Letters from the Underground

Yes we can...

...get to you Tavis Smiley.  Or at least some Obamacans would like him to think so.  Mr Smiley made the ill advised move of criticizing Mr Obama for not showing up in New Orleans for the State of the Black Union.  I'm thinking Obama has got to be a little horrified at this,but it's the ugly side of populist politics.  With all the enthusiasts, you get same overly enthusiastic people who will do crazy things.  Hillary inspires Bill in much the same way, and McCain, well, doesn't really inspire anyone (I'd like to think it's more of a quiet confidence, but I'm biased.)  Hopefully, Mr Smiley and his family will ride out the election season safe and sound.

Le musant

General musings on the rareness of interesting customers at Applebees, compassionate debunking, and why I'm rooting for the Packers this year (as if I needed a reason.)

Writing for work

The latest in my Applebee's instructional writings.  Today we explore the necessity of wearing belts when your pants have belt loops.

Body Image

I was privy to an interesting, though common, amongst my female coworkers yesterday. They were discussing where they gain weight first(which also seems to be the last place that they lose it). Men are the same way, so I've read, but it's also true that they seem to worry about it a lot less, due to some weird societal standard I'm sure. My coworkers had the usual list of things they found unnattractive about themselves(somehow I fought down my natural male urge to run like the wind at the start of the conversation. Fortunately I managed to keep my mouth shut throughout the entire thing. Women can talk frankly about their bodies with each other. Men cannot, and when the women are in a frank mood, the usual compliments are looked upon as lies.) The common refrain was that they gained weight in their rear first, and lost it in their chest first.

It made me think about my own body image though. I tend to gain weight like a mofo around my middle, and I lose weight in my legs and face first. This never really has bothered me beyond being overweight in gneneral. But my biggest body image problem is with my height.

I think I'm shorter than I am.

I'm 6' 1" tall. That's above average. I've always had tall relatives and friends, though my girlfriends have tended towards the shorter side of average. But I always think of myself only as tall as my eye level. It amsues me when I'm at fencing practice and hear people say 'watch out, he's tall'. It also means I tend to hit my head a lot, since it's a few inches higher than I think it is.

So, my new goal is to walk tall, and acknowledge to myself that I am, indeed, a tall man. It'll be a lonely road, since I don't think there is a support group for this sort of thing, but I'm willing to make the effort, if for no other reason than to spare my poor cranium from yet another bruise.