I don't have the ugliness gene

 

I remember when I was a sophomore in college and I was chatting with a young lady at the dorm. "My father dropped me off from home this morning and he told me that these dorms are so ugly that it literally makes him sick." 

Until that second I thought Livingston College dorms were swell looking. I thought for a moment and said, "Oh yes modern government student housing has no sense of the ascetic.  It's all cheaply and shoddily made."  Of course I was trying to impress the lady with my perspicacity. 

In a job I had I was setting up computer terminals with the power supply by the side. I was scolded because what I was creating was an eyesore. It was then I realized that I did not have an ugliness gene. Apparently, I have always been perfectly happy with a functional but ugly apartment, car, or workplace. I love paint stains on concrete and ugly flowered wallpaper.  I love crappy bathrooms in ethnic restaurants. Someone might see the interior of my car and think, "How can he keep that crap in the backseat. Ugh." 

Last week I went to a condominium meeting and this woman was complaining about a truck with a picture of a cow that is parked on the premises. "That's an eyesore!" she exclaimed. I had always thought the truck with the picture of the cow made the place look homey.  It all comes down to the fact that I don't have an ugliness gene.