It's Thursday, time for Rant of the Week!

Okay, so here's the beef for today. Dating sucks. There's my thesis statement. I will now proceed to tell you all what brought this sentiment on, and then go into precisely why I have made this assertion.

For one thing, last weekend I missed (most thankfully) the wedding of two of my childhood friends. They together make a grand total of five people that I grew up with who have bitten the proverbial matrimonial dust. This is a very depressing thing. Now, before you protest, (and I know what you're thinking: "Ronny, what the crap are you complaining about? You're 19, and you being not married is in NO way depressing." And in this I would concur. However, shut up now so I can finish what I was saying, you.) let me explain why I find this depressing. I do not think that it is sad that they are married and I am not, because we both know that I will never marry and stop trying to make me. I am saddened, because these two individuals have dated only eachother since they were small, and now they are done with dating entirely, after barely any experience in the modern dating world. I, on the other hand, also have very little experience in the modern dating world, but unlike them, I still look foreward to a long, aggrivating, grueling, stressful, and quite possibly painful road just littred with the kind of crap that they now get to avoid. Unfair? Most definitely.
Why? Because dating sucks. The preceding statement is based on over five years of experience on my own part, giving me the qualifications to make that judgment. I'm not saying that it sucks for everybody, all the time, (but I'm going to imply that I think a lot of people feel the way I do on this matter) but just for the sake of leaving the straw man in peace, let's just say I'm right. If done correctly, I suppose that it could be a really fun custom. But rather like all ancient and simplistic traditions, the pure and fun nature of dating has since been corrupted and turned into a sick and twisted game, in which the players set out strategies, try to confuse and mislead their opponent, and fight for ultimate control. In a way, dating has become like Risk, or Monopoly. In the beginning, we all join because we think it will be fun, and who knows, we might win this time. But the more experienced players, as well as the devious game itself, knows that we are fools for the taking. The game starts innocently enough, but soon becomes tedious and difficult, and we soon realize that we're either going to have to risk it all, lose everything, or both. In short, we will either wind up forfieting, or "getting the s*** kicked out of us by love" as a famous poet once said. I for one would rather not play by these rules. Why can't we just kick a can, like in the old days, hmm??? Why must it all be so friggin complicated? I quit.