Boys are Smelly

And it only gets worse as they get older.

One girly thing about me is that I like things that smell good. There's air fresheners and candles all over my apartment. Puffy is cool with it, or at least he doesn't say anything about them.

Oh, if I haven't mentioned it yet, Puffy is my roommate. We inheirited each other from my sister, Laura, who was his friend and roommate in college also.

While my apartment tends to stay good smelling (unless we have company who have had too much beer, sour kraut, or beans), I work at a place that tends to turn rank on a daily basis.

There is only one other female in my department and she is very simular to me: she tends to get along better with guys and is surrounded by them most of the time.

The customers who come to visit us are predominantly male and some of them don't have the best hygene in the world. Many come in wearing winter coats that have not been washed in 5 years while others stink just because they are farmers and it is a natural hazard of the job. The worst ones are the others who are simply not afraid to break wind in public.

Meanwhile, the guys I work with are expert crop dusters and can clear a room with very little effort. Every once in a while, they are considerate enough to warn me to stay away from a particular area that they had just fumigated but I am not always so lucky. I usually spend part of my day running away from a cloud, holding my breath, furiously fanning the air around me while giving dirty looks, and breathing through my mouth so I don't have to smell what just exited them.

On the other hand, some of them wear really, really good smelling cologne... so I try to stay close to them when others are gassing the area.

...And I found out that it kind of freaks them out when I tell them that they smell good. Win.

Boobwatch

After Puffy and Joey dumped me to go to a party in Grand Island (I have to work early tomorrow so drinking 45 minutes from home is not a good option), I decided a movie night was in order with my friends/coworkers Nathan and Matt. We have been working our way through various nerdy/epicly bad movies for a couple of weeks now and our last one was Conan the Barbarian, the old one.

It was epicly bad.

I told the guys that I was going to make them watch the new version because it was WAY better than the original. (I may be a little biased because it stars the super hot Jason Momoa.)

When we decided on movie night tonight, I said I would pick the movie and bring it along. Nathan couldn't make it so it was just Matt and I... and when he saw that I had brought the new Conan, I thought he was going to throw me out of his house. It took me a split second, but I finally came up with a very convincing argument as to why we should watch it:

It is better than the old one... and there's boobs.

So, while drooling over a half-naked hot man with a sword kicking ass, I was also on boob watch.... something I haven't done since the last time we saw "Boobs" (a girl we kind of knew from the bar who we didn't know her name but she had huge boobs that liked to pop out) at the bar.

Jenny in Real Life

Friday night is wing night at Platte Valley Brewery. Delicious!

It is also one of the regular visits for my friends and I during the week and tonight was no different. I met Joey and Puffy there and we were soon joined by our friend Brett and new-ish friend Trent. We were sitting around talking about redheaded males vs. redheaded femals and drunk stories, enjoying good beer and wings when Trent suddenly stopped the conversation with his full attention on me.

"I just realized that you are alone."

My first thought was, "Thanks for pointing out my single status in such a sensitive way" but I must have had a questioning look on my face becuase he quickly explained himself.

"What I mean is, you are the only girl in a group of four guys."

My first thought was, "This is not unusual, why are you pointing it out?" But I never got the chance to say anything. Puffy, Joey, and Brett all jumped in, their words tripping over each other.

Brett: "No, man! She's like the chick from EuroTrip... Jenny!"
Puffy: "She is one of the bros, man!"
Joey: "She's an honorary guy!"

I even heard a "She's a dude with long hair." (Which Joey took small offense to, since he is an actual dude with long hair.) All of which continued for a minute or two before Trent laughingly raised his hands in understanding... or surrender.

I love my friends.

Joey, Me, and Puffy, Halloween 2011

I'm Always Right... (con't.)

Just had another fight with Joey which ended with me winning and leaving the room to make my hair presentable but not before I heard him try to get the last word in. He turned to Puffy and said "I don't know why I even try..." I couldn't help but poke my head out of my room and say "I'm surprised you haven't figured that out yet." with a shit-eater grin plastered across my face.

Win.

I'm Always Right. Even When I'm Wrong, I'm Right...

... is probably one of the most common phrases said by yours truly when I am hanging out with Puffy and Joey (two of my closest guy friends, also known as "the boys"). We tend to get into a lot of discussions about various topics, mostly nerdy ones, and it usually ends in us fighting over who is right. These friendly arguments usually happen between Joey and I since Puffy doesn't really care enough to fight with us.

As we sit enjoying a pint, discussing whatever topic strikes our fancy at that particular moment, our discussion usually ends with me saying "Of course I'm right"... and then I'm usually awarded with a surprised and doubting look from Joey and a snort from Puffy. Granted, I'm usually right, but I am stubborn enough to never admit defeat if I'm wrong.

Something that men and women have been fighting over from the beginning of time is who is right and wrong in an argument, no matter the topic. Even tonight, Puffy and I were arguing about something and it ended with him saying "Yeah, that's the woman in you, always thinking you're right" (I was, by the way).

When I first started hanging out with the guys, winning an argument was a matter of pride for me... now I tend to start arguments just for kicks because it drives them up the wall... Yeah, I'm a little sadistic like that.

Welcome to My World

I am the youngest of four girls in a family very far away from any cousins, uncles, or grandfathers so my dad was the only male I really knew. Of course I had boys in my class in school, but I was never really friends with any of them until high school. Until my senior year, I was not close friends with any guys.

Now I find myself completely surrounded by them.

It was an interesting adjustment in the beginning. When I moved in with my sister, Laura, and her male roommate, I was not 100% sure how comfortable I would be but when I realized that he was girlier than I was and a hermit, there was little adjusting required. Since I did not know anybody besides Laura, she was kind enough to take me with her when she was hanging out with her friends... who were mostly guys. At one point I knew more guys in Kearney than girls. Actually, that still maybe true.

Thankfully, I had Laura and my bestie, Jessi, along to ease the way. When Laura moved to Wyoming and Jessi moved to Lincoln, they left me feeling like Jane Goodall surrounded by gorillas in the jungle.

I still feel like that some days, but I'm beginning to understand them better. I mimic picking fleas and eating leaves so they don't know that I don't belong and I laugh when they get confused by some girly thing I do. Even with all of this, I feel like I belong more with these smelly, disgusting, funny, pigs of men than with most others of my sex.

I'm just a girl in a jungle, navigating through uncharted territory and enjoying the adventure.