Yo La Tejo

Hooked.

Is anyone else watching that "Hooking Up" show? I have to admit, it's my new guilty pleasure. Personally, I am really ready for the entire reality show onslaught to be over, but it only seems to be getting worse and worse. Being Bobby Brown? Hogan Knows Best? Who the bleep cares?

But once in a while, I do become intrigued. I've been tuning into The Real World over the past few years, and now I can say that I've lived in two cities at the same time as those obnoxious kids! Chicago (my beloved hometown), and now Austin. I never saw the Austin brats, and thank God for that. I did see the Chicago crew once, before the show aired. They were standing on State Street, posing in front of the Chicago Theater, filming the opening to the show. They didn't look like anything special, at the time. But that was before I (and the rest of America) had gotten to know their quirks and, um, foibles.

Anyway, this Hooking Up show. Having spent all my grade school years and some high school ones in Catholic school, I can verify that I will go to hell for saying this, but the fact is that I love this show, because I love to hate Amy. What is it about her that drives me nuts? She is such a bratty brat. Tonight, she completely skewered that guy she was dating for leaving silly messages on her machine, and acting crazy with his friends at karaoke. She was like, oh I can see it now, we could have kids, and no one would be helping me with the dishes, because everyone's out having a good time, etc., etc. Say whut? I don't think this guy is particularly virtuous, but come on. He was being himself and acting silly--not obnoxious, and not offensive.

To be totally honest with you, I think she did a complete turnaround from last week because she realized that he wasn't ready to lick her shoes, so she decided that she was going to find any little reason to hate him. So, while last week, she was quite upset that he was going to Costa Rica for business for two weeks or so, this week everything he did made her wrinkle her little snub nose and press her thin little lips together into a disapproving line.

And then she went and dumped that really nice guy that she saw so much "potential" in. She literally said, well, he emailed me to see if we get together, but I don't think I'm going to write him or call him back. I think he'll get the message. Yeah, well. All I can say is that karma's a bitch.

How do I know this? Because she is me. I am she. I will admit here and now that I own up to the total hypocrisy of this post, because I have never been able to break off a casual relationship to the other person's face. Long-term relationships, yes, well, you kind of have to with those. But someone you've only been dating for a while? I am suuuch a chicken. And you know what? I've had it come back and bite me in the ass. I've had it happen to me, but I've learned to accept it philosophically. It sucks when it happens to you, but I believe you get back what you put into the universe.

Anyway, the other reason I love this show is because I did the whole online dating thing myself for a whole year in Chicago. So, I can relate. I once wanted to write a book about it--kind of a cross between Sex and the City and Bridget Jones's Diary--but then I came back to graduate school and all I ever write now are seminar papers. So now I get to watch while other people get rich and famous by exploiting their dating experiences for mass consumption. Sigh. I coulda been a contender.

posted by Olga @ 8:03 PM