Bachelor/Bachelorette...What's Love Got To Do With It Anyway?

Ok, so I have to admit it, I am a reality TV junkie and it's one of my biggest vices - just ask my family who have banned all reality TV in the house.  Little do they know that I sneak up to the TV over the garage - aka Dad's man cave and watch my shows:

So knowing that I am also searching for the love of my life, I am also currently watching The Bachelor. 

As corny as it is - e.g. if I hear the theme song of "On The Wings Of Love" one more time, I think I may hurl, the search for love is always relatable, no?  I mean here is Jake searching for his "soul mate" on national television among 30 or so young women and I am looking for love online through a matchmaking Web Site.  There are interesting similarities and very distinct differences:

• I am a woman looking for a man; Jake is a man looking for a woman - Ha!  No sh*t, right? Ok, that was obvious.
• Matchmaking: I completed a personality profile to begin the matchmaking process and I am thinking Jake provided his criteria to kickoff the meet and greet on national TV.  (Score = Tie)
• Matches: I pay eHarmony to work at finding my matches and emailing me new matches daily via email; Jake has to do much of the work at interviewing from one pool of matches provided, no new women provided (Score 1 for Elisa - woot woot!)
• Communication/Interviewing: I can chose to communicate with some of matches and close others with a multiple choice of options as to why - the most popular - "Other" because who wants to hurt another person's feelings, really?.  Jake, on the other hand, provides roses or not and hurts women's feelings in person (Again, Score 1 for me!)
• Finding Love: Ultimately, we both want to find love - as corny as that sounds, it's true (Score for us is tied!)

There is no easy answer but I am learning as much about myself as I am about my potential matches on eHarmony so I can say this - I am trying to enjoy it for what it is - an adventure, yes; fun, yes and learning to be as honest with myself as with the men, or rather man that I am communicating with which we will call "R" for now.

R and I have been communicating for the past week and a half - not long at all.  But since we have been communicating we have hit all levels of what the Website calls "Guided Communication" which leads you to actual face to face communication.  Because my girlfriends have asked to spell out all the levels, here they are:

1. Read about me (basic profile information about passions, influential people in your life, what you are thankful for, etc.).
2. Start Communication: R sent me his first set of questions and I answered them   Then I sent him mine.  The nice thing about this is that eHarmony provides you with sample multiple choice questions to get more information about your match, e.g. what is your idea of a romantic date?)
3. Send Must Haves and Can't Stands (When R sent me his, I liked them and also laughed outloud at his directness in certain areas - to be filled in later after I have had several shots of tequila)
4. Send 2nd Set of Questions:   You can chose from sample questions but this time, there is no multiple choice so not only do you have to open yourself up to the possibilities but also be honest about what you truly want.  My personal favorite was when "R" answered that if his life was a movie that the actor that would play him would be Avery Brooks (one of my favorites from Spencer for Hire!- Ok, I am dating myself
5. Finally, if we are still interested in communicating, we have to read a message from Dr. Warren (I am guessing the founder of eHarmony) before open communication begins.

So we are at that #5 stage.  One step before we talk live.  I can see many people saying, I would rather go with "Fast Track" communication (bypassing all the steps and going straight for the jugular).  But for me, this so far is working for me.  Could I consider it to be another job - maybe. But then again, I am just glad I am putting myself out there and going for it for once in my life.

Hmmm...let's see where eHarmony takes me and what the future holds..... :)