You don't think he's cute?

I know that this has been covered a hundred times before. But there is a lack of eye candy on the Hill. Of course, this excludes the youngins, the skinterns, that grace us every summer and make all the guys in our office happy. IMHO, the male interns are too pompous/entitled or awkward/annoying to deserve any notice.

Ever since I arrived on the Hill last spring and even when I was an intern back in 2004, I scoured the halls for a handsome face. I rarely found anything and instead, found myself crushing on the "cute" guy down the hall, who in any other setting, any normal girl would probably avoid.

Case-in-point may be that "cute" guy who works in the Capitol. Today, I admitted to one of my coworkers that I was developing a crush on one of the Sergeant at Arms guys. She was a bit appalled, which made me doubt my attraction meter. Has living in D.C. lowered my standards? If I was living in NYC, Miami or LA, would I consider that same guy attractive? Maybe not.

They say that DC is the "Hollywood of Ugly, Smart People," and given responses to The Hill's Most Beautiful on the Hill every year, the Hill may be no exception. But hold on, I don't think that folks on the Hill, or in D.C., are ugly, just average. No, I don't have any false sense of my own looks, as I've already admitted that I'm only a 6 and perhaps a 7 on a good day (i.e., if I had an expert stylist). I'd say that the Hill is full of 6s, with a few 7s and 8s thrown in, which is sad. I like having hot guys to look at. I think it makes me work harder and smile more.

Until things change, I'll continue to settle for the rarity of "cuteness" that I come across--and probably have a heart attack when I finally encounter a truly hot guy up here.

For the record, I still think the CAO guy is cute, just not hot enough to catch my coworker's eye. And that's alright with me (sort of).