Re: On Being Competitive

1

Are there any cool memorial services in town that weekend? Maybe one for a philosopher that could turn into a discussion of epistemology? Then you could "tool" around town playing the same song over and over again...

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2

He's already ruled that out specifically, apo.

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3

[Just saw Ben's comment on preview. Here's the comment I was about to post]

Hey, I get to be Wolfson! From the original post:

I would just play the same CD over and over and take her to a funeral, but I'm not ready for marriage.
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4

Ah, sorry. I was out of town and internetless for a week and fell behind on the injokes.

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5

Criminy. In the main post and everything. So, isn't one of the bloggers here, like, Middle Eastern or something?

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6

That would be the gay one, Fontana Labs.

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7

OH MY GAWD! I think I've got it! Progressive dating!

Ogged shows up with two or three similar looking friends. All are introduced as ogged, and, during the car ride to Oggedville, hang out with PG. Then, each takes PG on some portion of a date: dinner, a show, a walking tour, a psychic, whatever. At the end of the night (or the next morning, or whatever), PG blogs the three or four ogged's, and we vote on which one is the One True Ogged.

The whole thing is then immediately spun into a reality television show.

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8

I was going to suggest bowling. Look, the ideal date activity is just that: an activity. One must have a text from which subtext can emerge. Thus:

--a game/passtime (often very good to play something that *neither of you know how to do.* This eliminates competitiveness, unless you are a total freak. Also, it is by nature forward looking rather than backwards looking. If you already play X, then X on a date is about your past, the skills you have already acquired. If you don't know X from curling, then it's about how you approach new things. )

--a task (e.g., wandering through target, buying things for a party)

--a spectacle, but one that allows for conversation (ok: a baseballgame; not OK: a movie)


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9

Whatever you do, I want to see it on blogstar theatre.

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10

baa is a wise man. Shopping at Target it is!

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11

It is my sister who is the reality TV star, not me.

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12

To Tell the Truth was more of a game show than a reality show. Will the real Ogged please stand up?

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13

I think ogged should lead profgrrrrl on a wild goose chase/scavenger hunt through Top Secretville and Metropolisopolis, for an artifact that could save her life ... or destroy it.

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14

Combining mine with #10 and #13: PG is delivered to a multi-storied department store, where she searches for ogged. She knows only that he will be in that section that most interests him at hour X, and she is led only by what she knows of him from the blogs. Dun-dun-dah.

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15

Is there a Heidegger and buttplugs section at most department stores?

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16

They don't have Marshall Field's where you are, I take it, Chopper.

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17

Note that I did say *most*, Ben.

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18

Pretty funny, but I think I actually answered, "He's old enough to lose."

No bowling.

Clearly the solution is to choose some activity where you can both participate in making children cry.

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19

some activity where you can both participate in making children cry.

Too bad Easter is already over.

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20

So, no bowling... what about going to the gym for a little kick-boxing?

"PG, he's 150 pounds."

"He's fat enough to get his ass kicked."

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21

I have never been on anything that can be described as a date. (That wasn't the scene where I went to college or high school, and I got married very young.) But, unless the show Blind Date has misled me, which I doubt, this is what healthy, youthful people do when they go out on first dates:

(1) take a class in something, preferably something that requires both physical contact and an instructor who can flirt with one or both of you,

(2) lots and lots of drinking

(3) periodic monologues addressed to the camera, and

(4) hot-tubing.

Stick to that formula and you can't go wrong.

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22

hot-tubing

I'm guessing you mean tubbing, but I'm intrigued by the prospect of hot-tubing.

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23

Is this a daytime or a nighttime date?

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24

Hot-tubing sounds painful.

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25

Yes, but deliciously painful.

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26

You could apply salve to each other's welts afterwards. Just think of the intimacy!

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27

I meant whichever one was funny. (Probably neither.) And I just recalled that I *did* go on a real date once. Coffee shop and a movie (Much Ado About Nothing).

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28

Also, the college I attended at which people didn't date was (I believe) the same college ac attended. Personally, the not-dating thing suited me fine. The only thing about it that sucked was having to read the same opinion column in the student newspaper every year about how no one at the school goes on dates. This was back in the days before David Brooks existed and students had to write columns like that for themselves. Also, before the internet, although that's not relevant.

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29

Do you know me pjs?

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30

I don't think so. I was class of '94.

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31

Nobody at my school went on dates, either.

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32

People at my school may have gone on dates. I'm not sure.

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33

There are plenty of schools where no one goes on dates. Are you sure you went to the same one?

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34

Well we were there at the same time, anyway. If we did indeed, go to the same place. I made a reference to Hampshire here once, but I was saying I went down the road from there. I'd just say it (have said it also) but since you're not, I won't.

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35

ac -- I hope I'm not coming off as stalkerish. You made a reference in a thread long ago about how, at your college, a Professor Bright married a Professor Dumm. That kind of sealed it.

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36

No, obviously it would catch your eye.

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37

It's a night-time date, Todd.

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38

It's too early in the season, but a crabapple fight and bourbon straight from the bottle make for a fun night.

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39

a crabapple fight and bourbon straight from the bottle make for a fun night

It's even fun when you skip the crabapple part, and the date.

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40

Sure, fun (crying jags, holes in the drywall, and all), but not asfun.

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41

pjs - are those your initials? I'm just hoping your name isn't Stuart.

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42

ac -- yes, those are my initials. My name is definitely not Stuart. I can think of at least two Stuarts you might be thinking of, and I am glad I am neither of them.

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43

(Still thinking of Stuart D.)

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44

Upon consideration, I've decided that comment 20 is not complimentary.

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45

Does PG enjoy boxing? It's more fun than bowling. After a couple of hard rounds you'd know whether you were compatible or not.

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46

Around these parts I think I'd take someone on an evening hot-air balloon ride.

Yeah, it is over the top, but for a blog date I think it would be great and a once in a lifetime experience.

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