Thanks for the post, but the problem is, while I would give it a shot with any of these girls, I'm not after anything more than friendship. There is no fishing going on here - if I've learned anything, it's that it's better to keep it simple and not take the shot than to take a shot on an unknown, at least in a work environment. Again, let me be clear, I am NOT flirting with these girls/trying to show an interest. I was hugely interested in #1, but I got over it and refused to make a move or willingly let anything show, specifically because I didn't want to fuck up a relatively good work environment.
If you're not looking for anything other than a friendship, don't worry about a thing. Just keep going along as is. If you think you're interactions with them are fun, leave it at that. Flirting doesn't have to come with consequence.
My mistake. I guess I got the wrong impression from your post and lines like If friendship is all you care about, then ASL's got it right.
Alright, I'm stumped. I got this private message on FB this morning from an ex out of nowhere. Other than randomly bumping into her about a year and a half ago, I haven't spoken a word to her. I have no idea how to read this. I...um...what? Any input? Ladies, is this something you do? I may be reading into this way too much, but this just seems...strange. She seems to see-saw back and forth between "hey, how's it going?" and "I yearn through binoculars."
Girls don't just do that to their exes for no reason. My educated guess is that she wants you and/or your dick back.
She probably just got dumped or was the dumper. I had a "friend" that would call whenever her latest fling would end and was feeling lonely/horny. It always started off with a "Hey, how are you? Been a long time, etc" type message.
Along the same lines as what effinshenanigans said I got this text message from my most recent ex today. What in the fuck is that all about? Is she fishing for information about who I'm dating now or simply trying to make conversation after going months without speaking? This chick is batshit crazy anyway but what a weird thing to say to someone. The strangest thing is that I recently started dating a girl who was in a sorority but there's no way that she would have any way of knowing that.
There's been a lot of articles talking about Manhood recently with women finally getting closer to equality, nee, passing up men in the workplace and financial gain. <a class="postlink" href="http://www.cnn.com/2011/10/04/opinion/bennett-men-in-trouble/index.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.cnn.com/2011/10/04/opinion/b ... /index.htm</a> <a class="postlink" href="http://www.cnn.com/2011/11/03/opinion/bennett-men-ridiculed/index.html?hpt=op_t1" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.cnn.com/2011/11/03/opinion/b ... ?hpt=op_t1</a> What's the deal?
What a load of horseshit. Everyone bemoans the state of the modern male. "Where are all the good men? Why can't these man-children just man up?" High on caterwauling, low on data. If this was a real problem, I think we'd have more studies and less op-eds.
Oh here is the article titled "The End of Men" which has all the relevant data. <a class="postlink" href="http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2010/07/the-end-of-men/8135/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/arc ... -men/8135/</a>
Dear TiBettes: Today, I was shopping with my wife in Florida and we went to a store called "Coach" which has an interior that looks like the clean room of a burn ward on the inside that exclusively sells purses and wallets and their starting price usually averages around the price of an Xbox 360. Now, we saved up for this vacation for some time and my wife treated herself to an expensive purse (which she never has before) with her shopping money which she's fully entitled to do (I actually had to talk her into it) My question is: Why? Why does a handbag, something that literally does nothing except carry your few things have to cost as much as a small television? There are others like Prada that cost more than my life. IT'S A PURSE. I know you like them and you need them or you wouldn't be able to carry around your tiny, shakey bug-eyed useless ugly dogs but these things don't "last a lifetime" because most of you always get sick of them after a year and buy another one. You can get knockoffs that look exactly alike and cost one twentieth of the price, but you don't because "I KNOW it's a knockoff". And the new purse you buy will cost even more than the last one. So again... Why? I need this explained to me, and I need the explanation to contain actual logic.
Crown, you've asked a question that has no answer. You might as well have been a girl asking why a man who likes guns needs a Barrett .50 cal when they only shoot it at a 100 yard gun range. Because...that's why. Because sometimes desire outweighs sense.
Is Honorary ok? First off, I wouldn't actually buy a multi-hundred dollar purse, but here is some of the reasoning: A knockoff is absolutely not the same as the genuine article. A knockoff might similar but people can tell, and, more importantly, it will fall apart much more quickly. Sometimes this is alright, and a knockoff is just the thing, but sometimes you want something really well made. You keep a good purse for life. Even if it's not a daily purse, you'll likely get more wear out of it than anything particular article of clothing, so over time, the cost is defrayed. They look nice, and fit your needs. Sometimes it's nice to be able to carry something every day that you enjoy looking at and that people are going to give you compliments on. And sometimes it's nice to have a purse that fits your daily needs -- big enough for your netbook, pocket for your receipts, whatever your particular needs might be. Signalling/Status. Hard not to mention this one, and it's definitely the case sometimes. Buying an expensive purse is a way of telling other people (that would notice) that you are the kind of person who buys expensive purses. Some folks want that sometimes. Actually, now that I think about it, these are exactly the same arguments behind men's watches. So go ask a guy why he'll buy a $400 watch, and you'll have the answer to why a woman would by a $400 purse.
See also: veblen goods <a class="postlink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Veblen_good" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Veblen_good</a>
Out of all the fashion-related things to be obsessive about, I am the least obsessive about bags. But, unlike a $300 designer T-shirt that looks absolutely no different than a $10 one from H&M, I could more easily justify a higher cost and spending a lot of money on a bag than many other things. Leather and hardware are more expensive than fabric, usually. The bag really makes or breaks the outfit. And while I can, for the most part, fake a more expensive wardrobe in my clothing, a bag most easily looks cheap. The material and design are giveaways. It's the same with knockoffs, you're not fooling anyone (if it's a good knockoff but the rest of your outfit is cheap-looking, or if it's a good knockoff of a brand with the wrong fake label, or it's just a bad knockoff) and you embarrass yourself. I'd rather just get a cheap, non-brand-related bag, which I did. The bag I've had for over a year was $30 and it was from Canal Street. I like it a lot, but I know it looks cheap and makes me look juvenile. Going to an interview with it sucks, especially, because it just separates me from the adults and I don't get taken as seriously. I scored a free Tommy Hilfiger bag from a clothing swap a few years ago, and whenever I wore it I loved it, and it completely changed the presentation I made. But I took it on my trip to Costa Rica (which sounds ridiculous, but it was taller with a narrower opening, so less prone to pick pockets) and destroyed it so now I'm stuck with my cheap bag, and whenever I'm pretending to be an adult I just feel lame with it. I'll know I've made it when I buy my first, sophisticated, designer bag. All of the above can be applied to shoes and jewelry too. The living in New York and working in fashion/fashionable industries things should be reiterated in my point of view, though. But, all that being said, I do think the price bump just for the label is still ridiculous. It should be higher, but not by that fucking much.
The best part is if she's someone that was never into bags in the first place she'll probably stop using it in a couple months. My GF worked for Coach for a couple years and bought purses for herself, her friends and my mother because she had a huge discount. Most stopped using them rather quickly because they felt gaudy with them. My GF just uses a canvas purse from LL bean now.
If that's the case, then who are they trying to impress? Much like women's shoes, I have NEVER NOTICED THEM. Not once, not ever. That is what boggles my mind the most: unlike men, women try to impress their OWN gender instead of the opposite. I (like probably most of the dudes on here) consider what makes or breaks the outfit on a female is how good she looks in it. Others may think otherwise, but I hope not.
A lot of women dress for themselves, b. They want to look good, not so they're fuckable to some dude, but because they like showing off their own personal style. Maybe get some appreciation from like-minded people. It's not all about the menz, all the time.