Damn browsing

While wasting time on the notorious social network site of my choice, I've been browsing thru a few of my 2nd and 3rd degree friend pages. Out of sheer boredom, I guess I end up wondering what my long lost comrades are getting up to.

I don't know about you but there hasn't been the influx of love-ness that there was last spring - maybe because spring hasn't hit yet. Regardless, I've got to admit that quite a few people who I have as friends are practically married to their other half. And I don't mean that in a "I shall get engaged to my sister so that creepy people won't add me" kind of thing - I mean real couples in (freakishly) long relationships.

I've got nothing against that. It just got me thinking.

I can list a few couples that I know of personally that have been going on for at least 3-4 years now. Not to mention the couples of which I only know one of them. Are all my buddies growing up and growing old together? It's hard to believe that only a few years ago, people were breaking up and making up like it didn't matter. But back then, it didn't really.

I can't help but compare them to my parents generation. And by that I mean who they're with. Practically 80% of the couples I know met in school. I don't know about you but my parents didn't meet in school. One of my friend's parents met in Uni but I only know 1, out of possibly 20 sets of parents that I know, that met in school - and I don't even know the parents, just their story.

So is true love the new love? Are the days of office romances a thing of the past? Will our generation be the high school sweetheart generation - living out the fantasy that our parents, grandparents and teenage chic lit tell us about?

Or is it (pessimistically) too early to say? None of my batch have gotten hitched - yet. Coming into our twenties, it makes you consider your future together. Do you grow up and change together? Or do priorities change and diverge?

I'll get back to you on that in about 5 years or so.

What's really quite niggling me: why am I am late starter, so to speak.
Credit that I never fit in (or wanted to fit in) with the cool crowd in school - I did my own thing and I don't regret it. High school romances are notorious for being short-lived and just a phase. Not that I didn't have my share of crushes, but who wants to be remembered as a blip in a guy's "love life". The one romantic thing that happened to me in school doesn't even register on my numerical count any more. Tragic.

For some reason I tend to make relationships hard for myself. Well, not intentionally, but I get drawn into all the difficult to manage situations - long distance, cheats, apathy. Not such a good track record I must say.

However, there is a light at the end of the tunnel. What light, I hear you ask? I suppose, learn from the mistakes, spot the signs early and never stop hoping. I don't mean be naive, but it's very easy to become jaded. And when you don't try, things just happen naturally. It's like falling into your stride - walk, skip, run. You have to be comfortable with yourself and what you want and only then you know if you are comfortable with whoever comes along.

And plus, guys hate desperate.