02-12-2004 - 10:21 p.m.
Today at work the question was posed:
What is the most romantic thing anyone has ever done for you?
And I sat there totally dumbfounded by the question. Romantic? Well, what exactly is your definition of romantic? Thinking back now, I suppose the white rose sprayed with his cologne (which just so happened to be my all time favorite men's cologne EVER, Calvin Klein Eternity for Men) was romantic but at the same time borderline creepy since we were technically "friends with benefits" by my clearly stated rules. (If I don't ever want to actually date you, I'll tell you to your face.) But anyways, this little workplace gossip session on romance made me realize that in my 22 years I've totally missed out.
I do however, believe I harvested a deeper appreciation for romantic gestures today. I think before I kind of measured romance (obviously not romance that I've personally experienced) on the grandness and magnitude of the gesture. For example, my friend being proposed to by an airplane flying by hauling a banner that read "Will you marry me?" was "romantic" because the guy had gone to all the trouble (in terms of both time and money) to contract a plane and perfectly time their arrival at the beach, etc. But after my little eye opening conversation today I realize that if he had simply taken a stick and drawn a heart and those same words in the sand, it would have been equally romantic.
All this hit me when a male coworker sheepishly admitted a romantic gesture he'd performed for his girlfriend. He told us that he'd been so embarrassed when he was actually doing it, was equally embarrassed when she loved it and cried, and then was even more embarrassed sitting there this morning telling us about it. It wasn't the biggest deal in the world- it only involved some Hershey Kisses and a dozen roses- but that wasn't what made it so romantic. The most romantic part of the whole thing was that he sacrificed feeling embarrassed and uncomfortable just to make his girlfriend feel good. He put his own feelings aside for hers. And that, my friends, is romance. It's not the size of the bling, the name brand of the chocolates, or the number of roses... it's the selflessness that really matters.
At least now to me.
***
Belly dancing class is amazingly fun. The weird part is that there's way too many middle aged women trying to learn a few tricks to spice up their sex life. The other sucky aspect is that you have to wear a tank top and roll it up so that the instructor can see your upper body movements. So it's like Heyyyyyyy! Big fat pale stomache! And we're in a dance studio so there are mirrors everywhere to reflect you! Fortunately I was standing next to a really fat black lady so at least for the first class I looked like a super model.
The actual art is really beautiful and watching the instructor makes me hope that I can learn to move my body like that someday. (I was so psyched when she told me I have "good muscle control" while doing chest circles, dork that I am.) There's just something about dancing that makes me feel good. Not club dancing, but dance-class-in-the-studio dancing. At the risk of a barrage of Savion Glover jokes, I must say that I truly miss my tap dancing days.
As for The Apprentice, not only is Heidi the ugliest woman I've ever seen but she's also so classless and trashy. I just envision her in national advertisements for the Trailer Park Association of America. Omarosa was so on the mark with her commentary on Heidi tonight. Although Omarosa is a bitch, Jessi really did need to go for being so stupid, naive, and clueless. Omarosa, Heidi, and Tammy all need the boot immediately. Once again though, my boy Troy totally stepped it up for his team. He's my pick. Damn, I mean anyone that can find a way to break through to such a diversity of characters as Russell Simmons and The Fab Five is just amazing to me.
Time to relax and enjoy 4 whole days of not having to work! I have the best work schedule in the world. Now if only I had plans to fill up the 180 days a year that I don't have to work!
