uhh...you did what? II

Man I feel like such a loser. Was talking to a friend tonight and he mentioned some dating/personals website he had been to recently. And, being bored but not really tired enough to go to bed, I for some reason decided to try it. Not sure what possessed me to do such a thing--I'm still pretty skeptical about those things even though they could perhaps be my only chance at meeting "someone." In a sense I'm ashamed to actually be putting any time into such a system. But on the other hand it's something new that I must admit to being kinda curious about. It's like, you know, when some ultra-charismatic minister dude comes to town to do his thing and you know you won't like what he says or does but there's this weird curiosity that makes you want to go see him just to observe it all. That's a bit how this is for me I guess...I can't say I have much confidence in it and I'm a little embarrassed to be spending my time messing with it but I've heard stuff and have that weird curiosity about it.

So I just input a bunch of personal info and preferences and stuff into a personality profile generator thing. Kinda did it on the fly and maybe relied on gut instinct too much without thinking through it, but it spit back the following description of who it thinks I am:

Risk Averse, Relaxed, Cautious, Seeks Variety

You are cautious about love, and life in general. You need to know quite a bit about a person before you invest in them. Even intense attraction won't make you jump in before you've gotten to know the person pretty well. You want time to test character and to get more than superficial background information. You want a person at the center of your life, as your life is not all about success or intense preoccupation with hobbies that would take up most of your spare time. On the other hand, while you are not the type to roam, you need a partner who has the same appetite for varied experiences (including your sexual life together) that you do.

Damn yo, that's actually impressive for some computer using 10 minutes worth of my info. The variety thing is a little surprising given that I'm a creature of habit, but I do really like variety and my willingness to do new and sorta scary stuff seems to be increasing exponentially these days. It's just that with life's mundane stuff I tend to stick to the same routine--same pattern each morning, same lunch each day, etc. But with activities and such new is good for me and I seem to have some sort of adventurous streak in me that never used to show up much until recent years. But I dunno about that last sexual life bit--what the heck does that have to do with much of anything? But I guess it's important to some people. And the computer probably knows more about that than I do. But enough of that. It also spit back some more stuff for me to take in:

Structured, Compromiser, Temperate, Extrovert

You are not the spontaneous, carefree sort. You are a planner and you have strong opinions about how things should be done. But unlike many other people who have a strong sense of how the world should run, you are a realist about how much of the time you actually need to get your way about it. Your genius is that you are willing to be extremely reasonable about how to discuss and accomplish your goals in a relationship. You are likely to be seen as a very orderly, pleasant, secure person because you have a firmly held set of ideas. However, you tend to be low key about how or whether they get accepted or activated. You are tractable, but it may bother you if you are with another S with opposing values. On the other hand, you might like someone more passionate than you to bring drama and intensity to your life as long as they weren't unreasonable.

Well, the description looks okay, but what the heck is that "Extrovert" doing in the title? Missed by a lot there. And I'm not sure about the pleasant part either. I see myself as a good confidant and easy to trust and be real with, but pleasant? There are a lot of words I'd use to describe myself before that one. I guess the problem I have with it is that it tends to imply personality and talkativeness, neither of which I have a large amount of. Though things are different when I'm with one or a few people. But more likely that's where the extrovert part threw the computer off.

But wait! There's more! Sayeth it about my match:

Risk Averse, Relaxed, Optimistic, Seeks Variety

This person is your match except that they are more optimistic than you are-that might be something you like if you don't think they miss too many important decision making considerations.

That's supposedly someone who's similar, and someone who's complementary...

Flexible, Compromiser, Temperate, Extrovert

If you want someone like yourself, but who won't butt heads on your own strong sense of how things should be done, all you have to do is look for an FCTE. An FCTE is more easy going about planning and various kinds of rules and lifestyle issues and has your temperament. They should be an easy match.

Someone more optimistic than me...okay, that's just about everybody. Thanks for narrowing it down there. Other than that, someone like myself. Makes sense I guess but doesn't really tell me much. And on the second one I can see where I would need to be able to call some shots, but I think I also tend to be easy going and down with doing pretty much anything within God's limits. I actually don't see that as a big potential problem. Or maybe I just underestimate my demanding nature and desire to control things--would be easy to do. But overall I didn't get much out of the matching parts. I mean, really all one needs to look for is the perfect woman. That's not so hard right?

Geez...look at how much time I've spent on this. I feel like I should ask God to give me that hour or so back, or at least I should have gone to sleep by now. But next is the part where they want money to keep going and see your matches. Cool, that was neat, but like heck I'm gonna fork over any large sum of money to some dating service. That much of a loser I'm not. See ya...

Anyway, I seem to be getting more interested in the whole romantic relationships angle of life. This reminds me of something I said last night. Was on the phone with my mom and she was doing the tell-me-how-good-my-life-is thing, which I've heard many times and still don't really buy into. But at least someone out there thinks I'm not a hopeless case. Anyway, she made some joke about just needing a wife to round it all out. And I said "yeah, that's the missing piece" or something to that effect. But for me, what a weird response that is. It's one thing to admit to myself that perhaps I ought to care about and pursue that more than I have for the past 26+ years, it's another thing to actually discuss things with friends who I'm close with but haven't known for all that long, and it's entirely different still to actually say that to a parent (albeit unintentionally and kinda off guard). Sometimes I surprise even myself I guess.