...sin and diamonds....

...a friend and I came back from the movie "Sin City", which may be the best movie I've seen in years, if for anything else it's spot on the graphic novel its based on...

a movie with very bad guys as good guys... where the world is in black and white with only brushes of color...where women are brave and strong and kind (sometimes) and ballsier than most guys in the movie...cannibals and psychos abound...

beautiful.

and after that at a fast food place, we got to talking about the state of our lives and how we value ourselves...

no, this wasn't brought on by the movie, but as it is our tradition, we tend to drift into this direction everytime we sit at a meal...

"what is the one thing you would say that I need to fix in my life?" she asked as we downed fries and what passed for meat in our sandwiches.

without a thought, or even looking up for that matter, "you need to start loving yourself..."

"what's to love? she said without even less thought....

this is a woman who stood up to her parents, and in spite of them, started a new life; trying to life it on her terms (if she could figure out what they are....) and try to start a romance....

WHAT'S NOT TO LOVE?!!?

"you have to see yourself as valuable..." she scoffs. I start to think of diamonds....

diamonds are rocks...carbon, pressed and pressured by time and space (and interfering families, I can only assume) into a clear hard stone....

not everyone is jewelry quality, but the most flawed, chipped, and darkest diamonds have a value far more than that of their unpressured carbon cousins...

she hasn't had the fairy tale life that she thought she should have, but she is self- sufficient, alcohol and drug free, not homeless, worked several jobs for most of her adult life....

....a diamond, flawed certainly, but a valuable one nonetheless...

"and fuck you for thinking of yourself as anything less."

then I went on to refill my soda. and yes, dear reader, we are still friends....