Would you date Muffintop McGee?

I love a response to a dating query that includes the phrase "you have my full permission to dip out before she starts eyeing you up like a fat kid at a rib roast".

It's only right that I would agree. There are just some things in the dating world that a guy or girl will be unable to get past because that all important first impression is what counts. If you bumble that first impression, the chance of that other person getting to know you for who you truly are isn't likely to happen.

Imagine if on that first date you shovel food into your pie hole like you've been trapped in a remote West Virginia cave for a few months with nothing to eat but grubs and moss. There are going to be some people who find the fact that you ate not two but three meals repulsive.

That is why, even though it seems shallow, appearances are of the utmost importance. That is why I don't step out of the house wearing something I'd be ashamed to be seen in. Think about sweatpants, would someone of the opposite sex become weak in the knees at the sight of a potential conquest sporting some dumpy, droopy, grey sweatpants and a matching sweatshirt that looks like it was run over by your lawnmower? Think again.

I am far from elite but I have boundaries in style and impressions that I simply won't cross. What are your boundaries?

Pearls on a pig or just dressing up

The most depressing fact about growing up and nearing that magical age of 30 is that the clothes suck. I mean that they truly suck.

I made a promise to myself many years ago that I would never work in a job which requires a tie. Out of curiosity, though, this weekend as the missus browsed for sandals at the beginning of September, I perused the "men's" clothing section at an area retailer which ocassionally features its mannequins in wheelchairs.

The clothes depressed me. Everything looked the same. Some of the shirts, though, had some possibilities but I live by the mantra that everything can look great with some classy denim. And by classy, I don't mean stonewashed Wranglers. All of the men's dress pants are essentially the same. It made me sad to even be wandering through this area of the store.

The "younger" area featured the style of clothes which say "I haven't yet sold my sould but I can still dress nicely". That area was calling my name. It always does. I don't usually buy much in the way of clothes at this particular store but others like it are just the same. Stodgy and stale men's clothing that screams sheeple and a younger men's section full of clothes that say "I don't have to be stale to look good". I am simply repulsed by the fact that "affordable" men's dress clothes resemble those sported by a circa 1994 used car salesman. Is it so bad to want something better? And if the clothes do truly make the man, then that totally negates the "pearls on a pig" analogy I am rather familiar with

Am I alone in noticing this? Do men's dress clothes always come off as stale? Does growing up mean throwing away your individuality?