Vanilla (I'm Not Sexy)
by Marian Call
I’m not sexy, but I really want to be
I hear that’s normal for my demographic
I don’t look good in skirts, and even wedges hurt my feet
And I can’t keep a straight face and say ‘orgasmic’
Oh, I’m not hip, but I really want to be
All the bands I like you’ve heard of, and I watch too much TV
And I’m not cute, and I think too hard to be sweet
But not enough to get a real job or converse insightfully –
This is the part where you politely disagree.
My virtues are too dull to entertain,
but you can always count on me.
A nicely balanced budget’s not so thrilling,
and courtesy’s outdated, and sobriety is lame
Reliability is not appealing
But I don’t know any other way to be
I love people and I want them to love me
My virtues are vanilla at best, but you can always call on…
I’ll sing for you, I’ll sing for you
I’ll be the first one by your side
And the last one to leave
I’ll give you everything I’ve got,
I’ll get you anything you need
I’m not much to entertain,
But you can always call on me
I’m sorry I’m not meaner
I’m sorry I don’t bite
I’m sorry I don’t break as many hearts as you might like
I’m not hip or cute or spontaneous,
And I know I’m such a fool,
But I’ll love you real good if you’ll let me make
a dumb mistake or two. Oh,
I’m not sexy, but I’ll love you if you let me…
That's not all of the lyrics, but anyway, you should go listen, then buy everything Marian has ever put out. She's stellar.
So last night, Judah and I curled up in bed with our books. I'm reading The $100 Startup by Chris Guillebeau. Judah's reading The Art of Non-Conformity, same author.
"You know I've changed my reading habits for you, right?" I said with a grin.
"What?"
I pointed to his book. "The past two years. I've been reading a bunch of business books. Startup and new economy stuff. Gleaning information that might be useful to you so you don't have to read the whole book. (Unless I think you should read the whole book, in which case I buy it.)"
He laughed and pounce-hugged me as best he could from a sitting position. "My love! You are the best!"
"Did you really not know?"
"No!"
"I read faster than you! It was the most efficient way to get you information!"
"I love your efficiency!"
<3
(That went on for a while. He gets effusive.)
(We have a great inter-library loan system, is how I can read several books a week and we still have grocery money.)
(I have also read a bunch of industrial design books to get a better grasp on the history of his field.)
So basically, being appreciated for one's speed-reading and efficiency is uncommon, but so lovely when it happens.