There's a Fine, Fine Line

For those of you unfamiliar with the delightful musical "Avenue Q," the rest of the lyrics are "between a lover and a friend... between love and a waste of your time." And for whatever reason, it is in that mood that I am writing today.

Disclaimer: Katie has been reading romance novels for the past week or so. Has also been watching every romantic comedy she owns, and some that she doesn't. (Read: Blockbuster, not theft) This was, of course, before the Lord of the Rings marathon yesterday. But I digress...

Despite my dislike of "When Harry Met Sally" as a movie, the more I think about it, the more I can't help but wonder if the premise of it is true, that it's virtually impossible to be friends with a member of the opposite sex without at some point wanting to be more than friends. Looking back at most of my friendships with men, in many cases I instigated the friendship with the original intent of moving to the dating level. This was, of course, before I realized that once one is in the Friend Zone, it's virtually impossible to successfully transition to the Girlfriend Zone without some serious issues, and almost immediate regression to the Friend Zone. (Ladies and gentlemen, Katie's version of The Zone life plan.) In those instances that started out as friendships without ulterior motives, and there have been some, at one point or another I have been sucked into thinking in terms of romance, though these are far more fleeting than such thoughts in the original scenario.

*I would like to point out to certain readers that the fact that I only feel this way about men, and have never faced such problems as attraction within friendship with any of my female friends is just further reinforcement that I am simply unlucky in love, and not an unacknowledged lesbian. Not that I wouldn't be a damn fine lesbian if I were one. Cedars and all.*

Was there a point to all of this? I'm not quite sure. I was just trying apply the theory to my own life, and it worked a little too well. Admittedly, Harry never addresses the other permutation of the female/male one-sided attraction, but that could be a function of the time in which the movie was made, in which the only acceptable attractions were XY mutuals (X hearts Y who hearts different X)...Regardless, I may have freaked out some of my male friends, which, while vaguely amusing, was not my original intent. If this applies to you, gentle reader, just assume that you are in the category of "Good friend. Good smile, nice ass. Good friend." Fleeting, simple, objective. The attraction, not the friendship.

Right, now that I've managed to alienate myself, let alone anyone who's read this, I'm going to shower and then fill out a sub application. Of the teaching, not the Uboat, variety.

Song of the moment: NOT what you would think, though same musical. "You Can Be As Loud As the Hell You Want To" ~Avenue Q