Look at my new toy! Love me!

Please ignore the time stamp, it's really Thursday night still.

I'm amused whenever I see guys going for the same girl, and vice versa. It's impossible not to play favorites, sometimes painful when they make obvious blunders, but always entertaining for an onlooker. This isn't because we take pleasure in your misery (while this might be a contributing factor in many cases), or because we see something beautiful in the human condition that we can best identify with through aspirations that are doomed to fail. We are entertained because when people are initially smitten they do the funniest things.

When someone has sense about them they know better than to try to impress others with their toys rather than their personality, like a small child bringing out their newest doll to show off to a guest. No one cares what kind of car you drive, how powerful your computer is, how many moths you have in your bug collection, or how you acquired that shrunken head collection. Actually, that last one's a lie. That's a very interesting aspect for other unrelated reasons.

If you're trying to get someone to notice you and maybe like you, you're much better off showing them the sort of person you are. That means more than just showing off your stuff, it means letting them understand why your stuff matters to you and is worth showing. A kid with daddy's Mustang might grab attention faster than the kid who worked for his Neon, but the kid that worked for his car just showed that he's capable of doing things for himself without needing to suck the parents' teats until they get married. Things like this matter more. The Mustang might go faster and look prettier, but at the end of the day it means nothing.

There are many other examples that amuse me, but the trumping of items over personality is truly the most entertaining. The folks in question aren't children, not legally at least. To see them vie like toddlers is hysterical on a level beyond perceptible humor.

I'll come back to this topic tomorrow night, it's worth breaking schedule for when I'm more awake.