Post by Simply_Uneque on Apr 23, 2004 11:26:14 GMT -5
Probably everybody has at least one — a strange, quirky little ritual that simply must be performed prior to that first date. The more nervous you are about the date, the more complex and involved the ritual may become. For example, I know a woman who always wears the same pair of socks on all her first dates. They're her good-luck socks. I don't know what they did to gain that title, but if she doesn't wear them then the first date's a disaster. Aside from the socks, this woman is the most non-superstitious, down-to-earth human I have ever met. She steps on cracks, walks under ladders, whatever. She doesn't believe in anything having to do with luck, good or bad. Except for her socks.
I listen to "Lovefool." The more nervous or excited that I am, the more times I listen before the date. For me it's less of a good-luck ritual than an obsessive/compulsive behavior. (YOU try explaining to a bewildered roommate why the same Cardigans song has played nine times in a row.) I'm not even sure how it started — aside from the fact that I like The Cardigans — or why I do it. I just know that I feel more relaxed if I've listened to "Lovefool" before going on a date.
Why do we do this? Why do otherwise mundane, non-superstitious people who never throw salt over their shoulders and whose principal worry upon breaking a mirror is jagged edges, not bad luck, have these peculiar little rituals? The strangest thing about them is how religiously we adhere to their tenets. If my friend can't find her socks, she's likely to cancel the date rather than go without them. Apparently in her mind the relationship is doomed from the start unless she goes out with her feet ensconced in these particular socks.
Is it because love itself is a mystical thing, shrouded in its own magic, that we feel the need to perform a little magic of our own before getting on love's little roller coaster? I think so. Being a strong emotion, love, and the potential for love, can unlock very powerful beliefs within ourselves — beliefs that would otherwise never surface. Why else would an attractive, intelligent, professional college graduate fly into a shrieking panic when her date arrives and she hasn't yet finished writing out a list of twenty-five potential baby names?
If superstition had nothing to do with it, then we wouldn't perform these little games. Sure, way back in time when the world was still a demon-haunted place I can fully understand the concern about eclipses and Friday the thirteenth, but now science has explained to us that no matter how many times I listen to "Lovefool," the date is going to depend on me and her, not on luck. I could present irrefutable scientific proof that socks cannot possibly alter a person's fortunes and my friend would still pull them on prior to any date. Love is a superstitious thing, a believer in ghosts and mystical powers, and even the most practical among us are in its thrall.
I listen to "Lovefool." The more nervous or excited that I am, the more times I listen before the date. For me it's less of a good-luck ritual than an obsessive/compulsive behavior. (YOU try explaining to a bewildered roommate why the same Cardigans song has played nine times in a row.) I'm not even sure how it started — aside from the fact that I like The Cardigans — or why I do it. I just know that I feel more relaxed if I've listened to "Lovefool" before going on a date.
Why do we do this? Why do otherwise mundane, non-superstitious people who never throw salt over their shoulders and whose principal worry upon breaking a mirror is jagged edges, not bad luck, have these peculiar little rituals? The strangest thing about them is how religiously we adhere to their tenets. If my friend can't find her socks, she's likely to cancel the date rather than go without them. Apparently in her mind the relationship is doomed from the start unless she goes out with her feet ensconced in these particular socks.
Is it because love itself is a mystical thing, shrouded in its own magic, that we feel the need to perform a little magic of our own before getting on love's little roller coaster? I think so. Being a strong emotion, love, and the potential for love, can unlock very powerful beliefs within ourselves — beliefs that would otherwise never surface. Why else would an attractive, intelligent, professional college graduate fly into a shrieking panic when her date arrives and she hasn't yet finished writing out a list of twenty-five potential baby names?
If superstition had nothing to do with it, then we wouldn't perform these little games. Sure, way back in time when the world was still a demon-haunted place I can fully understand the concern about eclipses and Friday the thirteenth, but now science has explained to us that no matter how many times I listen to "Lovefool," the date is going to depend on me and her, not on luck. I could present irrefutable scientific proof that socks cannot possibly alter a person's fortunes and my friend would still pull them on prior to any date. Love is a superstitious thing, a believer in ghosts and mystical powers, and even the most practical among us are in its thrall.