So…is the usual dating scene getting tedious for you? Tired of preening yourself for hours,  then hit every watering hole in town, just find the ‘One’, but strikeout anyway? The killer lines you possess making you a more of a chump than a charmer? Let’s face it: we can’t all be James Bond. Maybe the traditional approach isn’t for you.

Not so long ago, the avenue for many lonely hearts was through the use personal ads in their quest for their perfect match. However, with the advances in technology and the internet,  posting in the personal ads are the thing of the past. Now there are online dating sites. 

Log on and Dive in

Online dating sites are means for people to find that ‘special someone’ via the information superhighway. Contrary to popular belief, they are not an avenue for sleazy
misadventures. Mind you, Online Dating sites has revolutionized the romantic scene for many adults looking for love. While many others would take the traditional route of hitting every major watering hole in the metropolis and going through the usual games of attraction, hoop jumping, and  putting the best foot forward, online dating site users would rather enjoy the art of conversation via chatting and e-mail; bar rooms have been replaced with chat rooms. It’s a safe, easy, and  inexpensive way to find their partner/soul mate.

Online Dating One-Oh-One

If you are planning to take the information highway to true love, here are some things you should know first:

1) Find a site. – There are thousands upon thousands of online dating sites out there on the internet; Google alone is a sure-fire way to link up. Find one that is right for you. For those who feel that their special someone is in the same country, they’d prefer to keep it local for convenient hooking up. While those who rather think globally choose to transcend international borders. Take your pick. Examples of such online dating sites are Friendster  and Match.com 

2) Set up a profile. – As Hitch would say: “Go with what you have. If you’re shy, be shy. If you’re outgoing, be outgoing. She doesn’t have to see the whole you all at
once, but she definitely wants to see the real you.” The chief policy for online dating sites is honesty and sincerity, and veteran online daters can spot B.S from a mile away. Remember: you’re looking for true love, not a one night stand. Set up a profile that is attractive yet sincere. Once you set up your profile, then you’re good to go.

3) Collect and select. – The beauty of each online dating site is that are many profiles for you to pick and choose. It’s a smorgasbord of potential life-partners. If some chick states in her profile that she enjoys a Saturday night playing in traffic andunder the influence of ecstasy, then you can ignore her (unless that’s your thing also) and move on to the next. If she has the same interests as you do, then make contact.

All set? Good. Now you can sit back, relax, and begin your search for true love.

A Word to the Wise: Some rules.

Okay, like many things, there is a downside. Like the traditional methods of courtship, there are rules. Online dating is safe, inexpensive; over 99 percent of the
Online Dating sites in the world are very sincere about finding you the perfect partner. But thereare still dangersto contend with.  

Anonymity breeds paranoia: what you can’t see might hurt you. There are many kinds of con men and women out there who use internet dating as a means to part unwitting victims of their wealth, some wish to inflict serious bodily harm, and some use it for other forms of  cyber-crimes. Unfortunately, due to the vastness of the World Wide Web, there isn’t an effective way to police each and every e-mail or chat rooms without impinging our right to privacy, so here are a few safety tips when using an online dating site.

1) Never give out your home address - This it THE biggest rule in online dating. When meeting someone online for the first time, one should never give specific details about their location, be it the home address and landmarks. The basic rule of thumb is to correspond with each other through e-mail or chat rooms around 6 or more times until you are confident that he or she can be trusted.  

2) Never state anything about your financials – Another big rule for online dating sites. As I said earlier, there are scammers out there on the World Wide Web whose sole purpose is to part you with your money and use online dating sites as a means to that end. The prudent thing to do when your correspondent seems interested in the amount of money you make is to drop him. Here’s one example: If at some point, your correspondent seeks financial aid and
asks if you could lend him some cash, then you should just drop him. It may seem cruel. Hemight be genuine about it, but you shouldn’t take that chance.

3) Listen and verify their stories – What do your potential partners want? Honesty and sincerity. Anonymity breeds paranoia. You do not know who you’re really talking to, so be careful. It may be difficult at first if you’re new to using online dating sites but, given time, you’ll be able to spot the difference between sincerity and plain old fashioned B.S. Just listen to each and every word they say. The advantage of online dating is that one is given time to step back and meticulously process and digest the correspondent’s story.

4) Leave word – When you get to that final stage in your internet courtship in which you arrange an eye-ball, a rule of thumb is to meet in a public area. Always tell a
friend where you’re going and give means to contact you. If you’re a little uncomfortable going alone, bring a friend.

There. Wasn’t that simple? Now go forth, log in to a online dating site, find your perfect match, and ride into the sunset together. Online dating sites are loads of fun, if you know how. It sure as heck beats going out on a Friday Night and striking out. People might find you a  little odd for for using online dating sites, some might think you’re a perv, but who cares?

Just remember: Love could be just a click away.    

Join Us for FREE And Find Your Soulmate Right Now With Gorgeous-Networks.com

No Tags

Source: dating seeking

By Lisa Daily

A new trend shows smart, educated women are choosing to have children by themselves in record numbers.

And so, of course, politicians and self-proclaimed “family values advocates” are predicting certain doom in the form of delinquent, uneducated kids living below the poverty level. But this doesn’t have to be the reality.

Is single parenthood a good choice?

A good friend of mine recently became a mother for the first time. She is over 40, educated at Cambridge and financially secure. She is also unmarried and plans to stay that way.

Before I met her, I always thought of single mothers as the responsible parents in unfortunate circumstances — the ones who kept care of their children through divorce or a surprise pregnancy.

But I also joked to my girlfriends (who hasn’t?) that if I didn’t meet the right guy by the time I hit 35, I’d head on down to my local sperm bank and take care of matters myself.

I would rather be a mother alone than try to do it with the wrong guy.

And while many of us grew up believing that the average family consists of Mom, Dad, a couple of kids and a dog named Rover, in reality, those types of families are now in the minority.

Even in 1995, the New England Journal of Medicine was reporting, “Public figures depict the typical American household as though it consisted of married couples and their children; in fact, such families make up only 26 per cent of American households.

Similarly, according to the 2000 Bureau of the Census, non-marital cohabitation, separation, and divorce have become more common, as has remarriage. Children living with only one parent (24 per cent) or with “melded” sibships of children from several families (15 per cent) are increasing in number; half of all children in the United States lived or will live with only one parent before reaching adulthood. Most one-parent families (86 per cent) are headed by mothers.”

The New England Journal of Medicine also reported that out-of-wedlock births are not just an American phenomenon. “Rates in the United Kingdom, Canada, and France are about the same as those in the United States; rates in Sweden and Denmark are more than 50 per cent higher. The structure of the family is changing rapidly throughout the Western world.”

Bad for the kids?

There’s a mountain of research suggesting children raised by single mothers are more likely to suffer from poverty, poor grades and psychological problems. However, a 1998 U.S. study at Ohio State University found that the problems were not related so much to the lack of a father but rather to other background factors, such as income, education and occupational prestige. Douglas Downey, co-author of the study said, “Parents with higher socioeconomic status are usually better positioned to create positive family environments.”

Cornell researcher Henry Ricciuti says what matters most “is a mother’s education and ability level and, to a lesser extent, family income and quality of the home environment.” Ricciuti found links between those factors and a child’s school performance and behavior, regardless of race.

While much research is focused on single-parent families created by divorce or death, researchers are just beginning to look at single parents by choice.

Louise Sloan, author of Knock Yourself Up: A Tell-all Guide To Becoming A Single Mom says, “I think when a family is set up differently from the beginning — it’s not the traumatic thing that happens when you lose a dad.”

And the reality is we’ve all seen single parents who make it work. They raise great kids, and they do it all by themselves.

But does opting into motherhood mean you’re opting out of marriage?

Read more »

By Nick Krewen

Ladies, despite rumors to the contrary, we men are very easy to please when it comes to dating.

Basically, you’re looking at two essentials: nudity and a six-pack. And since some of us aren’t actually drinkers, you can usually forego the brewskis and cut right to the chase.

Yes, some of us cave-dwellers like the simple things in life: A good steak. A 52-inch Widescreen LCD HDTV with SurroundSound and a 5.1 Home Theatre System with enough woofer and tweeter rumble to detach our skulls from our spines.

Maybe a couple of floor seats to an NBA game. Or a sexy woman who shows up at our door wearing nothing but a smile, an oversized trench coat and a pair of thigh-high leather boots.

Show up with all four and watch our eyes light up like a Vegas slot machine and you’ll be guaranteed that all-important second call. Heck, because of your initial consideration, we may even call you when we say we will. And if that isn’t a prize, I don’t know what qualifies.

And maybe… just maybe… we’ll let you hold the remote.

OK, OK — so perhaps I’m being a little extreme. Maybe you’re just a little too shy to venture into Adam and Eve territory on the first date… especially if it’s a blind one and you don’t even know his name.

Like I said before, it doesn’t take rocket science to satisfy us. Here are five suggestions for nudity-optional date scenarios that will let him know you’re at least thinking on his wavelength.

By the way, these are strictly for the men who ooze machismo. Wimps not need apply.

1. RibFest Date

They say the quickest way to get to a man is through his stomach, and nothing gratifies a guy-gut quicker than hickory-smoked venison smothered in BBQ sauce. RibFests are ideal because not only do they offer a number of mouth-watering choices symbolic of the hunt, they also provide endless amounts of eye candy for both you and him in case you get bored.

Helpful Hint: Steer him away from the baked beans side dish.

2. WWE Wrestling Date

Nothing says “macho’ quite like the sight of two bloodthirsty, steroid-induced goliaths battling it out for scripted glory. It’s not so much the fact that arena-shaking body slams and my-dick-is-bigger-than-yours stare-downs heighten the adrenaline rush. It’s the sense of competitive one-upmanship and the lesson that people can get ahead in life without resorting to cheating and chair-shots to the head. Had you there, didn’t I? Who are we kidding, it’s about the gore! Grrr!

Helpful Hint: Pick up one of those gaudy WWE championship belts during intermission, and hand it to him as a prize for pinning your shoulders to the late-night mat, if you understand my drift. After all, we’re all Booker T’s just looking for our Queen Sharmel. You’ll forever be his Valet of the Dolls.

Read more »

By Shawn Conner

“Everything in life has an expiry date.”

So says author and lecturer Paul Talbot. And he’s right. Whether it’s milk or relationships, sometimes you just have to let it go to clear the space for something new.

And applying some of the principles in Talbot’s book, Clear the Clutter and Simplify Your Life can help you sort through your love life, to jettison what’s not working and concentrate on what is.

In his seminars and workshops, the British-born, Vancouver-based Talbot teaches people how to simplify their lives in six basic areas: household, lifestyle, career, health, finance and relationships. “Clutter has a domino effect,” says Talbot, who calls himself “a clutter therapist.”

“If you have clutter in other areas of your life as well as in relationships, it often means you’re not focused, and you’re usually very scattered.”

With that in mind, we’ve come up with some areas where readers can prune, cull, reassess and reconfigure for ultimate dating success. Or at least a cleaner desk.

Image

You want to attract the opposite sex? Maybe it’s time to throw out that Blue Öyster Cult concert jersey, velour tracksuit and bottle of Drakkar Noir.

“If you haven’t worn it in a year, let it go,” says Talbot. “You don’t want to look like one of the homeless — you want to look like you’ve got your life together.” The same applies to old scents and makeup past its expiry date. He also recommends hiring an image consultant to help select some new threads.

“Sometimes you need someone who can be objective to do this for you,” he says. We often listen to our friends, he says, but maybe we shouldn’t. “Maybe there’s a little jealousy there — maybe you earn more money or are in a better position financially than they are.” Which means maybe you don’t look so great in those pants. Sucker.

Home

Do you have to step over piles of dirty clothes just to get to the pile of less-dirty clothes? Are you really ever going to read through those back issues of Wired? And what about that thing-slash-science fair project in the fridge?

“If you’re living in a cluttered environment, the chances of you bringing someone home if you get lucky are pretty close to zero because you’re embarrassed about your place,” says Talbot, cutting to the chase. “Once you clear up your physical environment you feel better about yourself, and it becomes a pleasure to come home. And to bring someone back to it.”

Friends

Floss your cell phone contact list, whittle down your online social network and stop hanging out with those nabobs of negativity. It sounds brutal, but maybe it’s time to lose that pal who’s always going on about how all women are gold diggers or all men are players or how much your city sucks when it comes to meeting people.

“I have learned over the years that people who are negative, who are always criticizing or condemning or telling you how to live your life or who to associate with… are the worst offenders,” says Talbot. “They suck you dry. They’re not happy in their own life, and they want to make everybody else miserable.” It’s not easy to say goodbye to people you’ve known for a long time. But sometimes, says Talbot, “You have to be cruel to be kind.”

Read more »