soeffinhappy

Today was my dads birthday and lately I've been struck by how much I love to give things to other people. Is there any better feeling than seeing someones face light up when they open a good present? Or the look they get on their face when you pull the check out from under their hand and tell them their money is no good? I'm unemployed but I still like to spend lavishly on my friends and family for birthdays and holidays. I know that money isn't the issue, but sometimes(not always) a more expensive gift is a better one.
I had dinner tonight at a great italian restaurant. The interior is pretty dark, the tables and booths feel very comfortable and private, the smells of cappacino and garlic and cooking food permeate the air. The owner walks freely amongst the guest and asks them how everything is, chatting and joking and sometimes dropping some free bread or appetizers on people. The wait staff is generally excellent. Like any Italian restaurant, you hear a very limited selection of music-lot's of Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, and Tony Bennet with a smattering of instrumentals thrown in for good measure. The food there seems to be unique, almost as if the old italian wife who appears in so many commercials is cooking it. And let's not get started on the cannolis.
I was thinking the other day, that people should start taking it easy on the sensitive guys. I myself happen to be a reasonably sensitive guy, and sometimes feel like posting one of those annoying threads on the boards about how women only like guys who are jerks and how they never see how great I am etc etc etc. These guys always get hazed, and they deserve it to a point but I think that most people don't take into account that everyone is different. Sure maybe YOU have a ton of confidence and have no trouble approaching women, but not everyone has that. Sometimes it's their fault and sometimes it isn't. Sometimes they've had such problems in their life that their confidence has been taken from them. It's really easy to say to someone "just be confident and try talking to people" but it's a lot different when you're sitting at a bar trying to work up the nerve to talk to a hot girl. Maybe you do get up the nerve, but maybe because you're nervous and feeling a little vulnerable at the moment, the words that usually fall effortlessly from your mouth, jam together and trip over each other. You dry wit and easy going nature are replaced with nervous uneasiness and a tendency to ramble. I've never been a girl, and so can't comment on how they react to being shot down but guys react very badly. Yeah, it's a stupid caveman ego thing but that doesn't mean we can make it go away. The fact is that there are few things more embarrassing for most guys than being rejected by a girl. Not everyone is brave enough to take the leap out there and risk being shot down. So girls, next time you're somewhere and you see some dude nervously glancing at you from across the room, maybe YOU should take the initiative and go over and talk to him. Maybe you'll find that once approached, he opens up and turns into the confident, easy going guy that you've always dreamed of.
And you guys sitting somewhere nervously glancing at hot girls from across the room........grow some balls, get up, and go over to talk to her.