65 Comments

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So just minutes ago, I randomly happened to see a post on Instagram with pink plastic reusable-but-also-disposable cups for — I am assuming — a bachelorette party (???) that say, “Same penis forever.” Along with a diamond engagement ring clip art image.

So naturally I had to write a post.

How depressingly red pill is that? Are the holders of said cups already regretting the end of the Alpha Fux, soon to be beta bux (AF/bb) era? Are the cups being both reusable (for a whole weekend!!!) but disposable a sign of the times?

Is this a healthy and marriage-ready or marriage-worthy sentiment? How long until that same penis gets old? What then?

Or am I just taking a joke and a lighthearted spin on the male version of this sentiment all too seriously?

As one manospherisn might say, (Drink!) And then discuss in the comments!

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Don’t Be That Girl

01 Monday Oct 2018

Posted by in Relationships

≈ 226 Comments

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The other night I happened to be at a big wedding for a friend of a friend. Early on I noticed a beautiful blond girl in a flowing black formal gown. To say she was stunning was an understatement. She looked like some sort of goddess, I am not kidding. On the looks scale I would say she was a 9 or maybe even a 10. No joke!

Later I saw her with a baby and a young man I assumed was her husband. They looked like a dashing young couple and their daughter (maybe 10 months old) was adorable.

The next time I saw her she was surrounded by a crowd, drink in hand, telling stories as friends gathered around. She seemed to be enjoying herself.

A bit later I saw her again, another drink in hand. Still telling stories, her voice starting to slur. Her man and baby were gone.

An hour or so later she’s stumbling around. Not making much sense. People start to avoid her except for a few guys who seem to be hoping to take her home.

Another hour goes by and she’s been cut off from the bar. I hear her baby daddy (turns out they weren’t married, for this reason) had left with the child. He’s in the process of trying to get custody. Had he videotaped her behavior, I am sure it would not have looked good in court.

She asks several times for another drink at the bar but is turned away. She starts going around and drinking half finished beers left behind on tables. Twice she nearly falls as she trips on tables and chairs in search of another half empty can. Waiters at the event notice and start picking up any abandoned containers before she can.

The wedding ends and I overhear people trying to talk other people into giving her a ride home. Nobody wants to except for a guy who seems to want to take advantage of the situation. Finally someone else agrees to give her a ride. I overhear long time friends say, “She always does this. We are so sick of it!”

The mother of the groom says the girl dated her other son briefly but because of her behavior he had broken things off. The son was there with his now wife and baby. The wife wasn’t as striking as the blonde but she was pretty in a less flashy way,  was clearly better wife material, and was the picture of a devoted happy young mom. She had married well, into a very successful and nice family.

I wanted to talk to the blonde but realized that in her stumbling, fall down state it would have done absolutely no good. I am pretty sure she would probably not remember much of the night.

Some people just shouldn’t drink and this girl seemed to be one of them. I hope someone says so to her, and soon.  And if so I hope she listens. If not the girl is headed for disaster. Sadly, her daughter’s future doesn’t look too bright either.

Don’t be that girl!

What do you think? Please share in the comments.

Young Love

20 Thursday Sep 2018

Posted by in parenting, Relationships

≈ 111 Comments

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My oldest daughter started a new school recently (she has been doing online homeschool for two years at her request but I worried she might be too isolated so she’s now attending a charter homeschool hybrid program with in person classes twice a week) and on the first day parents were encouraged to come along so I got to go back to school, too! High school even! (Unlike regular school parents are encouraged to visit anytime and are even able to sit in on classes to learn the topic themselves if they like!)

I share the background so the rest of this will make sense.

In one of her classes the teacher kicked things off by having everyone write down three things about themselves (parents too!), put them in a basket, draw another out, and go around introducing yourself and then asking questions to try and find the person whose paper you had. (Cool idea, I thought! I am very impressed with all of her teachers and the school so far!)

Anyway, this class was an elective so it contained students from freshmen to seniors. When the teacher got to one student, who sat with his giggly girlfriend, she mentioned he wasn’t really a student anymore as he had graduated the year before. His girlfriend had drawn his paper and read off the three things: 1. He liked sports. 2. His favorite thing to do is sleep. 3. People always stare at him. The girlfriend giggled.

I should add he looks almost exactly like Rock Hudson. I wondered if he knew how classically handsome he was, or if he honestly didn’t know why people stared. His girlfriend is not nearly as striking but she clearly adores him.

In the manosphere he likely would be what’s known as a natural. Attracting women’s attention will likely never be something he has to learn how to do. However,without knowledge he still might struggle with women if he doesn’t just figure things out or have someone teach him.

I wondered what will become of this young couple or how long they have been together. Maybe in time I will find out.

Anyway, what do you think? Please share your thoughts in the comments!

 

 

Looking for Love in All the Wrong Places?

10 Monday Sep 2018

Posted by in Relationships

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Today I met a woman in her late 50s or maybe early 60s who just started telling me her story, like many people do.

Turns out she’s engaged to be married, to a man who lives overseas. Kenya, to be exact.

He’s in the military she said, and the met via an online dating site.

She seemed like a nice lady, and was with her elderly mother. She has mid length reddish blond hair and seemed like perhaps a retired school teacher, or some such. She dressed very plainly, not much make up, her hair somewhat messy.  And she looked tired. Like she had the worries of the world on her shoulders.

She mentioned being married before, when she was 23. She said her ex-husband remarried recently at a popular nearby spot. She saw this on Facebook. She didn’t want a big wedding like that, she said. She wants to keep it simple.

I could somehow feel as she described what started to sound like an extremely complicated situation involving her sending tens of thousands of dollars to the fiancé so he could come that things may not be what they seem. There had been multiple delays, expired documents, more checks sent via money wire for thousands more.

He’ll be here soon, she said. I wondered if I sensed doubt in her voice? Soon… hopefully… she looked off in the distance, the words seemingly just hanging there.

Her mom didn’t know, she said. Nobody in her family did. She didn’t explain further, I didn’t pry. I wanted to ask more. I was afraid to ask.

I really worry for her and hope she is not being scammed. But as is sometimes said around here I had to remember, “Not my monkey, not my circus.”

Will she be another post-wall woman fleeced of all she has in the name of “love?” I hope not. Maybe someday she will pass my way again and I will find out how the story ends.

What do you think? Please share in the comments.

Like That?

05 Wednesday Sep 2018

Posted by in Relationships

≈ 35 Comments

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I felt this quote shared by commenter Alan Kardec was worthy of making a post of its own. He says:

A great quote from Kevin Williamson: “It was not the invention of the birth-control pill, or the adoption of no-fault divorce, that hollowed out marriage: It was that we became the sort of people who desired those things. We became — Western civilization became — the kids who flunked the test in the famous Stanford marshmallow experiment, unable to resist immediate gratification and, having stripped ourselves of the cultural basis for understanding the distinction, unable to tell the difference between pleasure and happiness.”

What do you think? Please share in the comments.

I Am Happier

23 Thursday Aug 2018

Posted by in Relationships

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Yesterday I ran into a colleague for the first time since I heard he and his wife were divorcing. (Click on the link for the backstory.)

He summed it up simply. “I am happier,” he said. Even in a small apartment with next to nothing, he’s happier. And I don’t doubt it. His ex is one of those bitter, unhaaaaapy, always complaining types.

As other men have described it before, after years of trying, years of counseling, years of wanting things to work despite years of her nonsense, one day over a relatively small incident he suddenly just didn’t care anymore. He was done. No looking back. He said he just knew at that moment it was never going to work.

Currently he is supporting her and his son in the house while paying for the apartment as well. He says she wants to keep both her small house she had when they married (a paid off rental) and then the house he had bought shortly before they married too. She wants it all, but has no job and no job skills that would allow her to afford it. He’s already been told she won’t qualify for spousal support. The divorce proceedings are underway and soon I have a feeling that she’s going to be very unhappy when reality hits and she’s living on much reduced means.

I also have a feeling it’s going to be a really harsh reality to swallow when she realizes all the problems she blamed him for are still there. Combined with new problems, like having to move, having to live on much less, having to work, etc.

Meanwhile, he’s happier. He’s living a simple life, and is fine with it. He’ll still go to work and all the rest like before, except instead of coming home to strife he now comes home to peace. Another MGTOW is born.

What do you think? Please share in the comments.

 

Stay The Course

12 Sunday Aug 2018

Posted by in Relationships

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A friend whose husband was recently laid off from a high level executive job confessed the other day that she doesn’t know what to do.

They have been married since she was 24, he 31. They are very much a “Barbie and Ken” type couple and make a striking pair. She’s now 49, he’s 56. Both still look very young for their age.

They waited several years after marriage to start a family and now have three teenage sons ranging in age from middle school to a senior in high school.

She was a career gal in her 20s and early 30s and then has been a stay at home mom since the kids arrived. She dabbles in fixing up and reselling vintage furniture and other part time activities to make extra pocket money. She’s contemplated going back to work but admitted there’s no way she could earn enough to meet their expenses.

He has had a successful career in management, working his way up to the executive level. He’s worked for many household name companies over the years, increasing his skill set and marketability. His most recent job, the one recently lost, paid $190k a year.

Like many American couples they have saved little over the years despite his income, mostly because they live right at or perhaps even above their means. They do own their home but after a recent extensive remodel and expansion have little or no equity in it.

As one might imagine, with little cushion to absorb this unexpected blow, she’s panicking. She opened up to me that their marriage is struggling and she’s been contemplating divorce.

Knowing the red pill, I wasn’t shocked at all by this and was glad she shared it with me. I explained to her that the feelings she was having are a normal knee jerk reaction women often have during such times of crisis, but that having such feelings did not necessarily mean they needed to be acted upon.

Women are hardwired to survive, and self-preservation is a natural go-to mode in crisis. This drive is a primative one, coming from deep within the brain stem. It’s the same drive that allows women to survive disasters, wars, famine, disease, kidnapping, rape, and other threats to survival. (See “war bride theory” for more in depth explanation of this. https://therationalmale.com/2011/10/03/war-brides/)

The problem with this urge is it doesn’t come from a logical, reasoned place and unchecked it can lead to disasterous decisions or overreactions when survival isn’t truly at stake but it just feels like it is.

My friend seemed relieved to get these dark thoughts about abandoning ship out of her head and to understand just because she has such feelings doesn’t mean she must act upon them or that they were even in her best interest.

We discussed some alternatives, and also talked about how the current marriage struggles seemed to be situational rather than unresolvable. I helped her understand what her husband might be feeling, and how pulling together as a team would be far more constructive than splitting apart.

I also verbalized what I suspect might have been her biggest fear — at his age he may not find another job at that income level. I have seen many men (and women) downsized a decade short of retirement face this. Unfortunately the work world can be brutal, and often companies will hire the younger candidate for less than someone in their late 50s. It’s ageism, but often not directly so. She admitted this was a huge concern.

Then we switched to outside the box mode. One reason for their home remodel is that her husband dreams of running a bed and breakfast in retirement. He’s burned out in his career, and has been longing to shift gears for some time.

Downstairs they have two spare rooms with bathrooms that are fully ADA compliant. What did she think of the idea of leasing those rooms out right now to two elderly folks looking for an assisted living situation, I asked? Last I heard such arrangements paid up to $2,000 a month, or more. (Still less than assisted living or a retirement home, so such rentals are much sought after.) I saw a light of hope click on.

She also shared they have a fully wired and plumbed RV hookup on the back side of their 10-acre property. Again I asked had they considered renting that spot as well? They are going for $600+ a month and it’s hard to find an available space. Turned out she knows a young couple building a home that are looking for just such an arrangement!

I could see the tension dissipate as she realized these options that are already ready and waiting could help make up for their current lack of income and also supplement it to the tune of $4600 a month so that if her husband can’t replace his $190k salary, it would still be OK. If he could, then they could plow that income into savings and be well set up for retirement vs. not having any.

She could hardly wait to get home to share these ideas with her husband, and seemed completely excited at the idea of taking in some borders. They both love to entertain and love people, so she seemed jazzed at the thought. (It wouldn’t work for everyone but for them may be a perfect fit. She would still be able to be with her sons and work from home.)

She was almost in tears as she thanked me for being a sounding board and for helping her brainstorm some solutions. I told her I was happy to and thanked her for opening up so I was able to, and that I hoped the ideas would help take the pressure off.

Without what I have learned via the red pill and the manosphere I don’t think I would have been able to understand the dynamics at play or advise her why she felt as she did, or why despite those fear-based feelings, the best path was to stay the course, stick together, face the challenge, and not just survive but thrive.

I am hoping they put the ideas into play quickly and take some of the financial pressure and strain off their marriage. I will be doing my best to encourage her through this storm.

What do you think? Please share in the comments!

 

 

 

Two Paths

06 Monday Aug 2018

Posted by in Relationships

≈ 148 Comments

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I recently saw on Facebook that a young woman I know who is in her early 30s had just gotten out of a treatment facility after a suicide attempt. She admitted she had made multiple attempts in the past year.

I was surprised by this because from an outside view she seemed to come from a good family, have a fun job as a hostess at a local gathering spot, and was attractive and well liked. She comes across as confident, self-assured, and pulled together.

From her profile I could see she had recently been dating someone for about six months, and had several other such semi-long term relationships as well. Most seemed to be musicians. None seemed particularly promising.

Then I noticed a cryptic and nostalgic posting from her to a male friend about a trip they took together years ago. Curious, I clicked on his page and there it was, a photo album he had made of their trip.

Unlike the musicians, I could tell this young man had been serious about this gal. The captions on the photos made it clear he was smitten. I would not doubt he had thought she was, “the one.”

They both would have been in their early 20s then. They looked so happy, so carefree. He seemed like a really solid and loving guy. They looked charmed, innocent. I wonder what happened, why they hadn’t married, if perhaps she had bought the advice to, “not settle down too young.”

Whatever happened it seems she’s never found another who felt for her the way this guy had. I wonder if regrets about this played a role in her current situation?

I know the guys around here will likely have little sympathy for her. Many have been in that young man’s shoes themselves.

Anyway I thought the situation captured some of the modern relationship pitfalls we so often discuss.

I wonder how her life would have been different had she married back then rather than taken a single independent women, serial monogamy path?

It is of course impossible to know. What lies ahead for her is also unclear. I am hoping for the best as always.  For our purposes here it’s not so much about her particular case as what can be learned from it in general.

What do you think? Please share in the comments!

 

Patriarchy

12 Thursday Jul 2018

Posted by in Fempire, parenting, Red Pill, Relationships

≈ 71 Comments

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When you hear the word patriarchy, what images and thoughts come up?

For many raised in a post-feminist world, images or thoughts of oppression, violence, anger, intolerance, abuse, toxic masculinity, and victimization may come to mind.

Yesterday I saw an example of patriarchy that defied all those images and labels. An example that perhaps more truly reflects the true concept of patriarchy.

I noticed the children first, at a small local family fun park where the girls and I had gone to spend a beautiful summer afternoon.

The kids ranged in age from about 17 down. There were lots of them, and they beamed with happiness and joy, good naturedly joking with each other, playing tag, and clearly enjoying themselves. There was a distinct innocence to them, a carefreeness and sense of absolute security.

They were all tastefully dressed, not overtly any distinct religious faith but also not in the latest fashions. Timeless but not at all out of fashion either. The girls wore girl cut T-shirt’s and skirts with Capri leggings underneath, and their faces were glowing and fresh but make-up free.  The boys wore T-shirt’s and shorts.

I could tell they were likely related because of their similar appearance and obvious close ties, I figured perhaps they were cousins.

A man not much older than myself followed the youngest girl, a cute and spunky little blond. She scrambled up to the top of a tall slide and fearlessly barreled down, calling to and waving to the man the whole way.

He laughed and beamed with pride. “Hard to believe she only weighed three pounds when she was born,” he said to me out of the blue. “She was 9 weeks early.”

“I was just thinking what a daredevil she is,” I replied. He beamed even more.

”She’s the youngest of 12,” he said, gesturing to the other kids who bounded around happily, playifully. “She’s three.”

“That’s fantastic!” I replied. “How old is the oldest?”

”Twenty-six,” he replied. “Ages 26 to 3!”

”Any grandkids yet?” I asked?

”The first is on the way this January,” he said.

”Congratulations!” I replied. He smiled a  lovingly proud smile.

The little girl then dashed off to the next activity and he followed at a close but not hovering distance.

Later in the evening I saw him and his wife. He tenderly held her arm as they steered through the crowd of people gathered on the grassy hill to enjoy a performance., heading back to their brood. They looked very content and happy.

I reflected on this couple and their children and thought how this patriarchy wasn’t as so often described — looked nothing like that, actually. It was remarkably refreshing, this family’s dynamic, I found myself wishing more families (of any and all sizes) today looked like that. Happy. Joyful. Secure.

Perhaps the patriarchy isn’t as it’s been portrayed? Perhaps there’s a much more positive side that is rarely celebrated or acknowledged today?

What do you think? Please share in the comments.