[106] in Depressing_Thoughts
Re: meeting people
dkk@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (dkk@ATHENA.MIT.EDU)
Tue Aug 2 17:03:42 1988
Re: Dating services
Yuppie dating services are popular these days for several
reasons. Here are a few:
1. We have a service culture. Large corporations exist which only
provide services that weren't even available a generation ago.
People need to be employed somehow. 8-)
2. A professional tends to be busy once his career gets under way.
The early marriages of a generation ago are being replaced by
cohabitation and later marriages. People often used to get
married right out of high school, but women today want a
chance to develop a career before taking time off for
children. Dating services save you time by getting you
together with another busy professional. They cover the
``singles scene'' for you just as a laundromat washes your
clothes to save you time.
3. Late marriage means you aren't likely to marry someone you know
from school. Since a student has the most sexually-preferred
peers around (even at MIT these days), finding an S.O. is much
harder after you graduate.
4. The number of single parents and divorcees (sp?) in general has
been rising steadily.
5. Some of the new dating services seem to advertise that they weed
out the undesirables (those who don't make as much money as
you do) before they choose someone for you.
Re: The ``Right Places''
I wouldn't recommend entering the ``singles scene.'' From
what I've seen (of theater employees who do such things) the people
who search for an S.O. in the typical places, are themselves typical.
The complaints men make about women, and vice-versa, seem to be true
of people in the ``Right Places.''
What are the *real* right places, you ask? Well, look out
your window. Do you say hello (with a smile) to those you pass on the
sidewalk? How about the store where you buy food? Do you talk to
people when you wait in lines? (Even though this isn't the USSR, we
still spend a lot of time in lines.) Just be friendly and be
yourself, and you will brighten the day of many strangers. Most
potential S.O.'s seem to respond positively to friendliness. They
tend to be turned off by selfishness and malice. If you act too shy,
you'll never meet anyone.
I started getting women interested in me in my freshman year.
The reason for this was I stopped wanting an S.O. (Ironic, isn't it?)
While before I had been too nervous and/or shy to talk to females, I
became at ease and treated them as people, not females. (No offense
intended, but any woman who has said ``Men! Arrggg!'' will know what
I mean.) I started saying hello to all the neighbors, not just the
old people and chidren. The conversations I started while waiting in
lines were with women, too, not just ``safe'' people. I've actually
had to stop being friendly to women, because they often think I'm
trying to pick them up. Oh, well.
In summary, the ``Right Place'' is almost anywhere you go.
