NAME: Beth Orsoff
Message: Hi! In conjunction with the release of my novel ROMANTICALLY CHALLENGED next week. I've posted an "Are You Romantically Challenged?" quiz and "Best Worst Date" contest on my website http://www.bethorsoff.com/. I thought this might be something your Singles Center readers might be interested in. If you agree, please post the link to my site.
Thanks for your consideration.
Beth Orsoff
ROMANTICALLY CHALLENGED (NAL April 2006)
www.bethorsoff.com

Think romance is alive and well among young singles? That twenty-somethings are checking each other out in the office and cruising the bars at night, looking for someone to love? You might want to think again.

The major love story these days is this: maybe later.

It's not that they take relationships lightly, or that they don't want to become attached -- eventually. It's just, who has the time? They're working their butts off at college or in jobs that barely cover the rent and feel obligated to find fulfilling, well-paid careers. It will be easier to make their marks, they think, unfettered by relationships that, let's face it, can be so distracting.

This came as something of a surprise to researchers Lee Rainie and Mary Madden at the Pew Research Center when, in going over data in a larger dating survey, they discovered that among 18-to-29-year-olds, only slightly more than a third said they were in committed relationships. Among the remaining, more were not looking than looking... 38 percent in committed relationships and 38 percent neither in committed relationships nor looking for them. Twenty-two percent were not in relationships but looking.

Online daters are using health insurance to lure or screen potential mates. Examples: 1) A woman's ad asks, "Do you make at least $75,000 a year and have health insurance?" 2) A man's ad says he "can supply all the little things like health insurance and the big things like a nice place to live." 3) Another man's ad says, "If you are able to add someone to your health insurance as a 'spousal equivalent' have I got a deal for you."

Daters' explanation: We ask about your health insurance just as a way to establish that you've got it together.

Cynic's translation: They want your health insurance.

Economist's conclusion: This is a logical result of patchwork, employer-based health insurance: Coverage becomes a commodity in sex as in everything else.

Well Ive been dating for the better part of 17 years onley 8 of those, I was with two girls ,, 3 years with one, and 5 with the other ..The truth is they were both great relashionships, It's just at the time the weman wanted to settle down and have kids.... I sure wasnt ready in my mid 20s,. Or in the early 30s....Truth is i dont beleave...(or all say)..I've never met a couple in there 20s with kids that were ready to take care of them,,They all beleave they can and are.......But I sure have'nt seen that.....mid 30's and shit you've already done and had all the fun with being in control of yourself that your abel too devote yourself fully to a child....That go's with a mate too. Wich bring's us to this ad....So check out the picture and if you've liked what you've read great lets talk...

Hi, I've just created a forum to discuss PUA tactics and techniques -http://www.pick-up-artist-forum.com/

It's brand new, so there's not much there yet but go to the forum and join (totally free) and me and another pua will try to answer your questions.

Regards,
Brad

• Spend a lot of time thinking through exactly what you're looking for in a partner, including what your "deal breakers" are. For example, if you will only date non-smokers, mention that to spare time/rejection for everyone concerned.
• One exception to the above concerns the often sensitive subject of body weight and size... we'd advise leaving preferred physical criteria for potential partners out of your ad, completely.
• Have a good picture to include with your profile... including a picture will increase by a factor of seven or eight the number of responses you get.
• Describe your values, hobbies, and especially goals, in your profile. Don't be afraid to mention the "why" behind your life's interests.
• Remember that people are better at detecting exaggeration and deception than you may think. Keep your profile honest.
• You want to make a good first impression, so use a spell-checker if necessary.

To play, you need you need to activate the Bluetooth facility available on your mobile phone, which will then show a list of people within a few yards who are also active. Then write a message and press send... Massimo Maruccia explains the technology to beginners. Taking out a phone belonging to one of his waitresses -- "Pantera" -- he tracks down two other toothers in the room -- "Cinghiale," and "Nokia 7700 Alberto." A third, "Diabolik" sends Pantera a message. The first note, Maruccia says, is usually just an invitation to chat... "It's cooled off from the early days, when we'd easily have 30, 40 people in the room sending messages.

And so it was that last February, for the first time in his life, Majuk, a 40-year-old electrician from Queens, N.Y., found himself itching to get hitched. He'd been dating a cute ministry student for a month and he didn't want to mess up a good thing. So he registered for John Van Epp's daylong dating skills seminar How to Avoid Marrying a Jerk, which teaches single people and those currently dating how to bond with partners and avoid wasting time with, well, jerks. There, he learned about Van Epp's "Relationship Attachment Model," which cautions daters to beware of the false intimacy of insta-relationships and encourages them to really get to know their new companions before they trust them, commit to them or sleep with them.

Majuk had only been seeing his new girlfriend for a few hours a couple of times a week, but after the seminar he worried that they were moving too fast. Following the tips he picked up from Van Epp, he told her that he thought they should do a lot more conversing and a lot less cuddling, and was relieved when she agreed. Twelve months later -- and with a longer version of Van Epp's course under his belt (this one was given over five Sundays at a Queens church) -- Majuk, now 41, says they are "on track" for marriage.

More than a decade after the Internet became a dating mecca, a new study finds that those who have looked for relationships online have more faith in cyberspace than those who never have.

An estimated 16 million Americans have used a dating site or other site to meet people, the Pew Research Center reports; 45% of these have never been married. Pew found that 79% say online dating is a "good way to meet people" and 52% say the experience was mostly positive. But 29% say it was mostly negative. Among all Internet users — about 145 million single people, married people or those in relationships — opinions appear evenly split: 44% agree that Internet dating is a "good way to meet people," and 44% disagree.

Over the past half century, family structure changed dramatically and the number of unmarried Americans increased considerably. During the 1950’s, approximately 80 percent of Americans lived in households headed by married couples; now that number is just less than half. By 2008, more than half will be headed by an unmarried person. As more people remain or become unmarried (e.g., divorce), families are starting to look different. According to a recent study, 24 percent of households in the country are in “traditional” or “nuclear” families (defined as two parents with children) and 16 percent of households are in non-traditional families (defined as a child and a male or female head of household, with no spouse present). In 1950, only 9 percent of children were growing up in one-parent homes, while by 2000 this number had increased to 26 percent.

There are 10 million more unmarried women than unmarried men (56 percent female compared to 44 percent male), primarily because women live longer than men. Twenty-four percent of voting-age Americans are unmarried women, compared to 19 percent who are unmarried men.

For the past half century, unmarried women have been growing steadily as a share of the population. In 1965, only 15 percent of all Americans were unmarried women, compared to 24 percent now. Nearly half (46 percent) of all women are unmarried.

The fact is, most romantic relationships begin based on very little understanding of what it takes to create a thriving marriage. Finding the Love of Your Life is an exciting series that reveals the secrets to finding your perfect mate and cultivating a lifetime of happiness with that one person in the world that is just head over heels in love with you. Derived from Dr.Neil Clark Warren's 35 years as a marriage counselor, the series is inspiring, provocative, high energy, and rich with insights that you can apply to your life instantly.
· Learn the secrets to a truly joyful long term relationship
· Learn about the 7 Most Common Causes of Faulty Mate Selection
· Take the "Bottom Line Test" of your strengths and weaknesses
· The 50 similarities that matter most in a relationship
· Learn the Art of a Good Fight
· How to know if your partner has the "commitment gene"
· Learning where sex belongs in a new relationship

In 2004, Sasha Cagen published the book Quirkyalone, which tries to give a positive spin on Western solitude. A quirkyalone, says Cagen, is "a person who enjoys being single (but is not opposed to being in a relationship) and generally prefers to be alone rather than dating for the sake of being in a couple." In her first formulation of the idea back in 2000, Cagen calculated that 5 percent of the U.S. population are quirkyalones.

Cagen's thesis that "it's not strange to be single; rather, single is the new norm" is lent some credence by new research released in February by the Pew Internet & American Life Project, which reports that 43 percent of American adults (87 million people) say they are single. Twenty six percent of these are single people in a committed relationship. Of those not in a committed relationship, 55 percent are not looking for a partner.

The word came to her fully formed, and in this zany, untraditional book, she explains the word and the movement it spawned. "Quirkyalone stands in opposition to saccharine, archaic notions of romantic love. It stands for self-respect, independent spirit, creativity, true love, and confidence,"

NAME: RANJIT SINHA ROY
From: HYDERABAD, INDIA

PRESENTING THE PAST

When I was a six-year-old boy, my father was posted at Guwahati, Assam (India). We had a neighbor, whose daughter of same age was my playmate. Her name was Aarti.

We were not going to school, had no work to do and played whole day, except while taking bath, having food and going to bed. She was my constant companion and we were inseparable.

Then one day her father was transferred to a distant town and we parted with tears. I felt miserable when their car vanished beyond the curve and I cried and cried whole day.

I refused to take food and with tear in eyes asked mother, when would Aarti come back. She tried to console, and asked me to take food. But when I went on asking her again and again, she said, if I had food and be a good boy, Aarti would return. After her assurance only, I took food. I believed my mother.

Days passed, years went by. I waited and waited, but Aarti never returned.

Many, many years after, I met a pretty young girl. Instantly I felt as though I knew her a long time. I asked her name and she said “Aarti”.

My mother was right. Aarti had returned.