Father's Day

W00t for my daddy!

I went to my parents today for a father's day lunch and while we were there we, that is to say me, my little sister and our mother went through some old photographs in desperate need of organizing.

The one on the right is one of them. Me and my little sister, trendsetters since the late Seventies. That gigantic furry hat I doubt I could pull off nowadays with that amount of confidence and flair was brought from Moscow where my dad lived for a while back then. S, my sister, has since learned to wear pants.

A very enjoyable afternoon, all in all, we ate well, reminisced over said photos, pampered the household cat and had some quality family time.

Yesterday, however, was spent in whole different manner. Me, St and E had our weekly Fab 3 gathering during which, since it was Saturday and all, we consumed a fair amount of alcohol and ended up having this extremely interesting conversation about young men, women and the relationship market issues concerning them.

Item I: Where are the young men?

Really, where are they? Statistically, more boys are being born than girl. Also, statistically, this difference is evened out by the fact that more boys die before their twenties than girls. Conclusion: There should be almost as many young men as there are young women.

But, and this is a pretty major but, after the elementary school where boys avoid girls because of cooties and girls think that boys are all rather icky, the boys disappear. In high school there are more girls than boys. In universities, generally speaking, there are more women than men. What on Earth is going on?

The statistics also show that in cities majority of the young population are of the female persuasion, as opposed to the countryside and smaller towns where the situation in quite the opposite.

So, speaking as a single young (no need to comment, thank you) woman, should I start to worry? I mean, I have no urgent need to find Mr Right, I'm quite happy with my freedom at the moment, thank you very much, but should the need to commit myself into a meaningful relationship rise it's head, where on Earth do I find any eligible bachelors?

a) I like living in Helsinki. Yes, I would survive in a smaller town, but I like the little comforts the relatively big city offers I'm used to.

b) I don't exceptionally fancy sports (or sport bars) where some empiric research has found young males of the species. There are exhibits of said specimens in rock bars and gigs but, um, yeah. Ahem. In search of a politically correct term for a lifestyle loser, that is, in fact, what most of them are. That is, of course, an extreme generalisation, but that's the first impression they give of themselves and that leads us conveniently to the

Item II: Should you finally locate a suitable young male in a bar (because that is the only place they exist), they are invariably dead drunk.

Like, what? The supply and demand are clearly not in balance here.

Experience and urban legends tell us that bar tenders are the ones who get it on more often than the average fellers. Listen to me, young men, that is because they are sober. The theory oes that should a young man show up in a bar and not drink at all, he'll radiate desperation and therefore attract no women. Like, what?

I refer you to the Mastercard ad and the Rakastaa/Ei rakasta (to love or not to love) video by Kotiteollisuus about the correct amount of alcohol consumation.

Still, despite all this, people do find each other and end up happily committed. Power to them, but I'm nevertheless confused about how it all happens.

For the next gathering I think I'll have to purchase a sixpack of beer to get to the bottom of all this.



Soundtrack:

Weissglut: Weiss glüht die Sonne, Etwas kommt in deine Welt
Depeche Mode: Walking In My Shoes