Are these people gay?
THEN:
A few years ago, I was out at a restaurant/bar with three guys. It was early in the evening, the bar hadn’t really gotten started, and we just wanted some food.
We could have sat in these sort of high stool-chairs, very close to blaring speakers near an empty dance floor.
But that seemed uncomfortable and impractical, so I steered us to a booth. It was a big booth, but a booth all the same.
My buddies practically revolted. Apparently, these guys don’t sit in a booth together. What if our legs touched or something?
I didn’t realize it, but sitting on the same side of a booth as another guy is just one step short of anonymous homosexual release at a truck stop.
NOW:
Today, a guy and I were talking about going to a movie. I mentioned the animated movie, Up.
Now, some people don’t want to see animated movies, so I was prepared for him to say no thanks. He didn’t.
He said that he’d be happy to see an animated movie as part of a group of people, or with a girl. But he wouldn’t see it with just one other guy.
As it happened, there were other people coming along, so he’s ok with it.
Anyway, I obviously missed the whole class on “Everyday nonsexual things that you have to watch out for because apparently some people think that doing these things implies that you’re gay, and God knows you don’t want that or everything will explode.”
Obviously, that wasn’t me.
I honest-to-God don’t get it. Do people think that gay men are more likely to enjoy animated films or something?
Up is fantastic! Wait, what?
JB and I have been quietly mocking the straight guy-buffer seat at movies for years. “Those guys certainly are heterosexual! That extra seat between them means they luvs the ladies!”
The booth thing is borderline insanity. Haven’t these guys seen Diner???
I can’t speak to the sitting in a booth thing, but I can understand the animated movie thing, and it’s not because I’m worried that someone will think I’m gay. There are some moments that I just don’t want to share with someone of the same sex. It’s not the perception, it’s the emotions. I don’t want to watch a touching, sentimental movie with a guy, because I wouldn’t be able to have the same emotional connection connection during the movie and then talking about it afterword. I wouldn’t want to ride a ferris wheel with a guy, because it wouldn’t mean as much sharing the view with a guy, because I just wouldn’t be able to have the same kind of emotional connection that I could with a girl.
I have no problem sitting next to another guy at a restaurant booth. But then again, I’m not a closet homosexual.
The animated movie bit (Kevin) makes some sense, but I guess it just doesn’t apply to me. When I want to talk about that bit with the trash robot, or The Nightmare Before Christmas, or whatever animated flick I just saw, I can do so with a male or female. It’s more important that we share some degree of taste. I’m not going to cry and hug over it in either case.
Kevin: I guess I see what you mean, to some extent, although I can guarantee that your point isn’t what my buddy was talking about (as he made clear).
The ferris wheel thing is interesting, because I think I completely agree that I’d rather ride a ferris wheel with ANY girl than with ANY guy. I don’t really think that it’s a matter of emotional connection, but I don’t know what it is.
I’m sorry, my point obviously wasn’t clear. Please read “emotional connection” as “foreplay”.
Does your wife know that riding a ferris wheel is “foreplay”?
Ah yes. Foreplay. I think my wife asked for that once.
My wife is smart enough not to let me around ferris wheels.
Hmm…if my wife thought riding a ferris wheel was “foreplay” to me, she’d get season tickets.