Whew.

It has been an eventful couple of weeks, readers.

That dreaded "real life" thing has intruded - no, let's tell it like it is: real life just freakin' butted right in and made me miserable for the last couple of weeks. Drama at work, an unexpected layoff (not me, thank goodness!) and a boss who has developed a taste for cracking the whip have all added up to me having a lot of things on my mind that have nothing to do with my fishing expedition.

But let's see if we can catch up here, and we can start with Carl. I tossed him back. He just didn't awaken any kind of feeling in me at all, except for maybe a faint sense of boredom (sorry, Carl!). I sent him an email in which I told him that I just didn't think we had any potential and closed the match. I did feel kind of sorry for him, but I'm not going to go out with someone I don't particularly want to go out with just because I feel sorry for him. No more "Nice Girl Syndrome, " right?

Since then, the folks at Eharmony have been doing their level best to bury me in piles of eligible men. Seriously - they sent me at least ten emails every single day, "Meet your new match ______!" Where were all these men when I was out looking for them? (Heh. Sitting at home signing up for Eharmony, I guess.)

I can't seem to keep up. I logged in last night and waded through about 40 of them - yes, I am really behind on this! The far-away ones got closed, and now, I'm closing the ones with no photos. If they're too ...what? Ashamed? Picky? Afraid? to show their picture, I'm not interested.

I have sent a couple of what Eharmony calls "Icebreakers" to a few cute guys. Icebreakers are these cutesy canned one-line messages you can send to someone. It's not like sending the first questions, but it's a way to say hello. My favorite is "Your profile brought a smile to my face!" but so far, nobody has responded.

There are three gentlemen who have requested communication; two of them look like grandpas and the third looks like Michael on The Biggest Loser and spells like he's still in sixth grade. I closed that match; I feel a little guilty for being shallow, but this is my life, and I need to be engaged and thrilled by the person, and excited at the prospect of getting to know them. I don't want to be someone's mercy date.

So far, Eharmony seems to be kind of a dud, but I have 10 and 1/2 months to go on my membership.

As a very interesting aside, the conventional wisdom says that some of the best matches can be made by caring friends. As it happens, I was at the home of one of those caring friends, and I happened to be introduced to a very attractive fellow named Dan - who happens to be single. He's a talented guy, and funny and smart. My friend asked me if I'd be interested in Dan, and I said, "Are you kidding? He's totally cute!" My friend smiled and winked. I'll keep you posted.

It's Valentine's Day on Sunday, and once again, I have no one to share it with. Maybe I'll buy myself a bouquet of roses. And chocolates, too.

Love,

Maggie