Summerfest, Photographic Evidence and Stuff

Thus far I have been updating just on Sundays, but I decided to shake things up a little so that neither of my fans gets too complacent.

A week ago began the three day long event known as Summerfest, when the LDS Tabernacle lawn is occupied by scores of booths of people hawking their products, mostly of the artistic variety, along with lots of food and live music. I look around but never buy anything because it isn't cheap. I think most of them are targeted toward moderately wealthy people who can afford to blow a wad on attractive but useless things. Anyway, it occurred to me as I was looking through this time that while many of the booths were quite impressive on their own merits, very few of them particularly stood out when they were all crowded together like this. And this makes any artist's task more difficult. It isn't just about your own talents, but about whether you can out-compete other talented people.

I realized that the principle extends to people in general. Everyone is unique and special, but taken together as a population, very few people are particularly memorable except to their own families and friends. There's a very limited capacity for fame and/or fortune, and one person's share of them will always come at the expense of others'. That's just how it is. I also realized that this could apply to Marie's scores of suitors. Each is a unique and special person who tries to woo her by buying her dinner, flowers, jewelry, and whatever. But she just yawns and says, "You bore me. Off with your head." (paraphrase)

Actually, I did get an inside glimpse of her rejection process, as one of her suitors texted her while we were Skyping. It was fascinating from a sociological perspective. She alternated between expressing anxiety and regret over the necessity of crushing his heart, and reveling in it. After the initial exchange he asked if there was any particular reason so that he could improve himself. I was stunned. The poor guy probably doesn't even realize that daring to ask such a thing makes him a horrible person because it means he feels entitled and think she's obligated to like him etc. etc. (sarcasm) But really, wouldn't it be nice if people could ask that question without being demonized? Maybe some people just have one little thing that keeps screwing them over, and it would be simple enough to fix except that they're totally oblivious to it because no one has ever told them because it isn't socially acceptable for them to ask. (Marie herself wasn't complaining about that, though, so I'm mocking society, not her.)

She told him there was just no chemistry. He said, "I'm just a guy, and not that bright. I thought there was some chemistry. How am I supposed to know?" Her initial thought was "Because I just told you", but she asked me to come up with a better answer. I had trouble with that because the only honest answer I could think of was "You can't. Sorry." But I found a way to massage the words and make it more palatable. This was urgent, apparently, because he was making a bet with his friend that he wouldn't use his phone for a week, and it started at midnight. With an evil smile she said she should wait until after midnight to respond, so that he would be compelled to look at it and lose the bet. But she wasn't quite cruel enough to go through with that. I was happy to see that deep down inside, beneath her callous maneating exterior, she actually did have compassion and concern for someone else's feelings. At least, I thought so until she smiled again and said, "I'll see him in church on Sunday. Should I look at him and smile? Guys hate that. They always get so red and turn away. Heh heh." I shuddered at this display of pure unmitigated evil.

I realized that there's a way to verify whether or not Marie is a figment of my twisted imagination. If no one else but me can see the following pictures, then... that's not good.

First: here she is being rude to me. These aren't the worst examples, of course, but just the most recent ones, as I didn't have the time or patience to search back through all our conversations.

I tolerate this treatment because I presume it has something to do with her being a French speaker. But while I don't protest, I still point it out sometimes. 

For my birthday a couple days ago, she briefly let down her facade and acted nice. Note how she transitions flawlessly between two languages.

That warmed my heart, to finally have confirmation that she didn't just see me as a pest. But by the next day, she was already back to her usual self.

Before I forget, I need to mention something that I kept forgetting to mention. A few weeks ago I read an article about how a bunch of women were protesting for the right to go topless. They cited a precedent in the 1930s where men protested for the right to go topless, and within a year it went from an arrestable offense to no big deal. And you know what? I think it actually makes sense that either everyone or no one should be allowed to go topless, largely because women's breasts have been unfairly sexualized by Western culture. (They're designed to feed babies, for crying out loud.) However, I actually lean more in the "no one" direction. I don't particularly want to see bare chested people of either sex in public. But no one asks me what I want.

In any case, though, I agree with the people who said that this is a petty and cowardly battle to choose while so many far worse injustices are carried out against women throughout the world - such as gendercide, sex trafficking, female genital mutilation, and even just the general objectification and unrealistic standards of beauty that somehow persist even though everyone and their dog claims to oppose them. In other words, some people need to get their freaking priorities straight.

Last night and today I commented a few times on a Facebook thread started by an anti-vaxxer. After two serious and blunt comments I made a 100% sarcastic one which she was apparently stupid enough to like. I wasn't surprised. For anyone who is unaware, let me recap: I have zero respect for these people who endanger other people's lives with their stupidity. Sorry not sorry.

This song was in my head today at work so here it is, but without the actual video because that's inappropriate. ​Most of the lyrics are nonsensical (at least to me) but since childhood I have loved this refrain: "What in the world can make a brown-eyed girl turn blue, when everything I'll ever do I'll do for you." Maybe I've interpreted it completely wrong, but it always seemed to be asking, "Why would you ever feel bad about yourself or want to change, when I love you just the way you are?" (And in the bargain it has a double meaning of "blue", either meaning that she's just sad or that she wants to change her eye color.) Also, his promise to her is a far more realistic and sincere variation of "I'd do anything for you." Because - anything? Really?

Roxette - The Look