There's nothing PC about my love for feet. It's filthy and perverse, but I think that a lady with a nice pair of feet is sexy.

Amen to this! I think that most people recognize that the body image presented by magazines is unhealthy. We criticize men for liking thin women because it promotes that unhealthy body image. Being too heavy isn't healthy either, though. (Statistically speaking, that is. Kudos to those of you who are both heavy and healthy.)

I don't have any gripe with people having a preference, though. As a 5'5" man, I've been rejected for being too short on numerous occasions and I can't hold that against anybody. I want my partner to find me as attractive as I find her. It's an important component of a complete relationship.

Okay, so it sounds like the title of a Castlevania game. This is a sonnet that I wrote back in college. Some friends of mine were taking a writing class and one of the assignments was to write a sonnet. They dared me to write one if I could and this was the result. It's not amazing, but for a first effort, I'm rather pleased with it.

*Symphony of Madness*

A pale and graceful belle was she, my love.
Alas my lack of gumption sealed my fate,
For she flew swiftly as a mourning dove
And she was gone; for shame, I was too late.

I prayed to God, almighty Lord above
That time could my ineptitude negate
But fear of failure I could not remove.
Fair company I then began to hate.

Within me love and loathing always strove.
Together joined as man and mismatched mate,
Discordant pair safe harboured in the cove:
My soul, therein sense to eradicate.

Behold my madness played in symphony
For love that never was and shall not be.

I refer to Ninja Scroll and Ghost in the Shell as old school. They're from 1993 and 1995, respectively, so maybe not THAT old. Akira (1988) and Mobile Suit Gundam (as early as 1979) are probably better examples of old school anime, especially as far as the American market is concerned.

I tend to just use a spoon to scoop up the rice when I'm done. I like saucy dishes over a bed of rice. The rice gets soaked in the sauce and then it won't stick together at all and it would be very messy to eat it with my fingers.

I'd never think of getting Asian food without getting rice, though. Even if it's cliche or not actually authentic to the meal, I like rice far too much not to get it.

According to the paper wrapper on some disposable chopsticks, Confucius, himself, endorsed the use of chopsticks. Knives, he said, were objects of aggression and therefore had no place at the dining table.

I'm very fond of eating with chopsticks. They're terrible for scooping up rice, which makes one wonder how they became popular in eastern Asia, but they're fun to use and make one look a bit more trendy and continental.

It was kind of neat -- the other day I ate at a Chinese restaurant and the little, Chinese man who owned the place commented that I must eat a lot of oriental food (his words, not mine) because I use chopsticks very skillfully.

I am envious of your ability to take this approach. I'm so shy that most of the time when I go out in to a place where people like to gather, I avoid making eye contact with people. I can usually manage to say hello to my neighbours or to somebody in the grocery store. When I go to somplace, however, where people are supposed to be sociable and have fun, I lock up. Having a procedure is vastly preferable to sitting at the bar, keeping my head down.

I enjoy riding a great deal. I've learned of some great trails in the vicinity of Minneapolis. Earlier this fall, I did a 30-mile ride to raise money for the United Way. Bicycling is one of my great pleasures, though. I used to want a motorcycle until I got a nice bike. Then, I realized that everything I wanted came with a bicycle.

I tend to agree with your interpretation of the connotation of "game" but I have to admit that I've been paying close attention to a lot of ChiefPUA's posts lately.

The fact of the matter is, the first steps in meeting somebody interesting are the same as the first steps in getting somebody to go home with you. I know that I have a lot of difficulty just getting up the nerve to go talk to a girl, let alone figuring out how to steer the conversation so that 1) I learn something relevant about her and 2) I make an adequate first impression.

For a guy like me, with a procedure-oriented way of thinking, breaking down the art of pick-up into its component steps serves two important purposes. 1) It lets me evaluate and understand the relevance of each step. 2) It lets me deviate where my goals may deviate from those of the traditional [sleazy] pick-up artist that you and I probably consider typical. (ChiefPUA, please don't think I'm categorizing you as sleazy. I'm citing the stereotype for reference.)

Heh, I play that too. Just tonight, I cracked open the last booster from the Lorwyn box that I bought. In fact, I'm a general, all-around gaming geek. I like to tell people that I own a half dozen games they've never even heard of.

I confess. I am a role-play gamer. I played a variety in college although I've settled into Dungeons and Dragons lately. I don't especially enjoy D&D because the atmosphere of the game sometimes seems to stifle creative problems-solving and literary character development. (If you are a RPGamer who subscribes to game / narrative / simulation theory, I fall rather firmly under narrativist.)

I developed a fondness for Alderac's games while I was in college. Legend of the Five Rings and 7th Sea are both excellent RPG's. 7th Sea in particular really nails "epic, heroic fantasy." It's designed to be over the top. I've played some stinkers too, though. I was never crazy about the Doomtown RPG and Feng Shui, while a brilliant idea, had a really poor implementation.

I've been working with D&D recently, though, to try to implement some house rules that encourage deeper characters and a de-emphasis on pure mechanical efficacy. I DO like the abundance of content. I own a variety of 3.5 edition books that serve as good inspiration and source material. I'm also engaged in the ambitious project of creating my own campaign setting. I'd like to develop a realm where the the lawful/chaotic scale of alignment gets more attention than the good/evil scale.

I was prepared to be satisfied either way. It was pretty transparent, really. I fully expected that Snape would not only be redeemed. I was also among those who decided early that Snape and Dumbledore had discussed that Snape would have to kill Dumbledore.

I have to admit, one of the things that I really liked about the 7th book, whether it was intentional or not, was the cavalier approach to moral issues. We got to see both Harry and Minerva McGonagall use unforgivable curses without even hesitating at that "unforgivable" bit.

I also thought that he should have died. Rowling did an adequate job, though, of giving him a death-substitute experience. I was disappointed by how much she talked up the Deathly Hallows and how they ultimately played almost no relevant role in the story. I was also once again disappointed by how much random filler the book seemed to contain. And the epilogue was absolute rubbish. Overall, I think that it was a mediocre ending to the series, but I have not really felt especially positive about the series since book 4.

EDIT: Oh, come on, people. Attacking/Insulting Other Users? Not even close. Even if J.K. Rowling were a regular here, I wouldn't qualify this thread as an "attack" by any stretch of the imagination. It's just a negative review of a book.

Why is alcohol legal while marijuana is not? Because we tried making alcohol illegal and it created one of the hottest black markets in United States history. We can't put that genie back in its bottle, but it helps to explain why Congress is reluctant to legalize marijuana. Just suppose it turned out to be a bad idea. Sure, it wouldn't be as bad as legal alcohol, but they'd rather just stick to the safe status quo.

I still don't get this joke. C'mon, man, we're talking about golf. That's SACRED. And the dude's just standing under a tree. So what if Mother Nature makes it so that he can't cry anymore.

You would have hated me tonight. Normally, I manage not to fidget, but I was drumming a lot at the card shop tonight.

Heh, so I know that you're looking for a date (presumably with a girl.) But will you be my friend? I had Dim Sum in Chinatown in NYC once and I've been looking for an opportunity to have it again ever since.

I don't like it when people make noises when they chew their food. If it's something crunchy, that's okay, but smacking lips annoy the hell out of me. My parents drilled this habit out of me before I was eight years old. I was playing cards with some friends one night and I almost had to get up and leave because when anybody was considering what card to play, all I'd hear were eating noises from around the table. It was like The Telltale Heart, except with people gnoshing on snacks.

I definitely read profiles before I make a choice on mutual match. That just seems sensible to me. In fact, I really wish that I didn't have to check the link and then back up to the Yes/No/Maybe buttons. It would be better if the entire profile showed up right there in the mutual match control panel.



The forum works okay if you're just looking for people with whom to chat. Reading the responses to a previous post regarding the "real" function of JustSayHi, that really seems like what most people want to do anyway. I have my preferences set up, though, so that I only see people who live within 50 miles of me. My hope for a tool like mutual match is that it would actually be useful in helping me to MEET people.

And with that in mind, I haven't had a whole lot of luck with it. I have a couple of fresh matches who haven't read the emails that I sent to them yet, but for the most part, I've not received any more attention from people with whom I share a mutual match than from people I've emailed out of the blue.

I think it's a recipe for trouble. All moral reasons aside, sex is a biological mechanism for intense emotional bonding. You can consciously decide to make it a non-emotional pastime, but you'll be fighting against a powerful instinct. Unless you are prepared to give up the benefits cold turkey (and thereby, possibly upset the friend too), then you're entering into a risky situation.