Girls like me are annoying

Being my inaugural post--and since my daily mode is to assume that I'm misunderstood--I feel the need to clarify:

1. I'm not a girl.
   
2. I don't find it annoying if & when girls like me. (OK, if & occasional when.)

Oh, and also:

3. I like myself, generally.

Now my self-introduction:   I'm a science researcher on the verge of leaving the nest of academia. I live in Japan, for the moment, and recently I survived a trial by fire: a big break-up. I'm molting, perhaps. I'm relearning a lot about me, all the while trying to be aware of where I'm heading. I'm 32 and finally starting to mature a bit.

  For reference, Japan is a good place to
  grow mature.  One could call it "Playground 
  for your id."  I also choose to call it 
  "solitary confinement."  
  (Which, strangely, was good for me.)

Anyway, let's get to the sexist girl bashing.

You know how being similar to someone is supposed to be a good thing? Not necessarily. I've been trying to like a particular girl for quite a while. She speaks great English (like me!), she has #3 above down pat (fantastic!), she is in touch with many of her faults (yay maturity!). But God she's got some bad points that I wish I could say to her face:

Always late. OK, you told me that you'll be late, but you waited until the originally agreed time to say it. "Sorry, I'm still 30 minutes away!" And the one time I tried to compensate for that, by being late myself, you were on time.   :|   Fantastic.

Boy clothes. OK, freedom of choice. Self-expression. I get it. But there are boy jeans and there are girl jeans. There are boy t-shirts and there are girl t-shirts. One kind gives a man a signal, one kind screams *Platonic!* Girls as young as 10 understand this. Maybe you're self-conscious, or maybe you actually were born with an unflattering body shape and face that from certain angles looks like it was smashed with a flat metal surface--that's not the point. I'm trying to say that I'd appreciate the effort, regardless.

Breath check! What the hell did you have for lunch--black mold? Raw skunk butt?

Let's be honest: it's a jungle out there, and mating rituals involve competition. There are differences between men and women, and romantic philosophical notions of equality usually don't work. Whether we actively realize it or not, the signs one gives to initiate and maintain a relationship are based on those inequalities.

...

Perhaps it's more accurate to say, "Girls like the old me are annoying."

For better or worse, I'm not as idealistic as I once was. Sure, I'm still respectful and polite--as proof I'm venting to a blog instead of to her face. But I see a "we're just friends" conversation looming in the future. Oh well.



(PS. If anyone knows of a full proof mental technique for remembering breath-checks, please post a comment.. )