He ages like ... cheese

The myth goes: men get better with age, but only some women age gracefully. Men in their twenties don't need to settle down because they will get more handsome and marketable, which can wait to be exposed to the dating pool until their late thirties/early forties. So, they wait and then they make shameless plugs to being "ready" when they are older. Case and point:
This week I was in LA for work and out to drink with colleagues, a group of older men come over to talk about absolutely nothing: so and so is an executive chef and someone else owning real estate. Honestly, after a long day, I just was not in the mood for entertaining the elderly. Then the classic lines from the fogies "what do you do?" "Oh, isn't that interesting..." "So do you have a boyfriend?" For some reason my answer, "yes we've been together for four years", doesn't deter men in their forties as easily as it does their younger peers. The man literally replies with "oh that's nice, you know, I'm ready for marriage now..." I wanted to say, "congratulations for making that revelation so timely in your life," but instead I made a really awkward motion to one of my co-workers mentioning the man's occupation and made the ever-popular escape.
Unfortunately, my thoughts about this man being pathetic seemed to anger karma and a waiter spilled red wine down my shirt and onto a practically new pair of beige shoes (luckily sparing my favorite cargo pants). Maybe karma is favoring the older men that capitalize on waiting? But honestly, did this man really think sans boyfriend someone twenty plus years his junior would be interested in a marriage-friendly male of his age?
And then I thought about the book and now movie "Think Like A Man" that argues men are ready to be married when they feel their life is where it's suppose to be: financially stable, career-elevated, and structurally sound in all other capacities.
Do women simply feel these stable platforms earlier on and men get the realization later? I think men choose to age like cheese, they teeter on curdled and come out as an acquired taste. But don't worry there are plenty of women closer in age that are single, fabulous, and spared of the cougar status. And these are the same women that age like a fine wine, women that know their worth, but no one has uncorked them yet. I'm no match-maker, but since wine and cheese pair well together, maybe if men stop believing in age ain't nothing but a number they could wind up with a nice bottle :)

The Girl: A Complicated Character

So, I'm on the fence ... I hear Girls is one of the best shows on television today. And, that Girls is the equivalent of watching a novel unfold before your very eyes on screen. All because, the characters created are confused, irrational and undeniably complicated. Admittedly, I watched just the first episode and I didn't get into it. It's like when an editor says that a book needs to hook 'em within the first page -- it just didn't happen for me. So, I chose to sit on the other side of the fence while everyone raves about this show and how great it is that girls are finally personified on television as the complicated creatures we are.
Guys are saying, "it's funny because girls really do all these things." But, you would have thought someone actually figured us out - but instead, it sounds like we've given another media to convey and contribute mixed messages on the aspects of being "girly." So for me, why watch the show? I spend every day ruminating, complaining about my weight, saying awkward things - so for a show to just remind me of all the things that I do ... eh, not thrilled about it.

Then again, it's like a best seller; of course you want to read it to see what all the hype is about. So I think about climbing over the fence again and watching more episodes to see if I can fall in love with someone who might be just like me. However, as a true lover of fiction, I believe novels, and television series that aspire to be such, should visually represent situations that are realistic enough to be unattainable to a degree as the reader/watcher. Like, when Sex and The City first aired, sure it might be possible Carrie scored a rent controlled apartment on the upper east side, but the reality of a girl in her twenties coming to New York and finding a studio within your price range as a start out freelance writer... slim to none.  However, this show Girls in all the critiques and public opinion manifestos that I've read and heard, claim that this show is real. The situations and awkward interactions depicted in the span of an hour are within moments of happening in real life.

I guess it's a matter of preference. Do you like to watch shows that entertain for the sake of vicarious living? Or a portrait of society that keeps the blemishes and a pesky five pounds she's determined to lose?  In my opinion, this show is like tofu for me - I want so bad to like it, but I just don't.