Jessie wrote:

>>> For Rosie it seems to be important that her dom be smarter than her-- <<<

Not seems, is.

>>> For me it's important that my life-partner be on roughly the same intellectual level as I am. <<<

To use that utterly obnoxious Usenet phrase in what I hope won't be too obnoxious a context, "Been there, done that." He was called my first husband. Among our other difficulties, we had power struggles up the wazoo, I suspect because neither of us had the intellect to perceive them for what they were or the emotional intelligence to surmount them. I still like him as a friend, however.

>>> (And, its important that my life-partner = my dom = Mr. Warlock. :) <<<

Absolutly!

>>> I couldn't spend my life with a person with whom I couldn't engage in meaningful debates and conversations... <<<

Me, neither.

>>> I need to be with someone who takes my ideas and wonderings seriously. <<<

Me, too! (Hey, when do we get to the disagreeing part? This is boring!)

>>> I could never marry my mother... <<<

Oh, dear lord, Jessie, you just made me upchuck my breakfast! ICK ICK TRIPLE SQUICK!

(Rosie does a cheerleading jump while reciting the above and lands on her woo-woo in a puddle of former breakfast)

>>>...because she outthinks me in every conversation...<<<

So does my master. Well, there's an occasional exception, but they're pretty rare. Question: although on the outside your mother may have won the battle, don't you often really feel on the inside that you are right and she is wrong? That you simply weren't able to communicate your rightness in the face of the overwhelming force of her wrongness?

>>> [mama's methodology deleted]...and I find such conversations incredibly combatitive. <<<

Here's the crux of the matter. I don't find my conversations with my master to be combative at all, probably because neither of us is combating the other. If I had a mom like yours, though, I'd probably have a very difficult to impossible time dealing with Donald, because it would be impossible for me not to expect that someone who could outthink and outspeak me wouldn't also be doing it to "win" all the time. But I don't have your mom. I have a passive-agressive wimp who never stuck up for or protected her children from an unfair, domineering father, which gives me a completely different set of problems. :( You should hear me, in my close-to-absolute master-slave relationship, go on and on to Donald sometimes about how this or that order "just isn't fair." Luckily for me, those sorts of protests usually make him crack up.

>>> (not to mention the legal problems with marrying my mom :) <<<

Thank heaven for small favors. I mean really, marrying your mom! (And I thought I could come up with some pretty gross imagery!)

>>> Someone confident that he was smarter than me would be an infuriating person to see across the New York Times every morning for a lifetime. <<<

That's absolutely understandable, given your history with your mother. And not only that, but that smarter someone would probably hog the Sunday crossword puzzle too! Actually we've worked out something of an equitable exchange about that. I get to read the book-review section first while he works the puzzle. Then if he gets stumped, I work on the puzzle, and he reads the book review. Only thing is, he doesn't get stumped as often as I'd like, and when he does the "rule" is that I can only give him one clue, and then he gets the puzzle back again! And he gets to write the clue in! And he writes in ink!!! Talk about fair! (as I always do--g).

>>> Not that I'd be any happier than Rosie with someone *stupider* than me... [remainder deleted due to Usenet nod syndrome] <<<

Even if he were utterly beautiful?

>>>There is still an owner and a pet...even if they both know that the cat is more clever than it's owner . <<<

Where? Where? I want to meet that cat! In fact, I want my cat to meet that cat! (he could use some IQ lessons--g).