things I like about the dating scene in DC
Two things I like about the dating scene in DC, written by someone who has admittedly been out of it for so long, she might be poorly informed:
Men believe in looking nice. I love Austin, but when I lived there, I found the disparity between the efforts men and women went to in order to impress each other a bit appalling. While my female friends invested in boob jobs and botox, (conditions I previously believed happened to other people), it was rare to find a man who showered, let alone shaved. And while I might find the number of local man spas excessive, it's nice to know that men think it's just as important for them to dress well and maintain proper hygiene and hair care as it is for women. It's true that I make fun of our legislative affairs staff for being "lobbyists for the hair product industry", but it beats the alternative any day.
Smart is sexy. Your date can look perfect, but if s/he sounds doltish when talking to your friends and coworkers about policy, they'll pity you as much as if you had brought a sibling to the party. I have actually heard a man say of a woman who was interested in him, "she's cute but ..." with the dot-dot-dot implying that she's none-too-bright. This may be just a byproduct of Washington ambition (Why can't I have the absolutely perfect woman/man?), but it's awfully flattering when a man starts chatting you up on the metro about Borges when he sees that you're reading Pliny.
Men believe in looking nice. I love Austin, but when I lived there, I found the disparity between the efforts men and women went to in order to impress each other a bit appalling. While my female friends invested in boob jobs and botox, (conditions I previously believed happened to other people), it was rare to find a man who showered, let alone shaved. And while I might find the number of local man spas excessive, it's nice to know that men think it's just as important for them to dress well and maintain proper hygiene and hair care as it is for women. It's true that I make fun of our legislative affairs staff for being "lobbyists for the hair product industry", but it beats the alternative any day.
Smart is sexy. Your date can look perfect, but if s/he sounds doltish when talking to your friends and coworkers about policy, they'll pity you as much as if you had brought a sibling to the party. I have actually heard a man say of a woman who was interested in him, "she's cute but ..." with the dot-dot-dot implying that she's none-too-bright. This may be just a byproduct of Washington ambition (Why can't I have the absolutely perfect woman/man?), but it's awfully flattering when a man starts chatting you up on the metro about Borges when he sees that you're reading Pliny.