Nah, what you do is better

I met a man after the show Friday night who told me he was an underwear model for Ralph Lauren.  My head was sweaty under my hat from singing and stomping for two hours under the lights and I suddenly felt very self-conscious, talking to a possible (and it did look possible) New York underwear model.

He said if I went to the store to buy those Ralph Lauren undies, that would be him on the package.  I can't remember if I told him out loud that while I've known people who wore those, I probably wouldn't be buying them myself.*  I hope not, but after my award-winningly awkward stage banter that night, I feel it is a distinct possibility.

He pointed to his friend leaning on the bar and told me an intersection in Manhattan where I could find a billboard of him in his skivvies.

"Wow, I bet that's a sweet gig!" I said.  The idea of a single photo shoot that would make me enough money to live on for even a few months sounded dreamy to me.  I wasn't thinking as much about the prospect of me in my drawers - taller than a house - hovering over honking cabs and other city dealings.

"Nah, what you do up there is better.  It's creative - you guys are lucky.  I wish I had some talent.  I just started modeling 'cause I thought it would lead to acting."

My mind immediately jumped to the wrong kind of films, but I'm positive I didn't say anything out loud about that.

"I usually just tell people I'm a golf caddy or something like that because I don't like all the questions."

I tried to picture him as a golf caddy, but it was still winter in my mind's eye so I didn't get very far.  His eyes seemed genuinely wistful.

He told me his name.  I forgot it as I told him mine.

He bought a CD.

I wished him luck with his acting career.



*That said, it's not above me.  Men's undies are SO much more comfortable than women's!  They don't ride up!  Even GRANNY PANTIES ride up!  It's one of the smaller injustices in the realm of sexist inequity, I realize, but it's tied to bigger trends, by god.