Dating Rules?

When did dating become so hard? There are rules to follow, special occasions we've gotta make, and if we don't follow those rules we lose. I've never understood why we can't just play the game with our own rules. We're all different people so we should all have different rules. None of us are the same and none of us play through life the same anyway. I've got some rules that I think are ridiculous but oddly accepted in our day to day lives.

Rule #1- Wait 3 days before calling
Listen, if I go out of my way and out of my comfort zone to get a girls number I'm not gonna wait to text or call her. I'm gonna do it as fast as I want to and when I feel comfortable. Three days? What's that supposed to do anyway? Keep the girl interested? I don't think so. If I don't hear from someone in three days I usually think they aren't interested. I move on. Why wait around when I could be talking to them as much as I wanted to.

Rule #2- Screen the calls
So...after I wait three days society wants me to not answer if she calls me? This must be to keep up my mysterious nature, oh wait, I don't have that nature. Okay, so she calls. I get really excited but don't answer because I'm not supposed to. Then, a couple days later I call her back. Seems dumb. What if that's what she's doing too and then it ends up that we never talk because we're both "screening" the calls. Nah, I'm gonna answer if the girl I like calls me. I'm not missing that opportunity. Sorry society, I disagree.

Rule #3- Don't flatter too much
This one I actually do agree with. Girls, and occasionally guys, tend to get freaked out when they are showered with compliments and gifts and all that jazz. Just relax, save some of the "love" for later when you've gotta keep the relationship fresh. Don't go all out in the beginning. They went out with you for a reason, so they obviously like you just a little bit already. They didn't say no when you asked them out right? So just play it cool and relax. Keep the money in your pocket, save some of your sappy lines for later, and just have fun.

Rule #4- Don't meet their friends, don't let them meet your friends...yet.
Friends are embarrassing. We know that. One of my group of friends favorite things to do is to harass the date and always, always, always make sure to yell out, "don't forget to wear protection!" That's like, the most important thing. Occasionally we like to keep the person we're trying to date secret, keep them to ourselves and not share them. Eventually we bring them around but in the beginning we keep them all to ourselves. I don't get this one. At all. I love my friends so the person I date should love them too. If they don't, chances are that I'm not going to date them. Sorry ladies, you've gotta like my slightly perverted yet oh so fun friends.

Rule #5- Only the guy can text first
I don't know if this actually really qualifies as a rule but I've heard SO many different girls say that they won't text a guy first. They'll wait and wait until he texts them. Sometimes the guys wants to know that the girl wants to hear from him too. Just so you know. I love when a girl texts me because I then realize that the spark I felt between me and her might be felt in her as well. She's not just texting me back when I text her to be nice, she legitimately wants to talk to me.

I know that there are so many more rules to this "game" that we call dating. Some of them make sense, most of them don't. But I guess that's what makes things more interesting. If we didn't have any rules we wouldn't sit up late at night wondering if what we did is right, if what we did will impress the person of our dreams, and if what we did wasn't completely stupid. So, looking back on it. I guess these rules are keeping us on our toes so that we don't get too comfortable around the opposite gender. Just remember, keep it fun and don't worry too much about the rules.

Signing off,
Hayden