I haven't written anything substantial for as long as I can remember and a possible reason for this suddenly dawned upon me today.

"No photos = no words"

Often a picture can conjure a thousand words or at least a dribble of random disjointed text.

In late 2007, I tossed my antiquated camera by the wayside in favour of my all-in-one N95. Since then, I haven't taken many photos at all, citing the bad quality of the N95's camera as the culprit. However, I've also come to the realisation that I have quite a lackadaisical attitude towards being IN photos too, because:

A) I'm not photogenic,

B) Every one of my girl friends has a shiny pink camera permanently affixed to their handbags/wrists,

C) Every one of my guy friends totes an SLR; and

D) A combination of B) and C) means that eventually, I will impassively show up in a photo somewhere anyway, so, screw taking pictures of my own.

Therefore, as I have no photos, I have no words.   Q.E.D.

Somewhat ironically, I hereby post one picture from last weekend's annual Spring Cycle.

My baby and I riding the train home

..summer.

Dude approaches me on the train platform in the AM, introduces himself and proceeds to ask if I'm religious, when/where/how, says he's Arab and curious.

I is not Arab nor particularly religious.

If you’re not so aesthetically gifted, it’s all too easy to live in comfortable resignation that good looking people require just the skill of breathing to get by.

Yeah, yeah, the world will fall seamlessly at their beautiful feet. C’est la vie.

"Just short of change for that coffee? No problem, beautiful. Just for you, it’s on the house."

"Pushed for time on that presentation, Rob? I’m sure the marketing girls over there will lend you a helping hand, or ten."

"Oh let me carry your groceries for you. It must be hard teetering about in those stilettos."

"Ben, we’ve selected you to represent our region at the offsite in Bali. We know you’ll win the global guys over with your charming smile!"

In my humble opinion, good looking people win only insofar as getting an initial “look-in” due to their striking exterior. And even then, the attention may not be of the beneficial kind.

As preposterous and forged as this may sound, I’ll attempt to explain, in earnest, that there are possibly some real disadvantages of being ridiculously good looking.

1.     Good lookers aren’t always given much (or any) intellectual credit due to the age-old stereotype - that les hotties sont stupides because they’re too busy admiring their own reflections all day to spare a moment for politics, religion and the global economy.

2.     Attractive men are often pre-judged as gay and/or arrogant. Poor bastards.

3.     Attractive women are often perceived as bitches who unfairly take advantage of their good looks (not to discount the fact that this does happen in some cases).

4.     Good looks = more attention. More attention = rumours. Rumours eventually lead to the humble beginnings of a bad reputation, regardless of their credibility.

5.     Members of the opposite sex (or same sex, if we are to be accepting of all orientations) may be intimidated by you, or the line of suitors in front of them. Yes, this means you might not be getting much action, contrary to popular belief.

6.     Your partners may experience extreme bouts of jealousy and/or insecurity for fear of losing you to the next person that ogles you on the street.

7.     Jane Doe being friendly is simply Jane Doe being friendly. Luscious Linda being friendly instantly equates to “she wants to jump you, you lucky bastard/that ho-bag!”

8.     Insecure people just get pissed off that you are better looking and will find any shred of a lame excuse to hate you; usually consisting of an amalgamation of some of the aforementioned points.

So, reader(s), could being imbued with good looks be a curse more than a blessing?

I’m not going to conclude firmly on this one.  Undoubtedly, there are obvious benefits and detriments. You do whatchu do wit whatchu got.

Anyway, this entire entry was really just debating a moot point. I mean, in this day and age, it’s all about personality, isn’t it?

How long could you last without the internet at home?