On online dating...

Geez guys. Post a picture where one can see your face. Where you haven't cropped out your previous girlfriend.

This morning I saw pictures of:

The back of a head. Teeth. In a Burger King mask. (really? REALLY) With the girlfriend obviously cropped out. With the wife and kids. (maybe its the ex-wife, but really? And do you really want to post pictures of your kids on a online dating site? Particularly your teenage daughter?)

A lovely neon arrangement...very artistic, yes, but I can't see what you LOOK like. Isn't that the point of this?

Muscles.

Tons of photos in the gym. Really? That's the only place you can get someone to take a picture of you? Or maybe you live there.

*sigh*

Its amazing the criteria you end up judging these guys on.

Spelling. Photos. Being able to write sentences. Bleah.

I know I don't have many photos of myself, but I have a few.... and I've posted them!

How growing up in a third-world country can colour your viewpoint...

So, I bought a house that was on a community well. This is in the not-so-distant past. In the further reaches of time, I spent my formative years in a third-world country. I remember coming back to the US in the summer and being astonished that one could drink out of the tap... in Cairo the water systems were so old that the sewer lines were sometimes above the water lines...and some of them, according to my mom, dated back to the time of Salah El-Din. (or, as Westerners may know him, Saladin...in other words, the Crusades).

My street recently switched over to town water, and I've been resisting. I have not been happy about it, had a pit in my stomach, etc, etc... and I realised why last night. I still have a gut sense, from growing up drinking bottled water, that tap water is dangerous. It isn't helped by me being a little bit of a nutty-crunchy born-again granola girl... the websites that I tend to read are full of the evils of town water...

I'm still not happy about it, but at least I know the reason why... and for me, understanding why I am so upset is half the battle...

I still prefer well water.

Some days, there are some things I should not do...

like watch videos of my friends' kids. Sheesh.

I always thought I'd be somewhere else in my life at this point in time... I thought I'd be more successful, or established somehow... I thought I'd at least have kids... Or have had a lead in something....

I know a lot of great people, but as I was proclaiming to folks last night (btw, one glass of wine gets me drunk), the majority of men in my life on a regular basis are gay. Or married. (whispers) or both....

The choir director-gay (and vulgar, too)
People in the theatre--gay and single, gay and single, gay and in a relationship, gay and married.
The former choir director-gay (and engaged)


And the guys out there? gaaaaaahhhhhhhh! I don't want someone who just wants hot sex. (don't get me wrong, I like it as much as the next gal...) And you know what? at 40, yes I am going to have my own life, I'm not going to be waiting, pantingly, for Mr Right to drop from the heavens.

But its just, UGH! There's nowhere to meet them! Bleah.

I wish more places like Hillstead would have singles nights. I really do. Because straight guys can appreciate the arts, can appreciate music, culture. Can't they?

But recently friends of mine have been posting pics of their adorable babies.... and, *sigh* I really want one. I just feel like I'm growing old alone...

On beauty, self-image, and perception...

So I'm doing props for a show that, to some extent, deals with stereotypical images of women...there are Playboys on the set, there are going to be nudes... there's probably going to be a Farrah Fawcett poster. (ugh!)

Also, yesterday, someone (who has turned out to be a bit of a jerk) took a headless shot of me looking my worst as I came in to church (wearing my cape), and posted it, along with a NASTY caption to Facebook. I actually looked nice underneath the cape, but you wouldn't know it from the picture.

But then this morning I found this wonderful site, this wonderful project, called which is these gorgeous photographs of normal women. Not models, not made up, some have hair where women have hair... wrinkles, stretch marks....

And they are all photographed beautifully and empoweringly.

And THAT is what we need more of in this world. Not pictures oozing negativity, but positivity. We need more pictures celebrating the beauty that is within each and every one of us.