I Found The Light at the End of My Tunnel

MEET DIVINE: female, thirty-seven, slaphappy, young at heart, self-employed; an online newbie, living in New York. She is fresh out of a long-term relationship and has completed the two-year mandatory wound-licking I-hate-men mourning period. Unfortunately for Divine, someone neglected to inform her that dating has been upgraded to new millennium level. But maybe she shouldn’t worry…hemlines aren’t the only things that have gone up.

Thirty-somethings are premium dating material now… at least for the twenty-year-olds … Divine’s experiences are the basis for the story I call Age Is Just a Number, a lens through which to view the world of online dating.

Since the year 2003, I’ve logged much time online—chatting, emailing and IMing. In that time, I’ve probably spoken with over two hundred people, male and female, and I’ve realized something:

I’ve realized that there are many Divines in the world. They come in all shapes, sizes, ethnicities and financial brackets, drawn together by a commonality, a deep-seated loneliness or hunger for something—and by the generally accepted idea that the solution is in finding a mate.

This recounting, although entertaining, is intended to acknowledge that such a need exists, affirm the validity of that need, share the pain, caution the naïve, and pose the question that maybe…just maybe…the accepted solution ought to be an ongoing relationship with God.

In this blook you’ll find online dating articles, reviews and recommendations of online dating sites, a few extras, and of course, the first ten episodes of Age is Just a Number.

Welcome to my world!

Peace,

Dee

Hi Folks,

Here it is, my first review for Mind and Media’s blog for books program. It’s a great program that’s beneficial to publishers and authors. The publisher or author sends the books to Stacy, CEO of Mind and Media and she disseminates them to a reviewer base of over 200 hundred. A reviewer gets a book by show of interest on a first come first served basis and in return the reviewer reads and reviews said book.

Upon completion of the review, the book becomes the property of the reviewer. That’s right, FREE books. (There is however a $25 fee when first applying to become a Mind and Media reviewer. This fee serves to separate the lookie loos from the serious reviewer. After that no other fee is ever charged–unless you receive and retain a book you never review, then there is a penalty charge of $50.)

That being said, I received a copy of Help! Mom! There Are Liberals Under My Bed! from Stacey and I don’t recall ever requesting it because my political savvy is about as good as Forrest Gumps ability to see the bad in people.

However, as I mentioned in the post King, I’ve been avoiding politics for as long as I can remember, but lately it seems to be knocking on my back door, so, since it’s a children’s book I answered it.

When I first began to read the book I worried about it being another overly preachy book, but as I continued reading and the author got into her stride I found myself chuckling as I sat in the waiting room of the doctor’s office. Heck, even I could figure out some of the characters being razzed.

The author hits on quite a few topics:

1) Work ethic;
2) over taxation;
3) Inappropriate use of tax dollars;
4) Plight of the poor and hungry; and (my personal favorite)
5) Separation of church and state.

Overall I found the book a good read. It contained humor and some great illustrations, my only concern is that I loaned it to my nine-year-old nephew, a gifted student, who is at times more intuitive than his sixteen year old sibling. My brother-in-law was a political science major so my nephew can’t avoid overhearing political discussions.

When innocently asked his opinion of the book, his answer, “I didn’t understand it.”

This book (or “blook” as it has been recently coined)is based heavily on my blog Age Is Just a Number, which was created to recount an extraordinary two-year span of my life. Due to my hectic work schedule and doubts about the feasibility of readership, project AIJAN ground to a halt after a mere two episodes.

First I tried listing it in the Memoirs section of a serial Website, keepingitcoming.net. My story sat and sat and sat, with nary a purchaser. I could tell folks were clicking on the page, but there was no purchase in sight—not even during the buy-one-story-full-price, get-another-for-a-penny sale!My brash confidence took a beating! My story had drama, betrayal, flashers and more … add to that a snazzy cover image with a gorgeous model (me … LOL). What more did they want?By the way, you will be seeing “LOL” a lot. It’s an internet abbreviation that means “Laughing Out Loud.” When I first began to use Instant Messaging I thought it meant “Lots of Love,” which gave me quite a fuzzy feeling about the internet, but you’ll read more about that later.)
I rallied. I tried pumping the story on my own Web sites and was again disappointed, if not befuddled. This was great stuff! Had the whole world gone mad? Then one day, in an email from one of my writing groups, the word “blog” turned up. “I’ve just updated my blog!”What, pray tell, is a blog? I asked myself. I then clicked my way to the neatest discovery since sliced bread—blogging! Once I dusted off my flailing confidence and began blogging, I realized that I’d found my niche! Something about a blog and the word “publish” seems to get my creative juices flowing in a way that Microsoft Word does not.A few weeks went by and I received a sporadic comment or two—nothing like the droves I’d envisioned. But just about the time my confidence again began to dwindle, I made another phenomenal discovery via another blogger’s post—BlogExplosion! A traffic exchange Web site, where for every two blogs you surf, you receive one visit, BlogExplosion meant a new beginning for me. It didn’t take me long to realize that extended surfing equaled visits, and visits equaled feedback—otherwise known as comments!Due to copyright issues, this blook is not an exact replica of the AIJAN blog. Certain posts found online are not in the blook and vice versa. In addition, all pictures except those of me or taken by me have been deleted from the print version.I did try to maintain the conversational tone and overall feel of the blogging experience. I’ve also held onto comments that enhanced the original posts. The beauty of linking was preserved in the Links section. In addition, I’ve retained the original dates so that you can have an idea of the time frame of the book. You have the option of reading straight through to get that “as-it-occurred” feeling, or you may utilize the table of contents to read by category. A glossary has also been provided for terms that might be unfamiliar.