RUDOLPH, MARSHMALLOW PEEPS, AND DATING. My parents purchased our first VCR in 1986. It was the day after Thanksgiving. One of the first things we used it for...was to record Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer and Twas The Night Before Christmas, two annual television specials that were only aired once a year. It was a huge event for my brothers and sister and I, to watch these specials on TV, because it meant that Christmas was just around the corner. And because the shows were only aired once a year, we would forget little things that happened with the characters, and in the plot, so it was almost like watching something new. That all changed with our new VCR. We could watch anything we recorded, whenever we wanted. We could watch Rudolph all day, everyday, and we DID. But then something strange happened. The following year, when the time came for holiday Christmas specials...it wasnt a big deal anymore. No excitement. No anticipation. No counting down days on the calendar. We had watched Rudolph a hundred times over the course of the year, and nobody cared that it was on tv. Remember when Cadbury creme eggs REALLY only came around once a year? And marshmallow Peeps were only an Easter thing? When I was a kid, these were seasonal treats. You could only get them for a brief window of time, and then they went away for a whole year. Nowadays...you can pretty much always find some incarnation of the Cadbury egg on the shelf at your local grocery store, drug store, gas station, etc. They have them for every holiday. They just change the packaging. Same goes for the Peeps. Depending on the time of year, you can find marshmallow pumpkins, ghosts, hearts, gingerbread men, and four leaf clovers. And I cant tell you the last time I had any of that. Because I know they are always available. There is no sense of urgency. I can always get more. Im starting to feel the same way about online dating. With the onset of matchmaking sites, and hook up apps, it has become ridiculously simple to connect with people. Thanks to my smart phone, I hold in my hand a long list of single men, who are looking to meet up. Men in my home town. Men who live fifty miles away. Men who live across the ocean. Technology has made communication much easier for people who otherwise would never cross paths. For gay people the idea is particularly attractive because we dont have to waste time trying to figure out who is gay, and who is not. The profiles are all clearly labeled like perfect little packages That should make it easier to make a romantic connection, right? Just go down the list, see who you are the most compatible with, and live happily ever after. But wait...there are a hundred MORE men at the press of a button. And a thousand MORE after that. One shiny, perfectly labeled package distracts you from another shiny, perfectly labeled package, and so on, and so forth. Its easy to get caught up in a never ending stream of profile surfing/ small talk when you dont feel the need to get to know people. And why would you feel that need? Every thing you could possibly want to know is printed on the package. And there are plenty of perfectly packaged fish in the sea. Too much of a good thing is a GREAT thing, right? Right? I have friends who take advantage of the online meet-market to a fantastic degree. They hook up with whoever. Sleep with whoever...a different person every night. And when I ask how they keep up with all of it, the quick, shallow connections with one person after another, they tell me its no big deal, and then go on complaining about how lonely they are, as they continue to peruse perfectly packaged peeps. I guess what Im saying...is that I dont ever want it to be no big deal for me. I enjoy the hunt. I want the nervous anticipation. And the excitement. I want the waiting. I want to work for it. I want to earn it. I dont want to stuff my mouth with Peeps all year, because then Peeps start to lose what made me like them in the first place. So...as tempting as it may be, Im not gonna record Rudolph.
Posted on: Sun, 10 Aug 2014 23:16:01 +0000
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