Sunday 23 January 2011

That All Important "Je Ne Sais Quoi"

I seem to be feeling much better in myself at the moment... Due in part, no doubt, to my return to taking Kalms. Whatever is up with me, chemically, is clearly not particularly serious. This can only be a good thing, because I'd hate to think I was heading seriously downhill just because I'm bored and staying at home too much.

Having trekked over to my parents' house for lunch today, I revealed my increasingly hermit-like tendencies, and was offered the opportunity to take a trip to the Barnes Wetlands Centre next time they're thinking of heading that way. Apparently there's a bus from Hammersmith that goes right there, so that should be interesting. The Centre turned up in one of my magazines a few years ago, and I'd been thinking of paying it a visit (perhaps something of an exaggeration - it had occurred to me once in a while) for quite some time.

I also asked if the plan to refurbish my sister's old dolls house was still on the cards - since I have 'spare time' for the time being, it'd be cool to assist, even if it's just replacing the 'brickwork' or 'roofing tile' wallpaper on the externals. I hope the electricals are still working... though I have no reason to doubt it, since it was built from the ground up by my father, a man who is almost obscenely talented when it comes to making things. Last time I saw it, I thought the windows could do with replacing... being fairly basic plastic frames, they have warped over the years.

Hopefully, one or the other of these things will keep me somewhat occupied in the coming weeks.

Another reason I'm pleased to feel an improvement in my humour is that I got a second bite from eHarmony. Strangely, it arrived separately from the main group (which seems to arrive around 3.30am), around lunchtime, and was swiftly followed by what they call an 'icebreaker'. Since I'd already filed a whole bunch of matches, and decided to temporarily disable new matches to give me time to properly process the ones I have, I was half tempted to leave it till after my visit to my parents... but my lightened mood got the better of me.

The matches so far have been very hit-and-miss. Some of the profiles have been almost compelling but, by and large, none of them have really grabbed me, and the photos have appeared in much the same vein. Not to say there have been none that are good looking... just... not what I see myself hanging out with. In several cases, I have been outright put off by the photos - particularly when every one has been taken on the same night out down the pub.

The problem with the profiles is more easily explained - spelling/grammatical errors are just as common in women's profiles as they are in men's (though it's more often complained about in the latter); brevity of answer often reveals little, but in some cases it does reveal a lot (suggesting that 'no one in particular' has been an influential person in their life, for example, bespeaks of arrogance and/or lack of consideration); and I personally find it disturbing to read that so many people could not live without their cellphone or iPod. You're only asked for five 'indispensible' things... a cellphone wouldn't even be in my top twenty.

So anyway. This new match, arriving at an unusual time, after I had disabled new matches, turned out to be concise, yet reasonably revealing, and interesting enough that I wanted to respond. Who'd have thought it?

And so I did. I took my time, wrote out a short email offline, and pasted it into the eHarmony mail window. She doesn't actually have to accept an email, should she prefer the Guided Communication route... but my first, and so far only experience of that was that it's tedious...

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