Sunday, March 8, 2009
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
How to Get Cheap Dates for Free
I just don't under modern youth and their attitude about dates.
Let's reflect.
Things which dates have to mean:
Doing something. Outings, activities, entertainment, eating.
One-on-One fun. Unless it's a double date, which I have other opinions about.
Things which a date does not have to mean:
Another date.
Seriousness.
Dating.
Dates can be just for fun. Fun like, getting dressed up, going out, feeling pretty, playing.
But alas, at some point going on a date became equivocal with "dating" which, as you know, is derived from the root "going steady." As in, to go on dates with the same person, over and over and over until you have related enough with them that you are now in a "relationship." Thus to today's youth the act of going on a date has taken on such heavy meanings that they are often deterred from the activity altogether.
But I say we must reclaim the date! We must liberate it from the tyranny of the relationship! We must set it loose from the bounds of implicit commitment into the freedom of unrestrained fun! And, as with most acts of liberation and reclamation, I say we start a collective.
The Date Collective
The Date Collective, as an idea, was born on the day that I purchased a pair of brown peep-toed heels from a costume sale for $1. What fabulous shoes to wear on a date, said I suggestively to my friends. If only I had someone to take me out in them, I continued. But unfortunately, much to my surprise, not a soul stepped forward.
Date Collective rules:
The Date Collective must always have an even number of participants.
The Date Collective is gender-neutral and queer-friendly.
Date Collective dates are expressly not romance-romantic, aka the No Kissing on Date Collective Dates rule. If you want to kiss, go on a separate date! Friend-Romantic is okay.
Dates will be distributed by random secret drawing.
After drawing, you have one week to ask and take out your date.
You are allowed to, politely, decline a date but you must then either throw a party or bake a cake for the person who asked you.
People got so stoked on drawing that everyone walked away with two potential dates, one they had to ask and one who would ask them.
I got three!
People got cre-a-tive with both their dates and how they asked people out. One date was a cooking lesson with the results shared with the rest of the collective. Notes were passed, songs were played at open mics, friends took friends out on dates.
The potential beauty inherent:
At the point that this was organized, most of the kids involved were just getting to know each other. People had already fallen in step with those they were most likely to. However, through random selection, even those unlikely to spend time with each other got to. Even for those that already knew and liked each other, it was both getting to know a friend in a new way and getting to be really silly. I attempted to act like a perfect gentleman on my dates and on one of them felt totally nervous and really first-datey about the whole thing, which was silly cause I was living with my date.
Oh well, such is the nature of it all, I suppose.
I feel as though the opportunities for a Date Collective are endless. In embracing dates and dates with your friends specifically, we reject any sort of framework that tells us there is one way and one way only in which romance is to be conducted. Love, fun, excitement, butterflies--these are not to be regulated. They are for everyone.
The Date Collective, Bringing People Together Just to Take Them Out. you know--on dates!
ideas for free dates:
a trip to your local animal shelter to play with kittens.
drawing with sidewalk chalk.
making a comic book together.
dumpstering groceries and enjoying a picnic.
writing letters to those you love.
going on a bike ride.
going swimming at your local lake/ocean/hotel pool.
writing uplifting anonymous notes and leaving them in public or secret places.
exploring the roofs of your city.
watching the sunset/rise/stars/city lights.
playing tag.
having a water fight.
having a slow motion dance party (seriously silly but super fun, you should try this just by yourself even).
in cold times, snow related activities.
guerilla gardening tomato/pepper plants (whatever seeds are easily collectible for free)
teaching each other new skills, like cool crafts or mathematic formulas or how to make chili.
reading excerpts from your favorite books
and about one trillion others that you should just think of yourself!
Let's reflect.
Things which dates have to mean:
Doing something. Outings, activities, entertainment, eating.
One-on-One fun. Unless it's a double date, which I have other opinions about.
Things which a date does not have to mean:
Another date.
Seriousness.
Dating.
Dates can be just for fun. Fun like, getting dressed up, going out, feeling pretty, playing.
But alas, at some point going on a date became equivocal with "dating" which, as you know, is derived from the root "going steady." As in, to go on dates with the same person, over and over and over until you have related enough with them that you are now in a "relationship." Thus to today's youth the act of going on a date has taken on such heavy meanings that they are often deterred from the activity altogether.
But I say we must reclaim the date! We must liberate it from the tyranny of the relationship! We must set it loose from the bounds of implicit commitment into the freedom of unrestrained fun! And, as with most acts of liberation and reclamation, I say we start a collective.
The Date Collective
The Date Collective, as an idea, was born on the day that I purchased a pair of brown peep-toed heels from a costume sale for $1. What fabulous shoes to wear on a date, said I suggestively to my friends. If only I had someone to take me out in them, I continued. But unfortunately, much to my surprise, not a soul stepped forward.
Date Collective rules:
The Date Collective must always have an even number of participants.
The Date Collective is gender-neutral and queer-friendly.
Date Collective dates are expressly not romance-romantic, aka the No Kissing on Date Collective Dates rule. If you want to kiss, go on a separate date! Friend-Romantic is okay.
Dates will be distributed by random secret drawing.
After drawing, you have one week to ask and take out your date.
You are allowed to, politely, decline a date but you must then either throw a party or bake a cake for the person who asked you.
People got so stoked on drawing that everyone walked away with two potential dates, one they had to ask and one who would ask them.
I got three!
People got cre-a-tive with both their dates and how they asked people out. One date was a cooking lesson with the results shared with the rest of the collective. Notes were passed, songs were played at open mics, friends took friends out on dates.
The potential beauty inherent:
At the point that this was organized, most of the kids involved were just getting to know each other. People had already fallen in step with those they were most likely to. However, through random selection, even those unlikely to spend time with each other got to. Even for those that already knew and liked each other, it was both getting to know a friend in a new way and getting to be really silly. I attempted to act like a perfect gentleman on my dates and on one of them felt totally nervous and really first-datey about the whole thing, which was silly cause I was living with my date.
Oh well, such is the nature of it all, I suppose.
I feel as though the opportunities for a Date Collective are endless. In embracing dates and dates with your friends specifically, we reject any sort of framework that tells us there is one way and one way only in which romance is to be conducted. Love, fun, excitement, butterflies--these are not to be regulated. They are for everyone.
The Date Collective, Bringing People Together Just to Take Them Out. you know--on dates!
ideas for free dates:
a trip to your local animal shelter to play with kittens.
drawing with sidewalk chalk.
making a comic book together.
dumpstering groceries and enjoying a picnic.
writing letters to those you love.
going on a bike ride.
going swimming at your local lake/ocean/hotel pool.
writing uplifting anonymous notes and leaving them in public or secret places.
exploring the roofs of your city.
watching the sunset/rise/stars/city lights.
playing tag.
having a water fight.
having a slow motion dance party (seriously silly but super fun, you should try this just by yourself even).
in cold times, snow related activities.
guerilla gardening tomato/pepper plants (whatever seeds are easily collectible for free)
teaching each other new skills, like cool crafts or mathematic formulas or how to make chili.
reading excerpts from your favorite books
and about one trillion others that you should just think of yourself!
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