I'm Missing the Girly-Girl Gene

Well, I'm not missing it in a "Gee, wouldn't it be nice if I had it" kind of way. I like me, I like being me, and I have good firm friendships with men that wouldn't be able to talk to me as they do if I were very girly. I'm not masculine. At least I don't think I am - but I'm not at all frilly, weak, prone to gushy emotional outbursts, own very little and almost never wear make-up (once in a great while, maybe once every two years, I will tromp it out and apply just a teensy bit to my eyes and lips and that is as good as it gets, folks!), have zero interest in staying at home and even less in the rearing of - ye gods - children, and never watch shows such as "As the World Turns", "Home Make-Overs" or whatever they are called, nothing on WE, and absolutely, positively no Grammy, Emmy or any other award shows! I do cry in the movie theatre, though, and I like to decorate the house (but not with window valances and frilly, sacarine sweet things!).

So if you are looking for a delicate wall flower, move on. Very few female EMTs are wall flowers anyway, and we aren't as a rule spineless. You deal enough with the morons (most impaired, some just abysmally stupid as their norm) and you will grow a spine. I have discovered just how commanding I can be when it is needed. Once a polite "you're going to the hospital" is turned down at 0300, you develop that steely 'I'm not kidding and I mean business" tone that only a pissed off, sleep deprived, somewhat-involved-in-law-enforcement EMT can get. So this is a vocation where a girly-girl would not do well. Also, the blood and icky body stuff would really turn most girly-girls off.

I'm also in Human Resources and again, it is not an area where weaker people would succeed. If you are a crier, someone who cries when people upset you or push you over into the wonderful world of "how angry am I?" then this is clearly not for you. It's one thing to cry when someone dies or something catactrophic happens, but in the day-to-day grind of life, crying is really not practical. I'm not an angry person and I am not easily moved to tears (except in the movies) in any event, but never, ever, have I responded to anger or frustration in any facet of life by crying. I also have never been able to summon tears when pulled over by the police (not that this is an often-occuring thing, mind you!), which, with the opposite sex is supposed to be a real deal-breaker for ticket parcelling but I usually find that the police like me and find me to be just Joe-oops,-look-what-I-did driver. And I never say, "No, I don't know why you pulled me over, Officer," if I have blatantly been speeding. I tell the nice man in the hot uniform that I do know why - unless I actually don't, like the time the rookie cop in Jefferson pulled me over for a lapsed inspection sticker on a dealership car. Duh. I don't get a ticket for that. I fought that and won.

So there it is about me. So not a girly-girl.

I ran across the street today to pick up some groceries and got the week's issue of People Magazine, the only not-science-related, partially gossipy magazine I get and there are plenty of interesting things in it. In fact, if you read my second posting you will see that this is what spurred me on to keeping a blog. It was called "First Topic: 40-Year-Old Virgins" and it came from here. They never print my letters so here are all my opinions about things. Anyhoo, there was this week's issue, with Jennifer Aniston and how she is coping. As pleasant a person as Jennifer may seem or be, well, this is her thing to get through. More intersting that Jennifer's handling the news of Brad Pitt's impending fatherhood was an article entitled "For Eighteen Months, I Was a Guy". Norah Vincent, an author, wrote "Self-Made Man" after going undercover in five different states as "Ned". I loved reading this article, which I imagine is from the book, so this is a book worth exploring! I love that she did this. It was an eye-opener for me and I'm more savvy when it comes to the human condition - which just shows that no matter how much you know, there is a lot more to be learned!

A whole lot more...