Dating in Seattle- Or Not

I've pulled up my line from the 'Barrel of Fish' and put it away for the season. Internet dating just isn't my thing. I'm not sure how I'll meet my mate, but there's got to be a better way. I will say, however, that one of my man pals met a woman from the POF site. She lives in Vermont, he in Seattle. She flew out to meet him face to face this weekend to see if they are 'a match.' I'm dying for the consensus. I love hearing success stories.

'Tis the season. My friend, the Culinary Queen, met her man in school at the start of spring quarter and they announced their engagement just before Thanksgiving. My San Diego pal is jetting off to Jamaica for the holidays and plans to pop the question- or at least broach the subject - to her fella. I'm secretly suspecting at least one or two more announcements by the time 2009 rolls around.

I was telling an old high school friend, who is married, about my lack of dating luck and she says to me "do you text?" I don't and apparently that's my problem. "All the single people I know text to date," she said.

She's right. Singles aren't asking each other out on proper dates. It's a text message "are you going to be out tonight? You want to hook up later?" or the ever famous, yet irritating and grammatically incorrect, "where u at?" That's exactly right! Remember the POF guy who sent me a 'spontaneous' text message at 4.45 p.m. asking me to dinner right then? If I'm going to date, I might have to put my old fashion ways aside or be stuck dating geezers. Even using the word "text" as a verb drives me insane. My hairs go up especially fast when someone says "he texted me..." "Texted?" You've got to be kidding.

On Friday I had dinner with my friend whose husband died suddenly a year ago August. Her five year old son asked her recently when they were going to get a new daddy. Heartbreaking as that is, my friend keeps her sense of humor. Her son even came up with a list of criteria:

1. He must not be married
2. He must not be related
3. He must not be in jail

Hmmm....smart kid. Maybe I need to keep my criteria as simple as that.

Nah. I'll stick to the list that's as long as my arm. I enjoy a challenge.