Raq, I think you are supposed to wait and not Chuzzle until at least the third date.

Also I missed the rack/rock debate discussion yesterday, but it reminded me of a friend of a friend who changed his name from Scott to Raq. Last name? Pronounced "coons." @@

Back to sleep now.

Timelies!

Many hugs for Heather.

Cute hair and fabulous tiara, ChiKat!

Can't wait to see pictures of libkitty's hair.

Party was a huge success, as was the ugliest cake in the world. Unfortunately, we forgot to take pictures of the ugliest cake in the world, so you'll all just have to take me word on it :) It pretty much disappeared, though, and tasted FABULOUS. We had a little fruit fly issue at the end, but all else went well. Toto was a little overwhelmed at the beginning, but calmed down and seemed to enjoy being spoiled. And his buddy, Rachie, got him a new favorite toy. Poor Toto actually got full and couldn't finish his cupcake. It was pretty funny/cute.

Also I missed the rack/rock debate discussion yesterday, but it reminded me of a friend of a friend who changed his name from Scott to Raq. Last name? Pronounced "coons."

Brilliant!

Back from more speed dating, with the first company. Had a great time again. I think I did better than the first time. I was less hopped up on adrenalin by the end, so I think I kept a clearer head. Being a weekend too, I arrived at a more leisurely pace, and was able to take more time on making sure I presented well. And, I wore my contacts instead of my glasses. Incidentally, two other guys who had been at the first one turned up again.

Anyway, some further thoughts on speed dating. I enjoy it, for me it's a lot of fun. I get to meet some people I wouldn't have otherwise, I get their undivided attention (and they get mine), and I share some interesting conversations. So, a realisation. Even if I never find a mutual match at one of these events, it's an enjoyable setting that plays to my strengths for me to practise the whole dating game.

So anyway, I had a fun time. An observation, almost every woman there tonight was there with at least one friend. (In fact, two different groups of four friends turned up.) Most of the guys, conversely, turned up on their own (including me, of course). There was one woman who turned up on her own; but she left during the break. (In fact, I was scheduled to speak with her right after the break, and I said hi just before. And then she hightailed it out the door. Note to self: change cologne.)

So two groups of four, and two pairs. I wound up saying yes to exactly half of each group, except one of the pairs, where I said yes to both. I now get to wait and see if any of them reciprocate. The best conversation I had, interestingly, was with a policewoman (I got to mention that a kiwi lays the largest eggs proportionate to its body size of any bird, at 20% of its own weight. And then acted it out.) She mentioned that lots of guys put their guard up when she says what she does, I think I scored points with my reaction (when your dad's a judge, the police don't tend to phase you. Unless you're my older brother.)

Other highlights were a Macedonian woman (with accent), a woman who was extremely appreciative when I told her about the meeting where a consultant said we had to upgrade our website "to make it easier for our clients to get their hands on our tools", especially after I noted that two of the people in the meeting were called Randy and Dick, and a slightly bored-looking Greek woman who perked up when I got her onto the subject of Latin dancing. My brother has taken up Latin dancing on Sunday nights, so I had something to say on the subject.

Ok, at this point we need to go back to last night. We had our games night and all, with three guests. One of them, who's become a regular, is a woman named Miranda. She's a friend of Brendan's, and she goes to the Latin dancing too. Very simply, I'm thinking of asking her out too. She's intelligent (doing a PhD), creative (she workes as a graphic designer for a while), attractive, and good company. To cap it off, we clicked last night on the subject of nature photography. I get a magazine, Nature's Best, that every year publishes the best photos from their competition. These photos would quite seriously blow you away, they are phenomenal. And she loved them too, so I lent her one, and then talked about cameras a bit. So, I think I'll ask her out.

Here endeth the Wally report.

Hooray for a fabulous cake and a fabulous party! vw is the Hostess with the mostess.

Many happy returns to Toto! I'm sure it was a wonderful party.

I have a grammar/punctuation question:

Although he did engage his organization, giving a speech, providing copies “Who Moved My Cheese?” and clearly outlining the major goals, he failed to energize his organization

I really want to use a serial comma before the "and" but can't figure out how to, what with the question mark that's part of the title. I put that phrase second so that I wouldn't HAVE to use a comma, but it's still bugging me.

What if I was required to use a comma? How do you include a comma with quotation marks that already enclose another punctuation mark?

Wooo, billytea! Kicking some dating ASS, there! Fabulous!

t /highly impressed

Heather, I'm sorry you had to deal with this shit.

Robin - how did you cope with the ugly ass cake?

Wooo, billytea! Kicking some dating ASS, there! Fabulous!

I have to confess, this is not the first plan of action that enters my mind when an ass grabs my attention.

Hmm. Maybe not so much with the kicking then. Still, grabbing or entering are also good verbs.

runs away.

Oooo...Raq, that's a tough one. I'm not sure what to tell you on that.

There will be pictures shortly. I didn't take as many as I would have liked, because I was busy doing other things. I put J's daughter in charge of taking pictures, and she was easily distracted by Cute!Dog! But there are a few, and Emily or I will post them shortly.

I have a grammar/punctuation question:

Although he did engage his organization, giving a speech, providing copies “Who Moved My Cheese?” and clearly outlining the major goals, he failed to energize his organization

Who Moved My Cheese is a book, right? So unless you have a specific style that says otherwise, it should be italicized rather than in quotes. Then you can just throw the comma after the question mark.

ETA: If it did have to be in quotes, like articles generally are, hmm. UK style would put the comma after the closing quote, which at least has the advantage of making sense. US style I'm not certain which way to go on this. Wonder what Chicago says. Either way, it's gonna be ugly.