Men are from Mars…filthy, stinking Mars

The difference between the way men and women interact came crashing in on me last night. My wife hosted a “bunko” party, (what—you don’t know what bunko is?)
Bunko is a silly game that women play to get back at their husbands for playing cards with their buddies, so they all schedule an evening a month in advance where they get together, share some food and entertain each other and at some point spend five minutes playing bunko. They pull out all the stops, my wife (who is without fault in every way) cleaned the house for TWO days, she prepared a meal, she bought special paper plates, she made homemade salsa, and the women who attended dressed trendy, did their hair and makeup, brought gifts for the hostess. They made frou-frou (sp?)_ drinks and sat around and talked for 4 hours in my very clean kitchen. The handed out gifts to the winner and hugged each other and thanked each other for the opportunity to spend time together.

Compare and contrast:

My buddies and I play a fairly frequent poker game. We do not plan ahead; we send each other a text or call a cell and say, “were playing tonight. 8:00 o’clock at James’ house.”
You show up. You walk downstairs; there are cans and bottles, spit cups and sunflower seeds everywhere. The basement is not a place for fine dining, it is not exactly a place for any sort of dining. There is a toilet across the room with no walls or doors so you can avoid the hassle of walking up the stairs. There is no expectation to bring a gift, or a bottle of wine, or a vegetable tray. (are sunflower seeds a vegetable?) We play cards, tell dirty stories, and generally wallow in our own filth.

The point of the event is to engage in the activity, in the guys’ case—Texas Hold ‘em. The point of the event for the women is to attend the event, the activity is secondary—in fact I don’t think they even played the game last night.