Page Turner's Blog, page 118

It’s Possible to Be So Close to Another Person That You Start *Thinking* Together

“We finish each other’s–”

“Sandwiches.”

–Arrested Development (and later, Frozen)

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Have you ever been so close to someone that you knew what they were going to say next?

It turns out that scientists are researching this, why this happens,  » Read more

The post It’s Possible to Be So Close to Another Person That You Start *Thinking* Together appeared first on Poly.Land.

What Playing Video Games Has Taught Me About Having Relationships

Video games have been a constant presence in my life for basically as long as I can remember. There are a multitude of people that I wouldn’t know at all if it weren’t for my love of video games, like the guildies I met back in the days when I essentially lived inside MMORPGs.

And there are still others who I would have known but wouldn’t have been nearly as close to,  » Read more

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I Don’t Deserve You, But I’ll Let You Stay

Whenever he buys me ramen, he always picks up the fancy kind. Well, half-fancy is probably closer to the truth. It’s still instant ramen. Just not the kind with the single brick of noodles and the foil packet of flavored salt. But the kind that has four packets inside.

The trusty foil packet is there of course.  » Read more

The post I Don’t Deserve You, But I’ll Let You Stay appeared first on Poly.Land.

Yes, Lying Sucks, But There’s an Even Bigger Obstacle to Effective Communication

When I was a child, I was told over and over again by my mother that honesty was very important. That truth was moral and lies were immoral.

That was what she said.

And then she showed me something different: That telling the truth is important unless that truth is embarrassing or inconvenient to her.  » Read more

The post Yes, Lying Sucks, But There’s an Even Bigger Obstacle to Effective Communication appeared first on Poly.Land.

It’s Really Difficult to Convince a Competitive Person That You’re Not Competitive Yourself

The first time I met one of my colleagues at the regional office, we’d been working together for quite some time but had never had the opportunity to meet face to face.

So she mostly knew me virtually, from the way I handled projects. I was focused, driven. When I was at work,  » Read more

The post It’s Really Difficult to Convince a Competitive Person That You’re Not Competitive Yourself appeared first on Poly.Land.

Accepting Hypocrisy: It’s Humbling But Human for the Shoe to Be on the Other Foot

He walks through the door. A little earlier than I thought. Perhaps 15 minutes before I expected him.

I’m happy to see him, but I’m also mortified. Because he’s caught me just as I’m coming out of the shower. I suppose I’m technically dressed, but not really. Wearing an odd assemblage of clothes (one of my “hobo outfits”) on the way to changing into what I’m actually going to wear.  » Read more

The post Accepting Hypocrisy: It’s Humbling But Human for the Shoe to Be on the Other Foot appeared first on Poly.Land.

The “Eyes” Have It: People Behave Better When They Feel Like They’re Being Watched

The other evening I was driving home from a class I was teaching, one that ended at about 9:00 at night. Even in the city, typically traffic is very light that time of day. Rush hour is long over, most people have returned from their dinners out, and the bar crowd hasn’t yet decided to turn in.  » Read more

The post The “Eyes” Have It: People Behave Better When They Feel Like They’re Being Watched appeared first on Poly.Land.

The Adorable Reason Long-Term Couples Resemble One Another

As some of you may be aware, last weekend I posted the final installment of a long-running feature in Poly Land, the PQ series, in which I answered every single chapter end question in the book More than Two with its very own essay.

While it feels great to have accomplished the task I set out to tackle two years ago,  » Read more

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How Do You Help the Person Who Feels Like They Need to Do Everything Themselves?

“Just not in the best mood today,” he warns me.

And it’s not hard to see why. He hasn’t felt well for quite some time, but it’s been tough to get answers. Shuffling from one doctor to the next. Stuck in that purgatory where you’re sick enough to have it chip away at your quality of life,  » Read more

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I’d Been Dreaming of Home an Awfully Long Time, But I’m Glad It Took a While to Find It

Jealousy is in some measure just and reasonable, since it merely aims at keeping something that belongs to us or we think belongs to us, whereas envy is a frenzy that cannot bear anything that belongs to others.

-Francois de La Rochefoucauld

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I was alone a lot when I was growing up.  » Read more

The post I’d Been Dreaming of Home an Awfully Long Time, But I’m Glad It Took a While to Find It appeared first on Poly.Land.