I kinda have a date at the library tomorrow.

What an excellent date location!

Has anybody seen my voice? I looked under the bed, and down the back of the sofa, and in the universe without shrimp, and I can't find it ANYWHERE. I am now Little Miss Husky Croaky Can't Be Heard Person. Which makes teaching problematic - half the time no sound is coming out at all.

Doesn't hurt. Just...doesn't WORK.

Do not want!

She has an exhibit on display there about the history of the theater. She's giving me a private tour. She seemed impressed I knew the main library has an underground garage.

Fay, does it sound sexy? Maybe do some radio work? Or telephone? IJS.

I think mostly it sounds like a whisp of a bit of a voice. I think I probably do a better job of sounding sexy with my actual voice, really. Um.

Oh, you mean Don Corleone, not Kathleen Turner, Fay. Yikes! Gris, not to get all Lake Wobegon on you(You betcha) but there is a saying "Marry in haste, repent in leisure," But if you're bound and determined, don't put rings in her food or glass. She could really swallow them and make your romantic gesture all alimentary and shit. Not pretty. it's great in the movies, but they have a prop department...that happened to a guy I know. I believe that the relationship survived, but the moment didn't.

"Marry in haste, repent in leisure,"

Well, I'm planning on waiting a while before the actual proposal part. Many, many months, at least. I'm pretty confident in the staying power of this one, but I'm not going to tempt fate TOO much.

Gris, I wish you luck, obviously. That said, let me say that my ex-husband proposed to me four months after we started dating, and I said yes in part because I was caught up in the moment and too young to really know how to say no. We waited a year and a half to get married, but I still spent the next five years knowing that though I loved him and he was a good man, we weren't the right match. The divorce was civil, but no less heartbreaking and traumatizing. The thing is? He never doubted. He was sure from the moment we started dating that I was the right one for him, and he now admits that he rushed me into something I wasn't ready for. I'm not blaming him, and I don't regret the years we spent together--but I also wouldn't wish the consequences of the wrong marriage on anyone.

Does quick proposal and marriage sometimes result in happily ever after? Absolutely. Some Buffistas here are perfect examples of that. But I would say that those instances are the exception rather than the rule.

My advice is to wait. A good long time. Don't propose until you've been dating for at least a couple of years, and preferably after you've had a chance to live together and to live through some of the NOT good times, some of the times after the shiny has worn off and you find yourself ready to kill each other (when you feel like you're living that Avenue Q song, "There's a Fine, Fine Line"). Then, if you still want to get married, if you still think it's right, ask.

I don't mean to come off too strongly, but I guess I feel pretty strongly about it. I really don't mean to rain on your parade, and I wish you every happiness.

I've been in my condo for over a year now, and I still get a little thrill when I do laundry. I mean, it's midnight and I'm doing laundry. And I can go to bed!