Thursday, August 28, 2008

daily transaction report

i have a suspicion that natali stole the privatizing marriage idea from me.

(i misspelled suspicion and privatizing, but thanks to spellcheck, no one will ever know unless they read my parenthetical remarks. i also just misspelled parenthetical and may be using the word wrong.)

i say stole because i'm always talking about how stupid it is that the state would need to sanction marriage.

but stole isnt the right word because ideas exist independent of people. maybe. it's complicated. ideas are more like viruses that infect people and cultures and institutions. but whatever.

here's what i've been thinking about lately:
why not extend this privatization to dating?

(i misspelled privatization again.)

here's how it works:
anytime you start dating, or possibly even talking to, anyone, work out a contract. something like we agree to date for three months, split the charges on any and all dates, limit our physical contact to such and such, spend this much time together, ect. then, at the end of the contract period you can either renew the contract, create a more "serious" contract (or a contract reflecting more serious dating) or breakup. that way if it's not really working out you only have to stay in it til the end of the contract. you can also work out penalties for failing to live up to the terms of the contract. and if you can't work out a dating contract with your potential partner, you probably shouldnt be dating anyway.

6 comments:

bex said...

you misspelled etc.

brian said...

oh yeah. i always miss that one. i think i have the worst spelling of any person with a degree in english that i know. but the joke is grammarians. or i think it is.

brian said...

i meant the joke is on the grammarians because if my english degree has taught me anything it's that spelling is whatever you want it to be. all the confusion stems from the great vowel shift.

natali said...

im always stealing things from brian. ideas on marriage. writing style. his hoodie.

natali said...

actually i didnt steal his hoodie. but i thought about it. i read this article that said women are comforted by male pheromones. i have been thinking about conducting an experiment of stealing articles of clothing from various boys i know to see who has the most comforting pheromones.

becky said...

dating contracts are a great idea. i might even go back to dating if those existed.