My Laminated List

Who's on your Laminated List?
Don't pretend you don't have one. You do. You know you do.
Your list of "who you'd want to sleep with AND have permission to sleep with IF you actually had the opportunity..." That's one GIANT "if", which is the fun of the Laminated List. The "if" has pretty much zero chance of happening, so it's just ridiculously fun contemplation of who everyone thinks is sexy. It's an interesting reveal of everyone's WILDLY varying definitions of sexy.

The Laminated List game has been going on for decades. Literally. My list has at various times contained names like Sting, the Edge, Colin Firth, Denzel Washington, Daniel Craig. Mind you, those names span over thirty years of evolving lists. They weren't on all at the same time, but you get the idea. Good looking men, all of them (imo). Perhaps Sting and The Edge aren't quite on the same level, looks-wise, as the others, but they still make it onto the list because... musicians. You get it. You know you do.

I never really thought of the Laminated List as anything more than a fun topic of (usually drunken) conversation between me and my girlfriends. Everyone's lists always contained similar subjects, ranging from Brad Pitt to Tom Cruise to Timothy Olyphant (I realize that's not really a range so much as a homogenous group). Nothing shocking. No one out of the ordinary or unexpected--generally widely agreed-upon Hollywood A-list specimens of genetics.

But then. I noticed. My list changed. I mean, like, morphed into something completely different. Or maybe I morphed into someone completely different.

Because in my 20's (and 30's and 40's), the people who currently occupy my list would NEVER IN A MILLION YEARS have made made it through my screening criteria. In my 20's (and 30's and 40's) my list was a reflection of what society put forth as appealing. Sexy was defined by People Magazine, and I based my selections on its parameters.

I guess I got old. In fact based on who's currently on my list, I got shockingly old.

So without further ado, I give you full permission to analyze my psyche (and taste in men) based on current occupants of my Laminated List:

Jeff Daniels (I will say this one has more to do with Sorkin's writing, probably)
Jon Stewart (a bitingly sarcastic, intellectual wit compensates for lack of height)
Barack Obama (I know, very Fleabag of me)
Andrew Scott (yes, yes I do know he's gay)
Richard Engel (so many languages... so much danger)

What has happened to me?
Not a rock star in the bunch.
Yes, I did get old(er). But also wiser. Who I find appealing in my 50's has much more to do with who a person is, what they represent, as opposed to what they look like.

Sense of humor. Wit. Intelligence. Honor. Bravery. Talent. Ability to express ideas. Selflessness. Truth to power. Service. Humility. That's all sexy.

I've completely over-analyzed the evolution of my definition of sexy at this point and have taken all the fun out of the Laminated List, which is really just supposed to be a light-hearted party game, not a Socratic exercise in existentialism.

We save that serious stuff for Marry, #$*@, Kill.