Stabby is as Stabby Does

Friday, December 18, 2009
Here lately I've been noticing a tendency in myself to be more than a bit stabby. There are a number of contributing factors, such as my normal holiday blues; my decision to leave a job I absolutely loved in order to take a job that provided more long term security; my never ending struggle with parenthood and finding my way into my new role as the parent of young adults (as opposed to teens); the continuing assholery of the majority of politicians; the stupidity of the masses; the cupidity of the business world, blah, blah, blah. It feels like pretty much everything is pissing me off these days, especially as it relates to the things I choose to blog about.

Well, no one likes someone who spends all their time bitching and crying about every single thing, including me, and I'm starting to dislike the tenor my writing has taken. I think it would be good for me to try and focus on more positive topics. Not that I'm going to retire the 'Tard of the Week, or fail to call out discrimination or other foul aspects of humanity - I just want to be a bit more positive in the new year.

Now, I'm not a huge fan of "New Year's Resolutions." I tend to believe that anytime is a good time to attempt a behavioral change, provided the desire for change is real and the issue at hand is one that needs to be addressed. However, I do understand the appeal of using the turning of the year as a milestone that encourages positive change. New year = new behavior and all that.

So in that vein, I'm going to try and spend more time finding topics for HCDSM in 2010 that don't make me want to stab myself (or someone else) in the eye with a fork. It would probably make me hurl to write a sweetness-and-light blog, but all-stabby, all-the-time is starting to wear me down just a bit. I have some new ideas for 2010, including a new January 1st recurring feature, and I hope that by changing my behavior, my attitude will follow. Sort of a converse strategy to "stabby is as stabby does."

Now, if you'll excuse me, I have an appointment to go skip through a field of daisies. Tra-la-la-la-la...

17 comments:

Steve Buchheit said...

I've been noticing a movement in the "Let's try and focus on the positive" lately. It's come up in conversation (in person, on blogs, etc) four times in the past three days. Fortunately it's not been directed at me.

I find it easier to write about things that make me all stabby (although the things that make me truly stabby some times puts me into wordFAIL these days). The pissedoffedness provides the energy and the snark-hemisphere of my brain provides the words.

But I'm with you Janiece. Here's hoping the New Year brings us more butterflies and angel cakes, instead of the harpies and fruit cake of the past year(s).

The Mechanicky Gal said...

Hey i LIKE fruitcake!
I am with you Janiece, I can't even drive down to the library or Nando's Wonderful Taco Chop without yelling at some moron driver. Or hollering out "You non-driving motherfucker", which as you know, is my personal favorite.
And that is just the tip of teh iceberg.
Time to get a better fuckin' world view.

Nathan said...

You may remember a few weeks back, I decided I'd try to blog something all sweetness and unicorn-farty every day for a month. It didn't last until I got to my keyboard.

:)

Eric said...

Hypothetically, letting loose with the stabbiness on the blog ought to make you less staby in real life. At least that's what I tell myself....

neurondoc said...

It's sort of similar to why I am not blogging right now. The only stuff I really felt like talking about was whiny and crabby in tone. So deleted the posts unpublished and am taking a break until my mood is a bit better.

nzforme said...

I'm with Eric on this. I find that if I write about something that makes me want to rip off someone's head and spit down their neck, it gets it out of my system and I don't actually DO IT in the real word. The blogging keeps it from gnawing at me and just festering.

Whereas, if I actually AM feeling fluffy bunnies and dark chocolate happy, I'm more likely to be out there enjoying it, rather than blogging about it being a happy happy day.

Janiece said...

I personally think my attitude would do a 180 degree turnaround if I was just allowed to hit Joe Lieberman in the face with a shovel.

I wonder if he'd volunteer for that duty in the interest of helping the American public achieve a higher level of happiness?

nzforme said...

[obvious reply] Why not? He has health insurance. [/obvious reply]

Gristle McThornbody said...

OMG! I'm so glad you stopped by and left a comment. I clicked on your name/link and now I've found another favorite blog... Shit! Sorry. Didn't mean to go all gushy Little Mary Sunshine on you.

I agree that a blog is a great way to vent.

Nothing's worse than being in a good mood, with the sun shining and the birds singing in the trees, and sitting down and not even being able to work up a snit, much less a full-blown, spittle-flying, vein-popping rant ;)

Karl said...

I've told myself lately that I wouldn't go on a rant or get all ninja with a fork unless I could provide a couple of real possible fixes for whatever I'm whinging about that day...

If I wanna dance I gotta pay the band, so to speak.

Can I watch you skipping?

::snicker::

Janiece said...

Welcome, Mrs. Bitch. I love your avatar, BTW. ::snirk::

Karl, it's not the New Year yet. Don't MAKE me go medieval on your ass.

MWT said...

Hmm, maybe I should be writing MORE stabby pieces on my blog. ;)

Karl said...

I wasn't talking about a new year's 'resolution', per se, just in general. And it's not so much a resolution as it is me being tired of myself being crabby/stabby...

Medieval? Like maces and hacking and stuff or the lacy frilly bits?

Janiece said...

Maces and hacking and stabbing, of course.

neurondoc said...

Who says you can't hack with a mace while wearing the frilly lacy stuff?

Eric said...

Who says you can't hack with a mace while wearing the frilly lacy stuff?

What does it say about me that I find the mental picture of a mace-wielding woman wearing frilly lacy stuff to be really, really sexy?

Anne C. said...

I agree that an occasional rant is beneficial, but I find that a series of ranting ends up reinforcing my unhappy/angry/lonely/whatever thought patterns. Or maybe it's just a reflection of a persistent mood.

Either way, I believe that your hypothesis is a valid one... change the behavior and the underlying thought pattern will follow.

You have my support. Anything I can do, I will! :)

_____

And Amy? My mum likes fruitcake too. She even makes it for the holidays. It's fine in small doses, but I wouldn't want to eat a ton of it.