"Differential Diagnosis"

The excitement of finding someone new to connect with, the nervousness that engulfs your body as you make your approach, the extreme curiosity that develops as you get to know each other, and ultimately the raw sexual magnetism between two terrestrial bodies. The beginning stages of a relationship are often the most exciting, but sadly it’s short lived.

Before you truly know that person, they’re often the embodiment of your ideal partner, perfect in every which way. Your conscious brain tells you, “It’s too good to be true…investigate!” , and investigate you do.

Searching for any scraps of relevant information, you go through their Facebook & MySpace profiles. You approach their friends and yours in hopes of catching any red flags, but we all know better…if any red flags do turn up, we’ll promptly ignore them and press on anyway.

As the relationship runs its course, the veil slowly comes off, revealing someone much less “perfect” than you once thought. The rainbows and butterflies begin their metamorphosis into thunderstorms and moths. Before you know it, the relationship is over, and you find yourself wishing you had been more careful with your heart, or perhaps paid more attention to those red flags you discovered earlier.

Such is the cynicism of a man frustrated with relationships and the deception associated with them.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

1. steph says:

   January 31, 2010 at 6:06 pm

   Isn’t that the truth…

   Hey, nice, new look

   Reply to this Comment
2. ScoMan says:

   February 1, 2010 at 2:51 am

   That’s how I feel about a new Xbox game.

   Wait, did I say that out loud?

   Anyway, about a week to Dante’s Inferno, and I can’t wait. Right now.. scouring the Internet for all the details I can get.

   Reply to this Comment
3. Unbreakable says:

   February 1, 2010 at 10:19 am

   This is so true man we often ignore warning signs until the wheel falls off.

   Reply to this Comment
4. MinD says:

   February 2, 2010 at 11:09 am

   So men stalk on Fbook, too? Interesting…

   Reply to this Comment
5. chinkygirlmel says:

   February 5, 2010 at 8:25 pm

   Sad but true. Very well written. That is often the case, but then no one is ever perfect, it’s a matter of accepting the person despite their flaws. =)

   Reply to this Comment
6. Nessa says:

   February 10, 2010 at 6:31 am

   Found you from ScoMan.

   If the Red Flags are biggies you are right to walk away, but if the red flags are just human idiosyncrasies, you should accept they will happen up front and you won’t be so disappointed.

   Dam

   Reply to this Comment
7. Ella says:

   February 15, 2010 at 1:38 am

   And the question is: Why are we so stubborn when it comes to this? Maybe because we’re just relying on our own judgment of things.

   Reply to this Comment
8. floreta says:

   February 18, 2010 at 4:02 am

   yes, i’m a cynic too.
   but, a romantic cynic.
   sigh.

   Reply to this Comment
9. OmegaRadium says:

   February 18, 2010 at 1:25 pm

   Yes, guys sometimes do the Facebook stalk too.
   Accepting flaws is something we all have to learn to do, hopeless romantic or not. Thanks for the comments everyone!

   Reply to this Comment