The great philosopher George Costanza once said, "When you like them, they don't like you. When they like you, you don't like them."

I love this place, too -- especially when certain people keep being so nice to me....!

Yeah, but that's not what "per se" means. Creative is one thing, lazy/illiterate is another.

For me, it has ultimately become an issue of which is the "lesser of two downsides."

Being alone is not the ideal situation for me. It would be nice to have someone to share my life with. But it's not an essential; all of the things I need to do in life, I can do perfectly fine on my own.

On the other hand, being with someone always starts out nicely but ends up horribly. So there's a downside to being with someone, a downside that dwarfs the downside of being alone -- it just takes awhile for it to kick in.

I find there's an advantage to the sheer steadiness of being alone (despite the occasional bouts of boredom and loneliness) -- as opposed to the wildly inconsistent vacillations and insanity of the roller coaster relationship process.

Oh yeah, I see people use "ect" as the short form of "et cetera" all the time.

Another one that gets me is "per say," as in "It's not the economy, per say, that's the problem."

Arrrrgh.

Yeah, those can be horrendous. Sometimes you'll see someone post an enormous block of text with no punctuation whatsoever. It hurts my eyes just to look at it. I never signed up to be a decoder....

It is, but it still plays into the overwhelming exhibition of illiteracy that seems to permeate the internet.

I guess the thing that puzzles me is why this has to be such a massive conflict -- I mean, I really don't have any problems doing dishes or laundry or taking out the garbage or whatever. It's just stuff that has to be done. And, sure, it would be nice if there were magic garbage fairies to do this stuff for us, but obviously Apple doesn't have them quite ready to put out there just yet.

But that's not what I sense when I hear someone complaining about the lack of "good" men -- I get more of a sense of a regimented existence, i.e., "this is how it's SUPPOSED to be done," and the "SUPPOSED to" part has no room for any sort of flexibility whatsoever. The ones who lament the lack of "good" men seem to be the same ones who have dealt with enough "bad" ones to have painted themselves into a relationship corner.

And we don't have relationship-corner fairies yet, either.

It is, but I'm always amazed by the literacy levels of many of those who send me messages -- sometimes it's like trying to find survivors after an explosion in the Scrabble factory.

And spell check has its limitations -- i.e., those who are "tired of dating a looser" and those who are "looking for someone to except me"....

I try to make sure that my writing is as clear as possible. As we are operating in a wholly written medium here, I think it's important to try to do the best we can with our words, for the purpose of being understood. To that end, I'm something of a stickler for grammar, spelling, punctuation, etc.

Thank you!



I try to mention it in passing, here and there, without making a full-fledged infomercial out of it. I've seen some people advertising things/events/etc., on here in ways which just come across as desperate and tacky. I'd rather avoid all that, if possible!



I've actually been trying to do exactly that for the past three years -- with zero results. Where I'm living just seems to be a bad venue to try to get to know people.

I think you've hit on something there -- the idea that there is this standard perception of what a man "should" be -- as far as I can tell, the perception is based almost entirely on tradition, outdated imagery, and a mindset that was already on its deathbed during the Eisenhower administration. "Prince Charming" has left the building.

But from an existential standpoint, one can ask if any of this is really worth it, in the end, regardless....?

I try not to spend too much time on that direction of thinking -- for me, it's more about the creative impulse. I like the idea of having an outlet. If other people enjoy what I do, that's just a bonus.

From a more human standpoint, I still think it would be nice to have someone to share it with. Someone I could bounce ideas off of, someone who had enough creativity of her own to offer me some constructive advice and opinions, and I could do the same for her.

I had someone like that for awhile, and she was amazing. But I just don't think there's anyone else like that out there.

I think that's part of the trouble, there's a discrepancy in the way various people interpret "good" -- whereas you and I and a lot of guys on here might see ourselves qualifying for the "good" designation, the people on the other side of the gender fence have a different set of criteria for the term....

My whole life is on the computer. If I'm not writing, I'm doing something or other on some website. Busy? No, not really. I'm about as busy as a three-toed sloth on Sominex.

Thank you! Eight books is an accomplishment, although the actual number is rather arbitrary.

Well, the title of the topic does specify "good" men....

Obviously, you are no scammer! Not once have you said "I am to be liking your structure."

You must be new here....

That's a little too much like an LDR.

Maybe a pilgrimage to a gravesite somewhat nearer, like the neighbor's hamster.