I am *so* not the target audience here

A couple of days ago, in the course of conversation, cattitude showed me one of the "Old Spice Guy" ads that came out a little while ago. (It was relevant, and I hadn't previously bothered to look at any.)

So, the thing starts "look at me. Now look at your guy. Now look at me." So I did, and I smiled at Cattitude, and then looked back at the screen. In the course of 30 seconds of boasting, the Old Spice spokesman insults "your guy" (who I like better than that random muscled stranger) and then argues that "smells like a lady" is a disadvantage. For me, if "smells like a woman" means anything, it's pleasant thoughts of adrian_turtle, so positive rather than negative. And those smell-memories aren't from scented deodorant.

I can see how this ad might work on a lot of people, but my reactions were "don't dis my beloved," "what's wrong with that?" (the "smells like a lady" part), and "I am clearly not the target market here."

This isn't a "why would anyone do that?" moment, it's a case of pop culture/marketing passing me by because I'm not what they're looking at: in purely numerical terms, an ad that works on straight women and/or men who are or want to be involved with straight women, but puzzles or alienates some bi women and our partners is worthwhile. (This is "alienates" on the level of "I am not going to suggest someone use this," not "avoid people who have anything to do with this" or even "if you enjoyed these, you're weird."

(I am not a potential customer for the product itself because, as an anti-perspirant, it contains aluminum compounds that make me break out. This does simplify choosing a deodorant.)

Quietly social

We just had a pleasant afternoon with roadnotes, talking and drinking tea. Conversation ranging from the here and now, to 30 years back: hair, people we know, plans large and small, who we want to be connecting with, culling belongings, the drawbacks of Facebook and the ways that websites' use of the word "friend" may have people saying "s/he's my friend" when acquaintance might be a better word for "I know her, and we hung out a bit ten years ago." Roadnotes is sorting through/culling stuff a lot more seriously than Cattitude and I are, but I've been using her posts as inspiration, in a mild way: a book or two here, an old Worldcon program book there, some worn-out clothes or things that just don't suit me. I sent her home with a green suede jacket, which had never fit me right (the sleeves are too long) and looks good on her. It had been sitting in a drawer for a couple of years; I'm glad it fits her.

A quiet day was what I needed: I'm still not de-stressed from the last few weeks of extra stuff at work, and my shoulder is being a nuisance. Not a sharp pain, but steady, and bad for my mood and patience. Roadnotes and cattitude are both easy for me to be with; being out somewhere might have been more difficult.

ETA: I have asked Cattitude to remind me, if necessary, that this evening is not the time to do any sorting or decluttering, even if I'm inspired by our conversation, because it would be bad for my shoulder.

Also, we talked about the idea of good enough decisions: reminding ourselves (as I seem to need to, these last several months) that even if some other choice might be/have been better, this one is also good enough. Sometimes you've eliminated the bad answers, and it's not a big deal if you pick the second- or third-best. So I try not to second-guess myself. It's working, sometimes.

Would anyone like a Liddell-Scott?

We are trying to cull our book collection (with a bit of success). We have two copies of Liddell-Scott's Greek-English Lexicon. We're keeping the larger of the two; the one we're giving away is abridged, but still useful, if you want a physical book instead of the Perseus Project website (which seems to be less reliable than many).

Just let me know where to send it; if you're outside the U.S. I may ask you to pay the postage.

ETA: claimed