Saturday-8 :: risks

Still trying out new Memes. Today’s is The Saturday-8.

1. have you ever cruised online personals, even if you’re married for fun? what was the reason, or if you haven’t, why not?
   I’ve cruised online personals both for fun and seriously, but not while in a relationship.

2. have you ever put up an online personal? if so, what was your reason? if not, why not or why wouldn’t you do it?
   Yup, I put an ad up on the network used by The Onion. Met a couple interesting people that way, but nobody who lasted. *sigh*

3. have you ever answered an online personal? if so, how did it turn out?
   Yep! The most interesting guy I met through the aforementioned personal ad was a guy whose profile I spotted – I messaged him and we met up. He was cool, but it didn’t work out.

4. have you ever had a good experience with online dating? if not, have you had a friend/family member have a good experience? tell us about it!
   Yeah, the guy. Geez, I should give him a pseudonym or something. *shrug* Anyway, yeah, it was fun while it lasted. We still talk, although more because we have friends in common (which is weird – I found out after we’d been seeing each other for a week or two that his friends knew my friends) than anything else.

5. have you ever had a horrible experience with online dating? if not, has a friend/family member? tell us about it!
   Horrible? Not really, although I did have a guy show up in a tshirt with holes, ancient shorts, and flip-flops for our first meeting. Needless to say, he didn’t make a very good impression. :)

6. back in 2000, i threw my husband out because i found out that he was having cyberaffairs/sex with 2 women in states FAR away from us. do you think that cybersex is actually cheating? why or why not?
   I think cybersex is cheating, yes. But that’s because I feel that anything which causes serious arousal or orgasm counts as sex, and therefore should be done either alone or with the person you’re committed to. Period.

7. off-topic for a sec – the macintosh computer turns 20 today. love ’em or hate ’em? why or why not?
   Hee! Hate ’em, because I’m too good at fixing Windows to be comfortable on a machine with no shell OS and no three-fingered-salute. I don’t know how to fix Macs, and they DO break on me. A lot. In my experience, they aren’t much more reliable than Windows machines.

8. do you have any suggestions for me in case i find someone who answers my ‘ad’ to be interesting and safe? or do you think i should withdraw it completely?
   Suggestions? Always be more paranoid than you think you have to be. Always meet in public for at least the first half dozen dates. Always let people know where you are and who you’re going to be with, so if you vanish the bastard will pay. Oh, and don’t give out your home phone until you’re beyond sure that they’re an okay person – Google acts as a reverse directory and a land line number will get ’em your home addy, even if you have an unlisted address.

   scared yet? :)