The three nights I spent at the Jupiter turned out to be among the most enjoyable I have spent lately. They really have put together a nice place there to relax. It actually has a built-in hip-tech conference center right next to the lounge and restaurant, but work was completely off the radar for me the whole time.
As I checked out, I chatted with the woman at the front desk and asked her about the local lodging industry, and history of the Jupiter itself. She said it had once been an Econolodge---I had thought perhaps Motel 6 from the size of the rooms, but the surface decor of the hotel was not the usual kind for that flag.
After savoring the solitude in the underground parking garage for extra fifteen minutes, I started my car for the first time since Monday and drove out onto Burnside, heading for the Starbucks.
Vacation was over. It was time to go back to work at my job for the Big Publishing Company. I could feign like this some kind of bad thing, but I actually enjoy my job quite a bit, not just for the rare kind of freedom it affords me, but also because I'm good at what I do, and people depend on me and trust me to get things done. That brings me a great satisfaction along with the paycheck.
While sipping coffee and opening my backlog of emails (thankfully not many, given that we just shifted the production installation of the app to a new servers---that's why I got burned out), I stumbled on article by Helen Smith on Huffington Post about why straight men seem to be losing interest in marriage. She's an excellent writer and find her articles to be insightful and well-written.
As I read the article I came up with what I see as a solution to the "problem."
As I man, especially the "cisgendered" straight Northern European descent variety, I know that I am essentially on my own in this big wide world world, and beyond a very small circle of people who love and care about me, that the world really couldn't give a crap whether I live or fall into a gutter and die. I know that inasmuch as I am a victim, I am victim only of my own poor decisions and my corrupted repressive soul.
So my solution to "problem" of straight men losing interest in marriage is to pour a massive amount of shame upon men in our society. That's what usually works for me. Nothing motivates me more than having some woman remind me that all my complaints are "mansplaining." I love being mocked about my "feewings." It sobers me up immediately and almost reflexively pushes me down to my knees to want to propose to any woman saying that.
I need this shaming because despite my work ethic, I lose track of the fact that as a straight white man, I actually run the world.
Last night I was telling my date---a particular excellent evening for OKCupid---about some of these things. She mostly just sat and listened to me in an uber-feminine way that was deeply satisfying but which was about as far as possible from the solution I just describing.
Too bad, because it was a fun evening. If she had only given me a Waaaaah. What about the menz??? and pretended to dry fake tears in her eyes, she might have gotten another date out of me. If only she had been a little bit more like my ideal woman, besides the red hair.
Well, that's as much commentary as I can afford right now today. Work calls. Gotta go keep the Patriarchy running.
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