men

tonight was single guy night at the grocery store. no, i was not out on the prowl, shopping for single guys. it's just that there were a lot of single guys there. i can't remember the last time i saw that many dudes shopping for food. weird.

guys at the grocery store stare. i dunno. maybe all guys stare, and at the store there's no crowd or dim lighting to hide that fact. or maybe it's just that they were so out of their element and bewildered that they're already wide-eyed when they look up at you. now don't get all in a huff about the out-of-their-element comment. i'm sure some guys are comfortable at the store. these guys weren't. example. while cruising down aisle 9 for barilla pasta (i ate ALL of my pasta this week. all my spaghetti, my wheat spaghettini, and the linguini i've had for quite a while now) i saw a dude pick up and put back and pick up and put back a one pound package of valu-rite spaghetti several times. i grabbed my pasta and cruised on, while he continued to ponder the pastas. he had stared at me when i was rounding the corner from the breads, while he was all the way over by the eggs and cheese. maybe it was a silent plea for help.

i just can't bring myself to make eye contact in these situations.

this brings me to something else i wanted to write about, but haven't thought i'd be able to write about it in an interesting or entertaining way. i'm going to write it here anyway, and despite a lack of an appropriate segue.

last night's masterpiece theatre was the last installment of dickens' "bleak house." in it the protagonist, a slightly homely but plucky and wise orphan girl, received two marriage proposals probably within 20 minutes of viewing time. not to mention that she was already secretly engaged. to her significantly older GUARDIAN (eww). the remarkable thing was the proposals. these dudes were like, "since the moment i saw you your image has been fixed in my mind. i love you. we don't talk, and i know i've never said anything, but i believe you love me too. now that i have a house/job, will you marry me?"

dude, what?

i think it's funny. really funny actually. is that how it happened back then, over there? heh heh. i know the chickie writers from that period wrote like that, but this was dickens.

i'm trying to think of a weird courtship thing in our culture now to compare it to/contrast it with. maybe internet dating (eww)?

i'm still laughing. mostly because i'm imagining the girl looking at the man, this near stranger on bended knee, and she is saying, "dude, what?"