If I'm Truly Honest with Myself

This week has been about being SUPER honest with myself. God has been reminding me of somethings that I have wanted out of a relationship that I thought I was willing to compromise on. Don't get it twisted! I'm not talking about compromising on spirtuatl and moral compatibility here. The things I felt open to compromising on were the "extras" that I hoped to find in someone.

One of those things was sense of humor. I really thought that I could compromise on this one in particular with one of the guys I dated, wondering, "maybe I'll be okay if I'm the only funny one in the relationship." Not that I'm winning any awards for best stand up comic...but you know. In fact, it was in a conversation I had with one of my guy friends recently that reminded me how much I HAVE to have this in a relationship. It even increases my respect for a person when they can match or exceed my wit and can decrease my respect when its not there. I tried hard not to let it matter so much but I can't help it!

The other thing which I can't compromise on is in planning ahead of time. Now, this was the biggest shocker because I thought that I was really high "P" on the Myers Briggs. For those of you who are unfamiliar with the Myers Briggs, that basically means I like things open ended, may tend to procrastinate a lot. But I have recently become very strict about my schedule. In fact, the only time I may put off scheduling something is if it is going to cost money and I'm concerned about how I am spending my finances. But in general, I do much better after something scheduled than I do when it's open ended. And when someone says to me something like, "Oh yeah, we'll definitely hang out sometime," or "we'll definitely do something this week," I breaks trust with me. I feel this way partially because quality time is my primary love language. But I also feel this way because I am a busy person, so if I communicate that I'm interested in opening up my schedule it doesn't mean I won't take any other appointments or meetings etc until you're ready to schedule something. It means, let's put something in the books now before you get completely edged out of my life.

So there you go. I guess I'm looking for a hilarious planner. Know any? :)

Best,
ODQ

Waiting on God

Last week was a torrential storm of emotions and excitement only to be extinguished in one night. I began texting back and forth and talking on the phone with a guy who seemed perfect. In fact, one of my friends began referring to him as "Mr. Amazing." Well, there were pieces of his life that he was not upfront about until we met up in person. First being the fact that his pictures on the internet we not up to date. He had had a pretty bad motorcycle accident that had left him in pretty bad shape. The second and most important piece he left out of his history was the fact that he had spent time in prison for embezzlment. Needless to say, I have been pretty disillusioned and renewed a committment in my heart to wait on God and really be patient about any opportunity that comes by way. One of the primary ways that I am doing this is by only checking my internet dating accounts once a day (as opposed to 5 or 6) and only after praying to God and asking him to sift through my heart and fill my neediness. I have also cancelled a couple memberships I have to some dating sites that I was dissatisfied with and now I'm down to just two that I am invested in. I have a feeling that this MIGHT mean much fewer dates, but maybe the overall quality will pick up. :)

Cautious and Hopeful,
ODQ

Back with eHarmony Day 4/Desperate or Practical

Well, here we are on day four on eHarmony. Success on this site so far is pretty limited. I'm grateful for a lot of matches. Each day they provide new matches for me to look at (however I wish they would let me know via 1 e-mail a day as opposed to 5!). I have gone back and forth over whether or not to be the first one to initiate with the men that I am matched with. Like many women I over analyze the situation wondering what message I'm sending by initiating first. God forbid I seem too agressive! But most of the time I'm just thinking, "I paid for the damn thing so I better get the most out of it!" (My last go round with eHarmony was fully funded by my second mom). Suffice it to say I'm a little more anxious. Does it come of as desperate or practical/pragmatic when a woman initiates first? And is it an LA thing that more and more these days women have to be super overt about their interest for a man to feel comfortable making a move?

So far I have had three guys out of maybe 30 either express some sort of interest. None of them have gotten to the final stage of communication. Awesome.

Just keep swimming,
ODQ

I'm Not Sold Yet

High self esteem is healthy. However there is a level of self esteem that blinds one from reality. Interacting with many such prospectives online has been frustrating mainly because I really do want to give these guys a fair chance. But they can quickly ruin my interest by not trying very hard to impress and making cavalier requests when the truth is that I'M JUST NOT SOLD YET. Please do not mistake a woman's openess to your interest in her as a cue that she is 100% into you.

I made the mistake a few months ago of giving a guy my number, when I was still only just curious (meaning I wasn't sold yet but open to being won over). I should have followed my own advice re: the face-to-face. But I was impatient and too busy to set something up. He ended calling me towards the end of the month and I just had no energy for the conversation at the time. Since then I have received a text from him every two weeks asking me to come to his house! Did I mention we have not had a face-to-face yet? Today I received another text from him, once again asking if I want to come over to his house tonight. Is it elitist of me that I think most people can afford a cup of coffee? I feel some pity for him because ever since I sent him an e-mail he has interacted with me as if he's got it in the bag. I'm just not sold yet.

Tip: Never tire of putting effort into wooing and impressing your potential mate, especially in the beginning stages. If you're tired, then you may not be as excited about that person as you think. This goes for both women and men.

Always,
ODQ

Back with eHarmony/Top 3 Benefits of a Good Profile Page

Well, I'm back on eHarmony again. I really thought I was done with this site for a good long while. But somehow having the worste Valentine's day I have ever had combined with eHarmony's free communication event I got reeled in hook line and sinker! What really sealed the deal though was receiving a communication from a guy on the site but I couldn't see his picture. I didn't want to get too far into communcation without knowing whether or not I was actually attracted to him physically. So I bit the bullet.

The site has changed quite a bit since the last time I was on. A lot of the links are way more userfriendly and some things have been re-titled to make more sense which is good. I can be a site snob sometimes when things are unclear or unfocused. One thing that hasn't changed is the handful of men (probably women as well) who write next to NOTHING on their profile page and post either a tiny picture of themselves or no picture at all. Sometimes I wish I could host a tutorial for these men and show them why women are bypassing their profile page. Then the thought always occurs to me that maybe they are still getting some action! Any response by a woman to their page only reinforces the laziness of not taking the time to fill out a profile page.

However, I am sure that the reason for all the lack luster profile pages is not just laziness. Some people are worried about overselling themselves or coming off as arrogant and narcissistic. This is why I have come up with a list of benefits to writing a good profile page.

1) You'll find out how awesome you are: Writing a good profile page is a great way to having a better understanding of yourself! It is good practice because the more you know yourself the more you will realize what you bring to the table in a relationship...and what you need to improve on.

2) You Won't waist your time: If a person is turned off by your humor in your profile page, chances are they will be turned off by it once you meet up in person. Be appropriate but don't water yourself down just so that people won't be turned off. Let people see who you really are sooner. That way when you do receive a response you know that person will be responding to the real you.

3) You'll get more responses: Online dating is becoming an art. And the ones that have been around the block can tell the people who have just slapped something together versus people who have been thoughtful and reflective about their needs and desires on their pages. When you put effort into your page it communicates that you are willing to put effort into the things that really matter to you...like relationships ;)

Happy profile writing!

ODQ

PS: Narcissistic people don't worry about being narcissistic. If you're worried about it, then you probably have nothing to worry about.

Asking for More Pictures

I've had several guys on a particular site ask for more pictures after connecting with me on dating sites. I assume that this is something that people do and ask for on a regular basis on these sites (I am still only learning about this whole online dating scene). However, for someone like myself who is a little more reserved overall something didn't quite sit right with me when this request is thrown my way. Don't get me wrong, I do understand their point of view. On this particular site I had only posted one picture of myself that was only a headshot. And men are visual. However on my end, I couldn't get it out of my head that in complying with this request I was aiding and abetting the objectification of my own body. So here was my ultimate compromise: I have added more pictures to my profile and will gracefully decline a direct request for more pictures. If they don't get the idea from what I have put up or are too lazy to schedule something with me to see what I look like in person then I don't have time for that anyway.

ODQ

Too Personal vs Deep (And Rule 2 in Sending Text Messages)

We all grew up in different households, different parents with different ideas of the world. However, there are a few things that we can agree upon as socially acceptable. Last week I was watching my absolute favorite show "Millionaire Matchmaker" and this very issue of Too Personal vs. Deep came up. The issue is this: Many people, in an attempt to be deep, vulnerable or intriguing will end up sharing too much information about themself too soon. This makes people uncomfortable as was the case on the episode. On the show, one of the women who was chosen for a mini date by both of the men shared about her bout with anorexia as well as the passing of her mom. Both men were turned off by this, not because they were without compassion, but because this information was TOO PERSONAL TOO SOON. They had five minutes to spend with an attractive woman in order to decide if they would like to get to know her deeply. But instead of feeling free to ask their prepared questions, they spent the time trying to recover from the heavy information that was just unloaded and worrying about how to respond.

A few months ago I started talking with this guy who had this exact problem. He wanted to be deep and thought provoking and "open," he ended up asking me questions that were way too personal too soon. And to be honest, it wasn't completely the type of questions as it was the amount of questions. It seemed as if he has this list of questions that he was going down and checking off as I answered them. Later that week, he began texting me questions. At one point he asked me about my history with men and my five year plan for my life....ALL VIA TEXT!!! I decided to give him the benefit of the doubt and go out on a face-to-face with him. And what I found was shocking... He didn't seem to have any questions for me! My only conjecture at this point was that he must have had a list in front him during our phone conversations and now that he couldn't have his list in front of him he was unable to function. In all of the questions that I shot his way (normal ones like, how big is your family? Oh really, how old is that sister?) not one of those questions was returned in my direction. Needless to say, we did not go out again.

My point in this post: Learn the difference between questions and topics of discussion that are deep and thought provoking versus ones that are just too personal.

My subpoint is Rule 2 in Sending Text Messages: Do not ask questions over text that it will take more than 10 words to answer, especially if you have not had a face-to-face yet.

Best,
ODQ