Real Men

Today in one of my classes the professor had a picture of a pick-up truck very similar to this one

And the professor asked the women in the room "if you were set up on a blind date and you saw your date pulling up in this car how would you feel?" One girl raised her hand and said "I'd be excited, because I'd know he's a real man, not some pretty boy." 

A real man... hmmmm, that's interesting. See the funny thing is I'm biologically a man, but I don't drive a truck, so does that mean I'm not a real man? This is the car I drive. 

What kind of a man does that make me? A surreal man? Maybe.... 

I hate this term, real man! What is a real man? Seriously! Is a real man someone who is extremely buff, has 5 o'clock shadow, wears flannel shirts and can be found on the plastic cover of paper towel rolls?

Well guess what, i'm not that buff, my 5 o'clock shadow is more of a 3 day shadow, I  do wear flanel so there's that and I've never been on the cover of anything. Tell you what sweetheart, I'll become that kind of a man if you go in the kitchen and make me a sandwich k? 

Now don't get me wrong, I'm all for feminism, but come on ladies, its 2014, there isn't such a thing as a "real man" just like the home isn't the "proper place for a woman." 

Girl - I want a strong man that has big arms and can carry me when it rains = romantic

Guy - I want a girl that has big boobs = pervert. 

Does a real man have to be into sports? I'm screwed there. Once on my LDS mission I had a companion that was the man's man, he played football, basketball, lifted, anything you'd want a man to do he did. When we first served together we were getting to know each other and he asked "so what sports did you play" Why is that the first question we always ask guys. So girls what kind of quilts do you like to quilt? Do you sow? Make me pants. 

Those of you who know me know that I really wasn't in to sports so I said "I actually didn't really play sports, I was more into acting and singing, in other words I was a homosexual." He then looked at me like I was crazy and said "oh..." Trying hard not to lose it I said "No I'm just kidding, but when I said that I did plays instead of sports I could see you were thinking it so I figured I might as well say it." 

Enough of this real man thing ladies, I don't drive a truck, I don't play basketball for fun, I enjoy the theater and I don't hate romantic comedies, and I am a man. 

Why blog?

I know what your thinking, why would I blog? No, I'm not a stay at home mom, and no, I don't have a mom hair cut either. Honestly I always thought that bloggers were just a little self absorbed, why do I want to read about your cruise or about your vacation to Georgia? Isn't it bad enough that you overwhelm my Facebook wall with your pictures and annoying status updates? Now you expect me to sit down and read about your experiences with canning?

Of course I understand that there is a family aspect when it comes to blogging, its nice to stay caught up in the goings on of family members, especially those who are far away and who you don't get to see as often. If only there were a simpler form of communication than blogging, a way for me to speak to my relative that is far away, a way for me to ask them how they are and hear about their life, smoke signals maybe? I don't know.

 NO! Pick up a phone and talk to those people. Let me fill you in on something, if someone really wants to know how your vacation went or funny stories about your 3 year old or how you feel about Obama, they are going to ask you, they aren't going to read your blog. Which brings me to my next reason to blog, to rant. Everyone loves to rant, I love to rant, for proof of that please just reread what I've written already, or just stick around, I'll bring it back. We all love to rant about things, especially politics, and let me just thank you so much for ranting on a blog that I don't have to read instead of on your Facebook page, I get it, you think Obama is a Kenyan born devil's seed who is running our country into the next Nazi Germany, I don't want to read that on Facebook. So please, by all means, get it all out on your blog.

So back to my original question, why would I blog? I really don't know. I kind of just want to, I want a place for my thoughts to just go. I fully anticipate that no one but Jocelyn will read this (shout out), and I don't expect anyone to be particularly inspired by what I have to say, but I want to say it.

So in summary, I Alec Bracken, of sound mind have started a blog. May God have mercy on my soul.