Hello, Bob--I hadn't heard about the study of the beautiful tail feather. I've spent the last 15 minutes reading about such (the poor pukeko!), so thank you for teaching me something new. I think you exactly represent what I mentioned--that those of us who didn't start out mega-attractive learned to develop other components of ourselves. Almost like...not being attractive when young actually gave us an advantage. I think it's cool you used your pre-beard time to develop your comedian skills. I figure, if women get to wear push-up bras, then you absolutely get to grow a beard to cover a mole:):) But I get your point: When we believe we are a certain way, it's almost like we're suspicious when people when they treat us differently from how we think we should be treated. It took me a while to get used to men approaching me as something other than a 'girl-next-door-sister-sidekick-best-buddy'.

I look forward to reading stories by you here, so you can keep me entertained from afar:)