I love being romantic. Being sensual over everything: making each motion smooth and full of meaning can be a really gratifying experience when you're doing it for someone you really care about.
But what do you do when corniness enters romance? I can't stand cliches and once that happens, romance isn't as pleasant; it's just boring and hard to listen to. Things like moonlight dinners and love notes are some classic examples of romance. However, if the notes use overdone lines and blatant cliches the entire thing is ruined. The lines "The moment I saw you, I knew I would love you for eternity" or "I would follow you to the ends of the earth" are guaranteed to make someone vomit profusely, not just because they're unrealistic and over dramatized, but because they've been used so much.
As overdone as moonlight dinners and rose petals may be, most of the time, they're well received because not a whole lot of people have actually had them done to them. You see moonlight dinners in movies a whole lot, but how many people have actually been on them? The number of people who have come home to trails of rose petals leading to the bedroom is even less.
To change the direction of this node just a little, let's talk about being realistic. Those cheesy lines I mentioned above, and virtually any attempted romantic line that uses the words "eternity" or "from the bottom of my lonely heart," are unrealistic. The fact remains that more often that not, when you are deeply in love with someone, if you end up parting ways with that person, you WILL love again, no matter if you said the "you're the only one for me" or "I'll love you until the day I die" lines. Saying that you have a "soul bond" with someone sounds really nice, and romantic, but it's rather unrealistic.
In my opinion, the concept of Love at First Sight is incredibly unrealistic. I don't believe in Love at First Sight, but I do believe in Lust at First Sight. Now, honestly, when you see someone, do you go: "Hey, look at the morals on that girl over there" or "Wow, he looks responsible." No. You think: "Hey, what a babe" or "I wouldn't mind being in a backseat with that guy."
Yet everyone complains: "No, I knew it was love at first sight. We got together the first time we met and now we're married!" Yeah, and? When two people "fall in love at first sight" (translation: are attracted to each other at first sight), they will most often get together. When things don't work out, or when one or both of them turns out to be total assholes, they break up, and nobody hears any of that Love at First Sight crap. The 1 in 10 chance that the two people actually are compatible, THAT'S the one you hear about. It's not that tons of people actually fall in love at first sight, it's that with the other 9, you never hear anything. You're not getting the whole story.
Right about now, most of you will probably be thinking something like: "Wow, this guy is about as romantic as a brick." Sorry. Love can be beautiful, yes, but it can also be a leeching, untrue thing. I'm trying to look at it all with analytical reason, and not false notions.
Did you know that scientists have actually done studies on the brains of people in love and found that when someone is truly in love, a specific part of their brain shuts down? I swear that I'm not making this up. It makes sense, because people in love will often put themselves in danger to rescue the other. This could serve as a survival mechanism. For a species to survive, it must have mated couples. It would be in the species best interest in the pair stayed alive, so one creature will try to save its mate if possible. This instinct is still around, only now it creates blind devotion, which may end up in someone walking off a metaphorical cliff for his or her "lover." I will refrain from saying that this is rather sad.
I want to be truly in love, yes, but when I do, I don't want to become stupid.