Do you got game?

"Pats, are you gonna listen though?"  I already know the answer as I'm saying it through the 'phone.

Of course I'm speaking to Phil again, the same Phil that has just severed ties with his other half in a messy, messy divorce that includes an apartment along with the obvious bathroom, DVD, and kitchen collections - and then there's the bloody cat to think about...

"Yeah Pats, please intervene, I will listen!"  He exclaims in our usual deadpan style of communication.  I know he wont listen, and I know I'll only partially intervene with my usual It'll never work line - and the reason for this is simple - I know the game.

Now it's usually unthinkable to admit that 'The Game' exists but I think it's time we blow this one wide open to save Phil's bastard kitten and any future bastard kittens that will become the product of a broken home. 

"So what's gonna happen with the cat?"

"Well I've told him that he can have him if he wants him but if not I'm happy to take it."

See a few months before, I'd noticed a facebook status appear on the boyfriends page saying he was looking for a name for the damn thing (ironically, my choice of Sasha was taken up, ironically named after Sasha Fierce - Beyonce's alter ego!)  now I can say now that I saw where this was going straight away...

"A cat?"

"Yeah, we just got one."  that's it, no excitement or enthusiasm.  None.

Now i'm known to be quite cynical, but in this case I think I'm on the ball.  see the boyfriend is playing the 'entrapment' game and my dear old best friend is playing the 'getting' game.  My Patsy loves cats, and loves the ideal of domesticity that they emobody within the house - so the idea of having the beautiful 2 bed, 2 bath apartment with the boyfriend and the kitten to complete the picture is appealing to both my friend and the boyfriend - but for very different reasons.

Lets break it down, my friend is (perhaps not consciously) playing the 'getting game' - he's going for the ideal of what one should 'typically' have at a certain age...  and the boyfriend is going for it all because it makes him feel secure, because the tenancy agreement, the cat, the responsibilities are all ties to the relationship, like a teenage girl that gets pregnant to keep a man around.

"We're special," another phone call this time, and Phil is revealing his lastest nugget of enlightenment to me, "We're here to share our personalities and get out there - it's rude not to!"

Now, it's important to note that The Game doesn't just relate to the boyfriend, Both Phil and I have worked our way to the tops of our respective careers over the last two years, each landing, excelling and moving on from three positions within an 18 month period where most people would take give to ten years of personal development and objective setting. 

So while Phil navigates his messy divorce and deals with the division of the assets - I'm wondering, aside from the Kitten.... who else are our games affecting, and does anyone ever really get what they want?