Sliding Scale of Expectations

I don't understand why I'm even remotely interested in him. A is the complete opposite of me. I am in my fourth year of my chemistry and recently decided to stay an extra year in undergrad because I want to go to graduate school for biochemistry. A is a crane operator. It requires skill I know but really I don't see much brain power going in there. It drives me bananas how little he cares for his health. He has lived half of his life already and doesn't even know it. At 22, his life is half over. He smokes at least a pack a day, doesn't wear his sleep apnea mask and he is over weight. A week ago, A told me in more words than ever necessary that I wasn't good enough for him. How does one cope with being told by someone "lesser" that they are not worth even entertaining the thought of being with them?

It's the dumb ones that always manage to fool me. Perhaps because I expect so little from them that when they exceed their expectations they then seem worthy of my attention. That's really what it comes down to. Expectations. If we expect someone not meet them, or we have fewer than we should for that individual, when/if they exceed them, they are now granted some sort of access to us. Why do we grant them this sort of access when we know in the long run it won't work? I usually say there should be at least 5 things in common with the other person. You can't think on these 5 things, they should come quite quickly. There are exceptions to the rule, but those exceptions are the dangerous ones. Why is it that our expectations are on a sliding scale?

The sliding scale can be ended if we know what we want. I didn't want a relationship, still don't. But at some point men start to think and all they want to do is get away instead of talking. School keeps me busy enough, that I don't need a man-child nagging the hell out of me or whining that I'm not around enough or that I don't talk enough. I wanted to sleep with Adam, see where it went; but it probably would have fizzled out in a couple of months anyway.

Perhaps we should be happy with what comes along and not worry about anything else. But I feel that we should have values and standards that we keep ourselves to. One must remember that there is a plan and a path for us out there and not to sweat the small things.