Images, and First Impressions, Or, "...and bitches love it!"

The following are just my thoughts.
Dating has always been a silly word to me. I've never really done it, and I really can't say it appeals to me at all. In the conventional sense, all it really amounts to is something like a college visit for a high school student. When you see them for the first few times, you're just meeting their idealist representative whose only job is to sell you on potential. The school you're visiting could turn out to be the best school in the world, and the person you're dating could turn out to be everything they're projecting themselves to be; their idea of your dream-come-true in a person. But odds are they won't, not if reality has anything to say about it.
Ask a person you know to describe what their "type" is, and listen carefully to the answer. Then afterwards, ask yourself this question: In their answer, was there anything at all unpredictable about their response, or anything that can't be assessed with a simple, superficial, glossing-over of the person in question?
If the answer is yes, take comfort in knowing that you have a friend capable of functional thought, because everybody's answer should contain some element specifically tailored to their desires that is otherwise unusual, and can't be readily assessed by exchanging glances and awkward, pre-fabricated conversation over a poorly cooked meal (a date.)
If the answer is no, which it invariably will be, know that there are millions of dating people who are aware of these cookie-cutter images people have of their own ideal sexual counterpart. People who are willing to go to great lengths of imbecilic expenditure, and general duncery to engage in debaucherous romps with their fellow humans. It is in this mold that these folks cut themselves. Not because projecting an image that achieves this end has anything to do with the actual personality from which it emerges. In fact the only thing it tells you for sure is that this person is so focused on this one idea that they're willing to suppress all other elements of their personality just to show the world that they fit with the rest. If this is a trait that one finds desirable, have at it, and good luck with that is all I have to say.
The event that brought this concept to mind took place at a very close friends home the other day while we were outside having a few beers, relaxing, and talking. One of the individuals who we were hanging with was asked about a tattoo that he had on his arm, and began to show it. "It's a picture of St. Michael." He says. And on the other side of his arm, he had the full prayer inscribed against his bicep.
That's nice, almost pious I thought. It's a relief to see some sort of dedication to a belief in something, so profound as to etch it on one's body.
"Yea, and bitches love it!" He retorts.
Wow.
People will sell you anything if you're willing to buy it. My advice to everyone who shops in these stores is, hold on to that receipt.