so..how 'bout passive-aggressive.."goals"?
As if?
How about passive-aggressive patterns of Emotion-Cognition-Action?
How about goals functioning as independent variables and deeds/processes/behavior functioning as dependent variables subjugable to self-latching goals carried along by Process?
tonight he told me he was busy 6-10, and he'd come over afterwards...at 11 i texted,
he was in the middle of a game..can't come, in the middle of a game.
no eta. no message at 10 when he was supposed to come...
Self-latching Process-cum-Goal.
To break off from a game-in-process would result in something akin to Coitus interruptus.
apparently the game he was in the middle of?
started at 9:30, half hour before he knew I was expecting him...
starting to wonder if it's all some sorta passive-aggressive game to get me to break up with him.
Did you mention he was a Jar Head (EG `marine')?
Would you expect a (former) jar head to break off and retreat right in the middle of a battle ... even if the battle were raging nowhere other than in the middle of his alleged mind?
(Yes, `alleged'. I'm a former Navy man ... `squid'.)
The following vignette may illustrate the root problem:
Setting: Two men, both in military uniforms, standing side by side in a mens restroom both using urinals.
The one in a marine uniform notices the one in navy whites finishes first, buttons up, and heads for the door.
Marine: In OUR boot camp they taught us to wash our hands after going to the bathroom.
Sailor: <without breaking stride> In our boot camp they taught us not to piss on our hands. <sailor exits>
finis
Point?
Had he demonstrated the ability to think ahead and preclude a problem the marines would have turned him over to the Navy proper to become a sailor.
Seriously, he probably was engrossed in his game and time stood still for him. He was in a groove, rut, `the zone', ... heat of battle. Damn it!!
It really wasn't about YOU.
It was his CNS under the influence of a fight-or-flight dynamic not significantly different from actually BEING in battle.
I KNOW as an NF it's really hard to NOT take things personally.
But everyone else that he was blowing off while we was playing that game was ALSO less important during the interval of that game.
Seems likely you were up against a self-latching process/dynamic.
While single he might not have encountered the `need' to think ahead before starting a game and becoming engrossed.
He may lack the forethought entailed with `if I start this game NOW, I just might have a heard time breaking off in time to keep the old lady from getting pissed'.
Give him time.
You may never be able to train him to NOT piss on his hands, but he may learn with time how to NOT start a computer game a mere half hour before he `goes on duty' with you.
Next time he's late have your Dominatrix gear at the ready and flog him with a cat-o-nine-tails for being AWOL.
Once he anticipates the `fun' he'll have NEXT TIME to look forward too, something more exciting than a mere video game, he just might not be so late ... or even late at all.
Yeah ... I know ... `Dear Abby'z got nothin' on me. Right?