Thinking About It...Dating That Is...

So, I've come to the conclusion (in the last 24 hours), that I should be dating right now. I know I'm very anti-dating, but well, I don't always like going to the gym, either...but I still do that (OK, sometimes) because I know I should.

But I've got two legitimate reasons to put myself out there on the dating scene:
1. After telling some of my recent tales to a friend, she told me I needed to write a dating column. "What??? But I don't date...I hate it!" Which, she told me, was exactly why it would be so much fun and different than the others out there. I kind of think she's right...and I could use a little fodder for my writing...
2. I had a (happily) married person in her 30s today tell me that I should be living up my 20s. She said I should take advantage of the fact that I CAN go out and I CAN date. I won't be able to do those things when I'm married...so, I should start dating like crazy now. My 20s shall be my Mardi Gras before the Ash Wednesday of marriage. That's my new vow.

Now...just where am I going to find these guys? Well, that's been a bit harder to figure out these past few hours. See, I've got a close guy friend who I can't decipher what feelings I have for him. I can see myself marrying this guy in a few years...but I can't see myself dating him right now. I've also recently developed a crush on a balding Kiwi -- don't know when I'll see him next, though. Then, there's a couple of guys that I've met that are SO not who I should be dating -- a 21-year-old with an affection for pot and video games and a male model with a motorcycle who lives on a boat -- but I actually have crushes on them...and at this point, crushes are at least a step in the right direction. Right?

My Country's Been Taken Over

Sad, sad news this week. Thursday morning on my drive to work, I turned my radio station on to 93.9. But it wasn't the normal programming. Country station KZLA (the No. 1 position on my preset stations) had been taken over by Top 40 hits. Yuck. I can get that anywhere. But 93.9 was the only country station I could get in L.A. Apparently parent company Emmis Communications thought the likes of Nick Lachey and Black Eyed Peas would do better for ad sales.

Granted I'm not in the insides of the business, but this seems like an extremely unwise move. I can get Mariah Carey anywhere. But my Rascal Flatts fix? And didn't anyone at Emmis take a look at concert sales lately? According to Billboard's latest chart, four of the top 10 grossing concerts this past week were by country artists...granted they were all the Tim and Faith combo...but that should still say SOMETHING for the genre. Looking at album sales, country music seems to be doing well there, too...so I don't get this take over. And now I have no way to know when the new country songs come out.

To show my frustration, I took 93.9 off my preset stations, and I'll be boycotting the top 40 station. I want my country!

Two Signs To Tell You You're in LA

1.

2. Walking into American Apparel you hear a girl exclaim (to herself), "Ohmigosh! A thong bodysuit! I didn't even know they had them. I've been looking for one!"

The Proust Questionnaire

Your favorite virtue
Honesty

Your favorite qualities in a man
honest, faithful, handy, dedicated, gramatically correct, chivalrous

Your favorite qualities in a woman
honest, caring without a personal investment, self respect, thick skin, judgment avoidant

Your Biggest Flaw
I tend to close myself off from the outside world. No matter how many people I'm around, I can withdraw and be more content with my own thoughts. I wonder if I'll ever truly open up to people.

Your favorite occupation
Oddly enough, I don't know if it's writing. I think editing other people's works is more fun for me. I do want to be a professor, though...

Your chief characteristic
Sarcasm. It serves two purposes...first, it gets people laughing when they first meet me. But then it also protects me from having to fully articulate my feelings.

Your idea of happiness
Making someone else so happy that a hug is in order

Your idea of misery
Being around someone who is in pain...and I can't do a thing about it

Your favorite color and flower
Pink. Snapdragons.

If not yourself, who would you be
I'm not in love with myself, but I can't think of anyone else I'd rather be. The things most lacking in my life right now (direction and true happiness), I don't really see in anyone else's life.

Where would you like to live
Wherever my love and my life take me (i.e. future family and occupation are more important to me)

Your favorite prose authors
George Orwell, Judy Blume, Luis Rodriguez

Your favorite poets
Shel Silverstein, Robert Frost, Tupac, Kanye West

Your favorite painters and composers
Paintings usually bore me; I like photography. Composers: Peter Tchaikovsky

Your favorite heroes in real life
Unfortunately, I put no one on a pedestal

Your favorite heroines in real life
see above

Your favorite heroes in fiction
Does Ariel's father in The Little Mermaid movie count?

Your favorite heriones in fiction
Perhaps it would be Samantha on Sex and the City

Your favorite food and drink
Chile Relleno and lemonade

Your favorite names
Garrett, Grant, Liesel, Mona

Your pet aversion
People who are hypocritical

What characters in history do you most dislike
Rulers who justified their unjust actions

What is your present state of mind
Sleepy...but wanting to bring a change into my life

For what fault have you most toleration
Shallowness and a perceived lack of intelligence

Your favorite motto
This isn't all there is

How would you like to die
Saving someone else from death