Do you pass the photo test?

Do you pass the photo test? 1 A photo of any sort - to show willing. It should show you are sufficiently computer savvy to take a photo and load it up. Otherwise, the other person reasons, how are you going to get confident enough to actually phone and meet. If you have no kind of photo it suggests you will never give out a phone number nor meet. Show you are bright and savvy. 2 Photo of personality. Any woman on any dating site or even in possession of Skype or a mobile phone gets dozens of contacts from people who are scamming and saying 'Phone me' 'Contact me'. She does not know that you are not a scam trying to get her email or maybe even using a borrowed photo of a celebrity. Or you twenty years ago. She wants a current photo showing the real person. Show you are real. 3 A smile. Yes, a smile. Do I really want to spend even ten minutes talking to or listening to or meeting a person who frowns, scowls or is miserable. I want somebody who will cheer me up. 

You probably know the saying, 'Laugh and the world laughs with you. Cry and you cry alone.' It's easy to forget this. A taxi driver once interrupted my complaint to say, "Lady - I've got problems of my own.' Nobody wants to see somebody scowling. I've rather have coffee with a jolly neighbour or watch TV. I would like to meet somebody bright, cheerful and smiling. 4 Hair.Young-looking hair. Yes, hair. Why would I swap a perfectly good man for somebody twenty years older or looking twenty years older? I know men go bald at 35. I might like a bald man. I might tolerate a bald man. But he would have to have everything else - looks, education, a job, money - at least evidence of being solvent, a smile.

This you can fix easily. If you don't have hair, you can wear a hat - not a baseball cap, but a hat.

Or dye hair black or brown.

Why not?

A man doesn't want a woman with grey hair. Why does he think a blonde woman wants a man who is grey and shabby?

If you want to be on the dole and out of work and out of dates stay there looking old and decrepit. You could take yourself to a barber or give yourself a makeover.

Imagine you are going to a job interview, competing with men ten years younger.

You are competing with younger men. Yes, women get emails from men ten years younger than you. Women over fifty get emails from students under 21 - some of them virgins!

Bald and grey suggests impotence and prostate trouble. Along with a heart by-pass. And hospital visits. 5 Rough beards - yuk!

I had a relationship founder because every time a man tried to kiss me it felt like a shoebrush.

If you look like a hedgehog you don't suggest cuddly.

Wash it with conditioner. Make sure it is not even more hair showing that you are grey and old and faded.

Even a soft beard would suggest lazy and self-centred and not presentable. 6 No pets in pictures

I haven't seen a site called dates with dogs. Or pet people. I think there is one. But I've had bridge games, outings and dinner dates cancelled, postponed or delayed by people who can't get a dog-sitter, dog ran in road, dog died, can't go on holiday, can't go away for weekend, dog died and kids are crying, dog can't be left alone, must go home early to feed dog, dog is lost on highway - dog in bed in threesome - dog must like you and you must like dog - trousers and shoes smell of dog pooh ...

Pets are great in zoos. Not on a first date. If you don't get a first date, you don't get a second. 

Dogs are a distraction to those who want to meet for coffee or dinner. 

And those who want to jump into bed.

Also leaves the delicate reader wondering if you really had something kinky and illegal in mind. And on that happy note I shall go back to my inbox and answer the one interesting. smiling man who sent me a photo. I remember him. (Leaving aside other emails and photos from people who wonder what they could have done to get noticed by a woman.) I hope this helps. I can't guarantee that if you follow this advice you will get answers from me or any other woman. But at least you know if you can pass the photo test.

Dates - Selling Yourself To Your Soulmate?

There is no need to sell yourself to those who have goodwill. I'd rather think of a date as a potential friend and if more develops be pleasantly surprised. A survey by one of the dating sites showed that those who meet their soulmate instantly are the exception. The average is 25 dates. 

So two people would have 50 dates. But that means that if some are meeting instantly, to have an average of 25 dates, if one person meets their soulmate on date one, another must meet their soulmate on date 49!

Some are meeting soulmates after one to five dates, which means others must need to meet up to 250 people!  That would be one a day for more than six months. Three a week for two years. One a week for four years. One a month for years and years ... (I'm not sure - mental maths is not my strongest suit. I have to check numbers on paper, twice.) 

You could aim for fewer, better people. But by being picky you might cut out those who have potential - smokers who are quitting, sick people who get cured, dog owners who don't replace the dog which died, bearded men who shave off their beard, fat people who go on diets, widows and divorcees who get over the setback, and so on. 

Some people think you should not go for quality but quantity, like talent shows. See many without making any rules. Endure lots of no-hopers. Plus those who failed first time around, who improved themselves and persisted in coming back better. Just waiting for the good one to turn up.

Therefore to expect every stranger you meet to be your soulmate means you are doomed to endless disappointment. (Some success comes to those who end up finding that a person who was just a friend turns into the soulmate several months or even years later. Even with heart-warming success rate of Friends Reunited - looking at it logically, these were people who missed out on getting together first time around. So just go out, without expecting too much, and make friends.  

Put plenty of effort into it - expect to get on really well, but don't expect to meet the 100% perfect person.  You need one or more common interests and a reasonable amount of goodwill to get on.

Internet social site tips - Why Not Send A Recent Photo?

A man put up a profile with a photo which was three decades out of date. Why?

He put up a picture. So he thought a picture was important. 

It was a very nice picture. But why not a recent photo?

Many people use out of date profile pictures. Why? Because the best one was several weeks or months ago? 

If you know you are going to get a new passport or put up an online profile, get yourself a new photo. And whenever you are dressed up smartly, for example at a wedding, get lots of pictures taken. 

What impression does the viewer form on seeing an out of date photo? I imagine you are still a nice person, but totally different. I would like to relate to the current you, not to some totally false impression of you.

 

Let's suppose that your picture conveys the impression that you are young and sporty with long hair. 

Yet if you are 35 years older you are probably bald and unfit. Your readers could be the same. Or they might be quite comfortable with that

.

You must admit that a photo unlike you leads to reader to suspect you are hiding something. 

I want to know if you are smiling or scowling.

I thought I was being polite and encouraging when I  said I might like you as you are now.

Do you think that a man or woman is shallow if they want to see a photo?  To call somebody shallow is a confrontational and aggressive statement.

I don't only judge on looks. I judge on whether I get a friendly, positive reply. 

If I sent you a picture of myself 35 years ago what would you expect? 

I might have different hair colour and my age and weight could be different. You would imagine a totally different person and when we met it would take a lot of getting used to.  

On the internet there are all sorts of types, ranging from covered in tattoos to paraplegic, from waist length beard and hair to clean-shaven and totally bald. From bow tie to tee-shirt. From the sporty hiker to the bookish intellectual. 

Before starting a long correspondence or giving out personal details it is perfectly reasonable for a woman to get some idea of the man. Firstly for her own safety. Secondly because in the long run, you would meet and introduce to friends to see if they are presentable. Thirdly to angle your chat so as to co-ordinate with their lifestyle and views. 

If you get an out of date photo, all you know so far is that the poster or sender has avoided telling the truth and being friendly and positive.

If you do not post a photo for security reasons, say so.

But a photo which is several years old - nothing like you - suggests you have something to hide. 

Are you not happy with the way you look?

One of the main complaints by people on the internet is that they meet people who are nothing like the photo.

If you do not like your appearance, or think it is off-putting, then change it. If you are bald, admit it but wear a hat.

A picture is only one part of how you present yourself to others, how much you care about honesty and their opinion of you. You should be able and willing to dress reasonably presentably to suit the occasion and not embarrass others and look somebody in the eye. 

Looks are not the only and over-riding important matter - but it is important to know something about a stranger and to be able to visualise them.

I hope I have encouraged you to be happy and confident about the idea of showing a picture - which is a normal request. Don't take exception to a request for a photo. 

If I asked what you did for a living or what you studied or anything else. A request for a photo could be a deal-breaker, ore merely opening a conversation and inviting you to reveal more.  You don't want to make the other person afraid to ask or say anything  in case you get annoyed. Up to you to reply and continue in a positive fashion.

POSITIVE WRITING RULES

POSITIVE WRITING RULES

Ideally you should be entirely positive.

If you must include a negative, at least end on a positive. With practise you can learn to speak, think and feel positive all the time. So your words, thoughts, gestures and facial expressions are all positive.

 

So maybe we should stick to three rules in an email or date

Don’t say

a) ‘I have no money’

‘If you are x, move on’ (First half of that sentence says I’m a loser and a victim and a failure on this site or in the dating game. The second half of the sentence is an aggressive, belligerent statement - is this how you will behave when you end a relationship - telling the other person to go, get lost, rather than thanking them for their time and wishing them well.)

‘I am physically/mentally disabled and if you can’t deal with that ....’

Focus on the positive contribution of both partners in the relationship - I am in a wheelchair but still take part in sports and look after a business and I am looking for a loving kind person, perhaps in the nursing profession - or somebody who always wanted to be a nurse

There is a simple way to summarise this conversational over-revelation - Too Much Information.

If you are gregarious or lonely or feel it would be a good tactic to increase your options and you want to meet more people - of any type, perhaps you should say less in your profile, or fewer negative things, and more positive things.

At first sight you might think that the simple solution is not to talk about personal negatives. Is it okay not to talk about the man who attacked you in the street - only about the awful mugging described in the newspapers last week? 

The dangers are that this encourages negative thoughts, bad memories, and signals ‘let’s talk about disasters’. It can encourage a kind of victim one-downmanships. I met somebody worse than that, my medical problems are worse than yours -

If you want to find the worst about somebody else’s life straight away, okay. If I were just gathering stories for a novel, or ideas for a joke or humorous speech, that would be amusing as a one-off date. But for my dates, or for me, to do this regularly would not lead to happy evenings dating nor a long-term relationship.

The solution for better self-image and PR and prospects imagining a successful and co-operative relationship:

Focus on your successes - not on one-up manship, not on changing somebody else’s dire life, but on being initially a source of pleasure and eventually a team player.

How do you ingratiate yourself when you meet somebody and have a one minute speech?

Balance my worst holiday with my best holiday. Don’t talk about why I hate one race, religion or nationality or city, but what I like about my country, your country, my religion, your religion, what we have in common. 

-ends-

MONEY & DATING

MONEY 

A man complained to me that when he tells women on a first date that he lost all his money they don’t want a second date. He is ‘cynical’ about their motives.

There is a saying that if you keep doing the same thing, you get the same results.

Perhaps the women are doing the right thing - for themselves. They are eliminating a man who

Can’t look after money

Can’t keep personal matters secret

Does not appear to have learned from past mistakes

He complains that they are all ‘after money’ or ‘looking for security’.

Several things may be going through their mind either as a specific thought or general uneasiness:

Maybe he cannot afford to date because he is saving

He is revealing his anxiety about not having money - saying he is not enjoying the date because he can’t afford to pay the bill

If they have no money, he cannot support them when they retire or fall sick

He may be expecting the woman to support him.

If they are not gold-diggers (women with no money seeking men who have lots of money) but have a lot of money, they may feel he will lose their money, or can’t be trusted to look after it.

He is not going to want a long term relationship because he feels insecure financially and does not want any ongoing financial commitment - in other words he is going to end the relationship soon - better for the woman not to start a relationship and get emotionally involved with Mr Wrong or Mr Disappearing or Mr Unreliable. If he wants to forget past mistakes and problems and move on - he should focus on the message that he is moving on. 

Maybe he is frightening them about their own financial situation, making them worried. Some may want a man who offers financial security longterm. Others may not. But probably both types still want a sufficiently jolly get-away-from-it-all date.

They may wonder, 

Is he always going to be telling sob stories - generally miserable

He may be moving the conversation to borrowing money either because of his situation or as a con trick

This could be the start of a series of disaster stories, how he lost his money, lost his family, lost his passport - even when he gets a winning hand he can’t play it right.

Can you see the solution?  You can always put a positive slant on it. I have income rather than capital. Reverse the sentence - I don't have capital but I have income. Or - my strength is income. If you have capital rather than income - we might have a good financial fit. Or - I don't have a huge income but I can take you on a jolly night out.

Or stick to the positives. I am thrifty.

Or I like to picnic in the park - with the best M & S sandwiches, strawberries and cream and champagne.

Sweet Talk On A Date

Allow the other person to speak at the end of each sentence. maximum three sentences or three minutes and then let them agree, or say what they think, or change the subject.

Keep conversation upbeat and positive

SWEET SUBJECTS
A cookery book told me that in some countries the etiquette is that conversation at the dinner table should always be positive and happy to aid digestion.

So avoid getting maudlin.
You will depress yourself and the listener if you talk about:
a) How my family member or best friend died.
b) My serious medical problems.
The accident or disaster I saw in the street.
All the money I lost and the mistakes I made and haven’t learned how to avoid.

Stick to stories of happiness, fun, great discoveries, good places, wonderful people.

When Your Wife Had A Baby

When Your Wife Had A Baby

Were You

a Out having sex with somebody else

b Busy at work

c Buying drinks for the boys

d Phoning all your friends

e Paying the bills

f Decorating the nursery

g Sitting beside her telling her you’d decorated the nursery and paid the bills

h Shouting at her to push

i Tell her that you loved her, that you’d decorated the nursery and paid the bills, advising her to push, telling her how well she’d done, and saying the baby had your nose and her eyes and the plans you had

Your Answers

j One of the letters a to h but you now know what went wrong was you didn’t do one of the others a to i but too late, that’s the past, never mind

k One of the letters a to h but you now know that it should have been i - and you’ve learned. That experience won’t come again but you are now a wiser, stronger, more confident reliable and loving person

l Haven’t time to figure this out but very amusing - let’s have dinner

m You are a smart cookie - but I’m even smarter - you missed out the essentials - I’ll tell you my theories when I see you - let’s have dinner

n You are a smart cookie - and I’m a good match - let’s meet and talk about it and everything else over dinner