August 25, 2008
Had a big party at Chez Gleason last Friday night. Am still recovering.
When Music Man has a party, it always includes live music. In this case, he knew a couple guys who were putting together a new bluesy cover band and invited them to “try out” their new set at our house last Friday. We have a big yard on a lake, and the band was set up on the deck from our ranch’s walkout.
Music Man is a piano player, so he moved a piano out onto the deck, and the guys brought a full drum set, amps, mixing board, guitars, mikes, etc., etc.
We had a keg, made dogs and brats on the grill, and attendees brought sides and stuff to share. Plenty o’food.
I can’t sing, but I did. Sat myself next to Music Man during a lull (even though the new band was playing, it was also open-mike night for any attending musicians to sit in or join in), and I asked him to play “Baby I’m Amazed” and we sang it together. How sweet.
Well, it would have been sweet if I can sing. It was more like Linda and Paul McCartney than…hmmmm…Sonny & Cher? But I had fun, and since I couldn’t hear myself, all was well!
Anyway, as I mentioned, I’m still recovering from the party.
But this brings me to the point of the blog. During the course of the evening, I was standing with a group of friends talking, and a few minutes into the conversation, one of the guys looked at me and said, “That’s the second time you’ve dropped the F-bomb.”
(I’m sure it’s a shock to all of you that I would do such a thing. But, it’s true. I did.)
Anwyay, the friend, Ted, was more shocked-slash-admiring than anything. Maybe it’s ’cause I know him from church, but it’s not as if he’s a sheltered kind of guy. Not in the least.
So, yeah. I use the F-word. I love the F-word. It’s earthy, it’s strong, it’s satisfying…and it’s a guy thing. It’s a man’s word.
That’s why I love it.
And I personally don’t find the word itself offensive–whereas there are other words/phrases that bother me (the C-bomb for one), this one is just a great, solid word.
So I got to thinking about guy things that girls do. Using the F-word is one.
Drinking a beer. (and enjoying it)
Driving a stick shift. (and preferring it)
I happen to do all three.
What other guy things do girls do? Which ones do you do, girls? Guys, do you see it this way? Or am I all effed up?
August 25th, 2008 at 1:49 pm
Well, for this girl, the one major thing I do that the guys do is my job - as a police officer I am a part of what is still, sadly, a man’s field.
But, I can say that I don’t like beer and enjoy driving a stick. I also love baseball and basketball and guns.
cjh
August 25th, 2008 at 1:53 pm
Hi Coleen, I’m an Italian girl an I’m 16. My name is Sabrina. I’m reading your book (The Rest Falls Away). I love that book, It’s really beautyful!!!!!!! I’m waitung for the second book…I’m really exciting…Victoria is really fantastic (I prefere she that the Twilight’s prontagonist (Bella)….and Max…I LOVE MAX…He’s so misterious…Oh my god…you’re a great writer. Now i’m writing a book too about a love story between a vampire and a lycan…Thanks for the emoction..bye!!!
August 25th, 2008 at 2:25 pm
well, i never saw swearing as a guy thing, but i do it frequently and with aplomb. to me, words are for everyone. but i also like to smoke the occasional cigar, and i love a nice single malt, both of which tend to surprise people. oh and i love movies where people get punched and things get blown up…you know, like in jane austen…ha!
August 25th, 2008 at 2:27 pm
Ha! I love it…girl power man, lol. So anyway I have a perfect example. Just the other day I wanted to go paint-balling with my bro and his ‘homies’. At first they weren’t to keen on this idea, after all I am a girl…I could get hurt (guy logic).
So anyways, we all didn’t end up going but they agreed to let me ‘tag’ along next time. I’ll have to find a group of girlfriends to come along as well; I have a feeling the guys would gang up on me if I were the only girl participant (:
Well there you have it, I’m a girl and I don’t mind getting my hands dirty!
~Oh, and I a fan of the F-bomb, good for you Colleen!
August 25th, 2008 at 2:33 pm
Hey Sabrina! Thanks for coming by. I’m glad you’re enjoying THE REST FALLS AWAY. And so you’re a Max lover! Let me know if you still feel that way after RISES THE NIGHT.
Ren, I didn’t mean to imply that swearing per se is a guy thing…just that it seems like the F-word isn’t used by women as often as men, and that when a woman uses the F-bomb, sometimes people find it surprising. I swear up a storm, but only discovered the beauty of the F-word within the last five years.
Nikole, go girl! Let me know how many you girls take down!
CJ, I didn’t know you were a cop. Cool! Keep those baddies in line.
August 25th, 2008 at 3:08 pm
Well, tonight I’ll be doing one thing that many consider to be a “guy” thing…my fantasy football draft.
I also have a bar trick, which involves diagramming the Cover 2 defense. I’ve won many, many dollars betting a guy that I couldn’t do it.
I also drive a stick shift car, Colleen. And in fact, tend to be a little judgmental of a guy who can’t drive stick. Why is that? I’m not so judgy about women who can’t drive stick. But guys? I judge. I’m a bad person, I know.
I also have the potty mouth. I can curse like a sailor, and probably have the worst mouth of all of my friends.
Sheesh, I sound like a barrel of laughs don’t I?
August 25th, 2008 at 3:08 pm
Oh! And Sabrina, welcome to Team Max!
August 25th, 2008 at 3:15 pm
MK, you ARE a barrels of laughs! So much fun. My only regret from when we hung out was that we didn’t liven things up with a few drinks.
Speaking of which…another guy thing I do is tell dirty jokes. I can pretty much match anyone joke for joke and end up with more at the end.
So next time we get together, have your jokes ready!
August 25th, 2008 at 3:22 pm
Well, I Love Baseball, Fishing, and Dressing up as Mideveil Nights for the Renfair. I guess those are guy things. My Father didn’t pay much attention to me when I was a kid because I wasn’t a Boy, but my Uncle taught me to Fish, and all about Nature and how to survive if I get lost in the woods. He also taught me how to Love Baseball, but he’s really disappointed that I turned into a Die Hard Cubs Fan. He’s a Mariners Fan. I love to tease him and say that atleast my team has made the playoffs in the past 20 years. Of course he has to go and bring up the whole Cubby curse thing! Thanks Uncle Wayne! You’re the best Father I never had!
August 25th, 2008 at 3:29 pm
Hah, Cathy!! Love in-family sports rivalries. My only sports fanaticism comes with my beloved Michigan Wolverines.
I don’t know if I think of dressing up for the RenFest as a guy thing….but I must admit, I have a thing for guys in chain mail.
August 25th, 2008 at 4:21 pm
Oh my, if I got a penny every time I use the F-word, I’d be more than rich: I’d be a huge stinking millionaire.
So, yep, that’s one thing. Then I drive a stick shift car, but I don’t know if that counts since in Italy almost everyone drives stick shift.
I love rugby (played too, when I was a little girl…) and boxe, I can change a tire without asking for help and, last but not least, I practice krav maga.
So yeah, I do a lot of guys’s things.
Oh, and I was forgetting: Colleen, I could challenge you about the knowledge of dirty jokes. Practicing in a vet clinic where you are the only girl around has a lot to do with that.
August 25th, 2008 at 4:55 pm
LMAO! I just had a convo this weekend with the new bf about this very thing. Much like the Irish, He tends to drop the f-bomb like an adjective when he gets excited and I informed him whereas I have no issues with it, as I told him “And yet I STILL wanted to date you!”, my family members- particularly my Sister, WOULD have an issue with it. He said, “I don’t have turrets, I can control it.” And we laughed about it.
Me, I love to drop it every once and awhile too because sometimes nothing else will do, So I feel ya.
One thing I will not do that men tend to do- watch the tv show COPS. HA!
August 25th, 2008 at 5:01 pm
Okay, I can swear like a sailor but I don’t do it in public — and only around folks who also do the same. So, if we ever meet, Colleen, I’ll know I can drop the F-bomb around you — just not in public! I use it in my writings, though, all the time — what’s up with that — I suppose that’s pretty public, isn’t it? As far as other “guy” things…I don’t know — I don’t like sports (unless one of my children is playing) but I do like electronic gadgets and I don’t like chick-lit or chick-flicks (for the most part).
August 25th, 2008 at 6:10 pm
I do enjoy a good f-bomb too. in fact, i can string together swear words in ways never heard before. i learned from my mother.
while i do know that other girls enjoy these also, 2 things i like to do are still dominated by “boys”. I am talking about comic books and playing video games.
the more i learn about you, the more i like you colleen!
i am now reading the bleeding dusk, i am so hooked!
oh, maybe another guy thing, i can appreciate the sensousness of a womans body. i am not sexually attracted to woman…but i do know beauty when i see it
August 25th, 2008 at 7:49 pm
I am proud to say that I am the first (and so far) only person to be ejected from a quidditch game at a harry potter conference! While attending Terminus in Chicago I yelled F You at a ref who was being unfair/making up rules and had called me for travelling with the Quaffle. So yeah. She kicked me out for the rest of the game. It was one of the most amazing moments of my life.
I play electric guitar. I put together furniture /slash/ am a resident handiperson. And I too drink beer.
August 25th, 2008 at 8:07 pm
I do all three
My step-mother is appalled when I drink beer out of a bottle!
August 25th, 2008 at 9:00 pm
First of all I loved your story in the Mammoth Book of Vampire Romance!
Next…I totaly agree with ya on the guy stuff. I drive my own crochrocket motorcycle. I ride with a group of guys every weekend. Its fun being one the guys.
Plus, I hate to cook, so me and my husband go out to eat like 3 times a week with guys he works with. No Dishes. smiles*
August 25th, 2008 at 9:01 pm
and oh yah…I have HOURS logged in at playing computer games and Guitar Hero, & Finial Fanasty gamea.
August 25th, 2008 at 9:11 pm
I am very proficient with the “F” word…hubby is nodding in agreement!
One of the kids(15) used it on me the other day…what could I say…I turned around and laughed a little(me bad)!!! 
Don’t do beer…for some reason I just prefer hard liquor. I learned how to drive on a car with stick…I couldn’t tell you the last time I have driven stick though.
August 25th, 2008 at 10:33 pm
See, this is why you all hang out here! We’re bloodsisters, deep down inside.
But what…no guys piping in? Where’s Carl when we need him?
August 26th, 2008 at 12:02 am
I’m here…just swamped trying to keep up with R.I.P.!!! Whoa, good opening day turnout!
I have a dear friend who is in her 70s who believes, as I do, that a well placed ‘fuck’ is one of the most delightful uses of the English language around. If I hadn’t already been a fan of Neil Gaiman, his admittance to it being his favorite word would have sold me. My poor wife just shakes her head.
Guy things that girls do? I have one female friend who loves to pick fights at concerts, loves pro wrestling. I sure some girls like to chew and to spit, don’t really know any of those.
My daughter seems to revel in the bodily functions, especially burping…gets that from my side of the family I do believe.
Drive fast?
I know some girls who are really into pro football…that is very sexy to a guy, believe me!
Girls legitimately into sports=prime marriage material. You’ve heard it here first single gals!
Sounds like a very cool party you had, I don’t recall getting an invite!!! ;(
August 26th, 2008 at 1:49 am
I’m another member of the swearing club…I can’t deny it (nor would it be practical to even try). I relax to loud rock like Sabbath & Zeppelin. I love outrageous action films with plenty of bloodspray (Kill Bill, Dusk till Dawn, Terminator, Sin City, etc). I’m also addicted to professional basketball. I can’t keep quiet if someone talks smack about Sacramento or Cleveland, heh.
August 26th, 2008 at 5:17 am
This is sort of an interesting question. My friends tell me all the time that I am not really all that girlie. Actually, my closest guy friend, who is pretty much as a ‘guyish’ as you can get, told me that he was more girlie than I was. I don’t know if I should take that as a compliment or not. But, yeah, I wear a baseball hat all the time, I haven’t worn anything resembling a dress in like 5 or 6 years, I hate asking for help (and I am really short, so I really should just ask instead of climbing shelves and things), I love science-fiction and fantasy (which is really a male-dominated world), I’m a Trekkie (another male-dominated world), I have been known to go to bars with friends and stare at the big screen television (I don’t watch sports as much as I used to, though), I hate chick-lit and chick-flicks (which makes choosing movies with my friends difficult), I don’t do public displays of affection or read romance novels (well, with a few exceptions), etc… But, really, I don’t know what it is about me that makes people tell me all the time that I am not that girlie. I now want to quiz my friend on it when I see them later…
August 26th, 2008 at 8:55 am
WAIT! Zeek, did you say NEW BF? Wow. I obviously haven’t been over to your blog in awhile. *ducking*
Carl, you’re invited anytime we have a party. I’ll send you directions next time.
Sarah Mac, so if I say something about Cleveland being the armpit of the world, you’re gonna throw down (see, MK, I finally got it!) with me? Or do I have to just smack on the TEAM?
Kailana, so GREAT to see you here! Missed you. Hope all is well.
August 26th, 2008 at 9:47 am
Add me to the growing list of women that curse (though my husband and I are working hard to control it given my 2-year-old’s ability to repeat everything we say). I also own and love driving a stick, especially a sporty car - I feel like I have more control over the car.
Other “guy” things I do I guess are baseball, handling all the electronic hook-ups and wiring in the house (entertainment centers, computers, ANYTHING electronic), and expecting dinner to be prepared by my spouse and ready when my daughter and I arrive home (hey - I got lucky, married an Italian guy).
August 26th, 2008 at 4:25 pm
HA! S’ok Colleen, I’ve been sorta quiet about it on the blog- but mentioned it a few times on Twitter! yes new bf who is wooing me like a true romance hero! LOL!
August 26th, 2008 at 10:34 pm
Burping. I’m a terrific burper.
August 27th, 2008 at 4:34 am
just the team, alas. I only throw down for a worthy cause. *evil grin*
August 27th, 2008 at 5:11 am
I know, I dropped off the face of the planet lately! I am trying to do better! Did you see where I said… somewhere… that your new book is not available in my town! I am outraged… and now I have to wait because I didn’t plan ahead and preorder because I have been able to get your other three here… Which is not so terrible because I still haven’t read book three… I am such a slacker, I tell you!
August 28th, 2008 at 3:58 pm
You know, the f-word is a good one but nothing really beats the all-purpose sh*t. Which is what I said when Ol’ George Starcasset waltzed back in…
September 3rd, 2008 at 2:57 pm
Besides loving camping and fishing, I can out belch my husband. It is a skill my younger sister and I were blessed with (much to my mother’s dismay!). Disgusting as it may sound, I find the surprise of dainty Southern girls burping like the boys really entertains!
September 12th, 2008 at 1:21 pm
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