A friend of mine recently embarked on a potential relationship journey. She has been single for eight years (as long as me!) and has carefully thought through the type of man she wants to be with, and the circumstances in which a potential relationship may blossom. She is a woman in her early thirties—fit, healthy and attractive. Self-assured. She owns her home (in partnership with a bank, as do most of us), has a secure job and an social active life outside of work. She loves her family, friends and her dog. For all intents and purposes, she is quite
Continue reading...I was sitting in a writer’s seminar on the weekend, bored out of my brain, wishing the presenter would up the pace and that my fellow participants* would just shut the fuck up. I had paid $60 for the privilege and I expected a lot more for my money than what was dished up. Actually, I wasted $120, because I attended another seminar on the same day (they were run as a tandem) which was only marginally better. I vowed never ever to attend seminars offered by this particular group ever again. Ever. I was over wasting my time and money**.
Continue reading...One of my favourite sayings – and hence one I say an awful lot because it is a part of a veritable litany of Very Wise Stuff I Say – is Never Get Bitten By The Same Dog Twice. Not Getting Bitten By The Same Dog Twice is the ultimate in protective behaviour. If someone has done something once, they are bound to do it again because humans, if nothing else, are generally consistent. Being wary of the dog (human) that bit you once means you are less likely to be bitten by that same dog (human) again. It’s a metaphor that
Continue reading...This post was first published on 4 December 2011. Given that I am trying online dating again, this is a timely reminder to self. These deal breakers still stand, but I’m a bit more relaxed about smokers now than I was when I first wrote this post. I was talking on the bus with a work colleague (we catch the same bus) and our conversation turned to relationships (as conversations often do) and what the deal breakers are. What things about a person would cause you to not see them again, or discontinue a relationship? We agreed that we are both
Continue reading...Last week, and despite recent What’s my type? and It’s not me, it’s you and Very Wise Stuff I Say posts, I broke my own rules and I hooked up with someone* – something I don’t do very often at all. But hell, it was Christmas, I’d had a few drinks and it had been a while since I’d felt a man’s body next to mine. Breathed in the scent of a man’s skin. Been kissed by a man, long and deep. Or was wrapped up in a man’s arms, with my legs tangled around his. It was supposed to
Continue reading...I’m a single girl. I’ve never married, which is interesting in and of itself because of my upbringing. My mother married – and divorced – three times, and she had three daughters who never married, but all had children. Says something about the biological urge to be a procreate and to be a mother, but that’s a story for another day. I like being single. It has a lot of benefits: you can do what you like, when you like, with who you like, wear what you want, and eat whatever the hell you feel like. And spend however much
Continue reading...Swoon (intransitive verb, from Middle English) – to feel strong, especially rapturous, emotion. To faint. I have been swooning lately. A lot. Not the fainting sort of swoon, but the Oh I Can’t Believe You Just Said That And It Made Me Feel Wonderful sort of swoon. I’ve found that swooning is not just limited to the pages of Jane Austen novels (oh, Captain Wentworth!), but in surprising places if one cares to look. So where am I finding these swoony interludes? In movies. Of course. And karaoke bars. Actually, just about any bar. And Twitter. Yes, that’s right Twitter.
Continue reading...…or my (failed and flawed) foray into the world of romance! I had an “interesting” April, I must say. After being single for some time (and quite happy being so), I went out for drinks for a Twitter friend’s birthday, and met a man who I found interesting, charming and attractive. For all intents and purposes, I was pretty sure he felt the same way about me, because he was attentive and warm and made sure I was looked after the entire night. We really hit it off, and to cut a long story short, we ended up at my
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