it's nice to be nice to the nice

i'm nice! gosh i'm nice. perhaps you haven't noticed how nice i am, so let me tell you. no, wait: first i'll tell you, and then i want you to repeat it back to me, just so i know we're on the same page. ready? NICE. we will also accept sweet. kind. helpful. pleasant. agreeable. no? can i get an adequate? hello? is this thing on?

gar. it's unbearable with me lately. i am not to be borne. i cannot do the laundry without pointing out that i am doing the laundry. cannot cook a meal without pointing out that i cooked it. dishes, you don't even want to know. if i god forbid should do something that i think someone else might not notice, fix something that nobody other than me knew was broken, clean something that nobody other than me knew was dirty, find something that nobody else knew was lost? nobody needs to worry about missing a thing. steven tyler would be so grateful. see how i washed your socks? and folded them into tidy little snails? and then organized your sock drawer by sock length and color? aren't i wonderful? simply marvelous? nice?

blech. fortunately i am blessed to live with a boy who enthusiastically plays along (yes! i did see how you cooked that meal using three whole pots! hey, did you like how i noticed? wasn't that nice of me to notice!) and a man who absolutely doesn't (oh, anne. oh my.). luckily we all know that we're on anne's crazy train, that this is a transition and not a destination, and i am confident that we will presently be disembarking at a much more pleasant station; one in which i will again simply function instead of pointing out that i do.

i went to the hospital yesterday. i had to make an appointment for a Procedure and the telephonary was just too overwhelming to face, so i grabbed a book and went in person. three hours, my friends, just me and mr. obama and terribly hardbacked plastic benches (and some people who made me look the picture of health, which is always a blast). the doctor was devastatingly cute and laughed at my jokes, and i instantly fell in love which is always a good thing when you're about to take your clothes off.

about the book i'm reading (dreams from my father): i really like barack obama. i have no idea what i think of him as presidential material but i am all weak in the knees for anybody who can write a grammatical, powerful sentence. he's no jefferson but he is maybe, like, sam seaborn. the book is interesting to me in terms of my current preoccupation with the degree to which we are defined by our culture, and his approach to it is an interesting combination of wide-eyed and even-handed that i'm ready to hear.

pretty much that's it, i think. there's a parent/teacher meeting to which i am not remotely looking forward, but i didn't eat uncooked chicken in the hopes i would get salmonella, so in a way we're making process. i may even be nice, although i don't think my capabilities stretch quite that far.

Comments

[Madeleine]

Yes, you are so very nice. And so am I. The other day, I unloaded and REloaded the dishwashwer. And made dinner. And entertained the offspring. Did anyone notice? No.

I hope the doctor loves you back and provides excellent care.

[mig]

Dude, I just unloaded and reloaded the dishwasher too!
And this morning, I made sandwiches. And fed the cats. And the tortoise.

[Doppelganger]

I'm so glad you wrote this post so I don't have to. Do you mind if I just copy and paste the first half onto my own site? It would be very nice of you. Heh.

[ozma]

I am nice to hide the evil inside. That's what niceness is all about, no?

Anyway, I hope your procedure is not a super serious thing and that it goes OK!!!

[dood 01]

wow wa wii wa!!! it's nice to by nice