At my age, old school is the norm...Guess I am not normal because if I feel an attraction or an interest in a man who has not contacted me, I will make the first move...It doesn't take long to find out if there is mutual interest and it beats the helium out of the "what if's"...You just have to be brave, not be afraid of rejection.... Remember, this is a dating site...I say let's date!

I connected street lighting to live cable in the ground when I was 21 years old.

I worked with qualified Electricians years later and none of them believed that I had done it.

I earned very good money but I had no qualifications in electrical work.

Saying that ...no unqualified person should be allowed to touch electric....

Most definitely.

Residential work is much easier than commercial or industrial, not only knowledge-wise but physically too. Running pipe 20 ft above the floor when it weighs 10 lbs. per foot, and then having to pull cable that weighs 3 lbs. per foot, can be pretty grueling - even when you're using plenty of grease. With 3 phase, that means pulling 5 cables at once, effectively making it 15 lbs. per foot.

If you use some kind a winch instead, you really better know what your doing. If that cable gets damaged... Throw in all the machinery and computer systems that might be affected by shoddy workmanship, and the cost of a mistake rises exponentially. You don't want a $20k job to end up costing you $60k because the cable was damaged or your hook up was wrong.

Yet there are some guys that just want to bull right through rather than take time to analyze the situation. I'll never forget the time someone decided to use a shop vac to suck a mole through 700 ft. of PVC pipe without blowing out the pipe first. Fwoosh! Flames shooting out of the shop vac from the glue fumes reaching the hot vacuum motor. The best part was the guy who did it was a volunteer fireman.

I ask lesbians out ALL the time and not one ever returns my messages!

Didn't make much sense to me then, either.

I never said a man has to ask anyone out. I said I notice the outdated gender role in this forum when people talk about dating.

I've had a lesbian invite me to a baseball game....but that was with her partner present. Does it still count?

If I had a dime for every time someone told me "my [grand]father built this house himself..." only to cut into a wall to find a hidden disaster....well, I'd be well on my way to retirement.





My grandad is the same. He's so obssessed with D.I.Y and decorating, that he practically has a new looking lounge every year. It just gets tedious though, having to force a smile and pretend you're so impressed by his latest decorating. I don't mean that to sound as nasty as it sounds. I just mean, if you don't like the colour scheme or whatever else, you kinda have to act, and pretend you DO like it. lol. You force a smile so badly, that your mouth ends up hurting. . I do find it admirable though, cos it takes a lot of effort all the same. I'm just saying, basically, that he was way obssessed with D.I.Y. He would bleed radiators, also. The guy needs to breathe.

As I said, it just doesn't make much sense to me. In my mind, we're talking about the same thing, but you're saying it's not. That's cool.

Also, me saying something is old fashioned or outdated, that's not meant as an insult. Just as some of the other stuff in this thread seem a bit old fashioned as well - for example assuming someone is manly because they know how to use tools. As we can see from this thread, many women can do that as well.

So being confident, assertive, and knowing what you want is masculine?

IMO, a manly man is a guy that admits that he can't do DIY or be let anywhere near a power tool. It’s great if he can put up a shelf without electrocuting himself but it's not essential.

Yeah, that's what doesn't make sense to me. I never realized those traits were masculine.

In some cultures and belief systems, they are considered masculine traits. That's why the term "traditional" is an apt description, IMO.

What is the culture and belief system that you feel is being discussed here that says those traits are masculine?

A manly man is a man who has a really huge johnson motor on his boat to get him to some nice bass quicker.

Really? So it isn't feminine to know what you want or be confident about yourself? I have to believe that not everyone thinks that way.

For one, it describes Yang energy within the context of Yin and Yang.

As another, it also represents the machismo/feminismo inherent in traditional Spanish cultures. It is most visible in traditional Spanish dances like Flamenco where the male dancer tends to be much more rigid and forceful compared to the female dancer who is more fluid.

This fits with Yin and Yang.

Yang tends to be more "me" oriented, and represents the masculine.

Yin tends to be more "we" oriented, and represents the feminine.


So being assertive and goal-oriented is a Yang energy, but it can be mixed with Yin energy to become more oriented toward family or community. Hence, Yin energy is more nurturing and selfless.

I don't go out and specifically look for men that know how to use power tools, can wrench a car or bike or know how to use a hammer; but I do find it admirable when he will take the time to learn how to fix the bathroom sink, change an electrical outlet or change the oil in the car...and those are the simple fix-er-uppers.

It's not so much as having the ability, but wanting to learn something new for the sake of expanding their minds <men and woman alike>. I'm a fix-it person and don't think I would be comfortable in a relationship where I'm up on the roof and my significant other is on the couch eating bon-bons . Nor would I want to be eating bon-bons while my other is in the kitchen cooking. Life is a "give and take" and "share and share alike". It's a "blending" of lives...work together to get the job done .