Last installment...
OK - this is my last installment on this thread - I thought those of you that have posted and given advice might care to hear the latest part of it.
Anyway, my guilt got the best of me tonight so I emailed her the following:
"HBtooflakey,
Look, first off I want to apologize for the harshness of my last email. Sometimes I can be quite the *******, so if my email served to hurt you or whatever, I am sorry.
But, I do stand behind the crux of my email, which is that you are or have been unreliable. This certainly wasn't the first time I've heard "thanks for understanding" and it just reaches a point where it goes from maybe a legitimate excuse to a PATTERN of behavior. Generally, it really wouldn't bother me, but like I said if I see a pattern I do get pissed - plain and simple. And I am the type of person that tells somebody when I am unhappy with them. I can be quite blunt and unforgiving at times.
Anyway, I think (actually I know) I could have handled the situation better. I think you know that slappy doesn't endeavor to hurt his sweetpea. Given all of the talks we've had the past eight months and that we had a genuinely nice time together last Saturday, this argument seems kind of idiotic.
Ronin I" -
Basically, I was feeling a little bad about how what a d!ck I was in my email to her. I mean, yes she did flake on me, but I'm not the kind of person that enjoys hurting other people and I knew that's what I did in that email.
*****As a side note, you'll notice I employed a little technique I learned from managing people - Build em, Burn em, Build em.
First paragraph - I build her (I apologize, lower her defenses), second paragraph I burn her (reiterate what she did wrong and that I am upset about it) third paragraph I build her back up (allude to how we've "bonded" and better times).
Anyway her response (almost immediate):
"Ronin I
It took me off guard to see that side of you with me. You attacked me personally, and I felt like you were mean. I'm really really sorry about not going out on Thursday night. No excuses, even if I have them. I'm just really sorry that I let you down, that's the bottom line. I guess I could be offering more chances to hang out with you too, to see if you can work around my schedule. Maybe the tables will turn some day so that you can let me down and I'll see how it feels. Just so you know, I really didn't think I was going to change your evening in the slightest. I thought that the *school* events are planned and that you'd be going with or without my company anyway, and that you know who'll you'll see there and hang with. That's pointless I guess, other than the fact that now I feel like I have a consequence or punishment..."relegated" to certain invites. I don't blame you. I've been careless with your feelings about this, and that's not who I am. I am sorry that my LAZINESS caught up with me.
I think you meant what you said. And I tried to respond the best I could. In fact, I had to focus in order to make sure you weren't joking. But then again, I've never felt like that from your words, so I knew you were serious. I'm really going to miss our bond if you think I'm not worthy of your time and energy. I am really sorry I pissed you off and I hope you can learn to trust my word again. Seriously, I don't blame you. You've been great to me these past months and for some reason, I've gotten into a habit that I don't like.
Maybe I need to go to a meeting. F. F. A.
anyways, i still be your sweatpea, if you'll have me?
HBtooflakey?"
- So I actually wound up calling her and she was crying on the phone - she said it was the first time she's cried for doing something wrong in a long time (I thought this was kind of a strange statement in that I felt like I was her father reprimanding her or something). She then went on to take responsibility again and that she realizes that I'm the only decent thing in her life right now and she's been fvcking it up, falling into a bad habit, etc. She then talked a little about her "feelings" for me, etc, etc.
-At that point not wanting to get caught up in a long-winded phone call I just reassured her that everything's alright, told her to stop crying and to smile for me and got off the phone.
- a few other observations -
1) I will give her credit for admitting that she was wrong and taking responsibitly for it - a common theme on this board lately is that women rarely if ever take responsibility for their actions - so it was refreshing to actually have a woman admit that she was wrong
2) there was talk about how my expressing anger amounted to me surrendering power(control) to her and while I still believe that is true to a degree I will tell you that that email and the phone conversation didnt give me the impression that she was in control - quite the opposite. Notice how she talked about how my words made her feel - seems I have more "power" than I thought.
3) emotional roller-coaster theory - assuming that (some/all) women are "addicted" to guys that keep them on emotional rollercoasters by me chewing her out and sending her on an emotional rollercoaster the past 48 hours, presumably this should raise IL.
OK - this is my last installment on this thread - I thought those of you that have posted and given advice might care to hear the latest part of it.
Anyway, my guilt got the best of me tonight so I emailed her the following:
"HBtooflakey,
Look, first off I want to apologize for the harshness of my last email. Sometimes I can be quite the *******, so if my email served to hurt you or whatever, I am sorry.
But, I do stand behind the crux of my email, which is that you are or have been unreliable. This certainly wasn't the first time I've heard "thanks for understanding" and it just reaches a point where it goes from maybe a legitimate excuse to a PATTERN of behavior. Generally, it really wouldn't bother me, but like I said if I see a pattern I do get pissed - plain and simple. And I am the type of person that tells somebody when I am unhappy with them. I can be quite blunt and unforgiving at times.
Anyway, I think (actually I know) I could have handled the situation better. I think you know that slappy doesn't endeavor to hurt his sweetpea. Given all of the talks we've had the past eight months and that we had a genuinely nice time together last Saturday, this argument seems kind of idiotic.
Ronin I" -
Basically, I was feeling a little bad about how what a d!ck I was in my email to her. I mean, yes she did flake on me, but I'm not the kind of person that enjoys hurting other people and I knew that's what I did in that email.
*****As a side note, you'll notice I employed a little technique I learned from managing people - Build em, Burn em, Build em.
First paragraph - I build her (I apologize, lower her defenses), second paragraph I burn her (reiterate what she did wrong and that I am upset about it) third paragraph I build her back up (allude to how we've "bonded" and better times).
Anyway her response (almost immediate):
"Ronin I
It took me off guard to see that side of you with me. You attacked me personally, and I felt like you were mean. I'm really really sorry about not going out on Thursday night. No excuses, even if I have them. I'm just really sorry that I let you down, that's the bottom line. I guess I could be offering more chances to hang out with you too, to see if you can work around my schedule. Maybe the tables will turn some day so that you can let me down and I'll see how it feels. Just so you know, I really didn't think I was going to change your evening in the slightest. I thought that the *school* events are planned and that you'd be going with or without my company anyway, and that you know who'll you'll see there and hang with. That's pointless I guess, other than the fact that now I feel like I have a consequence or punishment..."relegated" to certain invites. I don't blame you. I've been careless with your feelings about this, and that's not who I am. I am sorry that my LAZINESS caught up with me.
I think you meant what you said. And I tried to respond the best I could. In fact, I had to focus in order to make sure you weren't joking. But then again, I've never felt like that from your words, so I knew you were serious. I'm really going to miss our bond if you think I'm not worthy of your time and energy. I am really sorry I pissed you off and I hope you can learn to trust my word again. Seriously, I don't blame you. You've been great to me these past months and for some reason, I've gotten into a habit that I don't like.
Maybe I need to go to a meeting. F. F. A.
anyways, i still be your sweatpea, if you'll have me?
HBtooflakey?"
- So I actually wound up calling her and she was crying on the phone - she said it was the first time she's cried for doing something wrong in a long time (I thought this was kind of a strange statement in that I felt like I was her father reprimanding her or something). She then went on to take responsibility again and that she realizes that I'm the only decent thing in her life right now and she's been fvcking it up, falling into a bad habit, etc. She then talked a little about her "feelings" for me, etc, etc.
-At that point not wanting to get caught up in a long-winded phone call I just reassured her that everything's alright, told her to stop crying and to smile for me and got off the phone.
- a few other observations -
1) I will give her credit for admitting that she was wrong and taking responsibitly for it - a common theme on this board lately is that women rarely if ever take responsibility for their actions - so it was refreshing to actually have a woman admit that she was wrong
2) there was talk about how my expressing anger amounted to me surrendering power(control) to her and while I still believe that is true to a degree I will tell you that that email and the phone conversation didnt give me the impression that she was in control - quite the opposite. Notice how she talked about how my words made her feel - seems I have more "power" than I thought.
3) emotional roller-coaster theory - assuming that (some/all) women are "addicted" to guys that keep them on emotional rollercoasters by me chewing her out and sending her on an emotional rollercoaster the past 48 hours, presumably this should raise IL.