Friday, April 16, 2004
(6:55 PM) | Adam Kotsko:
The Springing of Spring
In Bourbonnais, Illinois, as of right now, it is shorts and t-shirt weather. I'm sure it will be below freezing tomorrow, but I'm counting this as spring. I'm also starting a pool: how long will it take me to get into a car accident while driving through a densely populated college area during the spring time? (It's the University of Chicago, so factor that in, but still -- God! as in, There is one!)
Today at work, my manager said she liked my longer hair, just like my mom always does. It makes me look "handsome." I've grown wary of that word -- I take it to mean, "You're such a nice boy that the girls should pay attention to you, but of course they won't." In any case, she said that I should be able to find a girlfriend now that my hair has grown out. About the best looking person ever to walk into our office was sitting in the lobby, and she said, "There's a girl right out there for you," and I immediately said, "She's married." I take careful note of the marital status of all young women -- I notice that the divorced ones tend to be the most flirtatious. For whatever reason, fear or "professionalism," I never really talk to any patient more than necessary, and sometimes, certain women seem to go through a honeymoon period with me, then get really mad that I'm not flirting back.
I'm apparently safe and approachable, somewhat like a pastor. During one pub conversation in which some future pastors talked about the problems they had with women getting a little too attached when their marriages were shaky, I asked, "So what if women in that situation find one safe and approachable, and one is not a pastor or future pastor." The advice I received was, "Fuck 'em, baby." I think that was the moment I realized what a perfect fit CTS is for me, at least on the level of faculty. Maybe when I win the lottery, I'll do my PhD there. (That link is the only grant-style financial aid CTS offers to PhD students -- there's not even a tuition waiver. We're a poor school, to be sure, but that just means we haven't sold out! Freedom isn't free!)
I will eventually retype the post I had in mind last night, but until then, here's a good Onion article.
