Ok, so it's nearly 6 a.m. and I was determined to go to sleep before the sun rose, but Jimmy Gilmer's post made me come directly here instead and run with the cheesy pick-up line thread. Oh lord. Oddly enough, today I was actually meowed at. Yes! A random boy in the street slowed down, looked directly at me, and said "Me-ow." I was confused. Was that a compliment? Was he calling me catty? Or a pussycat? Or? Coral giggled and said, "It was a CAT CALL. it was!" In that case, it was better than some of the other ones I've gotten recently. Case in point: The elderly man who could hardly walk who stopped me to ask: "Douleueis?" Which means, "Do you work?" I got all insulted and said, "Yes, of course!" He had started to walk away, but hearing this, jumped and ran back with a grin on his face. Then it all came together and I screamed NO! and ran away. See, it was his clever little way of asking me if I was a prostitute. Oh yeah. Usually, however, it's the skanky young men who dangle their wares for me so tactfully. Many of them roam the streets of Athens, trying to pick up women, especially foreigners. They have a name: Komakia, or spearfishermen. A very apt metaphor, especially considering the greek word for vagina is literally "bay of woman." Anyway, I digress. My favorite story about the komakia is that they once tried to unionize and demanded recognition and benefits from the state because, they argued, they provided an invaluable service - they bouyed up the tourism industry by enticing single European women to the country. I don't think they were successful, even with such stellar rhetoric. The rhetoric they use on the street is even better. Usually, they just talk to you in English. Not very original. But sometimes you hear some gems. My favorite was: "You break my eyes!" Um. Yeah. So complimentary. The youngest komaki I've been chatted up by seemed to be all of 8 years old. He said, in English: "Hey hot stuff." Frightening. As annoying as the komakia can be, at least they tend to limit their advances to bad pick-up lines. It's the public masturbators who trouble me. And I've had the pleasure of encountering not one or two, but at least five of these characters. Wanking off in my general direction - in parks, on beaches, in the street. Yes. Side note: i have been known to use some embarassing pick-up lines, completely unintentionally. The worst was: "Has anyone ever told you you look like a Renaissance painting?" Oh yes. I employed this gem on a boy with delicate blond curls and a harsh nose who seriously looked like he should be leaning against a desk with a dog at his feet or something. I stared at him throughout a mandatory Classics department meeting, amazed at the similarity, and thought he light like to know about it, so i chased him out of the room and bombarded him on the stairwell. His response: "That is THE strangest thing anyone has ever said to me," and he looked a bit frightened. It was only afterwards, when I proudly told my art friend what i had done, that she burst out laughing and said "that is the worst pick-up line i have ever heard!" Eeps! I was so embarassed when i realized how horrified this poor chap must have been. another time, at a party at my apartment, i was talking to a boy everyone was trying to set me up with and asked him if he liked frank sinatra, "cause i have him on in my room right now." which i did, oddly. it wasn't necessarily an invite. luckily, he didn't think so either. but my friend nearby started laughing insanely and yelled to the whole room to inform everyone about what a charmer i was. ok that's all i must go to bed now oooh btw: I GOT A TOAST MAKER today! finally! and it's shiny! also, I DID IT! i lasted a whole week without #sinister. well, not a 7-day-week but... yeah... i went out more and wrote more and..mmm..errr.. stuff... i should sleep. sun. shining. shit. MWAH! ~dahling _________________________________________________________________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com/intl.asp +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+ +---+ Brought to you by the Sinister mailing list +---+ To send to the list mail sinister@missprint.org. To unsubscribe send "unsubscribe sinister" or "unsubscribe sinister-digest" to majordomo@missprint.org. WWW: http://www.missprint.org/sinister +-+ "sinsietr is a bit freaky" - stuart david, looper +-+ +-+ "legion of bedroom saddo devotees" "peculiarly deranged fanbase" +-+ +-+ "pasty-faced vegan geeks... and we LOST!" - NME April 2000 +-+ +-+ "frighteningly named Sinister List organisation" - NME May 2000 +-+ +-+ "sick posse of f**ked in the head psycho-fans" - NME June 2001 +-+ +-+ Nee, nee mun pish, chan pai dee kwa +-+ +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+