The Odd Couple

Listening to: Killing in the name of - Rage Against The Machine
Writing this - in the same chair as last time
Weather - Cold, grey

OK so to start off one of the lyrics of this song is an angry repetition of "F@ck you, I won't do what you tell me" increasing in intensity and venom. This reminds me of my good friend Dave Gaudet who, on hearing this song deadpanned, "Wouldn't it be better if they just said, "No thank you, I'm not interested at this time."?"

Well it seemed funny at the time.

Went to see a performance of Neil Simon's "The Odd Couple" last night. I had forgotten how funny (and still relevant) this play was. Of course, the precipitating issue of divorce isn't as controversial nowadays as it was back in 1965 when this play was written. The play could have as easily been set up by a couple of college roommates being randomly assigned a dorm room and work as well but the central themes would remain:
-sometimes it's better to go crazy together than to go crazy apart,
-the power of friendship can overcome any adversity,
-opposites atract,
-sometimes you find your true soulmate in the oddest places.

The verbal comedy is, admittedly, pretty formulaic (is that a word?) and the jokes are a bit stale, the references are a bit dated but kudos to the director for not updating the references. Felix's anguish over $9.32 in roast for example is very dated (that would be a mouthful by today's prices...) It's the physcal comedy that really makes the show. Both Oscar and Felix, when done right, are collections of mannerisms and tics that complement each other and bounce off each other like a fine game of handball and the two actors handled the material very well, especially for a local community theatre group.

A fine evening out.

It got me to thinking though about marriage and separation and divorce. Why is it that couples stick with it when it is painfully obvious that it's broken? Is it ego? Stubbornness? "I'm not gonna give up after 10, 12, 15 whatever years invested in it even though there's probably no chance of making it better." Making divorce very easy wouldn't necessarily be a solution otherwise couples would split over who squeezes the toothpaste in which way. Perhaps the solution might be a 'business model' Make civil marriage a one-year contract with option to renew. Each anniversary the couple sits down and decides to (a) continue, (b) continue with modifications or (c) end it. Make the terms clear up front. Perhaps the state could determine terms in the absence of a formal written agreement (like a probate court imposes a will on a person who dies intestate which, I guess pretty much describes it seeing as how a divorce is the death of the legal entity called the married couple...) Simple rules like: Parties are allowed 30 days to agree which assets belong de facto to one party or the other. Anything the parties cannot agree to will automatically be deemed 'community property'. All community property is liquidated at auction and all monies are used to pay off joint debts with the remainder split equally. It doesn't deal with the emotions but in my experience the emotions deal with themselves in short order, it's the financial stuff that people seem to argue and fuss about out of all proportion to their importance. With the financial shit out of the way the two are free to go their separate ways.

Kids throw a wrench in the works (but when don't they...?)

My Utopian vision.