singled out

i just watched the first episode of the new bachelor on hulu. brad womack is positively the best, just a simple, hot man who likes working out, leather club chairs, stainless steel and stephen covey posters. not so much the guy who has a 50s cadillac converted into a vinyl sofa. but he might have kept a dream catcher he made right before he became an eagle scout. no pretense, i can get behind that..i don't think he's a jerk for not picking either girl the first time around, i was kind of glad. one was a major ball buster and the other one was a cheerleader for a basketball team. i dunno, i dunno.

the first episode was riveting, and i have clear favorites. i should say, one clear favorite, three who i am open to.

ashley h - she's a dentist. she said something to the effect that she is an artist and that teeth are her blank palette or something. that was pretty dumb but she seems genuine. forehead is a little long and she does that hair flip thing a bit much, but a contender still. i don't like her personality as much as i do the other women on my list, but i think she'll put up a fight. the drama quotient.
chantal - if you watched the first episode, you remember her because she slapped brad and said it wasn't from her, but all the women of america. sure. she seemed to regret it later, however, and i did feel warmly toward her by the end. i wish she'd let her eyebrows grow in a bit. she is a bit proud of her family money, she says she is her dad's "right hand man" but her title is "executive assistant". in addition to running the switchboard, she is the brain behind the operation, i'm sure.
marissa - i don't remember much about her, except that she was wearing an ill-fitting pale pink formal that appeared to have spent its former life as a table cloth in the la quinta ballroom. but she seemed friendly, genuine and her sincerity was infectious.
emily - she is my number one, by far. she met her true love, ricky, at age 15 and then he died and six years later, she's ready again for love! she has a very cute accent and seems very honest and mature. i could totally tell that there were sparks between them. very pretty children.

it made me think about what strategy i would use if i was on the show. i am not generally friendly to strangers. since it takes me a while to open up, i would try to get through the first round on my looks and a short list of prepared quippy/coy remarks and then maybe i would feel comfortable to be myself. then i would talk about how my dad reminds me of emerson and how i always wanted to be with someone who has a poetic quality about his life like my dad and that i could definitely sense that he did. "oh, how self-reliance changed my life, radically." amazing, i would be so amazing. (jse doesn't read my blog, so i might try to say this to him one day, so don't rip me off)

my one complaint about the first episode is all the crying at the end. what? what is there to cry over? "i truly thought that if i gave it 110%, that i would get that in return..but i didn't.." at this point, it is not personal. there is also no such thing as 110%. but, i suppose if i spent $4k at 5-7-9 in preparation for coming on the show, i might be a smidge upset too.

all photos from abc.com