Finding Solace in the 12 Dates of Christmas
Thanks to my dear friend Erin, host of the podcast ‘You’re Such a Catch’ and cohost of the online dating show ‘Barbie & The Devil’, I’m back down the rabbit hole of smutty dating. shows.
Now, I’m a huge fan of the Netflix dating shows. I just lump them all together, starting with the ‘The Circle’ and the last one I watched, ‘Too Hot to Handle''. I’ve never watched an episode of the Bachelor or the Bachelorette, but there is something about these shows that have absolutely appealed to me, and I’ve either binged watched, or pined for the next upcoming episode of all of these shows.
But why? Well, I can’t blame it on the pandemic. I was knee deep in these shows long before that. I think we as people are natural voyeurs…look at the long enduring popularity of Big Brother…we like observing other people, trying to see exactly what makes them tick, what drives them to make actions and decisions, and in my opinion most importantly, what those observations and our perceptions of them say about us. We watch others to have a better understanding of ourselves.
And when it comes to dating, I need all the research and observation I can get. I was terrible at dating in my 20’s. As I’ve gotten older, I feel I’ve only gotten worse, as I’ve gotten more comfortable in my own skin…in myself as a person. I am a flag waving lifer of #TeamNoFuxGivn.
And yes, that can sometimes be too much for some people to handle. I also liken myself to someone who throws themself into whatever the task at hand is. If I’m setting out to get to know you, well…I want to get to know you, and I’m gonna put my full attention into that endeavor. I feel like that rings a completely different tenor than what is often seen now in the particularly flakey world of online dating. Who actually puts forth full faith and effort?
In a world of endless choices…why even decide on 1?
I am certain in my younger years I fell victim to the constant search for the BBD…The Bigger Better Deal!
But now, as I’ve grown older, and wiser, I know that I simply need someone who complements me well, and can appreciate my idiosyncratic ass. I’m a handful.
So I think perhaps that’s why these shows appeal to me so much. They are like a microcosm of every dating faux pax I or my friends made in our 20’s and 30’s…some of us in our 40’s, and I get to watch a younger generation make all the same mistakes, live and in living color…in high definition no less!
I just started watching Episode 4 of ‘12 Dates of Christmas’ and I’m fairly certain I will be finishing the entire show in a day or two. Super bingeable. All of the contestants are super attractive, like in some cases, almost too much so, like how saccharine is way too sweet to the taste…it’s just obviously augmented in an unnatural way. I must admit that I became super excited when the first contestant from Chicago popped up; a lovely blond named Kate. I know nothing about her at this juncture, but she definitely reads Wicker Park…maybe Streeterville? I’ll get to the bottom of that later.
And so it goes. We shall see how this show stacks up in a few episodes.
