In an effort to move away from my Ice Queen Attitude towards Strange Male Persons, I've been working on more congenial behaviors when out in public. Yes, there are a lot of Creepy Guys out there Los Angeles' coffee shops, bars, AND salsa clubs. But, it's not like the nice ones are wearing a sign.

Last night a couple of guys standing at the bar were wearing Lakers t-shirts and a Lakers baseball caps.

"This might sound crazy, but are you fans of the Lakers?"

"Yes, and we just came from the game!"

Whoosh.

Wherever my facetious comment landed, it was way over their Lakers baseball caps. Do they not teach irony in schools anymore? Were me and my fellow 10th grade students in Mr. Bye's English class the only ones to get Oedipus branded into our craniums? Ok, in all fairness, they were probably still excited about the Laker win.

One of the guys proceeded to show me his ticket stubs lest there be any question.

"Hey, my friend doesn't know how to salsa dance. Do you want to teach him?"

Lately, when meeting younger men in groups, I find that they frequently speak on behalf of each other. I wish I had a dollar (or make that a Euro) for every time I heard a twenty-something guys say "My friend here wants this..." or "My friend thinks this...". I don't remember this from my youth. Have we become, in the last 15 years, a nation of increased co-dependents? I don't want to turn into a walking Self-Help Workshop, but if I did, I would reply, "Who gives a crap about your friend? What do you want?" But since I've got other things to do, I'll let them work it out in therapy in ten years.

"If you want to learn salsa, there's a great class at 7:30" I replied and then walked away.

Just for today, I can be open to meeting new peoples (even if I do make fun of them in my blog...I just can't help myself).