"lady and gentlemen, start your engines..."

in mother night, kurt vonnegut writes, "be careful what you pretend to be, because in the end you are what you pretend to be." i'm rarely one to wax philosophical, and even less likely to retain anything i read long enough to quote it back to anyone, but i've always loved that line and after many years of trying to apply it to my own life, i think i've finally got it.
in the hours of deliberation that have followed my flopped date with msfg (i have very patient and supportive girlfriends) i've come to the conclusion that i'm totally justified in 1) remaining steadfast in my opposition to the trend of shishi restaurants and bars with monosyllabic names that has taken chicago by storm and 2) blaming the failure of my planned romance with msfg on his apparent love of such restaurants and bars. while i suspect that i could play the part (of fashionably beat-up jeans with pointy heels and lacy tops), i really don't wanna, for fear that it will stick.
unfortunately, by the same logic, i think i have to be a little careful with some of my more low-brow indulgences, lest i actually turn into a nascar dad. i come to this realization after watching the indy 500 in its entirety today. to be fair, my interest was only sparked after hearing a piece on NPR about danica patrick and all the surrounding semantic controversy, but i have to admit i got totally sucked in and might have picked up a little more knowledge about car racing than i really intended.
the point, i guess, is that if i'm going to claim that i can't do the $10 martini scene because i'm afraid i might actually start to like it, i should probably be drinking a little less PBR.