1. The other day, a 22-year-old girl asked me if I thought she should get married. She and her boyfriend have been talking about it, and she is having that hormonal urge to nest and procreate. So, what do you think? Is 22 too young or just about right to take that big step? What is a good age to enter into that legal binding commitment? Or is there no good age?
2. I know that technology is a huge part of our lives, and the computer has become like an appendage to us. First thing every morning I’m signing on to check the weather report, the news, and the latest word from friends. But, could you give up any use of, and contact with, your computer for, let’s say, a month? (Work does not count.) On a scale from 1 (being a piece of cake) to 10 (drive you stark raving loony), where would you fall?
3. Speaking of stark raving loony, do you like nuts? They happen to be one of my favorite snacks, and cashews are my favorite. What (or maybe who) is your favorite nut?
4. Is it really true that dog is man’s best friend? Or is something or someone else man’s best friend? And what is woman’s best friend?
5. Cactus (or is that cacti?) give me the creeps. They’re prickly and they don’t flutter in the wind like a plant should. And they just look mean. And I read once (I think in the National Enquirer) that a woman discovered snakes living in her cactus that she got through mail order. Yikes! Do you like cactus?
Charles U Farley
9:03 pm on May 29th
1. I think you’re ready to get married only after you’ve been ready to accept living a life alone. Otherwise, getting married is an emotional crapshoot best left to prefessionals.
2. Easily a 1.
3. I love nuts. Preferably cashews and brazil nuts. On the other hand, I don’t care for mixed nuts as they often leave the testa (the proper name for that papery skin I learned about 15 seconds ago) on the peanuts.
4. Going back to number 1, a man should be his own best friend, although dogs, duct tape, and cold hard cash each run a close second.
5. If I could keep them alive I’d love cacti. Many years ago in my college days, one of my favorite places was the Botany Department greenhouse where they had a collection of several hundred types of New World and Old World cacti. Alas, I’ve killed many a plant that was “indestructable” and a cactus is no exception.
deepintheheart
8:14 am on May 30th
1) I think 22 is rather young to marry. Marriage is always a bad idea. Compromise and become an emotional parasite attached to another person’s marriage.
2) 7…I would be lost, but I could always persuade others to get the information for me.
3) I like a cashew now and again. I like the unsalted ones that can be toasted with hot sauce and chili pepper.
A macadamia nut is always nice as well.
4)Dogs are misery. Pets, in general, make me depressed. A pack of wild dogs harassed a longhorn steer to death at a public display yesterday.
5) Cacti are really cool. I live where they grow in fields, front yards, and flower pots. They taste good also.
Cheryl Mathis
1:32 pm on May 30th
1. The biological urge to nest and have a family is pretty much what led me to marry my husband. She might be ready for that life, but her future husband might not be. That’s the real sticker. What’s the guy like? Does he have a good, stable job? What are his priorities? How does he spend his free time?
2. I’d say it’s around a 4. I’ve stopped blogging, and I rarely send out newsy emails anymore, but the internet is really the only place I can communicate with some of my family since I don’t have a phone. The bigger problem comes with the fact that a lot of my favorite hobbies include computer applications like Photoshop and Illustrator.
3. Love nuts. Love cashews and pecans and walnuts and peanuts. I have to limit how many nuts I eat, because if you gave me a can of cashews, it would be gone in an hour. The omega-3s are awesome, and I know the fat is good fat, but there’s a limit. :)
4. I agree with edbdqt; man and woman should be their own best friends. Pets are just icing on the cake of happiness, but they can be a lot of work. I wuv my doggy, but at least once a week, I consider posting her in the classifieds.
5. Cacti SUCK. I hate them. They creep me out. I can’t keep them alive, ironically, and I find them unfriendly and hostile little organisms. This is why when I was going to marry a man from Tucson, I refused to be the one to move. Like windows in a sky scraper and tops of waterfalls, I just don’t feel safe near them.
Jim Rosenberg
7:51 pm on May 30th
While I never recommend what we did to others, it was good for us: eloping as teenagers. The cool thing is that if it happens to work out, you can end up having your 40th anniversary while you’re still in your 50s. You’re kids are educated and married while you’re still young enough to have fun with your grandkids. It’s a hoot, really.
Face it, there is no guarantee that you will meet the right partner when you’re the “right” age and you’re ready (whatever that is.) You generally don’t get to date 100 people and then decide #3 was “the one.” So if this is the pitch that happens to be the one you should hit for a home run, then you need to be swinging at it when it’s over the plate because once it slaps into the catcher’s mitt… Well, you get the picture.
3. I don’t eat walnuts, pecans, Brazil nuts or hickory nuts. I like peanuts, but I’m not sure that they are actually nuts. Cashews are great, but they’re not really nuts either, I don’t think. I never really knew how they grew until I went to Brazil. Before that, I figured that peanuts were to cashews what moonshine is to Cognac or something. Well, they’re nothing like that. Educate yourself briefly here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cashew
Weird, huh? And very labor intensive. There is a liquor that is made from the faux fruit pod that the cashew hangs from. I don’t really recommend it.
Lisa Shilts
6:47 pm on May 31st
1. Since I was barely 21 when I got married 31+ years ago, I wouldn’t disapprove, for many of the same reasons Jim gave. We kinda’ grew up together and did a lot together as best friends before we had kids, then it’s just the two of us again by 50.
The changes of divorce are 50% no matter what age you get married anyway! I’m more disturbed by young people today living together for so many years then getting married when they are ready to start a family. But that’s me.
2.Probably an 8 or 9 just because I recently started using Facebook to get in touch – and keep in touch – with friends from out of town. And it’s the best way to keep in touch with my boys; it is really a blessing to be able to keep in touch with Ryan, who is in Iraq now.
3. I love all nuts. The perfect snack: pistachios and Dr. Pepper!
4. I like animals ok but my husband and my girlfriends are much, much more than a dog or cat could ever be.
5. I love all the new succulents that are at the greenhouses, but I can take or leave cacti!
Saltpeter
2:57 pm on June 2nd
1. There’s a 50/50 chance it’s going to work out long term. Not very good odds. Like blackjack. Age probably makes little difference. If you have the guts…go for it. They never listen to logic anyway.
2.Probably a 4 or 5. I’m technically challenged so I don’t miss it when it’s not there. Keeping up with old, long distance college friends is great, though.
3.All nuts are great, real or psuedo! I love’em all, too!
4.Dog is definitely man’s best friend. Proof…lock your wife and dog in the trunk of your car for an hour. Which one is happier to see you when you leave them out?
5.I have enough prickly stuff in my life everyday. Nice to look at, but don’t touch. I can take them or leave them.