My least favorite gerund

Dating, meaning in the process of seeing someone of a possible romantic interest on a regular basis. That's a fairly straightforward definition. Obviously the derivation is somewhat more complex, since the verb 'to date' in this sense comes from the noun 'date,' which became an 'occasion on which two people meet for a potentially romantic tryst' because of the practice of 'setting a date' on a calendar for an event. Therefore, 'dating' originates from the notion of a square on a calendar, and I suppose that the subsequent practice of accounting for the time that has passed since one's original 'date' (presuming the dates continued on a relatively unbroken basis), e.g. 'we have been dating for 6 weeks,' makes sense.

But here's the problem for me. Going on 'dates' implies that one sets a date for each meeting and that they are finite occasions in and of themselves. But 'dating' doesn't have to mean a series of dates. Amongst people in their 20s and 30s in the city, it can mean 'having slept together more than once and in full knowledge of the other's first and last names.' It is also used to describe a relationship in which people spend all of their time together, possibly sharing a living arrangement, without the existence of a marriage agreement.

So 'dating' is what you are doing from the moment you decide to sleep with someone a second time until you get married?

This is why I hate this word. I don't think I would hate it if there were acceptable gradations with their own terms. I would still have issues with its etymology, as well as with the annoying sound it makes coming out of people's mouths, but I would not unfairly hold it responsible for the dearth of descriptive terms for the varying levels of relationships.

Other options only make things more confusing: 'hooking up,' which means sleeping together but not (apparently?) going on actual dates; 'hanging out,' which means spending time together and possibly sleeping together but exhibiting an unwillingness to even commit to a nebulous term like 'dating;' 'in a relationship,' which to some people means 'almost married' and to others means 'seeing someone more than once a week.'

All of this crap is indicative of the fact that no one seems to meet anyone they actually want to be involved with; it also seems to show that even if someone is very interested, they won't risk losing face by admitting to any more interest than the lowest level of involvement description.

At any rate, all of this lexical confusion isn't making me any more eager to splash around in the (ew) dating pool.

Movin on up

Apparently this used to say 'Slum Historique,' but that's been painted over. Maybe if the neighborhood that shares my name is moving up in the world (or at least shedding its 'slum' label), it's a sign that I might also get gentrified sometime soon! Of course, if that just means more hipsters mooching around, I'll pass.

My headache was so bad this morning, I wished this water was running over my brain

Another Dream, Worse Premise, Surprisingly Better Waking Feeling

I dreamt I was in prison. It was a better dream than the one about the former boyfriend marrying the new girlfriend. I saw him yesterday. He didn't say anything about impending nupitals. But I'm more concerned about the state of my subconscious than the state of his commitment levels. Although I am also concerned about that.

The Most Beautiful Building in DC (too bad about half of its inhabitants)

Missed Connections are So Dumb

Why would you want to meet a person who trawls hundreds of posts every day to see if anyone's written something about them?

Right before I woke up this morning I dreamt my former boyfriend told me he was going to marry his current girlfriend

Now I have no appetite and can't think of a good reason I exist. Why do people get so excited about dreams? No matter what my unconscious is telling me, it's something I don't want to know.

It's my mother. I'll put it on speaker.

I love the Geico cavemen.

Through these fields of destruction, baptisms of fire

15th Street between R and S, NW

The More Loving One

Looking up at the stars, I know quite well

That, for all they care, I can go to hell,

But on earth indifference is the least

We have to dread from man or beast.



How should we like it were stars to burn

With a passion for us we could not return?

If equal affection cannot be,

Let the more loving one be me.



Admirer as I think I am

Of stars that do not give a damn,

I cannot, now I see them, say

I missed one terribly all day.



Were all stars to disappear or die,

I should learn to look at an empty sky

And feel its total dark sublime,

Though this might take me a little time.

-W.H. Auden

My Two Favorite Lines from Kiss Kiss Bang Bang

"I swear to God, it's like somebody took America by the East Coast, and shook it, and all the normal girls managed to hang on."

and

"Badly is an adverb. So to say you feel badly would be saying that the mechanism which allows you to feel is broken."

Hidden Casita

My favorite line from The Last Days of Disco

"I *wish* we were yuppies. Young, upwardly mobile, professional. Those are *good* things, not bad things."

Coal and Carlisle

Across a wire

My favorite line from Thank You For Smoking

"Kind of makes you want to stop eating sushi, but I guess you kind of have to."