Speed Dating

Speed is a drug, which is illegal and bad for you. More to the point of this post, however, it is also a word which can be used to modify the word dating to imply the dating has been done quickly. In our world of lonely, desperate people who are used to the immediate gratification of mass-produced goods and McDonald's a practice has arisen in an attempt to provide instant relief to the loneliness of these poor people; this practice is referred to as speed dating.

In all of the portrayals of speed dating which I have seen or heard (having never personally participated in this ritual), a whole lot of lonely people, or people looking to have a fun time laughing at the sheer hilarity of the situation, gather together, and rotate through each other, trying to find a soul mate from a 5 minute conversation. And while I am sure there are some success stories, I would imagine they are few and far between. Soul mates probably don't exist, and even if they did, they simply do not fall out of the sky to deliver their prepared 90-second autobiography in such a way as to capture your heart forever.

"Speed dating" is also what my sister-friend has accused me of doing lately. And to some extent, she's right. The track record doesn't look that great, you know? I think I sometimes come off as ridiculous, flighty, and reckless. I don't want to be ridiculous. I don't think I am ridiculous, even. Confident, yes. Passionate, definitely. Also probably a little hasty. But, not to worry! None of this has ended in disaster!

I have been labeled as "enthusiastic" before. Not that that means anything; I've been labeled as a lot of things before (brilliant, dumb, talented, annoying... lots of labels), but I think this one's pretty accurate. I have a tendency to be excited about life, and everything that's going on in it. I try to make the best of what I've got, and usually am not easily dissuaded from the course of action I have decided upon. Actually, "not easily dissuaded" is probably not descriptive enough. Basically, I throw my whole self into things. It usually works out pretty well, but having invested my heart into my decisions makes it pretty rough when they don't go well. Not to worry, however- pretty soon, I'll decide on something new to be excited about!

Anyhow... back to the topic. I was talking to my friend from home, who I only ever see about once a year. Maybe twice. So, we really just see snippets of each others' lives when we talk to each other every few weeks, or sometimes months. Over this past year, it feels like every time I talk to her, it's about a different boy. So she's got this idea in her head that I am being a little bit silly, and setting myself up to get hurt a million different times. Today, we were chatting, and she asked "So, how's the speed dating going?" and I wasn't sure if I should laugh or feel a little offended. Being thought of as a speedy little flirt is not exactly my goal in life. But from the snippets of my life she gets, I guess it makes sense that it could look that way.

Whatever. I'm just frustrated and rambling now. I'm excited regardless of what the confused people at home think. And so I think I'm done with this irritated post.