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23 September, 2005 - 8:50 a.m.
sensitive mate recognition system

I learned something today. Several things, actually, while I was reading "why we do it". Ready? I knew you were.

Lions don't eat while mating, which the author links to their vicious crankiness during mating season. They apparently live off of stored energy, "to power the frenetic humping that tourists on safari are so fond of ogling and photographing." I had to type that out because I nearly spit out my coffee when I read that. And I read that in a classroom while I was giving an exam, waiting for them to turn in their papers. Also funny was "Animals face certain practical necessities that must be met if they are going to reproduce successfully. First off, they have to find a mate, and, as most humans will attest, this is by no means a cut-and-dried matter. How do they locate a mate, and how do they tell what kind of animal is even an appropriate potential mate? The answer varies, of course, with the nature of the beast."

So I was thinking about that. Because I laughed out loud (coffeeless) about the statement about the difficulty of finding a mate. I mean, just given that statement, I'd have to disagree. It's not difficult to find a sperm donor. Take the following sentences into consideration and, yes, it is a difficult matter. What is an appropriate potential mate? And genetically, I know it would be any human male, but the nature of the beast, this beast, anyway, is different from most of those beasts out there. Certain traits are grounds for automatic disqualification. Like, lack of education, no sense of humor, etc.

In the pages following that, the author discusses what differentiates species from one another so that organisms know who and what to mate with and says something along the lines of us having "mate recognition systems" which differentiate our species from others. So, we have spurred on evolution, I suppose, with feminism and intelligence and confidence. And now we won't mate with individuals who fail to meet the basic requirements (higher standards, of course) and therefore fail to activate our mate recognition systems. I think that the difficulty in recognizing appropriate mates is in the subtlty of our courtship dances. You can't put a neanderthol regular human next to an intelligent ideal and really tell the difference first off. You'd think the pronounced brow line would be a dead giveaway. Hah.

Oh. and I learned that barnacles have penises. Big ones. ::ahem:: "the males of some barnacle species are equipped with enormous penises, that, compared with over-all body size, would be the envy of any guy." This book is great.

Stay tuned for further updates. I have more of the 360 for you and probably some rants about news as well.

23 September, 2005 - 12:26 a.m.
let me gush for a minute.

Dear annanotbob, did I mention that I love you? Er. Your writing and your point of view. I wish you lived in America so that we could hang out. You are (admittedly) twice my age, but I feel like I know you (only from inside your head). We could talk about feminist literature and men and friendship and crafts and loss. And I think we'd talk for hours. And go to Pride, because I LOVE Pride. I just thought you should know. I adore you. Love, LiterateWit.

22 September, 2005 - 11:19 a.m.
the big 360, part two

adding on to that big questionnaire thing...

DO YOU...

(71) Have sex? Indeed!
(72) Eat your vegetables? Not as much as I have sex. You see, sex is free, while groceries are not.
(73) Read the newspaper? Online.
(74) Pray? Rarely.
(75) Go to church?: Holidays with family.

(76) Talk to strangers who IM you? Not really. Mostly I�m on IRC (I know� in THIS day and age) and I tend to just hang out with the same people I�ve known for ten years.
(77) Sleep with stuffed animals? Yes, a teddy bear. Because he listens when I need to talk and because he gives better hugs than anyone I know. He�ll never cheat on me or tell me I�m not his girlfriend or make crude jokes about me to his friends. And, when I�m with someone, I let him watch. He has that kind of privilege.
(78) Take walks in the rain? I�ve been known to. In a very John Cusack High Fidelity sort of way.
(79) Talk to people even though you hate them? Only when necessary.
(80) Drive? Yes. That�s a stupid question.

(81) Like to drive fast? Yeah. Hence the $104 ticket.
HAVE YOU EVER...
(82) Liked your voice? Yes. Still do.
(83) Hurt yourself? Yes. I starved myself down to 110 lbs in high school because I was depressed over a boy who cheated on me. And I became a closet alcoholic in college because my college sweetheart and I broke up. And I went psychotic for a while and drew on myself with razorblades. But I don�t do those things any more. I learned a lesson and grew from it.
(84) Been out of the country?: Yes.
(85) Eaten something that made other people sick? Probably. I like food. And some people have wierd food allergies.

(86) Had sex? ::looks at watch:: yes.
(87) Been unfaithful? No.
(88) Been in love? Yes.
(89) Been on a boat? Yes.
(90) Gone skinny dipping? Yes. With Brandon and Heather at my graduation party. I think that was the last time.

(91) Had a medical emergency? Yes. Me and the ER? We�re like this ::Holds up crossed fingers:: I can be pretty accident-prone.
(92) Had a surgery? I had a fibroid tumor removed from my uterus via vacuum aspiration at a medical college that was pioneering it as a new technique. So far so good. Beats them having to cut off the blood supply to my uterus and risking not being able to have kids.
(93) Ran away from home? Thought about it.
(94) Played strip poker? No. I don�t have to play a card game to lose clothes at parties.
(95) Gotten beaten up? Nope. Got out of that one by hugging the bitch.

(96) Beaten someone up? I prefer not to have to resort to violence unless protecting myself. Whipped them with words? Yes. I�ve definitely done that.
(97) Been picked on? Yeah. I�m smart and I�m a girl. And I had the most god-awful thick coke-bottle glasses that my dad picked out so no boys would ever like me. And I inherited the signature family nose, which is pretty Irish. But it�s not a cute little button nose like the boys liked in school. And I have red hair. And freckles. And we were poor. And my brother was a delinquent. And my dad was in jail a lot. What didn�t they pick on me for?
(98) Been on stage? Yes. I did performance dance for a number of years. And theater.
(99) Been so drunk that you know you're supposed to go out on a date with someone, but you can't remember with who or when and that you faint when you look at yourself in the mirror in the morning, not to mention your breath? Not particularly. Been so drunk that I remember being driven home because I remember looking at the lines on the road. And I remember waking up in my dorm room, but nothing in between. And I remember checking to make sure my underwear was on the right way, just in case.
(100) Slept outdoors? Yes.

(101) Thought about suicide? Yes. More often than most people know.
(102) Pulled an all-nighter? Lots. College, mostly studying for finals. Last year, I had the bright idea that I would drive from here to Boston, a 24 hour drive. I drove straight through.
(103) If yes, what is your record? Hrm. I already answered that.
(104) Gone one day without food? I went a week once.
(105) Talked on the phone all night? Yes. I had a long distance relationship for a while. And my sweet boyfriend in high school and I would talk for hours at night (until early morning). Mostly, it�s been internet. I prefer to type rather than chat. It seems to come out better.

(106) Slept together with the opposite sex without actually having sex first? Yes. It was better than the sex, which was also well worth the wait.
(107) Slept all day? Yeah. It�s called adolescence. And college. And grad school.
(108) Killed someone? Only emotionally.
(109) Made out with a stranger? A few times.
(110) Had sex with a stranger? No.

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