"Steal My Heart Away"

Perhaps it's because I've been listening to a lot of Van Morrison lately, but I've been thinking an awful lot about relationships of late. About what I want out of one, what I expect out of love and a significant other.

I think the other factor is that I keep reading Dav's Live Journal, and Lord knows that's a running theme in his.

Anyway, what do I want out of a woman? There's the usual schtick, I guess--smart, attractive, funny, warm, generous, laughs at my jokes (not all of them, because frankly, they're not all funny), can take care of me (I need taken care of, really, and someone who can keep me organized, because I can't do it myself), etc. It's basically the list of attributes you'll get from virtually anyone of a similar disposition. I want someone who appreciates spontaneous romance, doesn't mind holding hands in public, but also doesn't mind a quiet evening hanging around and doing not much of anything (something I'm very fond of).

But a girl could have all those attributes and still not be right for me. I know I've run across several women who met all or at least the greatest majority of those requirements, yet I did not want to date them. Why?

I actually figured out the answer to this quandary just yesterday. I want someone who is all those things, but who is most of all my equal. I don't want someone who simply looks up to me. I don't want to be on some pedestal (who'd be insane enough to put me on a pedestal remains to be seen). I want a partner, an equal, someone who admires me but is not so in awe of me or what I do that she relates to me in a subordinate manner. I'm not a dominating person, and anytime I've been in a relationship with a girl who was that submissive, it didn't work. It drove me nuts, because I'm indecisive, a natural beta, and I can't do it. I need someone who can make decisions for herself, who can speak up when they disagree with me, and who isn't afraid to tell me when I'm being an idiot (or isn't too blinded by some bizarre, misguided hero worship to even recognize when I'm being an ass). I don't think it's too much to ask, but my recent dating drought might indicate otherwise.

Oh, the Oklahoma Daily, the OU school paper, has been publishing one panel gag comics of mine for a couple of weeks now. Just click on "Opinion," look for Staff Cartoons, and there you'll find me. If you search the archive for "Staff Cartoon," you'll pull up all the stuff I've done for them so far. It's just one more step on my path to world domination.

*Insert maniacal laughter and crack-boom of lightning and thunder in the background here*

~chaos cricket

Song of the Moment: Van Morrison, "Only a Dream"