Good for you, vw. Take care of yourself.

Tep, you made me tear up thinking about how far you've come.

Damn, sorry, meant to say - Billytea, contact her, man! She sounds human!

My one non-negotiable condition! She must be mine!

Seriously, her profile states that she's looking for someone up to the age of 28 or so. Which I ain't. But there shall surely be headpats for her profile, and (if she isn't already aware) she shall learn that the shopping centre under my office currently has a replica skeleton of Giganotosaurus carolinii, largest carnivorous dinosaur known. (T. rex still could've taken it in a fight, I reckon.)

This really could be the tag line for my life, but instead of tattooing it on my forehead, I'll just use it here, if I may, Mr. BT?

But of course. For future reference, you really don't have to ask.

I'd be registering for board games and -- oh! -- a Playstation!

Emily, have you played Ticket to Ride? Puerto Rico?

I'm done with therapy. And I can tell a difference between current!Teppy and craxy!pre-therapy!Teppy of 2 years ago. In a big way.

Huzzah! Therapy-progress is of the good. Did I say good? I meant mole rats. (Mole rats!) Good on you. I too am happy to sing the praises of therapy, but I've also noticed that effective therapy requires a buttload of hard and sometimes painful work from one's own good self. So, in my own colourful idiolect, onya ya bonza sheila!

Sorry. Endorphins. (There was a sale!)

Seriously, her profile states that she's looking for someone up to the age of 28 or so. Which I ain't.

Sometimes a person thinks she knows exactly what she wants, but then the right person shows up, meeting very few of her original criteria, but he's just....the right person, you know?

I'm not saying dinosaur!girl is your right person, or that you are hers, but....

Just don't discount her b/c of her age stipulation or your desire to start a family relatively soon.

If you tell her "All my invisible friends on the other side of the world think your profile is awesome" and she doesn't run away, you may need to date her.

Not that I'm advocating that approach. Just a "What if"

Sometimes a person thinks she knows exactly what she wants, but then the right person shows up, meeting very few of her original criteria, but he's just....the right person, you know?

At least this is one person about whom I'm confident that her criteria are genuinely original.

Anyways, I have written to her. Text follows:

Hi EvilButterfly. I wanted to let you know, I've been looking around a few dating sites now, and I've seen a few interesting profiles, but yours is the first one that's truly impressed me. You really have a way with words, with the apparent exception of safe words. I would even say that I admired your moxie, if I knew what moxie meant, but I'm pretty sure it accounts for dinosaurs, "knife logic" and "narcissistic Jesus" appearing in the one profile.

Anyway, I'm 35 years old, so pretty distinctly outside your criteria. Plus, while I own a pretty large number of books (even larger when I count in binary), I'm not sure my dreams are that big. I vaguely recall that last night I concocted some sort of space opera plot, and I wound up in the filing room. But I couldn't let such a work go uncommented upon. Oh, and I don't know if you were aware of this already, but there's currently a replica skeleton of Giganotosaurus carolinii, the largest known carnivorous dinosaur, on display at Melbourne Central by the shot tower. They didn't make it animatronic, though, and thus far I've failed to bend it to my will. But I thought you might be interested.

(PS: Tep, I've edited my previous post to wax more lyrical about your therapy wins.)

If you tell her "All my invisible friends on the other side of the world think your profile is awesome" and she doesn't run away, you may need to date her.

Dammit! I forgot to let her know that the lurkers support me in email! Ah well.

Oh, hey, another amazing profile (which I'm not responding to): an 18-year old woman, listed sex as one of her hobbies, and stated that she makes $300,000 p.a. from her career as a prostitute and stripper. Granted, not what I expected to see on a dating site, but all power to her. The thing that fascinates me is that she's from Dubbo (home to the Western Plains Zoo). It seems they pay their hookers well out Dubbo way.

I'm watching the ER where Mark dies. I think I'm gonna cry a lot in the next hour.

vw, take care of yourself. hope you feel better soon.

Thanks, babe. I'm trying really hard. I'm trying to cut myself some slack and just do one thing at a time and do what I need in the moment.

My therapist is out of town until tomorrow. When I saw her on Tuesday she got worried about leaving. The person who was covering for her, I've never met. So, she made special arrangements for me to be in contact with a person that covers for her often and knows me well. R has been great.

(PS: Tep, I've edited my previous post to wax more lyrical about your therapy wins.)

You are a true warrior poet, my friend.

Did I say good? I meant mole rats. (Mole rats!)

Do you still have Rufus?

Good on you. I too am happy to sing the praises of therapy, but I've also noticed that effective therapy requires a buttload of hard and sometimes painful work from one's own good self.

Man, ain't that the truth. It was a LOT of hard work (and it's not like it's really over; I just no longer have to pay someone to help me with it), and there were times when it sucked like a gaping chest wound. Some things you'd just rather not deal with, you know? But those were the precise things that were causing me the biggest problems. (Isn't it always that way?)

So, in my own colourful idiolect, onya ya bonza sheila!

Ummmm....wrod, mang!

an 18-year old woman, listed sex as one of her hobbies, and stated that she makes $300,000 p.a. from her career as a prostitute and stripper.

I think that once you make money from it, it no longer qualifies as a "hobby."

Do you still have Rufus?

He is sitting on the immediate right of my monitor as I type this. On top of the volume control, as it happens.

You are a true warrior poet, my friend.

t sharpens nibs

t prepares to discover if it really is mightier than the sword

Man, ain't that the truth. It was a LOT of hard work (and it's not like it's really over; I just no longer have to pay someone to help me with it), and there were times when it sucked like a gaping chest wound. Some things you'd just rather not deal with, you know? But those were the precise things that were causing me the biggest problems. (Isn't it always that way?)

Yeah, of course on the plus side this also means that you feel a huge sense of accomplishment for it. (And, in my case, I wander round telling people that I'm damn well indestructible.) As I tell them at D&D, that which does not kill us makes us stronger, except shadows.