Woman Gotta Be Woman
Know what I'm sayin' ladies? I think we've all had those moments when we've been acting not quite like ourselves on a date or when first meeting someone. We laugh a little higher. We smile a little longer. We swallow our witty sarcasm and feign interest in his new financial project for streamlining healthcare insurance sales for large companies blahdy blahdy blah.
Which is exactly how my chat with Mustache Guy went this evening. Normally I write off guys with Mustaches (I mean really, get creative. Do a goatee or something. What are you, auditioning for Boogie Nights?), but this guy has a terrific sense of humor and seems cool so I'm giving it a shot. But at one point in our conversation, he got a little boring.
Mustache Man (yup, just changed his name, cuz I like alliteration): I am now the lead on the boring healthcare insurance sales streamline project. Yay me, I'm so brilliant.
Diva: Yawn. I looked at Gluten-free blogs all day for my job. How way cool is that?
Normally I would have pretented to be riveted by his job stories, but really I couldn't care less because his job sounds really boring. So I decided sarcasm is the best way to go. And I think he appreciated that, in fact I think he was dying to talk about how boring his job is. So we did, and as it turns out, he wants to do a doctoral degree in anthropology someday. Which is totally something that I can be excited and ask him questions about without a hint of irony!
Now, who would have benefited if I had pretended that streamlined healthcare insurance sales systems really turned me on?
Maybe one reason I have been anti-dating lately is because it can be so exhausting pretending to be the best version of yourself all the time. I'm not saying I act like a complete fake, but I think theres a difference between the way I act with my friends (super funny, brilliant, sarcastic, quick thinking, often cynical, sometimes making an ass of myself, and not afraid to have political discussions), I sometimes reign it in a little when I'm with a guy. It's just not necessary, and while I'm not advocating being a lazy rude cynical hag while on dates, I don't think there's anything wrong with showing your less-than-perfect side.
