:: Closing Time ::

:: Monday, September 30, 2002 ::

Guy radar fucking rules.

No, really, it does. It's single handedly (if you use it right) the most useful and entertaining thing out there. If you know how to read it.

Reference Alex's blog if you need some kind of clarification as to what it is, or if you just want to know what brought this up. After I complained about there being no worthwhile blogs, he did a nice job in posting an amusing and accurate piece of commentary. I liked it.

But about guy radar. First off, let's clarify something - I am writing this from my laptop from the wireless access in the library. I am not in the library because I have work I want to get done, but rather because I want to be in a fraternity and we have study hours which I have to attend. I actually do get the work I need to get done here done - but I don't have 2 hours of work that I'm going to do now. So I'm blogging, in part because Natalie is not answering her AIM.

Look at that closer though - I'm with all guys. Guy radar absolutely goes bipolar in groups of guys. To some extent, we stop paying attention at all - nobody givers a shit who didn't shower after going to the gym, or who's hair is messed up, or whether the beer belly burp you're about to let off is distasteful. You just fucking do it. On another level though, it's like a fucking Borg hive mind. I'm sitting with seven guys around a table, and if a good looking blonde walks by it's like a damn shared sense in that everybody is thinking GENERALLY the same thing, but more importantly we can communicate the details of our discrepancies in pings and gaps.... in utter silence. It's like male morse code.

Guy radar fucking rules.

So Alex said WPI is amplifying his guy radar because primarily of the scarcity in single, worthwhile girls. Similarly, my guy radar has gone virtually silent - a problem which can be costly. Because guy radar really DOES pick up a whole lot, especially when girls are playing the game.

I'm going to say this now, because this may be one of the only chances I get to openly state this and be clear about the fact that I'm not making a joke, I'm not making a bad stereotype, and I'm not trying to be an ass.

Ladies - we KNOW most of you aren't playing head games. We know most of you are being honest, trying to be real, nice people. We know most of you aren't only interested in what you can't have, and most of you aren't going to use us. We know most of you truly honestly do not mean to affront anyone, and damn near none of you actually think you are on a higher level than any other person. THAT SAID, it's very fucking hard to tell who's who. When we've known you for a while it becomes obvious and clear - but I can personally think of one person about whom my opinion has changed regarding the game in the past six months, because I've gotten to know her a good bit better. I thought she was playing it - now I'm not sure, but I think I was wrong. Getting trapped is the biggest mistake you can make though, and it feels like we get trapped so often that eventually you just get semi paranoid. Thus the stereotypes, thus the guy radar.

Ok. Back to me though, since this is my blog. My campus is not too pretty - I live in a city. I have very little grass, virtually no nice trees. I don't have any hills to sit on, or any flowers to smell of note. What I do have though is some very, very nice scenery. Because I have a fucking -hot- class. Just on my floor alone, I would say that more than half of the girls I live around are extremely attractive. I get the feeling this is the case for a lot of the guys too, but not quite so much. As I've said before - I can't tell, I'm straight. I'm tempted to ask Greg and Ryan though (gay guys who live down the hall), because I'm sure they'd let me know. So whatever - the point is, EVERY girl basically is on the radar. The damn radar would be flooded if I just listened to it like regularly, so it quiets down. When an outrageously gorgeous female becomes a fucking regular occurance, the ping isn't quite so noticable. Point in case: I found out two nights ago that Robin, this ridiculously cute girl from two floors up who showed up at our room with a couple of our friends to hang out, is in my italian class. I hadn't noticed. This absolutely wouldn't have occurred back home, or in any normal situation. She would have definately had my attention, and I woulda been like Hey! when she showed up at my room. Yet I had no idea who she was - she had to recognize me. In Thurston though, emotions and hormones run wild among tightly thrust in overly attractive teenagers, and shit happens. Consequently, what used to show up on the radar is no big deal anymore.

I don't like not having my radar. I used it, and I think I used it pretty well once I got good at it.

The difference I noticed though is that when I went up to Columbia for Debate, I met a whole random new group of people - and the radar was back, because there were fewer girls there. It was mostly guys, and suddenly I felt everything again. Ping, ping, ping. The radar comes back in weird situations too - I was at a party with my fraternity on friday and as I kept getting introduced to the people my brothers were bringing the pings were there again. They were there all night, and they served me well.

In regular Thurston life though, the radar falls silent.

It's weird.

So guys - how's YOUR radar reacting to college?
:: Peter 9:21 PM [+] ::
...