What we have here is a dead shark

Is there such a thing as true love?
I bring this up because last night I watched 'Eternal sunshine of the spotless mind' from the wonderfully insanely brilliant Charlie Kaufman. It's a kind of twisted romantic comedy but at its core its got a very sweet love story and somehow it got me remembering all the debates I've had with my friends down the years.
Most of my friends have very strong views on true love. The short version of their answer to the question 'does it exist?' is 'No, of course not- are you mad?' but the long version is more colourful and frequently contains swear words. Basically I've always been the only one of my friends to believe in love. Im not even talking about true love- we shall come to that in a moment if I can get around to it and not get distracted by something else- but just being in love. I once blogged about people laughing at me for it, but that was just one part of the story. Most people think it's very foolish to fall in love. Not me. I get in there and fall hard and channel all the passion I can muster in that direction. The wonder of it is that I can cope so well when things turn bad. Why am I like this? It's a good question but one you shouldn't ask because I won't answer. My friends have always advised me not to enter a steady relationship, but it's impossible for me not to. I'm drawn to them like a moth to a flame and I know surely that in another few months, I'll find myself in another one again. Why cant I just have flings or short-lived passionate affairs? See now there's one of the mysteries of this life. I'm condemned to being a one-woman man for the rest of my life it seems.
So anyway one of my friends has a girlfriend, but even though they've been steady for nearly two years, he has never told her 'I love you'. She knows he wont say it and she's accepted it. I asked him why and the short version of his answer was he didnt believe in love. The long answer involved references to a Schwarznegger movie if I remember correctly but more importantly rammed home his point that women were trouble. I asked him if it was just his girlfriend or if he thought that you could never feel anything concrete for a girl. His answer was vague and nonsensical, but he did reveal that its a general thing. Once you love a girl, your'e not on control of your emotions and thats a dangerous thing was what I think he said. But thats what I thrive on- I thrive on the total irrationality and madness that my emotions can cause. Of course Im a very rational and sane person. That's obvious to anyone who is unfortunate enough to read my blog regularily. However when it comes to things like falling in love, I just jump happily into it with a big smile on my face irrespective of the consequences. I could have 50 failed relationships and jump into the 51st full of optimism. That's mainly because I'm stupid, but also because I like the stability it gives me- which is ironic because the one thing you are unlikely to get in a relationship is stability.
But anyway my theories on 'true' love as opposed to mere 'butterflies in stomach' love. I do believe in true love, but I also believe that your chances of finding that person are very slim indeed. Basically 'the one' is out there, but you are unlikely to meet said person. See how I manage to be both cynical and naively optimistic at the same time? Yes, its a gift. Well how can you tell if you've actually found 'the one'? What sets out true love from anything else including lust? The answer involves some complex mathematical equations and logical fallacies which I won't bore you with until I can make them up, but thats the way it is.
God, why did I start this post again? Right- the film. We'll talk about that later, but it was beautiful and although its just a film, it did vindicate what Woody Allen once said. A relationship is like a shark- if it stops moving, it dies. Ok, I've wandered away slightly from the true love thing, but its nearly midnight and I cant believe I just spent ten minutes writing this.