women can be so manipulative. sometimes i can't stand it. and then the men either figure that out and get jaded, or end up being mercilessly raked over the coals by an opportunist. i was listening to him tell me about what these girls are saying to him and i can hardly keep myself from picking up the phone and letting them know that i've played that game myself a few times, and it's just plain bitchy. i don't know how you can justify getting your heart broken once and then make the whole gender pay over and over again. i'm frustrated because the nice guys get taken advantage of by girls that need to see a man wimper to feel like they've got some control back in their lives. i'm still angry at myself for the few times i've done that. i remember when i was going through my breakup with greg, wishing i'd break a leg or get in an accident or something. at least then, people would send me flowers. they'd pay attention, expect me to be hurt. it's so much worse to hurt inside, where no one can see it. somehow it hurts worse then, because it's all yours and you can't share it. it's stuck inside you, in the dark where you can't tell if you're making any progress. so blame it on somebody else, find a scapegoat to get your pain into the light again. find a genuine guy, he'll do just fine. and i try to explain to him that it's not his fault; sometimes anger comes from much deeper place than the tiny situation that brought it up. but i'm stuck too; the same web that gives her power makes me powerless to explain her accusations away. so i guess he'll just be stuck in the game for a while till she gets tired of making him suffer. she probably doesn't even know what she's doing, really. and i'll be here, sitting on my hands.