DAY 27

Today I am grateful for: a girls best friend

AKA Chocolate

Tonight (actually, last night as my internet was as slow as a dead dog last night and I gave up trying to load this post) I had coffee with my long time friend Sally (from the Day 1 blog post). Sally's ever-loving husband Tim bought us supplies for the night - 2 bags of Cadbury's best! Really, what could girls need more than cups of tea and chocolates on a cold and windy Toowoomba night.

I have found that many of my married female friends and family members love to check out the talent on the online dating sites I am registered for. I think they enjoy living vicariously through me, though I do try to convey the frustration that comes from this form of communication.

Sometimes I feel like online dating is just a way for guys I haven’t even met yet to reject me on the basis of something I might think to be extremely trivial. But thinking about it – maybe I do the exact same thing in return. It’s difficult to keep an open mind when deep down you know the type of guy you can see yourself with in 10 years but just haven’t found him yet - but I do fear this man has been fabricated by my mind and the film industry. With this in mind, my rule with dating is this – date anyone once (within reason). Even if he isn’t going to be the love of my life, it’s all practise for when I do meet the right guy.

Dating is an acquired skill. You have to be able to be comfortable with yourself, be able to make and carry a conversation with someone you may have nothing in common with and be able to ask the pointed questions that will glean the answers you most need to know - such as:

• are you an axe wielding maniac?
• do you have so much baggage from previous relationships that you need a truck to carry it all around?
• are you over 30 and are still living at home with your mother?
• is the reason you are still single that you are looking for the perfect woman and haven't yet realised that she doesn't exist?

There is also the skill of navigating the extremely awkward situation that comes when its time to pay - sadly there is no set protocol for the ‘who pays’ conundrum so this always needs to be worked through on the fly.

Sally checked out my profile tonight and said that she would date me, and wondered what all the guys out there are thinking by choosing to ‘pass’ on Linda. If I knew that Sally, I wouldn’t be single any more…

Fun times.