Speechless

For a few weeks I've included a link, over there in my list of links, to a girl I found through Tony Pierce's well-known blog -- someone named Bunny whom I simply link to as "an almost unbelieveably cute chick." I don't know what this woman does or who she is; as far as I know she's just a friend of this Tony blogger guy whom I also don't know. I thought she was worth linking to just because she is really cute. If she has written a fantastic thesis on gluons or something, I'll be glad to report it, but it's worth just looking at her pictures.

On an even higher plane is the very justifiably well-known Xeni Jardin, a contributor to the Top Ten blog BoingBoing and perhaps the epitome of a nerd's dreamgirl. The photo accompanying this post demonstrates that she is one of the few people, aside from actual Star Trek cast members, who can wear what looks like a superhero suit of some sort and actually look good in it. Of course, she is well-known primarily because she is a terrific writer, a good reporter, and an incisive analyst of modern tech news and trends. (If that's not enough, according to her bio she "has studied over a dozen languages including Maohi (Tahitian), Quiché and Kakchikel Maya (Guatemala), Nahuatl (an indigenous language of Mexico), Mandarin Chinese, and Yoruba (Nigeria).") But it sure doesn't hurt that she is stunningly attractive.

Last night I mentioned that I went to the birthday party of a local blogger without actually speaking to anyone or registering my presence in any way (unless it was creepy to people that I just sat at the bar afraid to move for half an hour). Shyness is rooted in a belief, very difficult to shake once it gets rooted, that other people are actually of some higher order than oneself and if spoken to would crush you with a withering look -- not that that hasn't actually happened to me at times in my life. But I can testify that two of the above-mentioned three women have actually corresponded with me on email in a manner both friendly and respectful, so there's no reason for me to put them on a pedestal. And yet some people are so good looking that it's almost impossible not to see them as somehow set apart. See, that's what I really want to know. I am aware that very good-looking people actually hate being put on a pedestal like that. But it's also obvious that their looks constantly attract dickwads who hit on them, and that this attention is also unwanted. (And I'm no better -- if I see someone really gorgeous, anything I think to say to them sounds to me like a pickup line. The only thing that distinguishes me from the dickwads is that I am so self-conscious that I say nothing at all.)

I suppose this is the real reason why clubs have VIP seating areas -- so all the really attractive people can sit together and not have to deal with this issue.