Monday 3 September 2012

Unlike Any Other

I very much enjoyed reading about your plans for last Friday night and your dream jobs and how you have gone in pursuit of them and/or have learned skills that will be useful if you get married and have children.

What you do leads very much to who you are, and if like Kirstin, you plan and strive and sacrifice to become, say, a zookeeper, that is a real formation of character. I love Gerald Durrell's books although I could never be so brave as to hang out with elephants and lions, so through one eensy comment Kirstin has become a heroine of mine. I feel like grabbing the few British bachelors I know and saying, "How about a ZOOKEEPER!? Wouldn't you like to meet a ZOOKEEPER?"

I am so impressed that there is a zookeeper among my readers. This is not to neglect the doctors and poets and teachers and churchwomen and moms, but come on. ELEPHANTS!

B.A. found a British copy of The Rules & The Rules II together in one volume for 33 pence, and so I am rereading them. Fein & Schneider are marketing geniuses, for there is enough padding in that book to stuff a chair. But as I have said for six years now, they have a lot of solid advice, beginning with "Be a Creature Unlike Any Other."

I have been married for three of those six, and now that I am not searching myself, I am a lot more sharp-witted about other Searching Singles, especially Searching Single men. Searching Single men say stuff to me they would probably not say if I were still Single myself. And I find them interesting for whole new reasons, like a retired hunter who has become a biologist.

The kinds of guys who get chased by crowds of girls strike me as particularly interesting. Why they are being chased does not interest me as much as how they are ever going find Miss Right in a sea of clamouring Miss Wrongs. Will they bother, or will they just float on a sea of flattery until they are forty and panic about having kids?

"I concede that they find me interesting," said one such guy of the girls throwing themselves at him, "but what makes them think that I would find them interesting?"

I think he'd find a zookeeper pretty darn interesting. I hope so, or I will totally lose my faith in Young Men Today.

Admittedly, though, with men it's not primarily what you do but what you look like, so it is always a good idea to look your best in public. That way the sort of men who think your sort of looks are attractive will be attracted long enough to find out what you do. So make sure you do something.

Once you have revealed what it is you do, whether feeding lions or teaching children or studying the thought of Bernard Lonergan, SJ, make sure you don't bore your hearers about it. If your interlocutor seems genuinely interested in what you do, think of what aspect of it you think your listener will find most interesting. And then ask your listener about himself. When you can do so politely, wind up the conversation to talk to somebody else. Always leave 'em wanting more.

This reminds me that poor John Wayne has been the Swashbuckling Protector for weeks now, and I must find another one. Hmm...

15 comments:

Eowyn said...

Perhaps a tad unusual, but I vote the next Swashbuckler Protector be Motel the Tailor from Fiddler on the Roof!

Eowyn said...

...as portrayed by Leonard Frey.

Maria said...

I find that guy's comment pretty interesting. Whenever I'm tempted to fall into the "God, why don't men want me?" mood, He reminds me that a couple of men (not crowds, but still) have indeed expressed an interest in the past - I just didn't care for them at all. Then I say, "OK, then why don't INTERESTING men want me???" But of course that's pretty unfair to those poor men of the first kind. Someone will be bound to find them interesting, even if I didn't. So why do I find this guy's attitude so irritating since I have already felt the same way myself?

Kristin said...

Thank you, that's so nice! For my part, I'm always impressed by other people's goals/dreams/work/etc. I love hearing about what other people are doing because it's usually so different from what I do, and it's so interesting getting a look down a path I haven't taken. Loved reading the comments yesterday as well!

And if there actually is a surplus of British bachelors who would like to meet a NCG zookeeper, feel free to send some over here. I wish I was kidding, but alas... only half kidding. Haha!

Casey said...

Could I put in my vote for Matt Smith's The Doctor from Doctor Who as a future Swashbuckling Protector? The inter-galactic, inter-temporal swashbuckling he does with a mere sonic screwdriver is quite impressive. :)

Sylvia said...

Is it better to get a professional, but cheap, haircut or to try to learn to trim it yourself? I have straight hair, which looks better layered, and which I am trying to grow out--and not a lot of money right now.

grace said...

So happy to see President Bartlett as today's protector.

Maria said...

My hair is curly and I'm trimmed it myself for years. I only just got it cut professionally (and cheaply) again about a month ago. It's a bit shorter than I wanted, but it looks much better than it has in a while I think. Straight hair may be easier to diy, though.

n.panchancha said...

Baha! Alas, The West Wing ruined me for real politics. And "Vote Bartlett" stickers would probably not be considered ESPECIALLY reality-rooted, hmm?

(All this from a Canadian, of course.)

Seraphic said...

Actually, I was thinking of President SHEEN. Yeah, he'd be a Democrat, but some of you girls must be Democrats and I'm Canadian, so I couldn't vote anyway and technically it's none of my business. But I still think it would have been cool if, at age 60 or so, Martin Sheen thought, "You know, I SHOULD run for office!"

Alephine said...

Have you had Toshiro Mifune as Swashbuckler Protector yet?

n.panchancha said...

Ah! Well, the fact that he played the US president on TV for seven years might mean Americans have already imprinted on his leaderly visage, and would find themselves trusting him implicitly. And Aaron Sorkin could write all of his speeches. I have no idea what direction his policies would take, but they would sound fantastic. (This is starting to sound a little scary, admittedly.)

Also... there is probably no hitherto un-turned dirt his detractors could dig up on his immediate family. Advantage: Sheen.

Maggie said...

Other than being pro-abortion, Bartlet was indeed my favorite president! For swashbuckling protector, however, I cast my vote for David Tennant's Tenth Doctor. Swoon!

kozz said...

Toshiro Mifune!! Oo la la!

Anonymous said...

Eduardo Verastegui? He might even be single, still. (Though I can't imagine why...)