I’m just going to say it: I don’t like dating.

I just don’t enjoy it. I understand the rules to the complicated and complex Human Courtship Dance, but I don’t think it’s worth it.

You’ve got to spend money to go to a restaurant, the movies or what have you (an expensive proposition), and then you’ve got to repeat the process whatever number of times until your dating partner consents to go steady with you – to use an antiquated expression

If all goes well, you might get laid a few times before you both decide to call it off due to completely incompatible personalities and/or values and/or lifestyles.

And now that you’ve successfully made it back to square one, you are free to repeat the cycle indefinitely.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not against relationships or anything, or even spending money on someone you care about. On the contrary, I love relationships and I wish I could be in one myself. I believe in love, possibly even true love, in spite of scientific evidence that says love is a chemical reaction that results from prolonged exposure to someone you care about.

I would love to have someone to go and do fun things with, have deep talks with and snuggle up with at night. The kind of person I could care about deeply and know she felt the same way about me. The kind of person I could sing my favorite love songs to and actually mean them. And- possibly most important of all-the kind of person that would make me feel worse than I had ever felt before should she ever leave me. In short, someone I can fall in love with.

My problem: I’m relatively certain that no one else on campus wants that.

I mean, come on, think logically here; these are college students we’re talking about. This is the time in their lives when they can be wild and free and experiment with as many partners as they want.

I’m pretty sure I’m an orange residing in a sea of apples; I’m the only one who desires to settle down at such a young age. What everyone else wants to do, on the other hand, is go out with someone, have some fun and then move on once things get boring.

In other words, they want to date.

People these days are afraid of commitment and are more interested in hooking up than in long-term relationships. What they refuse to see is that there is nothing casual about relationships. When you enter a relationship with someone, there will be risks involved no matter how hard you try to ignore them.

I’m not stupid; I know that a majority of attempted relationships don’t work out for one reason or another. But all the same, I’m simply not capable of initiating a relationship with someone I’m not willing to treat as if she could (could) end up being the love of my life. If she is, it would be worth more than any one-night stand. I suppose I could attempt casual sex if I felt like it, but then I would just feel guilty. My only alternative is to wait until I find that special someone, someone who’s willing to take the same risks. I am prepared to wait a long time.

I suppose I’m fine with that. The only downside is the sexual frustration.

Trey Treviño is a sophomore CTV major. He can be reached for comment at [email protected].