P-C, what a PITA for you, about the necklace. I've got a ton of techniques for deflecting and/or not engaging with my clients when they are obsessing. If you want a few samples of things to say, email me.

About the latest potential wife, it might be worth meeting her again. Not every happy successful marriage that takes place at the time when both parties are ready for it start with an instant spark. Especially since you were not at your best when you met the woman, you might do well to give her a bit more of a look-see.

Yes... this is what I'm saying. Well, really, not the dinosaur thing, but the expectation thing. I wonder if I'm ever going to be old enough(or shipped enough, in whatever way,) that I don't, even half-consciously, expect a meet-cute when I go someplace new and bump someone with my chair or something. Rationally, I know that's happened a few times and it's no big thing, but that still has to fight it out, with, like, twenty-five years of rom-com "wisdom" even with the hippie mom and lefty politics and fish without bicycles.

Yeah, I could just lie my ass off, but I feel like that may come back to bite me in the ass...hey, wait, if I lie my ass off, there will be no ass to bite! Hm, this plan has merit...

What if you said, "I'm done talking about it." Then because you don't want to make yourself a liar, you just stop responding. Mom says, "Why Why WHY won't you obsess with me about the necklace?" you come back with, "It's time to talk about something else. How 'bout them Yankees? (or I saw the prettiest daisies at Trader Joe's the other day, etc. etc. yakkity shmakkity)"

Of course, considering one time when my mom was just rambling on and on and on without any regard to me at all, I put the phone down, and went to the bathroom without telling her, and when I got back she hadn't stopped yakking. I may not be the best person to learn from.

Of course, considering one time when my mom was just rambling on and on and on without any regard to me at all, I put the phone down, and went to the bathroom without telling her, and when I got back she hadn't stopped yakking.

I did that once! Except she was on a long diatribe about how I wasn't losing enough weight in my current exercise regime. I think that's when I stopped calling her every week.

In should-have-listened-to-my-inner-fuggirl news, there is virtually no chance that the purple satin wrap dress that just came in the mail will ever look like anything other than a bathrobe. A bathrobe that needs ironing. At least it was not expensive.

I did that once!

This is another reason for Buffista Island. We can all gather together and be nurturing and respectful of each other. Make up for crappy pasts wherein there were too few Buffistas.

My mom has completely stopped pressuring me about dating this year, probably because she realizes that I just cannot handle any additional pressure besides school and job search right now.

Today, I practiced my talk for the conference a few more times, and I think I've got the timing just about right now. I've also been noting the places where I tend to get flustered and revising my notes accordingly -- there are some parts where I just need a word or two as a prompt to remind me what to talk about and I can just start talking, but there are other places where I need to have full sentences to read. I also found a list online of questions typically asked at math job interviews, so I'm working on having prepared answers to those. I need to figure out a good way to summarize my research for someone who is a mathematician but isn't in my field -- the brief summary that I'd give to someone who works in algebra or combinatorics would be incomprehensible to someone in most other fields.

Good thing Matt and I didn't have sparks when we first meet, we were 5. I have seen people that spark right away -- and have been good forever. But I know lots more people that got to know each other over time and found a spark.

Glad to hear the presentation is getting smoother.

And mostly my question was rhetorical. I know P-C doesn't lie. Sorry.

Heh. I was a little scared of DH when we first met. There were definitely no introductory sparkage between us. He had a Big Scary Mustache. It took awhile for me to get past that, get to know him and enjoy all the wicked puns and behold the kind twinkle in those brown eyes... and now I adore him, and am pretty certain that he is personally responsible for hanging the moon.

OMG, Katie Bee!!

Yeah, I considered that. I was meh on her before meeting her too, though. I feel like when I meet the right girl, I...won't be meh, right? I'll know? Or something? It'll feel right?

Yeah, I don't know about that. There are the flame-y feelings that don't pan out, and the slow burns that last.