Mad Scientist

When is it time for “tough love”?

We’ve all been there, watching our loved ones choosing to get hurt with the cycle of habits that keeps repeating itself over and over again.  You watch your girlfriend get back together with her ex for the third time.  You stand by as your work colleague behaves like a doormat and misses yet another promotion.  You turn a blind eye when your married friend swipes “yes” to another potential mate…

We’ve all been there, watching our loved ones choosing to get hurt with the cycle of habits that keeps repeating itself over and over again.  You watch your girlfriend get back together with her ex for the third time.  You stand by as your work colleague behaves like a doormat and misses yet another promotion.  You turn a blind eye when your married friend swipes “yes” to another potential mate on Tinder.

When is enough really “enough”?

Symptom #1: The Pregnant Pause

When your friend bursts into tears telling you that she couldn’t believe her boyfriend cheated on her for the fifth time, you find yourself in a pregnant pause.  In this moment, you’re trying your best not to do the visible eye-roll and you take a breath to decide what to say next.  Your friend on the other hand is looking at you quizzically wondering why you haven’t rushed forth with your usual, “you poor thing, I feel so sorry for you”.

Symptom # 2: The visible eye-rolling

You didn’t know you did it, but the eye-rolling did happen and you’re thanking your lucky stars that your Supervisor didn’t see it.  He continues to whinge, complaining about how he doesn’t understand why his staff don’t take work as seriously as he does.  He puts in the ridiculous hours, so why doesn’t his team do the same?  Although, the fact that he earns double their salary has no bearing on the situation.

Symptom # 3: The boy that cried wolf

The anguish that you see in your friend’s eyes when he talks about his divorce makes you think the divorce happened yesterday.  Then you realize it happened 7 years ago and he’s still as bitter as ever.  Instead of re-building his life, he’s chosen to blame every misfortune that’s happened to-date as the direct result of his divorce, including the unsuccessful dates he’s had since then.  Not that bringing up his ex-wife constantly had anything to do with that.

When your love for your friend turns into toleration and uncontrolled facial expressions, it’s time to roll-up your sleeve and give back something that will make a difference, and that’s the truth or what we call “tough love”!

Living with parents – Sanity Vs Savings

Anyone with basic math can work out that it’s a financial haven living at home with your parents.  You get free accommodation, with a complimentary cook and maid.  No matter how much mischief you get into, you know your Roomies will not only forgive you, but keep loving you.  Their generosity and love will give you the boost you need to save for that daunting home deposit. Like any Roomie…

Anyone with basic math can work out that it’s a financial haven living at home with your parents.  You get free accommodation, with a complimentary cook and maid.  No matter how much mischief you get into, you know your Roomies will not only forgive you, but keep loving you.  Their generosity and love will give you the boost you need to save for that daunting home deposit.

Like any Roomie situation, all is well until it hits you that you have nothing in common with them

You work like a dog all day, and all you want is to come home and flop on the couch to chill.  Your parents don’t even have the word “chill” in their vocabulary, let alone know how to action it.  When they see you comatose on the couch, their instinct is to pounce on you.  They proceed to re-count their day in excruciating detail, from the moment they saw the specials for bread at the supermarket to their afternoon of struggling with checking their emails.  And yes, they want you to fix that IT problem again.

You momentarily close your eyes because you feel a headache coming on, but your parents interpret that as a hearing difficulty so they raise their voices so you can catch every word.  It’s so loud you feel real concern that you might start getting a hearing problem.

And when the talking is over, the watching starts

You’ve seen those parents that watch their children like a hawk?  Making sure their child is eating and pooping right?  And you start believing that they’ve got eyes at the back of their heads?  Well, that routine doesn’t stop when you’ve graduated university.  With every morsel of food you put in your mouth, your parents are doing a mental calorie count.  With every visit to the loo, they’re taking note of how often you’ve been and whether you’re doing a number one or a number two.

When you shudder at the thought of living in the same suburb as your parents, it’s time to dip into your savings and make a break for it!

The old-men-who-think-they’re-25 epidemic

He’s leering at you….try not to gag Your 45-year-old colleague tells you he still feels like he’s 25. Then you hear the online dating stories from your girlfriends, who turn up only to see a grey haired man hobbling up the steps. Was the profile photo from 20 years ago, or is he wearing a toupee?  Or is he sporting that dreaded comb-over? After watching a teenage girl flick, the old guy next to…

He’s leering at you….try not to gag

Your 45-year-old colleague tells you he still feels like he’s 25. Then you hear the online dating stories from your girlfriends, who turn up only to see a grey haired man hobbling up the steps.

Was the profile photo from 20 years ago, or is he wearing a toupee?  Or is he sporting that dreaded comb-over?

After watching a teenage girl flick, the old guy next to me commented “That movie was disappointing, it wasn’t saucy enough!”

No matter where you look, old men are coming out of the woodwork claiming that they’re still in their prime, ready to rock your world.  The only way to explain this phenomenon is to assume that their vision is impaired too, because when they look in the mirror, that good looking fella is winking back at them.

They’re not seeking a woman their own age, they’re looking at the daughters of these women. It only takes a walk down the street to see these men sitting at coffee shops staring at women old enough to be their grandchildren.

As long as it’s not their own child or grandchildren it’s fair game

Before we condemn horny older men, let’s dig a little deeper.  Is it only a mix of delusion, ego and testosterone that’s driving this epidemic?  Or is there some logical reason that exists to say that young women are attracted to their wrinkly packages?

Unfortunately there is.  Young women are being shipped from overseas as mail-order brides.  They are paid to look at their new husbands with adoration and desire.  Their hope is that their aging husband steps a little closer to the grave, or patiently waits it out until their permanent residency kicks in.  There’s also the local girls, with low self-esteem and daddy issues, ready to lower their guard to any attentive man that glances their way.  Even if his eyes are ridden with cataracts.

Old horny men are here to stay.  T-shirts once worn by 25 year old guys can now be recycled and handed down to their dads and grand dads – “Lock up your daughters!”

We’re just friends

Living in a world of online dating, we’re faced with a limitless amount of potential mates. We’re connecting with multiple people on multiple sites, waiting for a better candidate to come along.  But when does it stop? Yeah, we hang out.  But we’re just friends. We’re forever keeping the door open for someone better to come along.  Our vocabulary reflects this by our hesitation to use the term…

Publicity Stunt? Miley Cyrus and Liam Hemsworth

The media is going crazy about this star-studded reunion of wild child Miley Cyrus and good guy Liam Hemsworth.  The proposal in 2012 has made a come back in 2016 – with the same ring back on her finger.  Is Miley ready to settle down, or is this just a publicity stunt? Anonymous sources say that Miley is lucky in love.  Her feelings are genuine and  her heart has always belonged to Liam.…

Mr. Right getting it right

In an age where there are more single men and women than ever before, people are still scratching their heads as to why. Every woman knows an eligible man – he is kind hearted, established in his career and eager to put a ring on it.  So why is he struggling to find Mrs. Right? The problem is that as soon as he takes off his “friend” hat and throws on his “date” hat, he not only switches hats but…