On: Jordan Catalano

I think every girl needs a "Jordan Catalano" like in My so-called life.

In the series (that sadly only lasted 19 episodes) Jordan was the boy that the main character, Angela was obsessed with. Jordan was tall, mysterious and had the most amazing hair (he also had this tendency to like, lean on stuff.... it made him look really hot.)

Angela was kind of *cough* stalking *cough* him for a long time, but he never seemed to notice her until Angela dyed her hair and became friends with a girl who had quite a reputation.

When Jordan and Angela finally kind of started dating she was too lovesick to really realize that he

A) Treated her horribly
B) Tried to make her to do things she didn't want to do (they never actually did anything together, but still..)
C) Didn't talk to her in public
D) Didn't really talk at all
E) Couldn't really read
F) Realized he was doing these things and tried to change, but then sleeps with her best friend.

Thinking about this lately has gotten me very sad. That Angela's "perfect" boy turned about to be a mean, stupid, bestfriend-sleeping, jerk.

I think that as horrible an experience like that can be, every girl needs a Jordan Catalano, growing up. Well maybe not someone who sleeps with your best friend, but someone you realize isn't very "perfect" at all. I think that is the main reasons girls just fantasize over boys, and don't really talk to them. Not because we're too shy, (although sometimes that is the main reason) but because part of us knows that they're not going to be as perfect as we think they are. And realizing that someone who once was the most amazing, wonderful human being in the world isn't the most amazing, wonderful human being in the world is more heartbreaking than what that person actually did to make you heartbroken.

[[Back to the show]]

When Angela finally realized all the things Jordan had done, her life seemed to come crashing down for a while. She had a hard time focusing and spent a lot of time in the school bathroom. There was a scene where Angela's sitting on her bed totally calm, then when she gets up and starts walking towards the door she just collapses and starts sobbing. The show went on like that for a while with angela just mourning the loss of a boy she thought she loved. Until one episode where Angela wakes up and her voice over talks about her feelings on the subject but then out of the blue says, "And then one day......I got over him."



The line about Angela getting over Jordan always makes me cry. I guess I'll never fully understand why it makes me so sad, but I think it's because it makes me think of all the boys that I was just so smitten with once, and now I've totally forgotten about. But mostly because I know that a lot of those boys I liked, I only liked because in my mind they were witty, funny, smart, and really nice but sadly not all of the boys that i liked were all of those things. I made them all of those things in my crazy obsession, but when i started talking to those boys they never seemed to really live up to my expectations because the idea of the boy was way more appealing than the actual boy. Thinking back on it, if I ever actually got my stepford-boyfriend, he probably would have been kind of creepy. Come on, NO ONE is that perfect, or flawless. Mistakes are in human nature and I'm pretty sure that I'm totally zen with that now.



I think that "Jordan Catalano" experiences are one of those "life lesson things" or whatever.
Because nobody's gonna be perfect. Even if you really, really want them to be. And that's ok.

"Huge events take place on this earth every day. Earthquakes, hurricanes, even glaciers move. So why couldn't he just look at me?" -Angela (My so-called life)