Since being out of work, things have been interesting.  Work was my primary source of human interaction outside of my husband, the Marine Corps, and our friends who are also Marines.  I have slowly begun to have situations where I realize that normal, non-Marine human interaction is really an important part of life.

1. Marines swear.  They swear a lot.  And if they don’t already have a profane option for a word, they invent their own.  These are typically just other, random profane words strung together.  We had friends over for dinner and I said something that was really just a string of swear words in front of their four small children and paused.  It took about thirty seconds to realize they probably don’t talk like that at home. My husband affectionately refers to our dogs as “little F***ers.”  ‘Nuff said.
2. Marines drink.  They drink A LOT.  A lot is an understatement.  I have someone, whether current or former Marine, puking off my balcony a few times a month.  That is not an exaggeration.  And we never have the boys over without a full keg in the Kegorator.  And even though they know we have one, they still bring beer just in case they need extra. So when I was out with a friend who was informing me that she was giving up alcohol because she drank too much, I asked her to elaborate.  She informed me that she felt drinking because she was bored was not ideal and that she was too old to be out getting sloshed all the time.  I’m still not sure I really understand what she was talking about…
3. Marines are mean.  I’m not talking, “Lean Mean Fighting Machines” mean.  I’m talking, insults are a form of affection and the meaner the insult, the more they must like each other.  I wrote a post that I thought was really funny and got halfway through it and realized that I might be being too mean.  I had a friend read it and she said, “Uh, can you change anything to be a little less mean?”  Non-normal human interaction skews your perception of what “too mean” is.  There is Marine Corps affection, but still mean, mean.  And then there is real world mean.  And the Marine Corps version is really mean by normal standards.  My husband has nicknames for me and not a single one of them are things I think many of my friends would be comfortable with if coming from their husbands.  It’s just how it’s always been. I have equally mean things I call him, trust me.

My lack of normal human interaction is really starting to skew my perception of the world and what is within normal, human social mores.  I really need to find some friends who live near me, and soon.