Opposite Sex
It had been a good series of pool, though I do not recall who won more games. We climbed the stairs slowly, the realization that the night was over slowly sinking in. But then, “Oh I remember you - you’re the tooth guy!” she said, bounding onto the second floor landing and giving me one of those awkward one-arm hugs that are so popular with women nowadays. I smiled and replied with an affirmative, struggling to raise my voice to the same level of excitement that her Friday night inebriation brought. They had been at the dance, and enjoyed themselves thoroughly. “One party,” I thought, “just one before the year is over.” The college experience is so very different for everyone; I do wonder what the next four years will bring.
“So are you going to ask her?” Erin inquired about a girl who has not yet associated me with teeth. She knew that I would change the subject at the first chance I got. I asked myself the same question, and wondered why I had not done anything yet. “Well, I know I should, but what about the girl in Shakespeare?” She looked quizzically at me for a moment. “What?” It’s official I realized, I lost track of who I have talked to about who. Shame on me.
And so it goes: we traded stories with one another about life and the other gender. Why hasn’t somebody written a decent book on this? Magazines are worthwhile for gossip, business, and news - but not for personal advice. (Pick up Seventeen and find something worthwhile about interpersonal relationships, I dare you.) I’m not requesting a manual, but at least a decent retrospective about the joyous confusion that is dating. The lack of a book could be because everyone’s experience is so different — but the lack is still surprising considering the phenomenon of romantic comedies. These movies address so many different aspects of dating: who can’t relate to having a violent crush, or bombing a date, or feeling they got more in someone than they deserved? And who can’t learn a little more about their own situation by watching?
If you call them “chick flicks” I will probably punch you. It’s your right to think that, and mine to physically convince you otherwise.
Selfish and boring as my rambling re:women may seem, I must remind you that writing a blog is a balance between many things; a balance I have not yet achieved. Bear with me as I pursue the traffic of Zeldman, the helpfulness of SimpleBits, the elegance of What Do I Know, and the pure, unadultered, kick-butt writing of Paul Ford.