Jack Bauer and Joshua Harris

(Surgeon General's Warning: The following post demonstrates the typical female behavior of writing for writing's sake, and may, or may not have an express point. Just a little FYI.)

The last few Monday nights have seen the beginning of a new social ritual for me. Many of my friends are 24 junkies. I, personally, could care less about the show, and in fact, spend most of my time mocking the plot lines under my breath (fearing repercussions if any more audible...huge fans in the room). We do, however, take a pool before the show, betting on how many key and insignificant characters will be killed off in the ensuing hour. (This was my doing.)

At the close of the show, most of us spend about 15 minutes discussing what we should do. Eventually, that actually turns into real conversation or prime opportunity to turn the channel to watch Family Guy.

Being that the room is full of 20-30 something singles, conversation can inevitably turn to dating rituals. This can either be excruciatingly pedantic and annoying, forcing me toward an early exit, or it can be down right hilarious. Last night, it was the latter.

The men were outnumbered 2 to 1 (a favorite ratio of theirs, apparently), so they took the opportunity to gleen from the present womenfolk. The men were all musicians (and extremely talented ones), the women ranged from sound engineers to beautician/jewelers to sales associates to me. The mix of backgrounds and personalities certainly made for a more lively discussion.

At one point, someone mentioned the name Josh Harris. That's when one of the guys, a typically happy-go-lucky guy, took on a rather stern expression and in the manner of Randy from A Christmas Story griping about meatloaf, grumbled, "Josh Harris. I hate that guy. He's ruined 'game' for the last 4 years. Every girl and their mother swore off dating after his stupid book. If I saw him on the street, I'd kick him in..."

This of course, opened the proverbial Pandora's Box, and so began an hysterical session of I Kissed Dating Goodbye rants. I just watched and giggled as the group concluded that Josh Harris may have a Jack Bauer complex, here to rid the world of courting terrorists, to restore order and speak peace to the tumultuous waters of the dating process.

That's a group theory...mine's a slight variation of it, but that's for another day. This pointless, but hopefully mildly entertaining post comes to an end for now.