This is just a general musings blog. I was babbling to Matt on the way back from the gym and I could tell his eyes were glossy and his mind had slipped back into a world where his cell phone provider acknowledged the crime against humanity regarding his contract and the fancy phone of his dreams so unfairly denied to him by recent twists of fate... and I decided to tell the internet about it instead. Check twitter or ask Matt if you want an update on the cell saga.
I’ve been watching the ladies at the gym and I’m concerned for us, my fairer gender compatriots. The girls and I are there to work out right? Some of us to burn a few calories and work the muscles that exist for survival, that don’t get used while shaking separatory funnels and writing papers on laptops, and other women are clearly there to engage in sport they take very seriously (go wrestling team, you ladies are looking lean and mean!). So... why so much time in front of the mirror on the way out of our change room? You look fantastic! You’re fit, you’re clean, you brushed your hair and put on a bit of make-up, you remembered pants... why primp?
Lots of these women must be on their way to class, and I guess times have changed. Didn’t we used to roll out of bed and stumble to our undergraduate classes in our pyjamas? That might have just been my friends and I. Living on campus makes you pretty lazy. They can’t all be business students or engineers with interviews. Curling irons and massive collections of cosmetics at 8 am, just to sit in lecture all day? I’m feeling exhausted just thinking about it.
Granted, I might show up on “What Not To Wear” someday, because apparently I’m too old to shop in the boys section at Walmart. But my friends support my silly t-shirts and comfy jeans and I’m probably just going to spill solvent on myself anyways. Hypocritically, I also occasionally fritter away useful minutes in front of the mirror, and get down about my chubby bum and lack of cute purses. But I want all the ladies to high five each other and relax. We look great. We need to be less judgmental and more supportive of our community of empowered, successful women.
Just to let my friends know, you are all gorgeous, beautiful ladies and I’m very proud of all that you’ve accomplished. The big things, like school and the careers and the houses, and the little things, like the recipes that were attempted and the books we’ve traded. Also, not to leave the guys out, I’m proud of you too. For growing up and maintaining your sense of self and adventure. Now I’m off to build a dinosaur out of lab boxes with Matt, Carmen, and our visiting scientist from Germany.
*UPDATE* The T. rex construction has failed. It turns out that the tip boxes Carmen goes through in boat loads are made of polypropylene. Interesting fact, that plastic is resistant to most solvents (we tried chloroform, dichloromethane, toluene, ether...). So we couldn’t easily melt the boxes together to build our giant dino. Also, you can melt them with a Bunsen burner, but it gets messy and I think the fumes have taken a few hours off of Matt’s total life span. We went for sushi instead. NOM!!
We also had time to see Lovestorming, a Spanish movie directed by Borja Cobeaga. It’s great, a fun, little romp with a wacky comedian trying to help a dejected friend get his girlfriend back. Canadians will appreciate the premise of the film, where a New Years Eve storm grounds all the flights at an airport and the characters are all stuck together in a hotel for the night. This includes Sergio, our adorable and timid hero, and his ex-girlfriend Bea. Sergio runs into an eclectic bunch of guys determined to rescue his relationship with Bea, by throwing a party (and distracting her new man, who’s suddenly no longer gay, Ernesto). Juan Carlitros is the awkward and hilarious funny man who bungles most of the evening, and predictably, saves the day with his earnest and heartfelt charm. You’ve heard this story before, but Lovestorming is a wonderful way to spend an evening with friends. Stick around for the jokes during the credits. Awesome.
It's still early in the school year. People new to school (and presumably not in their 3rd-plus year at University) are the ones that still get dressed up.
ReplyDeleteWhile not entirely scientific, we actually sort of observed this in our lab at University. Soon those precious few minutes of sleep will be worth more than the time in the mirror!
Yup. I recall us noting that you could tell the grad students from the first years because the grad students all shuffled around in sweat pants with their hair down, a mug of coffee gripped in one hand, while the first years were all dolled up. Heck, even the guys to a certain extent.
ReplyDeleteI think it's silly too, Roz.