Let's face it, a date is like a job interview that lasts all night. The only difference between the two is that there are very few job interviews where there's a chance you will end up naked at the end of it.
-- Jerry Seinfeld
DATING.....basically, the process of getting to know another person for the purpose of establishing a relationship. The relationship being sought may be as short as a single evening or as long as a lifetime, but the process is the same. There is the initial period of attraction, when the participants catch the attention and interest of a potential partner. Then there is a period of sharing experiences, conversation and activities with the goal of determining whether the potential partner fits into the relationship that each has in mind. Finally, there is the proposal for establishing the relationship (or the decision not to make such a proposal) and its acceptance or rejection. For most people, dating is a necessary precursor for both sex and love, and thus dating has supreme importance in human life, as it is the gateway to both emotional happiness and physical pleasure. The purpose of this section is to make that gateway an easy to negotiate portal, and one that delivers on its promise to weed out unsuitable suitors and to guide its participants into meaningful and satisfying relationships.
Unfortunately, dating today has become dominated by fear--fear of rejection, fear of disappointment, and fear of competition are the most common components of the emotions most people feel when they think of dating. Indeed, a survey of young women in India whose parents still chose their mates for them (as used to be common in Western society as well), and whose marriages are often arranged before the couple even get to know each other, found that a majority of these young brides actually endorsed this practice, because it avoided the anxiety and pitfalls of dating and because it led to more suitable matches than the less mature and inexperienced women could find for themselves. Such a solution to the fears of dating are not likely to be accepted in Western culture, however, as "independence" is one of the mantras of our young, and because we prefer to make our own mistakes. So for us, the challenge of dating is to overcome our fears and to find a road map to the relationship which matches our mutual desires. We hope you find our cartography helpful in this regard.
--Victoria and Steve
