“Pop Quiz, Hotshot!”

My officemates were playing this pop-quiz game, and their “what-if” question was this: if you were another person, would you fall for/have a crush on/court yourself? Pretend you’re another person and you met your own self. Would you like you enough to court you? (For straights, your “other person” should be of the opposite sex; for gays, the same gender.)

When they asked me, I didn’t hesitate to answer: “Yes, I’d find me interesting. I like myself, actually.” Then I walked back to my desk.

There I pondered the question some more. I know my negative points, and while some of them can be a turn-off for me, my other traits more than make up for them. But here’s the rub: while I may like me, there are other guys who’ll interest me more than me.

Let’s pretend I enter a bar full of men, including me (whom we will call “Me” for clarity’s sake.) I realize Me won’t be the first person I’d look at because, physically, I am not my type. (Which I think is easily explainable in psychological terms: we don’t necessarily look for a mirror image of ourselves.)

But going past the physical, once I get to know Me and figure out what Me is like, then I believe I wouldn’t mind hanging out with Me. I’ll hit it off quite well with Me, because we have the same sense of humor and interests.

Will I want a long-term relationship with Me? Hmmm. Well… lifelong friends, sure. But have Me as a boyfriend or “husband”? I don’t want to live with a mirror image of me.

What I found interesting is that almost half answered “no” to that question. Genuine lack of self-esteem or pa-humble effect? Honest self-assessment or safe answer to an embarrassing question?

You, dear viewer: would you fall for your self?