You'll pardon me if I sound narcissistic, but the Thanksgiving Day proceedings had much of the feel of a debutante ball. I was the debutante. A number of family members and near-family members hadn't seen me in quite some time. As you might expect, 145 pound of weight loss produced quite a flip-out reaction. However, there were three reactions that topped them all. I will list them in chronological order, not priority.
Case 1: The former exchange student.
A couple years ago (2?), my aunt and uncle hosted an exchange student from the Ukraine. She's transferred down to CSU Northridge now, and is applying for a full visa. I am not sure how old she is, but I know she is an August 18th a Leo. She told me that. She's a very nice girl, but she seemed like a very young girl a few years ago. She seemed hardly old enough to attend college.
Well... Interesting things... she showed up to Thanksgiving with a new American boyfriend in tow, and he is quite a good looking young guy too. It seems that she has now physically matured quite a bit, and she is young woman in full bloom. I was happy quite for her.
The bizarre thing is that she couldn't quite take her eyes off of me. Now, at first I took no suspicions about that. She had seen me several times at the top of my glory around 330 pounds. I figured she was just as amazed by the weight loss as everybody else.
Well... that explanation held for the first hour or two. Then it began to falter. I noticed her noticing me just a few too many times. The expression on her face didn't look much resemble the appearance of stunned disbelief anymore. It looked more like the expression of the ladies at the CrossFit gym. That would be fascination. When she took a mild reprimand from her boyfriend, I knew I wasn't imagining anything. It was what I thought it was.
Of course, I never breathed a word of this to anyone at the event. This setting was what the psychologists call "a strong situation" where circumstances dictated a formal protocol of interactions. Nothing came of this, but it was interesting. Nevertheless, I found myself shaking my head in disbelief. Why is it always the Leos?
Case 2: The elder Pisces female
In one of the several holiday settings, I met a friend of the family who happens to be an elder Pisces female. Feb 26, 1949 is her birthday, in case you were wondering. Yes, I asked her. No, I don't know how truthful the answer is.
She felt compelled to engage me in conversation on an assortment of topics ranging from the weight-loss, CrossFit, to football, to Lost, to X-Files, to Fringe. She kept the conversation going. I was the guy she wanted to talk to. She was extremely friendly. Maybe a bit too friendly. I found this a bit unusual.
If Sirus is to be believed, the score is 155. That's very strong. As I have mentioned in previous blog posts, Sirus 1.1 largely scores the situation without any reference to the House System. If she happens to have either a Pisces or Taurus Ascendant, I Housed her royally. Of course, nothing would come of this, but I took solace in the fact that the Pisces females behave as expected... no matter what their age. At least this much of the theory is reliable. Virgos are comforted by the appearance of order and mathematical logic in the structure of the universe.
Case 3: Miss Eva
So, once upon a time, my Dad owned a restaurant in Fresno. It was a dinner and music club. Lots of local musicians played there. He adopted one in particular we'll call Miss Eva. She happens to be a May 25, 1988 Gemini. How about that? My Sagittarius dad adopts a Gemini daughter. Perfect! Couldn't be better. That's a 180.
As I was grinding the pesto for a pasta dish, I heard him on the phone conversing with Miss Eva. It turned out she was a tad hungry on the day after Thanksgiving. She was doing the starving musician thing. Naturally, my dad invites her over to sample my Pesto. I over-salted the pesto, but otherwise, it was a splendid feast.
Well, it turns into dinner and a movie (in my dad's living room), and Miss Eva is giggling incessantly. She is cracking up at every little off-handed remark I make. One example: I accidentally dropped my SpyderCo Stretch ZDP-189 into my big class of ice water. I flip out and immediately begin to dry out my knife on my expensive Under Armour gear.
I explain that the Stretch is made from one of the world's finest knife steels (ZDP-189). This is an ultra-high carbon steel; approximately 3% carbon as opposed to 0.9% for ordinary high-carbon. I explain how this leads to a Rockwell hardness of 68, but unfortunately this marvelous steel is not particularly corrosion resistant. Hence I needed to dry it immediately. I provided a few more scientific facts about how nitrogen can substitute for carbon in the steel matrix and provide all of the benefits plus extreme corrosion resistance... unfortunately, ZDP-189 is not such a steel.
Miss Eva can't stop laughing at that. She thought that was an hysterical comedy monologue. When my dad drove her back to her place, she told him "Dave is the shit! He knows everything!" I have only my exaggerating father to validate that this event took place, but according to this exaggerating man, she was quite taken by me. One thing I do know from the behavior sciences: When a woman can't stop giggling around a guy, it is a sign of attraction. When every little thing he does or says is funny, even if it is about carbon and nitrogen in the steel matrix, there's little doubt she likes him.
You wouldn't laugh at a monologue about carbon and nitrogen in the steel matrix, would you?
I checked it out the Sirus 1.1 scores, and Miss Eva really shouldn't have been reacting quite this way. We some remarkable scores, but not in the sexual attraction department. As always, a score above 150 is considered extremely high.
1. Romantic and Sexual Attraction: 0
2. Similarity of Interests and Temperament: 143
3. Mutual Success and High Achievement: 89
4. Problem Solving, Communication, and Mutual Understanding: 169
5. Mutual Kindness, Friendliness, Pleasantness, and Peace: 175
6. Aggressiveness, Competition, Power, Success, or Violence: 0
7. Adventurousness, Surprises, Disturbances: 57
8. Shared Creativity, Imagination, and Inspiration: 108
As I mentioned before, these scores are without reference to the Housing system. If Miss Eva has a Pisces or Taurus Ascendant, I Housed her royally.
As I mentioned before, these scores are without reference to the Housing system. If Miss Eva has a Pisces or Taurus Ascendant, I Housed her royally.
In Summary
Did you ever have one of those feelings that the tidal wave is coming? The shit is about ready to hit the fan? Fukushima is about ready to meltdown? Things are about to getting interesting, as the Chinese would say? You are standing on Precipice of the Abyss? All hell's about to start breaking loose?
I got that feeling, but in a good way. To try to rehab my wounded shoulder, I am going to start Bikram Yoga on Monday evening.
I may loose a lot of sleep in 2012.
