A few months ago, I bought an iPad for my wife. W had been hinting for a while that she wanted one, and when I say “hinting,” I mean telling me every day to buy her an iPad or she was going to staple my lips as I slept.
And boy was she happy when I presented it to her. For one short moment in time, I was the guy on the white horse in the Old Spice commercials who could do no wrong. Immediately after opening the package, she logged on to Facebook and boasted, “My honey just bought me an iPad! Isn’t he the most wonderful, greatest, bla bla bla and best husband ever?”
Naturally, this did not go over well with any of the men in our inner circle of family and friends— The Brotherhood, as I like to call them. In fact, it was my brother-in-law, Sage, who promptly Faceblasted me for going rogue.
What is going rogue, you ask? Going rogue is buying or doing something so wonderful, thoughtful, bla bla bla for your wife, that it causes all the women of the inner circle to blurt to their husbands, “How come you don’t buy me no iPad!?”
Indeed, in the few short minutes after W’s Faceboast, all the other wives of the inner circle—The Sisterhood—began posting about what lazy, rotten, cheapo bastards their husbands were for not doing the same.
Not that any of the members of our Brotherhood deserved it. They’ve all purchased excellent, spontaneous gifts in the past. In fact, it was shortly after the iPad debacle that Sage himself went horribly rogue. The little bastard—for no reason other than to express his devotion and bla bla blappreciation—brought his wife, Jessica, a bouquet of flowers accompanied by the following note, which she promptly posted on Facebrag:
“Dearest Buttercup, you are my sun, and moon, and gag, vomit, hurl. For you, I would climb to the top of the highest retch, sail the roughest bile, because I love you from the bottom of my barf.”
Make no mistake. This was a far more serious transgression against The Brotherhood because his gift came from a place of adoration, whereas mine was merely an effort to muzzle my wife so I could play Call of Duty in peace.
What followed was as hilarious as it was tragic. W was in the living room, scrolling through Facegloat on her iPad, when she saw Jessica’s post.
“How come you never do anything nice like that for me,” she snorted, holding the still-shimmering iPad in her greedy fingers!
Oh, well, that’s how it is with wives, I guess. You and she can be on the terrace of an Italian villa overlooking the Mediterranean Sea and still she’ll figure out a way to say “You never take me anywhere” with a straight face.
It’s just what married men must deal with and, since we can’t change women, the best we can do is stop throwing each other under the bus, because, up to now, the concept of going rogue has been unclear and discombobulated. Therefore, I have taken it upon myself to clarify and, um, combobulate, the rules and definitions of rogueism.
There are three basic ways to go rogue.
The first, and most common, is buying your significant other a spontaneous gift—for no other reason than to express your love and undying bla bla blavotion—and, sure as Herman Cain was dropped on his head as an infant, it’s an abomination unto The Brotherhood.
The second example is buying a non-spontaneous gift, you know, during those gift-expectant holidays (birthday, Christmas, etc.), but spending far more money than anyone else in The Brotherhood is spending. For example, if you buy the missus a two-karat diamond for Valentine’s Day and the rest are doing chocolate and flowers, you have gone senselessly rogue.
Last, any of those creative and priceless-type gifts—like writing love poems, or having “Happy anniversary, darling,” plastered across the stadium JumboTron, or building a red carpet made of rose petals that lead from the front door to the bedroom, where you’ll be waiting in silk boxers and grasping a bottle of baby oil—are especially disagreeable to The Brotherhood, as they require planning, effort and—shoot me now should I ever go the silk-boxers route—passion.
Of course, in a perfect world, no man would ever go rogue against his boys. But we live in the real world, with real women—women with hormones that rage like barbarian marauders across the continent of your marriage—making it sometimes necessary to wander from the herd in order to prevent your lips from being stapled together.
In these instances, just be sure to notify The Brotherhood of your intention to stray. This way, it gives them the opportunity to buy something of equal value, or begin the quarantining process— which is done by dropping their wives’ cell phones in the garbage disposal, hacking their social pages and infecting them with some sort of influenza bug that will keep them from leaving the house all week.
So, men, are we all on the same page? Excellent! Now let’s all take the Oath of The Brotherhood. Please put your hand on our bible—1001 Fart Jokes— and repeat after me: “We, the proud, brave—yet war-weary—married men of The Brotherhood, do solemnly swear to go rogue only when necessary, to alert The Brotherhood when deviation is unavoidable and to reject Satan—The Old Spice Guy—for it is he who will lead us into the shadow of the valley of the doghouse, so help me Hemingway, amen.
Tags: gifting, going rogue, relationships
Yes it was a bit sexist, but still funny! Thanks for the humor for the day and say hi to W for me!! LOL!!!!
Oh! and thanks for the eye-candy at the top of the column.
Nice.
Punch your editor in the mouth with a closed fist. Your commentary on both sexes is insightful. Thank you.
I’d like to personally thank you for the image I now have of you in silk boxers, smothered in baby oil.
I only find this sexist if you are unaware of The Sisterhood’s equal but opposite code of ethics.
For example, there is a strict “fellatio non-notification” clause in effect. Going rogue, in our case, would be demonstrated by an act of unprovoked oral, the worst offense being first thing in the morning. Unprovoked oral is generally inexcusable, as it undoes many years of training that have already been put in place (one cannot train the dog to sleep on the dog bed and then let him up onto the couch for one day. It is quite confusing for him the following day when he is scolded for trying to get on the couch.)
According to the guide book, oral stimulation is to be limited to birthdays, dinner dates (new outfit and multiple courses required) and as a reward for extravagant gifts, such as ipads. Any other BJ’s must be submitted to The Sisterhood in a timely manner to allow for equal husband-spoiling behavior, such as outdoor nudity, or the like.
And now back to your man cave…you will be alerted when needed to run to 7-11 for tampons.
Hilarious as always. But… I think Carissa needs a column! Dang! That girl is almost as funny as Ed!
Rock on, sistah’s. I think I broke the code regarding BJ’s. Sorry… Is the sisterhood demerit system like the one in high school pep club? Will I forbidden to attend the Winter Ball due to repeated transgressions regarding skirt length? Damn! That’s what got me in trouble with the Bj’s in the FIRST place……
Undoubtably, the “fellatio non-notification” clause is one of the trickiest of guidelines; it holds a great potential for misstepping. In regard to previous high school offenses and infractions, the rules are less stringent for the non-marrieds. Enjoy, singles.
You are at your satirical best here.