National Singles Week #1

All this week, as part of National Singles Week, I ask my readers and friends — the Bloggers — some questions. Interested in being involved (it’s not embarrassing, I promise!)? Email: melinda@pursuitofyourboyfriend.com

Rob & I worked together as part of Meet the Bloggers at Channel 3 during last year’s election. I have always been a a fan of his writing — most posts based on actual research, rather than assumed studies (ahem, Forbes… you suck). I’m a huge stats nerd. I like to see NUMBERS — take that, right brain — and he is a bike commuter (love). We need more young-somethings like him in the Cleveland area…. to stay!

Be that as it may, here is a post you may enjoy from Rob on why cities need singles. Here is another post, specifically about those “Forbes studies.” Add him to your reader — you may learn something.

Without further ado, welcome my first victim for National Singles Week:

What’s your demographic? That’s a really polite way of asking your age… brackets are acceptable.
My age: 22

In what city do you live?
University Heights, OH

What’s the single life like in that place?
I think the answer is: it depends. There are certainly a lot of young people, students from the nearby universities, and college grads who stay in the neighborhood because it feels familiar. There are a good number of neighborhood bars and hangouts. If you like the bar scene, then I’d say the single life is pretty decent. If you have a quieter personality, then I’d say the single life is a bit more challenging.

Backtrack for a second. How do you DEFINE “single” (or being single)? What are your perceptions on the gray area between being only either single or married? And have you always been classified as “single”?
Single means unmarried and available. In other words, a single person is always unmarried, but an unmarried person is not necessarily single. If someone asks you for a date, and the response is, “sorry, I have a boyfriend/girlfriend” then you are not single.

Have a favorite happy hour spot for single persons just like you?
Unfortunately, I have not found it yet.

Or a favorite one-man-only activity?
Bike rides around town. Yeah, I know, this isn’t necessarily a one-man-only activity, but it’s nice to be able to go at my own pace.

Admit it, you’ve picked up a non-fiction book or two about relationships. Or read an online article advising you of some unknown new “trick” for your future dating success. Or became interested in a particular study of statistical evidence of a certain awesome single place on Earf. Which one? And did you learn ANYTHING — even if that anything was something completely ridiculous?*

I checked out Neil Strauss’s *The Game* from the public library. I read 50 pages and then returned it the next  morning. I learned that there are many “average frustrated chumps” who dream of becoming total players, and that there are women, no matter how genuinely they despise said players, who fall for them anyway. Since that isn’t what I aspire to in life, I had no interest in wasting my time learning the secrets.

Tell me the most AWESOME aspect of being single. There are many. Choose one.
Never having to turn down a friend when they ask you to get together because you value their time less than someone else’s.

What do you NOT like about being single? Yeah, there are several of those too. Pick one, please.
Awkwardly being the odd-person-out when spending time with couples-friends, if they invite you along at all.

Do you write about your dating and relationship experiences? If you don’t write, do you have a favorite single person’s blog you enjoy? (Aside from mine, of course).
I only write about generic personal experiences. Honestly, like my own writing, the blogs I subscribe to are on pretty nerdy topics.

Have a favorite single-something story to share? Here’s your chance to write your mini rom-com, or just a comedy or a horror movie. And here, you can tell one of each, if you will.
On my trip to Las Vegas earlier this year, a “tourism ambassador” rode on my airport shuttle to the Strip. Along the way, he pitched some really incredible deal offers: $200 in chips for $50 cash, a helicopter ride over the strip for only $50, fancy dinners at expensive restaurants for almost nothing. There were three catches: first, you had to take a two-hour tour of the Planet Hollywood resort; second, you had to take it that afternoon; and third, you had to be a couple. Most of the middle-aged couples on the shuttle took one of the ambassador’s deals, which left only me and another young woman. Like me, she was by herself. She was short and cute with glasses and dark hair in a pony tail; the kind of person I genuinely wondered what she was doing in Las Vegas. But regrettably, she expressed no interest in being my pretend girlfriend for the free chips or lobster dinner. Bummer.

How do you intend to celebrate YOURSELF as part of National Singles Week?
No differently that I celebrate myself during a week that isn’t arbitrarily designated as something

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.