The context is a guy I know from work (I've talked to him maybe 6 or 7 times total) called me on my cell phone (a number I never gave him, but would be pretty easy to get at work) and said he was telling his daughter about me and decided that we might like each other, so he gave me her number and said I should call her. He's a nice guy. He's big, he towers over me.
At least you're over the awkward part of meeting one of her parents.
Plus he obviously approves of you.
I'd take the date, you could have fun. Worst case scenario you have a hilarious story of crazy people. Maybe you'll turn up to the date and find out that it's him in drag.
I thought Lauren was short. Tanya's crazy tall. She's like 6'. So, yeah, I called her up on break today and we're gonna go out on Sunday. It didn't sound like her father trying to disguise his voice, but who knows. I'm sure at the very worst it'll at least be fun. I've never been a fan of arranging dates and such. I prefer to just meet people while I'm already out. She seems nice so far, I'll find out this weekend.
Am I the tallest Orange Beltian? I'm 6'3". But if we're doing that whole, super specific thing, I might only be 6'2.8" or some such. I know when they measured me in cm in Japan, I was one half cm less than I expected when I did the math in my head. But they may have rounded off.
Taller than me... I'm... 5'8"? I'm exactly as tall as my wife. It works out well.
See, I'll concur with this. Having your partner the same height (more or less) as you has many benefits. I shan't list them, but Andrew knows what they are.
See, I'll concur with this. Having your partner the same height (more or less) as you has many benefits. I shan't list them, but Andrew knows what they are.
I went so long without realizing this, and now that I'm dating a boy who is just slightly taller than me instead of a gnome, my eyes have been opened to all sorts of new joys in the world.
Dating someone who is as skinny as you are is also amazing.
She's about 6' and cute. We went to an aquarium. Spent about 3.5 hours together total. Hopefully we'll hang out again, aquariums don't inspire memorable conversations.
I learned a valuable life lesson today that I think everyone needs to know. Kellogg's Fiver One Bars are not granola bars. They are full of fiber.... and it works.
I learned a valuable life lesson today that I think everyone needs to know. Kellogg's Fiver One Bars are not granola bars. They are full of fiber.... and it works.
KUNMING, China — The casting call went out across China earlier this year, in newspapers and online: Entertainers needed for a new theme park, no special skills required.
Applicants should be 18-40 years old, from any part of the country. The only stipulation? To work at the Kingdom of Dwarves performers must be shorter than 4' 3".
Since the park opened this summer in the mountains outside of Kunming, about 80 little people have signed on. Twice a day, they take to the stage to entertain smatterings of Chinese tourists by singing, dancing and performing slapstick comedy in the model of ubiquitous Chinese television variety shows. The dwarve are not, for the most part, accomplished singers, comedians or Qi Gong masters. The “king” is a 40-year-old dwarf and the shortest performer on the payroll, a tough-looking, silent character dressed in gold silk pajamas, who cruises away on his three-wheeled motorcycle after the show.
They are on stage because they are different, and in China, being different often means being a spectacle.
“I think this is a very unusual place, and quite funny,” said Li Ximing, a visitor from Kunming.
To many around the world, the very idea of putting people on stage to perform simply because they don’t look like everyone else is cringe-inducing. But even though they must dress up in frilly princess and caped warrior costumes befitting small children and dance for tourists, performers at the bizarre theme park see this place as a haven from the overwhelming discrimination they face in China at large.
“Back home, strangers will stare at and they look down on us,” said Yang Lichun of Beijing, who moved across the country to work at the park this summer with her fiance. “If we can even find jobs at home, we have to work harder than everyone else to prove ourselves.”
This is not a protective commune founded by dwarves, as some media reports have insisted. The performers do not live in the tiny concrete mushroom houses that serve as a backdrop for their shows, but in nearby dormitories. It is a for-profit theme park run by a Yunnan province-based venture capital company. The workers simply see this as dagong — the modern Chinese notion of migrant work, leaving your hometown for a job elsewhere. Tens of millions do it for factory and construction work; these workers came here to put on a show for tourists who want to see little people.
Disabled and different people are often shunned in China, and hiring discrimination based on physical appearance is widely accepted. Still, parks where the amusement is people are a dicey topic, especially given a shady past rife with stories of China’s ethnic minorities being rounded up and displayed in the mode of circus freak shows.
But to hear the workers tell it, there’s no better place to be right now — the underlying social attitude actually made the workers want to come to the remote park, and want to stay.
Yi Shaobo, 28, used to work in an auto parts factory in his native Wuhan, 1,200 miles east of here. He doesn’t earn a lot more at the Kingdom of Dwarves, but he prefers it.
“I didn’t come here for the money. I came because it made me happy,” said Yi. “People at the factory had to help me with my job, and I wanted to be independent.”
Performers earn between $120 and $175 per month, depending on their role. It’s about as much as a factory worker earns, and more than most could make back home. More importantly, the little people here say they have found camaraderie and respect they don’t often get in the outside world. Inside the Kingdom of Dwarves (the park’s own translation), because the performers are all small, nobody is judged on height. They joke and tease about dating and about falling in love. The gossip has it that eight little people already have met mates here.
The park, which sits about an hour away from central Kunming, is tucked away in the mountains, inside a larger venue devoted to butterflies. The performers live there, isolated from city life — both a good and a bad thing for most. It’s clear the honeymoon phase won’t last forever, especially as tourist numbers are low so far. Still, the performers hope for the best.
“I’ll work here as long as this park is open,” said Yang.
Comments
Sounds deliciously awkward.
Plus he obviously approves of you.
I'd take the date, you could have fun. Worst case scenario you have a hilarious story of crazy people. Maybe you'll turn up to the date and find out that it's him in drag.
You could discover a whole new level of awkward!
There can only be ONE!! :mad:
Also, I'm 5'11", definitely not short
He remembers me against a backdrop of adorable little Chinese girls, so I surely appeared a giant in comparison. I'm actually only 5'10". Mish wins.
See, I'll concur with this. Having your partner the same height (more or less) as you has many benefits. I shan't list them, but Andrew knows what they are.
I went so long without realizing this, and now that I'm dating a boy who is just slightly taller than me instead of a gnome, my eyes have been opened to all sorts of new joys in the world.
Dating someone who is as skinny as you are is also amazing.
They are also delicious as hell
In China, it's a small world after all
In fact as they seem to enjoy it so much, more power to them.