Climbing in Skirts

So, it seems that it is actually possible. I am getting old.
Not just maturing, I mean, how can you escape the stages of human maturation when you are forced to not only get your financial shit together but in the process of doing that are shuttled into a job where you take care of people who are in their freshman year of college.
Morons. They are morons. It's okay...funny in fact. I mean not even ten years ago I was a moron myself. I have actually just semi-graduated from Morondom, so it's strange watching them in their frantic states wondering how in the world they are going to pass midterm?--How could professors expect them to be able to get alllllllll that homework done on time?
It is a trip really. A sick trip, watching them freak out. Watching them try to hold intelligent conversations when its clear that they have NO IDEA what is going on in the world and why things are the way they are.
I just laugh and shake my head.

But anyway.. the point is, I'm getting old.
I have become financially independent. I haven't bought a house like my sis, (projectjen by the way is my l'il big sis) but I pay rent (in Boston, which is a feat on its own) I am recently employed by a place that is neither open past 12 midnight nor has the main objective of getting people drunk enough to pay too much for a burger. I no longer have to 'clock in' and I actually get a whole hour for lunch which I am not obligated to spend in the break room.
I even have PPO health insurance. That's right. No more Humiliating Medical Offenses.. no more Have My Own credit card to pay for this.. no more Hate Mongering Office.
Life is pretty good. I make sensible purchases. I get to bed at a 'reasonable' hour. I wake up and work out.
Yadda yadda yadda.
Truth is, it's not so bad. I would much rather be here in my layers wearing, sensible shoe buying mode than back into the realm of morons. Yea its fun being young you can get away with just about anything cause you are dumb and don't know anything but being a quasi-grown up has its plusses. First of all, you get to be in charge of yourself. No curfew, no limits, no one saying you cannot have cookies for breakfast and toast all day. Not having to worry that you won't be able to get in and sit with your friends at the bar. Nothing but smooth sailing. Well, except for all that grown up crap people expect cause your 'older'.
But whatever, I'm getting used to it and I like the whole not so much flying by the seat of my pants wondering what the hell is going to happen next thing.
-end.

post-end
I know my sis is on OKCupid. I would just like to say for the record that that website seems pretty lame. Like Am I hot or not.com but with a dating profile attached (oh wait...didn't they add that in the second year?) I met my current partner of almost 2 years (after two years of a lot of first dates) through the combined efforts of Match.com, Nerve.com and the onion/boston.com personals. And no, no one really meets anyone in person anymore*. At least no one I know.

*More about that later.

So, this is a new thing to me, blogging. I was inspired after reading Jen's extra tasty message about OKCupid. You sold me on it, Jen.

I have disappeared. Currently, I have been very busy hiding out and growing up. This whole maturing thing is really odd. Contemplating buying a car, moving/buying a condo, and being in a REAL relationship. YIKES!! One thing at a time. To start, I will be moving to a lovely little condo that I call my "porn den." All I need to do now is put up some of that funky 70s porn mirror on my ceiling and I'll be set to start taping! It's great! All the walls are covered in mirrors! That makes up for its tininess. It's a loft within walking distance from Barton Springs with a wonderful spiral staircase and view of downtown Austin. I love it!

I fear, however, that it will take some getting used to. For example, I went there about a week ago with my boyfriend and he kept staring at himself from different angles in the many mirrors. I forget that most people are not so used to being around many full length mirrors. Having grown up taking dance lesson since I was 4 years old, seeing my reflection moving was not a distraction. The official move in date will be May 7th.

I joined OKCupid based on a friend's advice shortly after parting ways with my boyfriend of 2 1/2 years. I figured that it could be fun. I didn't have anything to lose by signing up. I could meet some interesting people (preferably cool-interesting vs interesting-from-a-psychoanalyst-standpoint).

I filled out my profile, uploaded my photo, and went to work. They make you answer a bunch of random questions (by users and OKCupid) in order to find your mate (I am happy that mating socks doesn't take this much effort). Some of the questions are useful (along with filling out the profile). It helped me figure out what I wanted out of a potential fling/mate. There are also a bunch of quizzes as well to help people and the service get to know you better.

Unfortunately, they make you answer too many questions. I am not a patient person. I wanted to get to the good part. The profile entry and the picture uploading was cake (I guess they make that part easy enough for chimps as part of luring you in). Once I got that far I figured that I would browse some pictures of people that matched my requirements. Then I noticed this little message at the bottom of the screen that says, "After you look through 20 pictures we will show you pictures of some really hot people." I was game for that (I had time to kill). Sadly, I waded through 20 or so pics (some were a little disturbing) then they showed some hot guys that were no where near where I live.

They also force you to start answering more questions by cutting down on the number of matches they show you. In the beginning they would show about 10 or 15 matches. Day 3 I log in and they show me 4. I took a few tests and answered a few more questions to see if that was the problem. I was right in guessing so. I was rewarded by having my match count display returned to 15.

There are some other good features included in the service. People can contact you via IM or email (built into OKCupid so you don't have to clog up your personal accounts with stalker mail).


My favorite message so far was the day after subscribing to the service.

Ciao bella,
i'm an italian guy from Rome..i writing to u first because u are bellissima ( beautifull girl) and even because i would like to know people from all over the world.
angelo
P.s. Probably u don't like this msg i'm 34 years old man but please let me say u are simply a fantastic and sensual woman !!!!

This message popped up when I was gathering my account info to write this article. I am not quite sure what to think about it...

Wow! You're beautiful, charming, a vegetarian, a frethinker, and a mousse artist! Usually women as attractive and tasteful as you are only on here to say that they're not interested in meeting men.

But there weren't any messages from people wanting to meet me. Am I too intimidating? Are my standards too high? Not only that, the people that did contact me were older and lived out of town.

Another problem I ran into is that they kept showing me pictures of the guy that I liked a lot, I know him pretty well, but he is my ex-boyfriend's roommate and the guy that told me to sign up on OKCupid. It would have been ok if there were some other guy that I had a closer match score to but there wasn't. I even went as far as answering more questions so the computer could establish a better knowledge of me. Still no better match. To make matters worse, my match percentage points with the boy went up by 10%. Why can't this be one of the cases where the computer went wrong.

And now for the stats...Match 76%, Friend 73% , compared to me he is more introverted and Matching: 88% effective. The next boy down in the list had a 68% match, 72% friend, and 86% effective match.

I decided to test out my initial crush and the computer's match. I could have been a dork and sent him an IM or some message via the service but I decided to approach him live and in person. There are just some things that can't be done via the computer. Besides I would have felt silly asking out a friend on the computer.

Its been a month and things seem to be ok. If things don't go so well, that other guy appears to be available.

What OkCupid said about me:
I am more independent and less old-fashioned than other female my age.
On the OKCupid test my profile was "The Intern." This meant that they pegged me as capable, trustworthy, and carnal. One of the nice girls, who's a bit quiet, and likes sex. Overall a genuinely thoughtful person. And CHOOSY. Not willing to get mixed up with just anyone.

That would be me in a nutshell.

If you feel like killing a little time or looking for some fun you might try it out for yourself.
www.okcupid.com