{{{Pix}}} I'm so sorry for your loss. I got my late kitty Josie in 94 and it was quite a blow to have to put her down at 14. Peace to you, friend.

Laura, use me as your good example. I flunked out of college at 22 (after being pretty out of control for a couple of years with partying and such) and worked a series of ick jobs and moved in with my boyfriend. My parents were very upset. At 23, I got a job as a receptionist at a company where a former high school classmate was working a real job, making good money. That was what I guess I needed to see as I got back in school and graduated with a BA two years later. I even went for Masters a few years ago at UCLA. Those early years are a time of flailing and discovery. He'll come around, I just know it.

{{{P-C}}} Sending warm fuzzies your way.

The added benefit of online dating is that I could regale my friends and relatives with stories about the people with whom I interacted on a weekly basis.

Ah, yes. I now have such fabulous tales to tell as "The Tedious Cokehead," "You Can't Map an Old Person Onto a Pet," and "Tell Your Fat Bitch of a Sister...".

"You Can't Map an Old Person Onto a Pet,"

Is this the guy you went on that picnic with at Audubon Park when you first moved here?

I remember that guy. I love that guy! (Not actually.)

My personal fav is "I have 6,000 sex toys and would like to use them on you."

Ummmm.......no.

Please note that this is not because I'm against sex toys. In fact, I am very much in favor of them. However:

1) This was an initial email. Not exactly nice to meet you conversation.

2) 6,000??? Really?? That's a serious monetary investment. And, let's do the math. Assume you were to use 3 per day. That's still several YEARS worth of toys.

3) And this is my biggest issue, how many used them before me? Not enough ngah in the world.

My favorite online dating story is "Once we figure that out, we can transcend being made in God's image, and actually BECOME GOD!"

Mormon?

Mormon?

Jewish. Met him on JDate.

I had a guy who wanted to give me a shower. I thought that was unusual but it seems to be a crip-girl fantasy trope of some sort. Um...could I sound more like Sheldon? But that one made me get my anthropologist on.Especially when he liked me more after I said "You'd beat some guy's ass if he talked to your sister like you just talked to me. I'm somebody's sister, too, dumbass." (A fucking feminine flower, too. Goddamn it.)

"I have 6,000 sex toys and would like to use them on you."

Did you ever meet in person? Because if not, you don't have proof he was a human, and you may in fact have been propositioned by SEXBOT 6000!

Honestly, that makes more sense than a human sex-toy hoarder.