"Secret Single Behavior"

Things have been pretty much the same here at The Palace. Chris is still getting over what was diagnosed as Pneumonia, Coltrane is back to his happy, playful self, and I'm fighting off a little something. There has been more TV watching than usual, which is probably a bad thing. One of my favorite shows is Sex and the City (I used to be ashamed of this "guilty" pleasure of mine. Not anymore. The show features 4 strong, confident, sexy women, and the main character makes her living as a writer. What's not to love?). I have slowly been collecting the DVDs, and it's a great "me-time" thing to do to relax a little.

One of the recent episodes I watched featured a conversation between the 4 main women about what they dubbed "SSB," or "Secret Single Behavior." The main character, Carrie, was talking about the things she can't do after moving in with her boyfriend. SSB includes all of the behavior you take part in when you're totally alone, and often goes by the wayside when living with someone else. Charlotte mentioned inspecting her pores every night before bed, Miranda mentioned putting vaseline on her hands and putting them in gloves while watching TV. Since Chris and I have recently become roomies, this got me thinking about my own SSB.

Confession time! What are the things I can't/won't do now that I live with my boyfriend? More like, what are the things I can't/won't do when he's home (I think I revert to my SSB if he's away)? For one thing, when I lived by myself, I never really felt too guilty about splurging on myself every once-in-awhile. Here's the typical Ryan-is-by-herself-and-wants-to-splurge purchase: Pack of salmon roll sushi ($6.00), fresh strawberries ($3.00), bottle of red wine ($7.00), and lovely 72% cocoa fine dark chocolate bar ($3.00), fine evening to myself (priceless). No one around= no one to judge me for spending almost $20 on myself for one evening. Chris doesn't splurge on food. Like, ever. And he would certainly give me a look if I did that around him, so, I don't (which is probably good for my wallet anyways). Let's see, I also leave the bathroom door open when nobody is around. Not sure why. It may have been something that developed in my apartment when Coltrane was running around (and I was afraid he would start chewing on my baseboards if I took my eye off of him for one second). But also, growing up, our family was a bathroom-door-open family (hi mom!). Another thing I do when I'm by myself (grooming-wise) is pop any zits I may have. I'm a picker. All the way. And I get ingrown hairs from shaving my legs all the time. For me, ingrown hairs clog my pores and lead to little zits, which must go immediately. I realize this grosses people (including Chris) out, so it's an SSB. Then there are the normal things: I pluck my eyebrows (last time I was doing this the bathroom door was open and Chris walked by and said something like "aw, man, I don't want to see that." Mainly referring to how painful it looked), I take long-ass showers, I eat junk, and I watch Sex and the City!

None of this makes me regret the decision to move in with Chris. Besides, he won't be in the house every single second (At least, after this sick week at home he won't!).

What are your SSBs? Confess! Men, do you have SSBs too? You surely must!

Just a reminder that R's Rs are now a permanent feature to the right of the posts!

I will also keep you all updated on my search for a new laptop now that my current one broke. Anyone have and like a Netbook?