On matters of presentation

[jennaria]

First story:

So today I went to the Y, as I am wont to do, and then hit up a Chinese place nearby for dinner. There were four older ladies already there at a table next to mine, martini glasses mostly empty. They seemed to know the staff, asking after the bartender (who was apparently back in China) and talking about seeing him again when he got back.

I politely ignored them, placed my order, and got out my Kankuro book to amuse myself until my food came out. Meanwhile, one of the ladies got out her digital camera, and got the waiter to take a photo of herself and her friends. Alas, the photo came out dark. Camera Lady said she'd just figured out how to turn off the flash today, and now she couldn't remember how to turn it back on, argh.

One of her friends looked up at me, and said, "Why don't you ask that girl over there? She looks smart."

Quick self-description: Auburn hair in a pixie cut, glasses, and dressed in t-shirt and yoga pants. I've been told I look younger than I am, but I've long since given up on the idea I could pass for a college student. ...that and the t-shirt I was wearing said CLASS OF 98 on it.

Yes, I did figure it out (switch it back to photo-taking mode before trying to change the flash mode). I'm not sure the second attempt at a photo was any better, as I'd put it on Auto Flash and there was a window behind them messing with the lighting, but at least I'd showed Camera Lady how I'd done it, so in theory she could change it again if she wanted.

*

Second story:

Coming home on the bus, I sat next to a woman flipping through a magazine. I caught glimpses of the pages as she did so: recipes of various kinds, discussion of what to do with rare ingredients, that sort of thing. I idly wondered if it was one of the magazines I subscribe to (which admittedly isn't exactly all that many), and otherwise didn't think about it too much.

Two stops before I was going to get off, the woman flipped it closed, turned to me, and said politely, "Would you be interested in a cooking magazine?"

"Uh," I said.

"Because my mother-in-law gets two, you see, and she always gives one to me, but I'm pretty sure I've already got this one - everything looks familiar!"

"...yeah, sure. I've got a couple roommates who like to cook."

"Oh, good." She handed me the magazine. Rachel Ray was on the front cover, and she gestured toward the picture. "I like her recipes: they're always good. And quick, too!"

"That is important," I agreed, and got up because it was my stop. "Thank you again!"

"Oh, you're very welcome!"

*

I'm not sure what exactly the moral of these stories is, if they have morals. shotboxer suggested that I'm unthreatening, which is not a bad thing to be, I suppose. On the other hand, there's a part of me that feels like it means I've gotten too good at passing: there's nothing to outwardly mark me as gay, or as a geek. Mrph. Maybe it was the yoga pants.

Comments

[holyschist]

Perhaps you seem like an approachable gay geek who might like to cook?

[jennaria]

:laugh: I can hope. Failing that, I should totally put my geekier t-shirts into gym rotation. Lord knows that the people at my usual Y tend to follow the Polite Gym Invisibility Theory, even the teenagers, so it's not like there's any mockery to be feared.

[keshwyn]

there's a part of me that feels like it means I've gotten too good at passing: there's nothing to outwardly mark me as gay, or as a geek.

Or possibly you're in Cambridge/Boston, where being a geek or being gay is no longer a thing to be particularly remarked upon?

[jennaria]

Also possible! I prefer your theory to mine, anyway.