This is supposed to be where I'm philosophizing...

...So why do I feel like I'm talking more about the dating game than the philosophy of the world? Hrm. :)

That said, I have no idea how or where to start meeting people. Apparently, no single guys go to Unitarian churches - they only show up there once they have kids that they want to give a well-rounded religious education to. :)

And I really need to be friends with someone first, which makes the personals ads difficult. I've never 'dated' in the traditional sense - my relationships have always been with guys that I hung out with somewhere, usually in a "group of people hanging out together" context, who turned from friend to boyfriend in some spontaneous manner. Getting to know someone new one-on-one is a frightening concept. I'm quite talkative once I know someone, but I'm horribly tongue-tied and self-conscious at first, which isn't a great first impression.

Finally, there's the difficulty that I'm looking for a geek who nonetheless has some social skills, someone not particularly straight-laced who nonetheless has ethics, someone a little unusual who nonetheless has an interest in succeeding in the world (not because I'm trying to be a golddigger, but because I really like being the support person for someone with big dreams, whether they're realistic or not, and I haven't been able to do that in my previous relationships 'cause the guys didn't want any more out of life than time to sit around and play computer games. I like computer games but they don't particularly inspire passion and dreams! Well, maybe the Gabriel Knight series, but they're not making those anymore... :) ). So I'm looking for an odd combination to begin with.

Given all this, I'm wondering if I need to resign myself to being single for a while...

No, no, no. Must be positive. I mean, I did lose all that weight, so while I'm no model, I'm not scary anymore. Surely there's someone out there who'll be interested in a short brainy slightly-geeky slightly-used redhead who's too conservative for her wilder friends and too unconventional for her straightlaced friends. :) Trick is finding where he hangs out, whoever he is...

edited Friday morning to spell "unconventional" correctly. I'm spoiled without Word catching my typos. :)