The Laws of Likeability

What are your laws of likeability? You know, those rules by which you judge a person's potential to be awesome or how much you like them? I think each person's laws are different from another's. For some people it's list. You're either on it or you're not, and you have to earn your place. Maybe for others it's a model. The more you are like this ideal or this perfect person, the more awesome you'll be to this individual. Personally, I've decided to classify my "Law of Likeability" as a sort of scale. Here's how it works.

The first thing I take into account when I first meet a person is his or her physical features. I'm not being shallow here. This is completely natural and logical. (By what else are you supposed to judge a complete stranger?) This will give them a preliminary placement on the scale of awesome. Granted, I do try to give people the benefit of the doubt here and I also try to look at the brighter side of things. (Using myself as an example, my teeth aren't very white, but I have beautiful eyes.)

As I get to know a person more, they will move up or down on the scale. Funny, passionate and/or kind? Up! Petty, spiteful and/or manipulative? Down. Notice here that physical attributes still matter. The fact is, they will always matter. To everyone. Except maybe blind people, but I'm not sure on that one. Beauty is, of course, subjective, (see below for one of my many and ever-changing interpretations) and as time goes on and I get to know a person even more by spending time with him or her and making memories, the effect of  physical beauty is less and less in terms of the scale.

Habits and lifestyle also affect my thoughts on a person's likeability. The general rule is this: the more we have in common, the more I like you. Thusly, smokers and heavy drinkers, perpetually lazy people, and Negative Nancies will constantly be moving down the scale, while people who love children, attend church and have a taste for good, clean fun (like going to amusement parks, whitewater rafting, and watching movies) will always be moving up. Again, I should clarify that, even if we don't have a lot in common, I can still try to be open to your lifestyle and understanding towards your personal decisions, and we can still be friends. It'll just be more difficult with you than people who I have more in common with.

And lastly, intellectual awesomeness. This is a little bit of a slippery subject, since I feel I'm a little bit contradictory when it comes to this. People who agree with me with regards to thought processes and ideologies and people who challenge me in the way I think of things and view the world are appealing to me. It's always nice when my thoughts and ideas are validated and understood by another person, but then again, I do like it when someone shows me something from a different point of view or gives me something to consider that I never have before. I like understanding things.

All these things combine to place people on a 'scale' of sorts. Your placement sometimes drops or goes up, depending on how I feel on any given day and what I'm looking for. (ie: Fun, adventuresome people are less likable to me on days when I'm feeling laid-back and nostalgic. People who are happy and cheerful when are more likeable to me when I'm sad. People who are willing to share food when I'm starving are instantly five times awesomer than when I'm not. Etcetera.) And of course, a person's actions can cause them to become more or less appealing. (This is why I love superheroes, because they're always saving people and being selfless.)

There are some small, personal things that I don't know how to classify that also affect a person's 'likeability' for me. If you play an instrument, yay! If you can sing well, awesome! If you're an awesome writer, w00t! These are just personal tastes, however, as I am a musician, singer, and a writer. haha!