Monday, July 11, 2011

The TMB project- A review

I should be studying right now but I need a little literary break. I must write about something! So that something will be the Mormon Bachelorette. Yes! I simply must blog about it. At first when I heard about The Mormon Bachelorette it was just starting out and I thought the whole idea was hilarious, but at the same time I knew that it could work since someone I know carried out a successful similar experiment. (see 31 dates in 31 days)

When I started reading "TMB," Aubrey was their first test subject. I found it kind of puzzling that Aubrey hadn't found true love yet. She was gorgeous, outgoing, smart, spiritual, and in all ways everything that I thought a man would be looking for in a wife. 'How is she still single?,' I thought....but quickly I remembered that I've known many other women similar to her in personality and looks that have found themselves in the same singlehood conundrum. I don't know what is is about some of the girls I know. They are attractive, have great jobs and goals in life, just all around really awesome women. BUT they haven't been able to snag a husband. I've kind of thought that maybe men are just afraid of women like these. Like maybe they just don't believe they can stand up to the measure of the woman. What is that word I'm always looking for? Oh yeah- intimidated. Are guys really intimidated by these women or is there some other problem going on here? I just can't figure it out.

Anyway, so I spent pretty much the whole first season of TMB ogling over Aubrey’s wardrobe and nonstop cute dates. In fact I was a little frustrated that I didn't know where she bought her clothes and I was kind of wishing that they would post that information. Something like, as seen on Aubrey: top by H&M $25, swimsuit by billabong, $79.....you get the drift. Pretty much every single outfit that she wore I too wanted. The next season was a bachelor, and I don't really care much for mens clothes and now the new bachelorette doesn't appear to have a very thrilling wardrobe. Yes, quite boring.

I felt bad when Aubrey went out on a date with the cute-crowd-favorite camera man and then later chose someone else, and pretty envious when she finally chose her now *spoiler!!!* husband. Although I have to say I knew it would happen, because she and Matt have similar facial features, and they say that you are attracted to and marry people who look like yourself. Oh and in saying that I think that the current bachelorette Ashley will probably hit it off well with her date #5 Derrick, because he resembles her.

Okay anyway so I never really watched much of season two. I guess I felt like the bachelor wasn't really ready to get tied down. He seemed to just be having fun & enjoying the plethora of girls rather than taking it very seriously. On the TMB they say that he's still dating his chosen winner, but I have a feeling like they won't make it to the altar. Some guys just don't want to make a commitment and I have a feeling he's a commitment-phobe. BUT I could be wrong.

I was sad when Larry the camera guy announced that he had gotten married. (because I may have wanted to marry him- he's pretty cute.)

And with the new season with Ashley I really miss the editing of the first two seasons. Pretty much all the videos of the dates now consist of 75% camera shots of strange things like: a fork, a set of chairs, chandelier, or video of some other random stranger sitting in the grass while they are in the park. I wouldn't say that it's pretentious hipster editing, but it comes pretty close. I would like to see more interaction between her and her dates and more talking. On some dates you just hear them saying a few things to each other and that’s it. BORING!! And how do I know if they had any connection or not while all I'm seeing on the screen is still clips of food on their plates at the restaurant??

AND that goes for some of the guys application videos as well. Some of the videos were like 7 minute long photo slideshows showing the male applicant in different places and settings, but that was it...there was no "hi, I'm John and I work at a computer store, I like to snowboard, go for walks on the beach and skydive." Ya know, an oral introduction! Guys let me tell you if you make a video about yourself with just pictures, it doesn't tell us anything about where you are from, what you do for a living, or if your voice sounds like michael jackson's. There are lots of things that we cannot figure out just by seeing a bunch of your mission photos from ten years ago, okay? Thanks.
So today I visited TMB to see the latest date. I was a little surprised to see this:


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If you are interested in being the next Mormon Bachelor or Bachelorette apply through our website today! Temple marriage is only 22 first dates, 8 second dates and 1 final date away!
Here's to finding True Mormon Love!

If you don't want to be the next Mormon Bachelor/ette but are still 1. Mormon 2. Single 3. Ready to get married - get in Tristen's database here (link removed)
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Uhhhhh......yeah. I'm sure they are only joking when they say that your temple marriage is only 22 first dates away (I think but I'm not sure). But I think they need to just calm down a little bit because I feel like they are giving some kind of sales pitch. Even if you go on the show then it doesn't mean you absolutely will get married and find the one guy for you. They've only had one person out of two get married and that's hardly a well established history of 100% guaranteed temple marriage. Also, their new dating advisor/matchmaker is single herself which is good in that she knows what we are going through, but also could be viewed as negative in that she hasn't even found her own true love (and that makes me feel a bit skeptical). But hey, at least she's concerned for us. I was reading another LDS dating advice blog for a while which was run by a freshly married girl, and eventually I think she kind of ran out of ideas on what to blog about. Because let’s face the truth: once you find your own true love then you stop thinking about the single persons marriage plight. You are married, free of the constraint of having to find 'the one' and now the only thing that is probably on your mind is how you and your new husband are going to start your new life together. Just the facts.

I now feel relieved of my urge to talk about this subject and I might even confess that I ... sort of want to be the next mormon bachelorette. After all, 31 dates is all that it should take, right?

Friday, July 8, 2011

Sorry for lack of posts again. I've moved into my big room and I'm adjusting to it and my new classes. Summer classes are crazy busy, and I'm taking a math class which could mean certain death. I hate math! But, I'm telling myself over and over right now that I love it in hopes that I'll convince myself. Besides, if I pass this class then I will never have to take math again! That should be incentive enough to plow through it.

So the only thing I'd like to post about right now is the dust storm that happened a few days ago. It was about 8:00 or so when all of a sudden it got really windy and the chairs in our backyard were blowing away. It sounded crazy, so I looked outside and the sky was dark and full of dust everywhere in the air! As soon as I opened the door then dust blew in everywhere (my roommate later made the same mistake). It got everything dirty and I had even forgotten to turn off the AC unit in my new room, so it blew dust and dirt into my room after I had just mopped the entire thing. It was pretty gross. Afterwards there was a layer of dirt on everything outside, and my car looked horrible! It turns out that this was the worst dust storm in a long time according to the natives here. My roommate said that the last time she experienced a storm like that was in like 1996 or something. Here is a youtube video of a person driving into the storm (time lapse):

Another from farther away:



I really wish I had been able to see it approaching. It looks pretty cool when you look at it from far away. I heard that afterwards everyones pool were pretty gross and it took them a few days to clean up the huge layer of dirt at the bottom. But anyway thats all the news I can write about now. I have to get back to studying! (Yes, even on a friday night. =(  )

P.S. The dust storms are called "haboobs." You learn something new everyday!