Flirting in public continues to resume, but muted by masks

Two high school girls cornered me in a supermarket yesterday to say, "I really like your shirrrt..."

For the record, the same shirt that an alt girl complemented me on when I flirted with her at a thrift store, as related in this recent post on the resumption of flirting in public with the beginning of the restless warm-up phase of the 15-year excitement cycle.

It's an edgy B+W graphic tee with lots of areas of contrast (same principle as a checker-board pattern), with the background being black. And yesterday I was wearing white pants, and black shoes. So, reviving the B+W craze that's typical during a restless warm-up phase -- very big in the late 2000s, but also the early '90s, and the late '70s (second wave ska, Parallel Lines cover by Blondie, etc.).

I think the "alt" look of 2019-'20 is pretty much dead by now, sadly. Like the attempt to revive the scene queen maximalist look of the late 2000s, or the anime / cosplay influence from the 2010s. The 2005-2019 cycle was a high-energy cycle, and this new cycle is going to be a less-intense one, similar to the 1990-2004 cycle (they alternate).

But the all-black-and-white thing is still going. I saw a trio of alt girls in a different supermarket the other week, each one wearing only B+W.

And one of the girls yesterday was wearing high-waisted shorts with a B+W piebald cow pattern. Something I don't think I've seen before -- zebra, cheetah, etc., yes, but not cows.

OMG -- it was like the Gateway computer logo from the '90s! And the cover of the early '90s Aerosmith album Get a Grip. Talk about convergent evolution... similar zeitgeists hit on similar outcomes, without conscious imitation. Random / wacky patterns are going to come back.

Anyway, it's too bad that the two teens were wearing masks, since I pretty much ignore those people by now. It feels really anti-social, when the tide has shifted so much against masks. But maybe they're just doing what their parents tell them, or they haven't gotten vaxxed yet (thank God, they don't need it), or whatever.

They must have been eying me for awhile, since we were headed toward each other for at least 50 feet with no one in between us. Then right as I was about to turn away from them, they made their move and said their words -- but muffled through the masks, and with their facial expressions hidden behind the masks.

It really didn't hit as hard as the typical unsolicited flirtation from teens usually hits. I barely had enough time to process it, from the masks muting their signal. I was already turning away, and turned my head back around to say thanks to them, before parting ways.

Imagine if I were also wearing a mask -- this whole charade has totally warped the social development of young people, hopefully not for life. But the longer they delay the total eradication of COVID security theater, the less likely they'll be to reach a healthy recovery.