had a lot of paper success with online dating. Met up with multiple real ppl through both onion.com and eharmony.com. Match.com scared me. I'd say there are plenty of actual women online, but i would be suspect of the ones with supermodel-looking photos ;P

And totally with ND on the legal vs spiritual aspect of "marriage". I really believe that any consenting adults should be able to enter into a legal union (i'm fine with multiple participants, inter-species, whatever, as long as every party is fully consenting). The legal document/certificate and all legal rights should be the same for all people entering into this union regardless of civil circumstances.

If people also want to be spiritually married before god(s) through some church or other, fine, but i don't think the state should be involved in those ceremonies at ALL, nor should they provide any legal rights.

I doubt that my belief will ever be put into practice, as it would essentially overturn centuries of precedent, but i really think it *should* be the case in a nation which espouses separation of church and state. This whole government stepping into marriage has created some nasty situations.

i would be suspect of the ones with supermodel-looking photos ;P

Four years on, The Girl is still grumpy about my online picture apparently not looking anything like me. It was just a good picture. I'm clearly more homely in the flesh.

Heh. And in 'linking the discussions' stuff - I'm marrying a Girl I met online.

Heh. Clearly, I'm a Luddite. Lewis and I were introduced on a blind date that was so blind even we didn't know we were on it. (I went for the wings. Seriously.)

Going to be twenty years next Tuesday.

I'd love to think the lack of response to my online dating profiles was that I seemed so hot and perfect that the men all assumed I was a spambot. Not sure how to port that theory over to the lack of response to my in-person availability, but I have a long day at a conference booth to think about it.

My cousin is in labor! I am hoping to hear word of a new ''nephew'' soon!

As far as Jon & Kate are concerned, I watch every once in a while. Kate can be a bit of a shrew sometimes, but Jon really gets on my nerves. He just wants to play all the time and doesn't want to do any of the work involved in having 8 kids.

My response rate was much like billytea's. I found OKCupid to be by far the best in terms of cost/benefit ratio (I went on 2 eHarmony dates in a year, neither bad but not worth $150/date either. OKCupid, on the other hand, was $0/date for about 4 good dates in a year. And the time spent surfing OKCupid was generally more fun, too.)

The Girl is still grumpy about my online picture apparently not looking anything like me.

I'll be writing a paper on photography, and attachment of value/truth to the final product. All this to say: pictures are really, really tricky, and there's a good reason why we "don't look like ourselves".

Congrats on soon-to-be new nephew, sj!

In the meanwhile, I talked with some good, funny, intelligent people. I feel like wanting to be alive, again.

And some empathy to Sean. Not that I can relate, but still, it's some sort of empathy, or something I can't really put to words now.

Catching up:

Some of these discussions - Jon and Kate, for example - make me glad I don't have cable.

Yay for askye! (just a little advice - if you do decide to get married in Florida check the calendar; don't schedule a wedding at spring break time. Also inquire about other things going on in the area - my friend (who, Nora will be glad to hear, was half-joking about collecting on all the weddings and showers she's attended) once spent her vacation on Key West trying to avoid the filming of Girls Gone Wild).

I've never tried any of the online dating sites ... not sure if I'm too wary of what kind of people I might come across online or what.

Mini Meara

Of course, I look at the history of marriage, and know, it is a legal contract to pass along things to heirs. Used to unite in peace warring families/towns/kingdoms. Days of the dowry have slipped away in 1st world countries (afaik). And slowly marriage has turned into a thing of love, not property.

I hear this all the time, and I'm sure it is to some extent true. But it really sounds like an upper or middle (to the extent that there was a middle) class approach. Your average peasant (i.e. the bulk of the world) didn't have much in the way of propterty, etc. to worry about. I suspect that in large swaths of the world young people have always followed their hearts/nads, paired up, and raised families.

Why on earth did they agree to do this in front of the cameras?

They think they matter THAT MUCH. It's like movie stars or musicians prattling on about politics or alternative health cures. Sure some of them have causes they'd be devoted to even if they were working at Micky Ds, but most of them are pretty sure that if there is a microphone near them and they have an opionion then everyone should hear it. Which isn't really that different then all of us opining on a posting board -- but I don't think we have any illusions that its important that we do so. Well, not many.