Wednesday, July 20, 2005

Public Service Annoucement- Dating Etiquette

With age comes wisdom right............ Yeah I believed that lie too. One summer at a luau, I met the “Golfer”, a 34 year old single man, who seemed very nice and had a genuinely interest in me and I was in a frame of mind that made me find the “golfer” mildly entertaining. We went on a few dates, drinks, coffee , the usual. He invited me to have dinner one night, he chose the place and the time, all I had to do is be ready at the allotted time. He took me to a nice restaurant, wine ran and wonderful food was tasted and ultimately enjoyed. Sounds great, right? Food, wine and good company, what more could a girl ask for. Well...............when it comes time to pay the bill, “golfer” exclaims in faux chagrin, that he has forgotten his wallet in the car and only has enough cash on him to cover his portion of the meal. Now let me remind you, that he drove us to dinner, in his car, that was parked less than a third of a block away. You hear stories about this and discuss with your girlfriends and all sorts of clever comeback and witty saying are thrown around, so you are prepared for this sort of situation.
Well, when you find yourself faced with this situation, all of the witty repartee, all of the prepared comebacks flee your head or at least mine. I am sitting at the table with “golfer” trying to process what he had just told me. And he is staring at me, with no regret, no glimmer of embarrassment, expectantly waiting for me to break out my wallet and fork out for more than my portion of the dinner. Now, this being a third date and his having extended the invitation, it was my impression that I was covered. Silly me, to think that this was an invitation. So stupidly I pull out my wallet and fork over my cash. What else was I to do. There was no obvious exit via the bathroom, all the exits were exposed. And at this point I was no in the mood to make a public spectacle of myself but throwing a fit in a very small and quiet restaurant. The bill was paid and Mr. I Forgot my Wallet, wants to continue the date, I kid you not. We wander thru Borders and all I can think of is, “Is it rude to run away scream about the cheap ass I was with”? Its not rude is it.... :) I made it home safely, a few dollars poorer and my nerves running thin. The next time he called, I was conveniently unavailable. Imagine that. ;) It baffled me that at the age of 34 years old, he didn't feel at the very least slightly sheepish about copping out of a portion of the bill. It seemed at least to me, that this action was by someone younger with little to no dating experience. Mind you I didn't fully know his dating history, so for all I know he was a hermit and had badly developed social skills and maybe was raised by band of lemurs, on a remote island not on this planet. Ok, that was just plain fun.

Stay Tuned..........

Saturday, July 16, 2005

America's Obsession

America’s obsession has reached new heights. The weight obsession that we are confronted with every single day via magazine, internet, tv and movies, has finally made an impact on the youngest of our generations. I was wandering around Target today, one of my favorite pastimes. As I passed by the children’s section, I was trapped behind a slow moving family. Two little kids who couldn’t have been more than 6 years old were hurtling insults back and forth to each other. The big insult was calling each other fat, both children were lean in that never ending energetic way. I was horrified, to think that the youngest generation understood the negative connotation of what it meant to be called fat. They knew it was an insult and hurtful to say. What happened to the days when the worst insult of a 6 year old was dodo head or stupid head. Our adult obsession had reached epic proportions where even little children are concerned about their weight. Amazing.....................

Now I am not excused from this obsession. I too, participate in its guilt and unhealthy habits. The fad diets , vitamins and pills that promise to melt away the lbs, and me hoping that my body mirrors an image that society and the media has deemed acceptable and attractive. Anything to fit in single digit size. But seeing young children pick up on America’s lack of self esteem is heart breaking.

Tuesday, July 05, 2005


Its Me Posted by Picasa