Honesty is the best policy

I've always thought that being up front was the best way to be in my relationships with people. I'd rather have someone be honest with me that I have a hanger in my nose, my breath stinks or that I should go change into a pair of jeans that are a little less honest about showing the actual size of my rear end. However, when I turn the tables, I have trouble telling people these things. I try to live by the rule to treat people the way I wanted to be treated, but then I fall short here a little.

But c'mon, there's a limit to how honest you should be with someone. For instance, before a friend goes out for the evening, you probably shouldn't say, "Man, do you ever look rough. Have you been getting enough sleep lately?" At that point there's really nothing they can do about the situation and you'll just make them feel like a sizable pile of steaming doodoo. On the other hand, I can go change my jeans. Hopefully I can find a pair that look better though. If not, then it may be another half an hour of having a fit before I finally throw my hands up in the air and pour another glass of wine. So uh, good intentions are great and all, but a little judgment is needed there...

There are certain things that people tell me that just stick there in my head forever. For instance, I'd heard before that everyone has an ugly side (and I'm not talking about character-wise). I mean an ugly side of their face. Block half of your face and look in the mirror, and then block the other half and you may be able to determine which side is the fairer one and which one would turn the opposite sex to stone. Anyways, so I knew all this when I'm in the passenger side of a friend's truck and he turns to look at me. Then he cringes and says this: "Yeah, that's definitely your ugly side."

Ever since then, whenever I'm in a car with a guy, I'm the one cringing at the thought that he's looking at my quasi-motoish side the whole time. Geez, I'd really be in trouble by the end of a long road trip! Y'see, there's no way to shield my face like I can hide my butt with a long shirt or baggy pants or by just not walking away from them, ever. I can't exactly don a balaclava or a clown mask whilst riding in the passenger seat of my date's car...

This leaves me in a quandry. Do I insist on driving all the time? Perhaps I'll just have to turn and face him constantly while pointing out things for him to look at outside the car. Or maybe, just maybe, I could try have such a sparkling personality that he doesn't even notice :)