Settling

For some unknowable reason, I watched like five episodes of the MTV show "My Life as Liz" today. I actually find it marginally interesting, although its pretenses as a documentary or even a reality show are bullshit - it's scripted out the wazoo. I mean, I'm pretty sure I attended high school for four years, and it was never like this! Anywho, for the uninitiated, the spunky, sarcastic, red-haired indy-chick protagonist (Liz) asks a guitar-playing coffee-shop-employed skateboard-riding pretty boy (Bryson) to prom... and is turned down. Instead, she goes with her lovable, kilt-wearing lightsaber-wielding LARP-participating guy friend (Sully), who it has been revealed, over and over, has The World's Biggest Crush on her. (Despite the obvious contrived nature of the plot, it's still kind of sweet.) It is implied that, by going to prom with Sully, Liz is "settling" where she could "do better" (IE, Bryson, who seems like a bit of a jerk, or at the very least cardboard and a designated love interest.)

Given the option, I would take the slightly overweight best friend, and I wouldn't consider it settling.

As much as I hate to admit it, I am indoctrinated into a culture of "take the best you can get." That is to say, girls like me (tall but not tall enough to be models, slightly overweight, with bad skin and slightly androgynous facial features) don't get boys that look like Brad Pitt (or other ridiculously good looking celebrity. Let's pretend we're talking about the Brad Pitt who does not have a tentacle monster growing off his face.) When it seems like a guy who is "better than you can do" is interested in you, well, you don't believe it. And then you act stupid and you miss the opportunity and the fact that I talk like this is why I don't have any friends.

So there is sort of this societal view, or at least according to the folks who are surreptitiously scripting "My Life as Liz," that a funky Juno knockoff (minus teen pregnancy) like Liz deserves to be with a cute, bland boy instead of the smart, funny guy who incidentally has a double chin and is so obviously head over heels for her.

I would take him.

Metaphorgotten in this post, apparently. Maybe I should stop blogging at 11:30 at night.