Ahh....I love jazz. It puts me in such a good, pleasant mood. As a small note for any future romantic interests: if you don't like jazz, then you'd better make me a cake to make up for that. You know, I've started this post three times now. The first time I left because my friend came over, the second time my browser crashed on me, the third time...wait, there wasn't a third time. W\e.

Why can't we all just be friends? No, I'm not talking about world peace or something like that. I'm talking about all those people who think that dating before you're ready to commit yourself to a serious relationship is a good idea. I mean, I understand that you have some emotional attachment to a specific person, because I have the same thing going on in me(it's rather annoying), but taking it farther than a friendship is pointless. First of all, you're taking a huge risk. If something goes wrong, if hearts are broken, you lose a friendship that otherwise could have been incredible. I don't understand what is so attractive about taking that risk. Is it an adventure for you? Exploring something new? Well, take my word for it, I've been there, and it was empty. Yeah, I never went the distance, I've never kissed, but I somehow doubt that a purely physical experience would lead to anything but sexual desires.

Maybe the attractive thing is the benefits that are enjoyed by a person in a relationship. They enjoy all the many perks of having a partner, like...um...let me think, what is there besides physical contact? Wow, I can't really think of anything. I mean, if you can't give anything of yourself but your body, what are you in a relationship for? Let me elaborate. In a perfect relationship, both parties are willing to give their entire life to the other. In an adolescent relationship both parties are willing to give...what? I really doubt that anyone reading this blog is willing to give anything more than a kiss, certainly they aren't going to give their life. I suppose that they give their "love", which is actually not love, since love(as my brother so insightfully pointed out) is a combination of emotion and reason, and entering a relationship with no intentions of even considering a lifetime commitment is certainly not reasonable. Now, here's the killer. Friendships can have that true love. No, not the same kind of love as between couples, but a friend's love. You like the person, you enjoy being around them, you have a good time with them, and you have positive emotion for them. At the same time, you give a commitment to the person, not on the same level as marriage, certainly, but as a true friend, you are loyal to them, through all those rough patches. When you ask them out before you're ready for marriage, you're effectively saying "You know, I know this is going to fall apart eventually, but I want to have you now, because I want gratification now." You remove that commitment that you had to them previously, because asking them out is only asking for pain, and that is not loyalty, that's selfishness. It's like going out and robbing a bank because you don't want to save up for that sweet new car, or dress, or chocolate bar, whatever strikes your fancy. Yeah, eventually you're going to end up in jail, and the new item will be damaged so that it's value is less than it was previously(would you buy a half-eaten chocolate bar?). Also, it's unlikely that you'll be able to admire that new car(be friends with?) for some time. Yeah, iron bars and grey walls don't look like new cars. Feel free to read as much as you want to into my analogy, I can think of a lot of lessons that could be drawn from it(post-relationship depression :P).

Well, I'm feeling much better now. If any of you out there are in a relationship, try not to feel too offended, or whatever you feel after reading it. I mean, I would encourage you to try and put the relationship back on a friendship level, but I know that's not practical. It's your call...

Yeah, that was my rant, if any of you reading this disagree with what I said, feel free to argue with me, I'll be reading my comments :).