My Turf

I’ve belatedly developed a liking for light drama series, thanks to the St. Francis Square pirates who peddle whole seasons for 80 bucks per disc. I am immensely enjoying being a couch potato (especially after a long day). But one thing I don’t like about it is this new hobby really is taking much out of the time I usually devote for reading (I’ve lots of half-read books and magazines piling up on my desk, just gathering dust). But I couldn’t stop watching! I just breezed through 3 seasons of Desperate Housewives (sheesh, Season 2 is unbelievably cheesy and quite disappointing), and am now midway through Grey’s Anatomy.

Being the “quotations” sucker that I am, here are some hard-hitting lines that I truly agree with and wish I had thought of or written myself:

1. A wisecrack patient to George O’Malley (this was said after George’s ex, the nurse Olivia, had a sudden outburst about George not wanting to be with her because he is still pining for Meredith who wouldn’t even give him the time of day):

“Living with someone who can’t love you back is way lonelier than being alone.”

2. “How do you know how much is too much? Too much too soon, too much information, too much fun, too much love, too much to ask…and when is it all just too much to bear?”

3. “When fate comes into play, choice sometimes goes out the window.”

3. “Boundaries do not keep people out. THEY FENCE YOU IN. So you can waste your life drawing lines, or you can live your life crossing them. But there are some lines that are way too dangerous to cross. Here’s what I know: if you’re willing to take a chance, the view from the other side is spectacular.”

4. Oh, this musing I really, really love (this was from an episode in Season 1, where George was standing outside Meredith’s door, trying to muster the courage to knock and give her the breakfast he made for her. HAY!)

“I don’t know why we put things off, but if I had to guess, I’d say it has a lot to do with fear. Fear of failure, fear of pain, fear of rejection…sometimes, the fear is just of making a decision. Because what if you’re wrong? What if you’re making a mistake you can’t undo? Whatever it is we’re afraid of, one thing holds true: that by the time the fear of not doing a thing gets worse than the fear of doing it, it can feel like we’re carrying around a giant tumor.”

5. “THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS ENOUGH. THE GLASS IS BOTTOMLESS. AND ALL WE WANT IS MORE.”

6. From the series theme: “Nobody knows where we might end up. Nobody knows…”

7. Still from Season 1, at the start of the Cristina Yang-Preston Burke love affair (I swear, mas kinikilig pa ko sa dalawang ‘to kesa sa Derek Shepherd-Meredith Grey tandem!)

I wish there were a rulebook for intimacy. Some kind of a guide that could tell you when you’ve crossed the line. It would be nice if you could see it coming. And I don’t know how you fit it on a map. YOU TAKE IT WHERE YOU CAN GET IT AND KEEP IT AS LONG AS YOU CAN. And as for rules, maybe there are none. Maybe the rules of intimacy are something you have to define for yourself.”

8. Most of the time, pain can be managed. But sometimes, pain gets you when you least expect it. It’s way below the belt and it doesn’t let up. Pain. You just have to fight through it. Because the truth is, you can’t outrun it. And life ALWAYS MAKES MORE.

9. “We have to sweep today’s possibilities under tomorrow’s rug until we can’t anymore, until we finally understand what Benjamin Franklin meant. That knowing is better than wondering. That waking is better than sleeping. And that even the biggest failure, even the worst, most intractable mistake, BEATS THE HELL OUT OF NEVER TRYING.”

10. From Desperate Housewives: “Nothing is forever. And the time comes when we all must say goodbye to the world we knew. Goodbye to everything we had taken for granted. Goodbye to those we thought would never abandon us. And when these changes finally do occur, when the familiar has departed and the unfamiliar has taken its place, all we can do is say hello. And welcome.”