Online dating – the way of the future? Or just really, really sad?

So I’ve been single again now for almost a year, and every now and then, I think to myself, “yeah, it’d be nice to have a man in my life who’s not a work colleague”.

But I’ve only been on one date during that time, and that was… shall we say one date was enough? Sweet guy, I s’pose, but that kind of puppydog intensity just makes me nervous. Not to mention that we had absolutely nothing in common. I met that boy in a pub, and I was drunk enough to give out my number.

But I’m not one to go out much, and when I do, I’m much more interested in having a good time with my girlfriends (who are an intensely interesting and amusing bunch) than I am in picking up. And no, I’m not gay. Except if it was Claudia Black. Or perhaps Katee Sackhoff (aka Starbuck) from Battlestar Galactica.

So how do you meet boys these days, if you don’t go out? The answer that so many people are turning to these days is found not in the personals section of the newspaper, but on thousands of dating sites, some free, some claiming to be free, and some charging anywhere from “a decent amount” to “a kings ransom”.

Now, I’ve had experience with online dating before. I’ve had dates from RSVP.com in Melbourne, met some lovely guys, but not had the kind of success that I’ve heard other people having (ie buying houses together, getting married – if you class that as “success”). I’m signed on to a few now, but most of the ones which are any good, cost money. In fact I’ve only seen one free one which had decent design, and of course, it’s in the US. But here’s the thing. If an online dating site’s free, then the person it will attract will be the person who’s not really interested in really finding a partner – they usually just sign up for the blague, and then end up stringing you along with endless excuses, acting interested EVEN when I give up sending them emails, but then not following through with the promise of meeting up for drinks (you know who you are, boys). What’s that all about?

Stupid boys.

Aaaaanyway. Am going out tonight with the girls (and Ubiquitous Jessie is coming up from London for some Edinburgh Fun) and I have decided that it being St Paddy’s Day weekend, I’m going to at least be receptive to the idea of men on the radar.

One last thing that struck me as odd – I just thought I’d mention something interesting about the graphics on this US site, which makes me wonder about racial divides in America (or perceived racial divides). There are four pictures of couples up the top – a caucasian couple, an arab/indian couple, an asian couple, and a black couple. No racial mixing. Just blatant photographic apartheid. There’s a LOT of mixed race couples here in the UK, and an increasing number in Australia. US readers, help me out – is there an unspoken disapproval of mixed race couples in the US, or is this site just creating boxes where none exist?

Why do they kill all the good ones?

I got sent this link to a wee online version of Deal Or No Deal, a gameshow which I’ve honestly never seen before, but through various bits of pop culture I know it has something to do with brief cases and long drawn out telephone calls.

It made me all nostalgic for Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, a masterpiece of television which went the way of Firefly – put on “hiatus” (ie more than likely cancelled). All I know of the aformentioned gameshow, I know from Studio 60 – cause they had the host of the show on S60′s show within a show (is that too complicated?), and did a spoof for Deal or No Deal.

I loved Studio 60. I truly loved everything about it. I loved the characters. I loved the snappy dialogue, written to perfection by Aaron Sorkin of West Wing fame. The show featured some of those things which made the West Wing so great.

There was that feeling that they were dealing with something important – and yes, I do feel that those who make television have a moral responsibility which should be taken seriously. Anyone who mewls about the characters taking this TV show too seriously obviously can’t grasp the fact that entertainment television is viewed by far more people than educational television. Therefore, don’t those in entertainment have a certain responsibility to make something which might make society a better place through their influence?

Also making a reappearence was Sorkin’s trademark walking-and-talking dialogue – something that doesn’t happen enough in shows of lesser ilk, but happens more often in shows which are well drawn, like Firefly.

And the whole Matt-Danny thing? Bradley Whitford and Matthew Perry (above) were absolute gold together as the best-friends who become director and writer of the show within the show. Sorkin really captured the energy between the two characters, then Whitford & Perry stitched it all together. Gold. *sigh*

So while you’re waiting with anticipation for the next brilliant TV show to be cancelled (how long before Heroes gets it? Oh no, wait – It’s comic-book style, earlier in the evening and is considerably less complicated than S60) wander on over here and be diverted for at LEAST 2 minutes…

Thinking of buying a place? Look no further than Golden Valley, Arizona!

So my “sponsor” (as they prefer to be known) has sent me another link to talk about, for some realtor in Arizona. Kinda hard to talk about a dreadfully designed website, selling just a few products, but here I go.

Kingman Town & Country Realtor, in Mohave County, Arizona, seems to sell properties “of all sizes”, but the only property they have listed on their own domain is something that looks like something out of a roadside scene in From Dusk Till Dawn – check out the photo:

This realtor has possibly the worst website I’ve seen for a professional firm. Ever. Even the property management firm I worked for in Edinburgh had a better website, and their technical development was in about the Jurassic Age. This strikes me as a pity, cause you’d think that it’d actually be kinda fun to look – ranch properties in Arizona…

Oop, OK, so I found some more listings, just on another domain. Gawd, sometimes I wish that I was living in Arizona, just for house prices – there’s a 3 bedroom house there for around £25,000. You can’t even buy a GARAGE in Edinburgh for that amount!

I’ve been hankering after buying my own place for a while now. I feel like I’m at an age where it should be done, but my salary is certainly not at a point where it COULD be done, at least not in this town. Edinburgh property prices are through the roof, and it doesn’t help that the banks are willing to loan more and more, which pushes the prices higher and higher. Sometimes I think I’d move back to Melbourne just for a nice house all of my very own.

I so want a cat, and a garden. My very own small garden which I can make my own, and a cat to hide amongst the foliage. My bedroom has to do for now (practically every surface not at ground level is covered in potplants), though my flatmate won’t stand for a cat. This realtor and his cheap-by-Edinburgh-standards properties is making me want to move to Arizona…

*sigh*

Every time I hear the word “sauna”, I always think of my mum, and her story about when my folks were visiting Finland before any of their kids were born. As she tells it (and Finnish readers, forgive me if I take creative licence here), rather than the fast car or big house or flashy computer being the status symbol, the Finnish way to show prosperity is to have a nice hot sauna.

And to boast about the fact. And to compare the heat of your sauna to others’ saunas.

I was sent the link to this outfit, Taps4Less, which makes all kinds of bathroom fittings etc. They have weird designer taps of all kinds of whacky shapes:

But they also sell self-contained saunas – check it out!

Now I just need to convince my flatmate that we need one! Might not be that hard, considering how we’re feeling the cold in Edinburgh at the moment…