Captain Subtext

 

I’ve been in a Coupling kind of mood recently, so I decided to rewatch season 2. Oh how I love Coupling. If you’ve never watched Coupling, it’s a British comedy show revolving around 6 friends and sex. I’ve never watched Friends much, but I think it’s the same idea with just a whole lot more dirty jokes. 

I was particularly enjoying the episode Her Best Friend’s Bottom as there was frequent bottom-mentioning and we know I am currently on a kick about my possibly expanding behind. Plus, this is the episode with Captain Subtext.

See there’s this one character Jeff who is just a bit insane. He’s very awkward and neurotic, and is always revealing the fascinating and scary ways in which his mind works. He introduces wonderful things like the giggle loop, the sock gap, and Captain Subtext.

Captain Subtext is an imaginary hero that lived in Jeff’s attic. He had secret conferences with Jeff’s mother, telling her whenever Jeff lied and punishing him by removing “segments” of Jeff’s privates. He could pick up the subtext of any conversation, and by the end of the episode his magic truth helmet is used to show what everyone is really saying.

Turns out this was a doubly appropriate episode, as I was just talking to my friend Jenn the other day about how I think I can’t pick up on conversational subtext.

Initially, I thought I just couldn’t pick up on guys hitting on me. Actually to be honest, I didn’t even pick up on it initially, friends had to point it out. In my defense I think it’s much easier to notice these types of things when you’re observing, instead of it actually happening to you. It seemed totally natural to me to assume that the guy at KFC asking about where I lived probably just needed directions.

Then I started to suspect that maybe I just don’t know all the proper “codes.” Like when I guy asks if I want a drink, and I say “no” because I already have a drink or I’m not thirsty, apparently that actually means “no” as in I’m not interested. Or if you tell a guy friend they can stay at your place, apparently some guys think it’s code that you’re coming on to them even when you’re not.

Now I’m thinking maybe it’s not that I don’t know all these codes, but that I’m just constantly missing the subtext in conversations. I’ve had it come up recently with female friends as well where I realize (or someone tells me later) that I missed the focus of what we were really discussing.

There’s a moment in You’ve Got Mail where Meg Ryan’s character, Kathleen, complains about how she always thinks of the perfect comeback after a conversation is over. I don’t have this problem with comebacks. I do, however, have this problem with almost every other type of conversation. Hours later, I realize that my friend was hinting they also wanted an invitation to go out that night. Or, the next day, I realize that a guy gave me a perfect lead in to suggest a date that I just completely overlooked. My problem is I take everything at face value. Like Patrick from Coupling, I think you’ll find that “not everybody has a subconscious” and I don’t really believe that “people say one thing and mean another.”  

I’m hoping that now that I’ve realized this problem, maybe it’ll get better. Maybe I’ll be more attentive to people and start hearing what they’re really saying.

Sadly, I doubt this. I’m pretty sure it’s tied in with my general lack of observational skills. Keep in mind, I’m the person that has hit my head twice this week because I didn’t notice how close I was to a wall.

Maybe I should start issuing warnings to all my friends. Maybe I should make a shirt or something. Instead of a medical bracelet, have a social skills bracelet alerting anyone that interacts with me that they need to be far more literal.

Oh well, I’ll figure it out eventually. Plenty of time to learn the social conventions everyone else apparently gets at birth. At least I own the complete box set of Coupling! I’m going to end with some of my favorite dialogue from the episode, because if you haven’t watched Coupling yet, you really need to get on that.

Jeff: Do you know what she’ll really be asking? Do you know what Captain Subtext would say?

Steve: …Captain Subtext?

Jeff: She’ll be saying, do you fancy my best friend?

Steve: And who is… Captain Subtext?

Jeff: So what will you tell her when she asks you that?

Steve: The truth!

Jeff: But you do fancy her, everybody fancies Sally.

Steve: Ok… I’ll tell her a lie.

Jeff: She’ll know.

Steve [sarcastically]: What, will Captain Subtext tell her?

Jeff: Heh, Captain Subtext isn’t a real person, Steve.

The Day the Metabolism Died

“We're women. There is nothing above bottoms on the crisis scale. Bottoms are our natural enemy.”

-Sally Harper, Coupling

Today is Gorgeous Grandma Day, and you know how I love me some random holidays. Today I want to start by talking about my grandmother on my mother’s side. She was totally a dish back in the day. Obviously I didn’t know her back then, but I’ll say that she looks like quite a bit of a vixen too. I’d bet you $5 she would have had you wrapped around her finger and begging to carry out her every wish. Of course she probably was also a bit of a tease, as she’ll tell anyone sitting with her no matter what age range that she hates sex. Does not like it. No thank you, sir.

Anyway, so not only was my grandma super sexy back in the day, she aged really well. I would never dare to say her actual age (I want to live!) but she has always looked much younger. And this despite a totally unhealthy diet avoiding all the essential things doctors think you need. Go, Grandma!

Of course, as much as I wish for this genetic legacy, I’m pretty sure it’s going to skip me and go to my brother. The lucky duck. But he has far more of the other traits from that side of the family than I do. Including the butt. Yes, the butt.

My mother’s side of the family tends more towards voluptuousness. These are all hot, curvy, sexalicious women. Now for some of us it’s more bust. For some, like my mother, it’s all in the rear. My mother has quite a butt on her. And when she was a young, sexy thang, she showed it off. Short shorts, boots, and dresses that are ridiculously short. This is why over the years she’s earned nicknames like Buns and Mrs. Lumpy Bottom.

My father loves to tease her about her butt. Being impressionable children at one point and then turning to habit, my brother and I totally picked it up too. My dad sometimes hinted that I might expect the same thing to happen when I got older, but genetics loved me for once, and while I got a little butt at some point, I never got a rear quite like my mother’s. But to my endless delight, MY BROTHER DID!!

Yes, it’s as funny as it sounds. Sadly, I can’t find a really super awesome photo to demonstrate, but here is one example. My brother is to the left. Even in this picture you can see the curvature. Notice the huge difference from the random person on the right with saggy jeans, the guy norm. My brother’s got some junk in the trunk. Baby got back. And it is GROWING. This is an older picture. I’m fairly certain his butt is larger now.

I spent years cackling over this fact of life and telling almost anyone I knew about my brother’s butt. Unfortunately, I think karma caught up to me.

You see, in the past month or so I’ve become convinced that my butt is starting to get bigger.

Love this show.

Seriously, it's awesome.

Just to clarify, I am NOT one of those girls that constantly obsesses over their behind, like Sally from Coupling. My butt isn’t too big, or too small. It’s just there, so I ignored it. I didn’t dress to show it off, I didn’t worry about it looking too large.

All of a sudden though my clothes started fitting differently. I pulled out pants that used to fit fine, and now they’re unduly tight in the derriere region. I throw on skirts I used to love, and the hem’s a little too close to my unmentionables for comfort. Even my underwear is fitting differently.

But it’s a subtle change. That’s the problem. I’m not entirely sure if my butt is really larger, or if it’s all in my mind. After all, I hardly look at the thing. I don’t have it memorized. Maybe it was always that size. Maybe my dryer went rogue and shrunk all my clothes. I keep asking people I know if they’ve looked at my butt before and can verify, but they just think I’m crazy (story of my life).

There’s a legitimate reason for why I need to know if it’s getting bigger. I need to identify the cause.

See, I jazzercise now. Someday I might do a whole jazzercise post, but let me just say it’s amazing, and I love it. My tummy is firmer, my thighs are becoming bricks, and I have arm muscles for the first time in my entire life. So my cute lil bum should NOT be getting larger. Unless it’s muscle, which is what people have suggested. I think it might be perkier, but is it muscle?? I can't tell.

In which case, is this a sign that my metabolism has finally started to die!?!

This is what I need to know – the state of my metabolism. This is crucially important to my continued existence.

I’m not saying I have the best metabolism in the world. It wouldn’t win gold medals. However, my metabolism is totally a beast. I’ve never been super skinny, but on the plus side I’ve never been plus size, which I completely owe to my metabolism. Until jazzercise this year, I didn’t work out regularly. I disdained physical activity.

Not to mention the things I eat fairly often would probably cause someone with a normal metabolism to gain 5 pounds in 5 seconds.

Don’t believe me? Ok well, let’s give some concrete examples. I will eat cheese sticks (the fried kind, not that stupid string cheese stuff) several days in a row. I once ate enough icecream in a single sitting to give my tongue (mild) frostbite. Now that I’m older and trying to be slightly healthy, I limit myself to only a half pound of bacon at once. Yeah.

So if this is a sign of the times, and my metabolism is starting to die off, I need to know STAT. Then I might have to do crazy things like limiting how much I eat and believing in calories. Oh the horror… I’m not ready for this. I’m too young! I have too much to live for!!