so i guess i'm just wishing for some way to better grapple with this sinking feeling that, in this case, the deck is stacked against me [hello paranoia!], or [maybe this puts it better] that any specific explanation of my dating woes to this semi-anonymous group of interweb folks would [instead of eliciting a bunch of theorizing on how i might better pull] be better served by simply putting up a picture by way of reminder: "oh," you would say, and think to yourselves most likely, "well, good luck with that..."
[what are the genuinely ugly people, the people whose faces look like mistakes, supposed to do then, folks?]
[[response predictions, in no particular order: "waaah waaah some people are more attractive than others cry me a river and DEAL with it", "you need to learn to act like [a drag queen]/[a stockbroker]/[a sex and the city character]/[a sociopath]", "[vague expression of sympathy from comfortably long-term partnered member of ILX"], and so on]
[oh wait i forgot one "you have to like yourself before anyone will like you" yeah fine what if i like myself in every way BUT? where is this positive feedback supposed to come from when time and time again promising things suddenly evaporate for no reason, but which seem to revolve around "your body isn't one that i want"?]
[maybe my breath stinks? now that would be a hilarious, slit-your-wrists bit of irony, if all these failures, all these months and years of sadness, could have been avoided if someone had just had the courage to say, "i like you, but we need to get you to a dentist before things can go any further." you never get a second chance to make a first impression, though, and so it's easier for anyone in that situation just to say: NEXT!]
― logged-out animal, Sunday, 24 October 2004 14:26 (twenty-one years ago)
― RJG (RJG), Sunday, 24 October 2004 14:32 (twenty-one years ago)
It doesn't really seem like you're asking for advice. You're just cross and have thought yourself into a corner. So yeah, deal with it, ha ha.
Seriously - you can't really expect anything better then the responses you've already predicted.
Good luck. One day all this will look stupid.
― Alba (Alba), Sunday, 24 October 2004 14:33 (twenty-one years ago)
― roxymuzak (roxymuzak), Sunday, 24 October 2004 14:33 (twenty-one years ago)
― Ronan (Ronan), Sunday, 24 October 2004 14:34 (twenty-one years ago)
Multiple X-post what Alba's said is pretty much bang on.
― Matt (Matt), Sunday, 24 October 2004 14:35 (twenty-one years ago)
― roxymuzak (roxymuzak), Sunday, 24 October 2004 14:35 (twenty-one years ago)
― Matt (Matt), Sunday, 24 October 2004 14:36 (twenty-one years ago)
― paranoia is the hipster's disease (Jody Beth Rosen), Sunday, 24 October 2004 14:38 (twenty-one years ago)
― RJG (RJG), Sunday, 24 October 2004 14:39 (twenty-one years ago)
― roxymuzak (roxymuzak), Sunday, 24 October 2004 14:39 (twenty-one years ago)
― RJG (RJG), Sunday, 24 October 2004 14:40 (twenty-one years ago)
― Ned Raggett (Ned), Sunday, 24 October 2004 14:41 (twenty-one years ago)
― roxymuzak (roxymuzak), Sunday, 24 October 2004 14:41 (twenty-one years ago)
― RJG (RJG), Sunday, 24 October 2004 14:42 (twenty-one years ago)
― paranoia is the hipster's disease (Jody Beth Rosen), Sunday, 24 October 2004 14:42 (twenty-one years ago)
― Kevin Gilchrist (Mr Fusion), Sunday, 24 October 2004 14:43 (twenty-one years ago)
― RJG (RJG), Sunday, 24 October 2004 14:43 (twenty-one years ago)
― jaymc (jaymc), Sunday, 24 October 2004 14:43 (twenty-one years ago)
― JimD (JimD), Sunday, 24 October 2004 14:43 (twenty-one years ago)
don't go to work out, mind (although that might help too, god knows), but rather to observe at all the absolutely stacked gym monkeys as they make love to themselves in the mirror while they push their 12 inch arms to 13. now try and notice how these dudes (almost as a general rule, its uncanny) have fixated on themselves to the point where they've excluded everyone else in the room. instead of being people in the world, its mostly just loving laser beams to the mirror: "me and me and me and ME." now imagine that there are women in the world who, despite the fact that dudes are stacked, might even consider that a bit of a turnoff. then consider the possibility that you, in your own way, are doing this too, and wrongly assuming as a result that its your "average appearance" that's keeping you from the people you want to be meeting as opposed to the more likely possibility that you are too wrapped up in your own neurosis and self-image to notice anybody else in a real and meaningful way.
(xxxxxxxxxxxxxxposts)
― mark p (Mark P), Sunday, 24 October 2004 14:44 (twenty-one years ago)
I've got a bit confused there. It's not my brain that makes other people find me attracitve, it's theirs.
― JimD (JimD), Sunday, 24 October 2004 14:44 (twenty-one years ago)
― Ronan (Ronan), Sunday, 24 October 2004 14:45 (twenty-one years ago)
― JimD (JimD), Sunday, 24 October 2004 14:45 (twenty-one years ago)
xpost and off we go into meaningless meta-land [not that i don't deserve it]
― logged-out animal, Sunday, 24 October 2004 14:46 (twenty-one years ago)
― Ronan (Ronan), Sunday, 24 October 2004 14:46 (twenty-one years ago)
― Ronan (Ronan), Sunday, 24 October 2004 14:47 (twenty-one years ago)
― roxymuzak (roxymuzak), Sunday, 24 October 2004 14:48 (twenty-one years ago)
― Matt (Matt), Sunday, 24 October 2004 14:49 (twenty-one years ago)
― mark p (Mark P), Sunday, 24 October 2004 14:49 (twenty-one years ago)
― Ronan (Ronan), Sunday, 24 October 2004 14:49 (twenty-one years ago)
― Ronan (Ronan), Sunday, 24 October 2004 14:50 (twenty-one years ago)
― RJG (RJG), Sunday, 24 October 2004 14:51 (twenty-one years ago)
Oh, I'm sorry. I mean, don't get me wrong, I'm not saying you're not ugly. I just mean that it's not because of what you look like.
― JimD (JimD), Sunday, 24 October 2004 14:52 (twenty-one years ago)
― Ronan (Ronan), Sunday, 24 October 2004 14:52 (twenty-one years ago)
― jel -- (jel), Sunday, 24 October 2004 14:53 (twenty-one years ago)
mark p i understand exactly why you posted that and i appreciate that it's a valid response but in a way it's just what's so frustrating to hear because it puts the argument back into the same place it always is (plus i guess i don't mean "average appearance", i mean specifically being to most people unattractive)
ronan in a way is getting at what i'm talking about. depressing but honest.
(jaymc i assume you factor in the possibility that people mess with their styles when posting anon [or maybe they don't haha])
― logged-out animal, Sunday, 24 October 2004 14:53 (twenty-one years ago)
― Ronan (Ronan), Sunday, 24 October 2004 14:55 (twenty-one years ago)
― logged-out animal, Sunday, 24 October 2004 14:56 (twenty-one years ago)
― Ronan (Ronan), Sunday, 24 October 2004 14:57 (twenty-one years ago)
i am now wondering if you're a sadist! i admit there is something comforting about depression.
― mark p (Mark P), Sunday, 24 October 2004 14:58 (twenty-one years ago)
xpost: but ronan what if we've [i've] been working for years? what if the problem is definitely not lack of effort (tho it could cert. be misplaced effort)?
[also: i think people underestimate the extent to which their own attractions are tied to social context and social status indicators, i.e. fear of humiliation for one]
― logged-out animal, Sunday, 24 October 2004 15:00 (twenty-one years ago)
It kinda sounds like you don't want anyone to even try to help.
― roxymuzak (roxymuzak), Sunday, 24 October 2004 15:01 (twenty-one years ago)
and of course you could always try going to the gym in order to work out. it'll get the endorphins going, even if it does nothing else.
― toby (tsg20), Sunday, 24 October 2004 15:05 (twenty-one years ago)
depression isn't comforting so much as it is a way of dealing with the pain and anger of repeated disappointment. and to keep it from turning into abject hatred: i'm trying to not become one of those people who drives home each day screaming "fuck you!" at the world with their windows rolled up.
xpost roxy how about this: what advice would you give to the ugliest person you know? would you tiptoe around their looks or would you start with an open acknowledgement and work from there? i mean jesus we can only do so much eye of the beholder stuff before we come up with someone who everyone can pretty much agree, yeppers, their face makes us wince.
― logged-out animal, Sunday, 24 October 2004 15:06 (twenty-one years ago)
maybe i'm being stupid but i can't actually think of *anyone* with a face like this.
― toby (tsg20), Sunday, 24 October 2004 15:09 (twenty-one years ago)
― Matt (Matt), Sunday, 24 October 2004 15:10 (twenty-one years ago)
― RJG (RJG), Sunday, 24 October 2004 15:12 (twenty-one years ago)
(x-post)
― Jordan (Jordan), Monday, 25 October 2004 11:47 (twenty-one years ago)
― Tuomas (Tuomas), Monday, 25 October 2004 11:48 (twenty-one years ago)
...would do just as well...
― Kissing Time At The Pleasure Unit (kate), Monday, 25 October 2004 11:55 (twenty-one years ago)
I like this game.
― Alba (Alba), Monday, 25 October 2004 11:58 (twenty-one years ago)
― Marcello Carlin, Monday, 25 October 2004 11:59 (twenty-one years ago)
And Miranda is one of them! I wish I was a popstar so she could lie on my bedroom floor with me. Erm...if the floor wasn't covered in junk.
― JimD (JimD), Monday, 25 October 2004 12:02 (twenty-one years ago)
― Kissing Time At The Pleasure Unit (kate), Monday, 25 October 2004 12:03 (twenty-one years ago)
― JimD (JimD), Monday, 25 October 2004 12:04 (twenty-one years ago)
― ken c (ken c), Monday, 25 October 2004 12:05 (twenty-one years ago)
― Freelance Hiveminder (blueski), Monday, 25 October 2004 12:06 (twenty-one years ago)
― Marcello Carlin, Monday, 25 October 2004 12:07 (twenty-one years ago)
― ken c (ken c), Monday, 25 October 2004 12:08 (twenty-one years ago)
― Kissing Time At The Pleasure Unit (kate), Monday, 25 October 2004 12:08 (twenty-one years ago)
― Kissing Time At The Pleasure Unit (kate), Monday, 25 October 2004 12:09 (twenty-one years ago)
― ken c (ken c), Monday, 25 October 2004 12:09 (twenty-one years ago)
― Kissing Time At The Pleasure Unit (kate), Monday, 25 October 2004 12:10 (twenty-one years ago)
Argh, you're making me feel all masculine and protective! I'll fight you!!
(Have to admit that yeah, the observer column is horrible, and put me off her quite a bit. And it's not the best picture of her on there. But I can't let go, I've loved her ever since she was at smash hits).
― JimD (JimD), Monday, 25 October 2004 12:10 (twenty-one years ago)
― Alba (Alba), Monday, 25 October 2004 12:10 (twenty-one years ago)
― Freelance Hiveminder (blueski), Monday, 25 October 2004 12:11 (twenty-one years ago)
― Marcello Carlin, Monday, 25 October 2004 12:11 (twenty-one years ago)
― Alba (Alba), Monday, 25 October 2004 12:13 (twenty-one years ago)
― Marcello Carlin, Monday, 25 October 2004 12:15 (twenty-one years ago)
the advice is still useful. but just date someone blind.
seriously like, you probably won't be as successful as someone who is not ugly, but you still go about it the same way. Acting all self-pitiful sure doens't help. Unless.. wait!1
actually go to indie clubs. act all self-pitiful about how ugly you are - you'd pull in a second.
― ken c (ken c), Monday, 25 October 2004 12:16 (twenty-one years ago)
― m. (mitchlnw), Monday, 25 October 2004 12:16 (twenty-one years ago)
― battlin' green eyeshades (Homosexual II), Monday, 25 October 2004 12:17 (twenty-one years ago)
I mean, yeah, sure, sometimes you can feel a bit "But you don't know what it's LIKE...!" about it, but thing is, obviously they did something right at some point to get with their mate.
― Kissing Time At The Pleasure Unit (kate), Monday, 25 October 2004 12:19 (twenty-one years ago)
― Marcello Carlin, Monday, 25 October 2004 12:21 (twenty-one years ago)
ken c in "being a twat" shocker.
― caitlin (caitlin), Monday, 25 October 2004 12:36 (twenty-one years ago)
― ken c (ken c), Monday, 25 October 2004 12:44 (twenty-one years ago)
― ken c (ken c), Monday, 25 October 2004 12:45 (twenty-one years ago)
― Marcello Carlin, Monday, 25 October 2004 12:48 (twenty-one years ago)
xpost
― ken c (ken c), Monday, 25 October 2004 12:51 (twenty-one years ago)
― ken c (ken c), Monday, 25 October 2004 12:52 (twenty-one years ago)
also like caterine said there's often an instinctive dislike for a certain kind of ugly face, an immediate repulsion. it angers you, you think "fix that, i don't want to look at it." (this assumes you don't know the person.) many people react to it the same way they react to the smell of shit or decomposing trash. maybe we instinctively think "ugly" is "unhealthy". (sometimes that's true.)
am i attracted to "top ten percent people" exclusively? not at all. the other day i was sitting in a group of about two dozen people, all in their twenties, and i would say that of those who were the gender i fancy, physically i'd be open to all but one or two, and even they might sway me if the "magical thing" happened.
maybe what this thread or at least my question was about was coming to grips with being in that bottom 20, 25 percent (at least of people my age). i wish i could say "i am nobly indifferent to physical appearance" when it came to mate-finding but i'm not, and that self-hating question, "how can i expect what i can't give?" looms large.
(i am not marcello, and he's right to resent the accusation.)
for me the most helpful posters were: jimd, mitch, markelby, caterine vauban, tuomas.
for me the least helpful posters were: the ones who kept banging variations on "your life is like this b/c you're neurotic or think too much" or whatever.
the unanswered question is: when rejection happens over and over again, where is this positive reinforcement supposed to come from? and: how am i supposed to not start hating?
mitch i find it really surreal that you talk about feeling unattractive because i remember seeing a picture of you & thinking that you were particularly handsome. (hope that's not too creepy coming from someone anonymous.)
― logged-out animal, Thursday, 28 October 2004 14:42 (twenty-one years ago)
― Loose Translation: Sexy Dancer (sexyDancer), Thursday, 28 October 2004 15:05 (twenty-one years ago)
― ken c (ken c), Thursday, 28 October 2004 15:23 (twenty-one years ago)
― Dadaismus (Dada), Thursday, 28 October 2004 15:28 (twenty-one years ago)
― m. (mitchlnw), Thursday, 28 October 2004 15:46 (twenty-one years ago)
― Markelby (Mark C), Thursday, 28 October 2004 16:27 (twenty-one years ago)
― Freelance Hiveminder (blueski), Thursday, 28 October 2004 16:32 (twenty-one years ago)
Marcello, I'm not with you on the dockers thing. (Nor, I guess, are you.) The only female music journalist I've ever known in real life is Kitty Empire. And she's a normal, attractive woman.
(It's Alan, by the way. I forgot my old login and email address, so I re-registered. Hello!)
― Acme (acme), Friday, 29 October 2004 00:37 (twenty-one years ago)
substitute "regard yourself" for "be regarded"
mitch i find it really surreal that you talk about feeling unattractive because i remember seeing a picture of you & thinking that you were particularly handsome
and this teaches you nothing?
miranda seems to be the whistle only dogs can hear.
perhaps because the cats teach themselves to hear only the whistles they think the dogs hear
― gabbneb (gabbneb), Friday, 29 October 2004 01:23 (twenty-one years ago)
im still trying to work this one out in my head
― phil-two (phil-two), Friday, 29 October 2004 02:30 (twenty-one years ago)
― Allyzay Science Explosion (allyzay), Friday, 29 October 2004 03:33 (twenty-one years ago)
― amateur!!st, Friday, 29 October 2004 03:59 (twenty-one years ago)
― B.A.R.M.S. (Barima), Friday, 29 October 2004 10:10 (twenty-one years ago)