Inspired by the BBC's "The Noughties, was that is?" - I have decided to check to see if I was in the noughties!
100 - The Millennium - I never believed that anything was going to happen to the computers and didn't visit the Experience
099 - Flash Mobs - The only one I ever witnessed was the group at Victoria station who danced and listened to their ipods all at once
098 - Jukebox Musicals - I've never been to a jukebox musical, in fact I've only seen about 3 musicals in my life
097 - Tanorexia - I have never been on a sunbed or used tanning lotion and don't plan on starting any time soon
096 - David Cameron as leader of Tories - Never voted for either Labour or Conservative and it's unlikely that I ever will
095 - CCTV - I dislike them for being too invasive and don't think that they are doing the job that they were brought in to do
094 - Kabbalah - Never been interested in it, and equally neither have I been to a Scientology seminar
093 - Celebrity Baby Names - I don't have any kids of my own, but I've always thought that parents don't think enough about baby names
092 - Sporting Boomerang - I followed our ashes win and olympics, but our soccer team suck and will never forget the 'Hand of Crouch'
091 - Coffee - I have always liked simple tea, coffee and hot-chocolate, and its a mystery why it suddenly got complicated
090 - Charity Fatigue - Charity starts at home and I hate the high street menace that accosted you walking around town
089 - Space Tourism - Nice idea, but I think there are far too many places on this planet that I haven't been to yet
088 - Nanny State - I think we have gone too far, that its totally wrong and it really is political correctly gone insane
087 - Blogging - Well, if your reading this then do you really even need to guess what my views and experience of this one is?
086 - The Davinci Code - Read half of it when I was in the Dominican Republic and finished it when I got back to the UK
085 - Metrosexuals - I am not a Metrosexual man ... I just don't care enough about my own look enough, though maybe I should!
084 - Celebrity Weddings - I hate weddings as a rule and I would never spend money to find out about any Celebs wedding
083 - China - I have been there three times and am trying to start a business there, its just not my favourite non UK destination
082 - Internet Shopping - I do some, but not much, mainly just Ebay / Amazon and travel tickets
081 - Wembley Woe - I visited the stadium long enough to take a few pictures, but that's about it
080 - Athiest - For me its about my own logic, belief and moral compass and how it clashed with all the organised religions
079 - Wellbeing - I like to try and be more happy and I don't really care about finding what are my intolerances
078 - The British Are Coming - Apparently we stormed Hollywood & the US, all I can say is that I love Hawaii but not Vegas
077 - Hoodies - I actually got kicked out my local supermarket cos I had the hood of my rainmack up as I walked in, outside it was -1 degree
076 - Art for Art's sake - I'd say no to Damien Hurst. Bansky is interesting but it's still graffiti at the end of the day
075 - Primani - I do shop in Primark myself, as I would have to be rich before I'd spend a fortune on nothing but clothes
074 - DVD - I rarely view a DVD's extra features, but mainly as the extras are hardly ever worth watchinh
073 - High Definition TV - I don't own one, but my friends huge flatscreen tv is ace for watching movies
072 - Nepotism - Celebrities hold no interest for me and relatives of z-list celebrities even less, if that's possible
071 - SatNav - The worst car crash I ever had was caused by me distracting the driver over their stupid SatNav
070 - The Parenting Boom - Too many children having kids of their own & too many idiotic people cloning themselves
069 - Size Zero - Size 8 to 12 are the ideal sizes for women ( as in they have curves ) and anyone below that is just flat
068 - Organic Food - If it wasn't double the price, half the flavour and hard to get hold of then I possibly would buy more
067 - Properties & Estate Agents - I own my own house but through an unusual set of circumstances I am not living there at the moment
066 - ASBOS - Just what every wannabe gangster wanted - free government issued badges of dishonor that prevent nothing
065 - Celebrity Adoption - If they can't have kids of their own then fine, but just for a status symbol, gimme a break
064 - Drugs Reclassification - I have friends that smoke but I have always kept my own distance and objections on Cannabis
063 - Celebrity Virgins - WFT ... I don't know and don't care, but I'd never marry someone I had not had sex with
062 - Shock Docs - Bizarre medical complaints televised ... give me House MD anyday
061 - Take That #2 - What is this doing on a list of important things that happened in the decade, is this a joke
060 - Obesity - Same as with 'Size Zero' (069) - What happened to normal shaped people, we are becoming a minority
059 - Botox & Facelifts - If you are disfigured / ugly then its ok, otherwise its just vanity taken to the extreme
058 - Business TV - I do have a guilty pleasure of liking Dragons Den and the Apprentice, if only for the morons who go on it
057 - Internet Dating - I just knew that this was going to crop up, and what a pile of crap there is out there these days
056 - Queens Golden Jubilee - I didn't celebrate it, didn't even realise it had happened this decade
055 - Free Running - I loved it as an idea and in movies, but you won't catch me doing it as im just not that flexible
054 - Personal Transport - Especially the Segway, I've ignored tours if they were featuring them and the micro scooter is a toy
053 - Sushi - I actually like it and am slowly building up a tolerance for wasabi mustard
052 - Festival - I have been to a couple, but they are normally too boring, too crowded and too much sitting around waiting
051 - Celebrity Outlaws - There is no higher class of civilians just cos your a celeb and they should be punished equally
050 - Yoga - Never tried it, but enjoyed watching the Chinese practice Tai-Chi with a beatbox in the alley behind the hotels
049 - Doctor Who - Another guilty pleasure, I have enjoyed David Tennant's reincarnation of the Doctor
048 - Celebrity Rage - So many of these are about Celebs and its the same arguement, they are only human
047 - Fad Diets - I am lucky enough to be fairly healthy, fairly active and fairly young thus I don't yet need any special diet
046 - The Makeover Boom - Some people suggests that I need one, as my clothes fashion stinks but it wont happen
045 - Girls Aloud - Erm ... Soft porn for Top of the Pops with only average songs at best, but sexy nonetheless
044 - The Bush Years - Possibly the worst 8 years in American political history and glad they are behind us
043 - Congestion Charge - Just yet another stealth charge to the average motorisms and sadly spreading beyond London
042 - Mobile Ringtones - Overly loud. Thankfully I have got a quiet one that is also fairly inoffensive
041 - Medical Marvels - Nice idea in theory but too many resourced being gobbled by the few, I prefer natural selection
040 - The Smoking Ban - It might be healthy for all but its been the death of the good old british boozer
039 - Coldplay - Um ... another average band but nothing special, and I have no idea why they are on the list
038 - Carbon Footprint - I try to recycle, use only what I need and don't drive but I won't pay extra to offset
037 - Paedogeddon - It is a mental problem, not a criminal choice, so why not kill them as they cannot be rehabilitated
036 - Lads Mags - Never read one, but they seem to be yet another soft porn magazine just with fast cars
035 - WAG - Yet more celebrity nonsense. I could never pull one, afford one or keep one, in fact I prefer real women
034 - Teenage Parties - Well I'm no teenager anymore, and I hated hosting them but it was the only way to get invited
033 - Games Consoles - I did own a PS2 but I gave it to my ex as a leaving present, it worked and she left. I also like guitar hero
032 - Electric Car - I don't drive, but like the idea and would probably get one if it was practical for me
031 - Dogging - Never tried it and not sure if I'd want to but I have been caught having sex outdoors in the past
030 - Binge Drinking - Never been a big fan of alcohol and rarely even have a drink let alone get drunk
029 - Celebrity Brands - I buy stuff I can afford from a brand I think I can trust, not because a celeb endorses it
028 - The Wire - The most dull cop show I ever watched, and that was because I had nothing better to do
027 - Celebrity Newspapers - Not another celeb entry, does it never stop. Read my lips, "I DON'T CARE"
026 - EMO - Technically I'm closer to a EMO than a GOTH or a CHAV but that's not saying much.
025 - Mobile Phone - Mine is 4 years old and most of the time its switched off, though might like a blackberry
024 - Posh Cider - I have always been a cider drinker, now I just have more choice
023 - Harry Potter - I kind of like the films but have not read any of the books and probably never will
022 - Genital Topiary - On a woman I prefer a Hollywood strip to a full Brazilian but on me its a tried and tested no
021 - High School Musical - I am not a parent so I missed this whole kiddie band wagon with this one
020 - Celebrity Chefs - Celebrities , again ... If I want a recipy of a new idea I will ask one of my sisters, not a prat on tv
019 - The Credit Crunch - Yes, I regrettably contributed to this and am currently financially screwed a sa result
018 - Jordan vs Katie - Ugh ... where is the vomit bucket. She was good looking as a teenager but on turning 19 went insane
017 - Celebrity Rehab - Yet more Celebs. Look, just take them away and don't ever bring them back
016 - Roasting - I didn't know what it was til now, have never done it and don't know any couple I'd want to do this with
015 - Youtube - I like it for viewing music video clips or funny clips off of emails but that's about it
014 - Ballroom Blitz - I don't dance, and though I like watching women dance not when its celeb couples
013 - Pandemics - I've never really lost sleep over any of them and it doesn't stop me doing anything
012 - Mac of PC - I am a not a Mac or a PC, but I do enjoy using my very inexpensive laptop, which happens to be an Esystems
011 - The War On Terror - What a load of phony excuses to funds war profiteers and for Bush to stay in power
010 - Barack Obama - I was travelling when I heard that he won but it was no surprise as he was the only candidate on tv
009 - Realitiy TV - I saw some of the first UK Big Brother series but the later series and its competition ... not really
008 - Jade Goody - The biggest WTF and OMG on the whole list, the sooner we forget and move on the better
007 - Social Networking - I'm on facebook, as are most of my family and friends, but nothing beats real conversation
006 - CHAV - ok, so it came from Kent, but that's as close to a CHAV as I ever want to be associated
005 - The Blair Years - The only thing I can really say is that I lived through them and am glad that they are behind me
004 - Gay Marriage - I'm not gay but I see nothing wrong and if it makes economic and emotional sense then why not
003 - Google - At last, one that I can really get behind. I use this google almost every day and am very happy with it
002 - Simon Cowell - I watch the first few rounds of X-factor and Britains got Talent, but I could do so without Simon
001 - Text Messages - The easiest way to start an accidental argument with a friend or partner. Acceptable for small details
---
Looking back, I would say that I am not a very noughties person, despite it having the best years of my life so far.
My sister asked me to try and put a figure on my % of noughtiness, so after going over it a few times, and rouding up or down as I saw fit, I would say that I was aware of 90% of the things on the list, that I agree that around 60% of them should be on the list as important, but I was only happy that 40% of them were on the list.
Looking forward, I have no idea of what the teenies will herald, but I am hoping to get out of debt, find a job I like, finish writing my travel book, learn to drive, not be living in a country at war, be happy, be healthy and be free of serious illness and disease.
December 27, 2009
December 24, 2009
It was worth it after all
While undeniably my greatest adventure to date ended this April, despite being in a rather tricky financial situatoin ever since I still give thanks for my courage and determination to make it come true.
Although some days I do very little, most days when I am out and about I am nearly always finding a good link into one of my travelling stories, and its only through a mixture of modesty, humility and good sense that I prevent myself from launching into another rambling episode at every drop of the hat.
But the fact remains, that almost every day something sparks a happy memory and then just for the briefest of moments I am once again away in a far off land with a rucksack on my back and snapping images that no one else I know have seen for themselves.
Thankfully the depression and the misery of being forever rained on is dwindling with each remenise, whereas the gloriously different people I met become more vivid, though possibly now with slighly exagerated traits.
Although some days I do very little, most days when I am out and about I am nearly always finding a good link into one of my travelling stories, and its only through a mixture of modesty, humility and good sense that I prevent myself from launching into another rambling episode at every drop of the hat.
But the fact remains, that almost every day something sparks a happy memory and then just for the briefest of moments I am once again away in a far off land with a rucksack on my back and snapping images that no one else I know have seen for themselves.
Thankfully the depression and the misery of being forever rained on is dwindling with each remenise, whereas the gloriously different people I met become more vivid, though possibly now with slighly exagerated traits.
December 23, 2009
Spoil Vote In Action
Rage Against The Machine - The Spoil Vote Effect
This weeks music headlines have made me more happy and proud to be British than I have in many a year, but I just hope that its significant is not lost on the masses.
This weeks music headlines have made me more happy and proud to be British than I have in many a year, but I just hope that its significant is not lost on the masses.
For as long as I can remember, the fight for the UK Christmas No. 1 song at the top of the charts has always been a close battle between perhaps two or three songs, with the rest so far behind as to not be considered also-rans.
The choices will normally be one current pop group, one in-form solo artist and maybe a dodgy charity organised song, but all of them will have invested thousands if not millions in advertising and promoting their songs and ensure it will have been shoved down our throats the second that Halloween is over.
Sadly this pretty much became a one horse affair when the x-Factor came along and hijacked the race as it's winner was pretty much guaranteed the top spot, them winning through the 'popular vote' barely days before the Christmas week starts.
However as anyone with real nouse and intelligence could tell you, the show itself is firmly rigged from the get go, with many great artists not even being given an on screen audition and adding insult to injury allowing a number of dodgy contestants to be deftly escorted through to the final to increase viewing and to seal how the shows final voting will go.
So the fact that a zero budget facebook group managed to prevent yet another manufactured pop idol be gifted the coveted Christmas No 1. spot, was a big fuck you to the establishment and to Simon Cowell, or at least that is how it what is was meant to be.
But why should I care so much and feel so proud that an American sourced internet online community helping a 17 year old American re-release top the UK charts, well because it has shown that the British public do have a choice, a real choice.
You see, for far too long we have been blindly going down dead end alleys, purely because on so many key issues we have been lied to and tricked into making a string of bad choices and all because we were publicly only offered two or three choices and all seemed bad.
It is like a standard 4 option questionnaire that asks you, do you want to be killed by a) a speeding car, b) a cancer, c) a rebellious teenager or d) a foreign terrorist? The very obvious answer is e) none of the above, I want to live a happy and healthy life thank you very much, but that wasn't an option you could choose.
Yes, for far too long we have allowed our blinkered eyes to only see the choices set down for us, instead of taking time out and thinking for ourselves what we really want.
What I like so much about this is that up until early December the media, tv and newspapers were all saying that whoever won the X-Factor would have the chat No 1. and only a Svengali or long odds gambler would have bet against it, as that is all that our options appeared to be. So when along came the facebook group that offered us an alternate choice I am so glad that so many people jumped at the chance to say that they too wanted a extra e) option all of their own and that their choices has been made for them long enough.
Now this kind of thing is unlikely to be repeated on a regular basis, and I'm not suggestting that we allow facebook groups to dictate our options any more than the we should the tv or radio, but I am hoping that the fact that 'we do always have a choice AND more than one choice, no matter how last minute or left field it might appear to be', is not lost in the confusion and celebration.
I mean, how liberating it would be on a public general election day, if everyone was to realise that a spoiled vote meant infinitely more than just not bothering to turn up. Equally, that if enough "other" candidates get elected then there would be sufficient reason to keep out any of the existing political parties, parties that clearly only exist to support themselves and their expensive lifestyles.
December 21, 2009
3D Film Avatar
There is no doubt that the film is expensive, gloriously looking and an epic but will it set the benchmark for all future movies.
When my brother in law told me that we were going to see Avatar at the cinema over the Christmas holidays I had not heard anything of the film, not the hype, the budget, the cast or the storyline, only that it was a 3D movie that he was really excited about and wanted to experience with me.
Being a lover of the cinema, especially the imax, I could only wonder what the latest revamping of the 3D films would deliver but to say that I was blown away was an understatement.
In fact, the only thing that could have made the experience better was if the film was indeed able to be shown on an imax screen at that would have made the immersion into the film that one step closer to actually being there.
The film started something like a out of a typical military sci-fi film but quickly evolved and started to reveal its full potential.
The acting got better, the characters got defined and then redefined and it did not matter at all that the end of the film could be guessed from about five minutes in, as it was the getting there that was enjoyable, not the final destination.
If you are expecting plot twists, slight of hand tricks or surprise endings then you might be dissapointed, but for me it was the perfect vehicle for showing how a fantasy and a 3D film should be, about making it look believable, breathtaking but very real all at the same time.
The characters and monsters made sense, the plants and forests didnt just come to life to fight the bad guys like you might have expected and regretted at the same time, and though the message of eco vs technology and resource raping corporations is a bit heavy handed, i didnt mind in the slightest.
I can only imagine with bated breath what the next fantasy or sci-fi movie of this calibre will be, and if it has acting and story even half worthy then it will go far.
I did have a few pet dislikes over the film, one being that yet again the lovely Michelle Rodriguez was killed off before the end credits, but as usual i loved the character, instantly felt at ease and knew that she was going to be one of the goodies through til the end.
Another slight peeve was some of the names and the fact that there did not seem to be enough depth or background to any of the other main characters of the story, but regardless of that a film that lasted 163 minutes whizzed by and almost a day later I still want to go back but not to see it again, to see more!
Possibly because it cost so much, because its longer than most, because its the first 3D film in ages, because it looks so damn good or a hundred other reasons, but this film is getting a lot of publicity and buzz and I for one want it to continue, if for not other reason than to encourage other film makers to take up the challenge and produce their own fantastic film.
December 19, 2009
Fast tracked sainthoods
Now I don't normally go bashing anyone for their beliefs, but the latest news to hit the headlines has, to my mind at least, started to stretch credulity a bit too far.
We already have fast food, fast cars and fast weddings and now the church are about to give us fast sainthood's!
Leading on from the gathered crowds chant of "santu subito" ( 'make him a saint now' or 'saint immediately' ) at the now deceased Pope John Paul II's funeral on April 8th 2005, the current pope and church leaders are in motion to do away with years worth of debating and red tape to streamline the process. In fact Pope Benedict XVI himself has been quoted as saying "do it quickly".
To start with they have done away with the minimum of 5 years after death restriction before allowing the process to be started.
Next, the initial phases of a sainthood which usually take decades, and in some cases has been drawn out over hundreds of years is being streamlined, with Pope John Paul II's own submission having been completed in less than three years.
And finally, in order to become a saint it requires a person to first be beatified following a first approved miracle, and then further elevated to canonisation following a second. However there are strong indications that this second miracle prerequisite is also soon to be abolished.
Now, while this all seems to be good news, I personally feel that this could very well be a slippery slope, especially when you start to take a closer look at recent miracles and their frequency.
During almost a 27 year pontification, Pope John Paul II beautified 1,340 people and canonised 483 saints, meaning that he approved at least 1,823 miracles ( more than 1 every week on average ), which is more than all his predecessors over the past five centuries.
Having researched a few of the miracles recently attributed to saints, many of them involve apparent healing of diseases of removing of dangerous cancers, often never actually involving direct physical contact with the saint, and which in all fairness could be nothing more than a mis-diagosis by the attending physician.
Furthermore, Pope John Paul II's own miracle is said to be the curing of a nun in Aix-en-Provence (over 600km away) who was suffering with a serious disease.
Apparently she prayed to him for healing and exactly two months after his death she felt better and was 'miraculously' free of her malady, at least according to her doctors and physicians. There is no mention of what might happen if the disease should later reappear, but it is unlikely that it would lead to any retractions.
Now it might be me, but doesn't the news of a man who spent the last three decades of his life seeing miracles ever week waiting until two months after his own death before performing long distance healing from beyond the grave have a rather worrying or ominous overtone.
Or the fact that following an already massive surge in recognised miracles that the Vatican is now streamlining the red tape in order to make more saints and quicker than ever before all seem like the top echelons are just greasing the wheels thus guarantee their own positions?
All I can say is that when I learned that there was a veritable explosion of new saints, with miracles being approved on almost a daily basis, then I have to wonder is the structure and spirituality of it all being diluted. Finally, if miracles are indeed going on every week then why is there still widespread hunger, poverty and conflict causing pain and suffering to millions all around the globe.
We already have fast food, fast cars and fast weddings and now the church are about to give us fast sainthood's!
Leading on from the gathered crowds chant of "santu subito" ( 'make him a saint now' or 'saint immediately' ) at the now deceased Pope John Paul II's funeral on April 8th 2005, the current pope and church leaders are in motion to do away with years worth of debating and red tape to streamline the process. In fact Pope Benedict XVI himself has been quoted as saying "do it quickly".
To start with they have done away with the minimum of 5 years after death restriction before allowing the process to be started.
Next, the initial phases of a sainthood which usually take decades, and in some cases has been drawn out over hundreds of years is being streamlined, with Pope John Paul II's own submission having been completed in less than three years.
And finally, in order to become a saint it requires a person to first be beatified following a first approved miracle, and then further elevated to canonisation following a second. However there are strong indications that this second miracle prerequisite is also soon to be abolished.
Now, while this all seems to be good news, I personally feel that this could very well be a slippery slope, especially when you start to take a closer look at recent miracles and their frequency.
During almost a 27 year pontification, Pope John Paul II beautified 1,340 people and canonised 483 saints, meaning that he approved at least 1,823 miracles ( more than 1 every week on average ), which is more than all his predecessors over the past five centuries.
Having researched a few of the miracles recently attributed to saints, many of them involve apparent healing of diseases of removing of dangerous cancers, often never actually involving direct physical contact with the saint, and which in all fairness could be nothing more than a mis-diagosis by the attending physician.
Furthermore, Pope John Paul II's own miracle is said to be the curing of a nun in Aix-en-Provence (over 600km away) who was suffering with a serious disease.
Apparently she prayed to him for healing and exactly two months after his death she felt better and was 'miraculously' free of her malady, at least according to her doctors and physicians. There is no mention of what might happen if the disease should later reappear, but it is unlikely that it would lead to any retractions.
Now it might be me, but doesn't the news of a man who spent the last three decades of his life seeing miracles ever week waiting until two months after his own death before performing long distance healing from beyond the grave have a rather worrying or ominous overtone.
Or the fact that following an already massive surge in recognised miracles that the Vatican is now streamlining the red tape in order to make more saints and quicker than ever before all seem like the top echelons are just greasing the wheels thus guarantee their own positions?
All I can say is that when I learned that there was a veritable explosion of new saints, with miracles being approved on almost a daily basis, then I have to wonder is the structure and spirituality of it all being diluted. Finally, if miracles are indeed going on every week then why is there still widespread hunger, poverty and conflict causing pain and suffering to millions all around the globe.
December 16, 2009
Dating Sites
Now, I don't want to just rant and rave about how I was unable to get a date from a website as that might to some seem like sour grapes, and its the furthest from the truth, I just have a view and I want to express it here and will try to provide a few statistics to help show back up my arguement. (and yes yes, I know ... statistics can prove that black is white and up is down and blah, blah, blah - but please, at least wait til you hear what I have to say before you start to trash my viewpoint).
Now in the interests of fair play, I used google and msn and various other search engines to find what was said to be the top 40 free and premium dating websites, based on number of members.
As an athiest who is not into big women, self mutilation, midgets, christians, goths or any other such subsection or community or sexual fetish I excluded from my research all websites dedicated to finding a partner of a specific type or kind and just joined the generic dating sites.
Then, when I had picked my 40, at the end of November ( thus in teh run up to Christmas when people would have most time off and feel most like having someone to be with ) I joined up to all of them.
Yes, on the same day, with the same photo ( or photos ) being good quality high resolution full face and body shots taken in the last year, used the same profile description where possible ( some had maximum or minimum sizes ) and completed all the extra bits about me, including likes, dislikes, hobbies, interestes, films, music, travel, work, etc, etc, etc.
Whenever the website suggested that I was anything less than 100% complete with my profile I took measures to do so, and again when the website moderators were not overly strict I left my direct email address or facebook details in plain sight so that anyone viewing my profile at more than a glance should be able to know where to find me even if we were not both full paying members.
Admittedly I did not actually pay a full months membership to all the websites, as some were as most were around £20 per month, some as high as £35 per month or had a minimum of 3 months upfront fees before enabling you to make full contact, and as I certainly didn't have a few thousand pounds just lying around in my bank account doing nothing I had to limit my costs.
However, I did log use the same login ID and password on all the accounts and also made sure that I logged in at least twice a day for a full week.
With regard to performing a search, I used as close as possible to an identical and fair search pattern of - single women, between 5'1 and 5'10, aged 23 to 36 of either the caucasian, asian, latino, pacific island or mixed background and if available online in the last month and / or within 50 miles, which distance range happens to include much of London.
I didn't much care for if they smoked, if they had kids, what colour hair or eyes they had, what their religious preference were, or what their job or education was ... thus I was keeping my options open to as large a group of women as possible without being totally uncaring.
On many of the websites the choices were remarkably similar, as were the dating sites themselves, suggesting multiple fronts to the same database of women ( or else a whole load of women happend to chose the very same combination of dating sites to advertise themselves on!).
A few of my searches produced less than 5 hits, while others had more but with members who had not been active in over 2 years or with no photos.
Once I found profiles that I liked I winked / flirted / added as favourites / visited profiles / viewed photos / sent e-cards / sent e-flowers / commented on profiles and wrote messages all trying to attract an interest in me or my profile.
I also replied to all messages that I received, if their system would allow it, though a few sites were extra strict and would not even met me see who was writing to me unless I had already agreed to sign up, and they were the websites that I chose to ignore and close down first as they were a total waste of time and effort.
After 2 weeks the results were all very frustrating and not very encouraging. Not only had less than half of my emails been read, but those that did had not always even bothered to view my profile or photos.
I found that certain websites sent me messages that could only be read when i upgraded to a full profile, and on a few rare occasions when I signed up for a 24 hour trial period in order to read such messags, they were almost always automaticallly generated by the website itself to introduce me to other new members, and not actually real interest in my profile at all.
Other websites were merely fronts for premium webcam girls and when i stayed loggin in i woud receive on average one chat request every five minutes and every one was from a girl asking me to verify my age via for free via this certain website ( which reading the small print would also just so happened to charge my credit card over $100 if i didn't also agree to subscribe to at least 2 hardcore porn sites at the same time!)
Throughout all the websites I could tell a theme of a scammer fairly soon as they would include superbly sexy photos, but say they were just after love and that age, race and distance were no object ... which is of course a load of old bull as I doubt even 0.1% of stunning blond 20 year olds in the world would go for an old and ugly guy half way round the world, but according to their profile these ones would!
Some sites were amusing as their own advertising was clearly lying and claiming to have many more members than they possible could have in reality. To prove my point ass a test I picked the postcode in the Outer Hebrides in Scotland and limited my age range to exactly 18 and yet this one website still tried to claim it had over 5,000 women who fitted the category, which was total baloney as the entire island is miles off the mainland coast and only has an overall population of around 21,000!
Again other sites seemed to be the target of Russian, Nigerian or Ghanaian scam artists and even after I amended my profile description on those sites to say " NO RUSSIAN OR AFRICAN WOMEN" they were still the only ones to visit my profile and / or to write me messages - which made me more suspicious still.
To test the theory of whether they were scam artists or not, ( first off not all said that they were from Africa but after a few emails they would want to come clean and tell me the truth, haha! ) I allowed a number of these suspect Russian or African women to start up a email correspondence and usually it only took five very general emails to get to the root of the scam.
Without exception, these scam artists ( or very desperate women!) all fell in love with me, wanted to be with me so very soon but sadly also were unable to and thus needed my financial help as they were unable to get a visa, a flight, a ticket to the airport, a ticket to the main city, etc, etc.
What was unremarkably similar is that none of them would give me a UK mobile, none had access to a webcam or skype and all made pathetic urgent excuses and then log off if my messages got too close to uncovering the truth early. Oh, and of course the second I refused to pay them they all got in a huff and stopped writing to me, without exception.
In the end, after being a member of 40 websites for a complete month, I had made less than 10 confirmed contacts that I felt were real, and they were spread out as far throughout the UK as Scotland from me.
On average 80% of my messages were not replied to, despite from my searches I only chose to actually write direct emails to women that shared many of my own likes and views, well share them at least on paper (or with the computers own compatability rating percentage ).
Now, although I am single and would have very much liked to have found a partner and agreed to go to almost anywhere in the UK for a face-to-face meeting, it did appear that my search was overall fruitless.
It particularly surprised me to find that women just a couple of years older than me and within 5 miles, who (meaning no disrespect) were hardly stunning in the looks department and shared many of the same likes as me still didn't find time to write back to me even though reading their profile they could not find a more suitable match if they lined up all the men in England.
A sad fact was that on many websites I had more genuine appearing messages from women over 45 or overseas than within my own country and age range.
So, removing the girls under age, overage, fakers, scam artists, africans, women with more than 2 kids, women with no photos, women who are greatly independant and women who "dont know why they are doing this, but they were talked into it by a mate and think it might be a bit of fun" over 40 profiles in a month I did not find a single woman that I made a strong connection with enough to give out my phone number and have a good honest and open conversation with.
Around ten women made it as far as adding me to their facebook friends list, but instead of this being a good sign, their interest almost instantly dissappeared and so even when I sent them a private message or fb chat request they ignored them or wrote back one liners to say that they were busy and talk later.
A couple of times I was hassled into giving it out far too soon, and of them one turned out to be african scammer and the othe was a bunny boiler from up north who must have called me a dozen times in one hour leaving offensive messages and I chose to hang up on them earlier and were not picking up their calls.
So what do I conclude from my test of a month?
Well, for starters I still feel that very few attractive and successful women feel the need to put themselves on dating sights, feeling that they would prefer to meet their future match the old fashioned way ... by chance meeting them face to face first.
Furthermore, the majority of women that do go on either add very few additional edscriptive details and / or no photos and of the remaining few that do write something they almost always like "fun men, outgoing, are into pubbing and clubbing as well as a bottle of wine and a dvd at night" - oh and most seem to smoke and have at least 2 children living with them who "are their whole world", thus really looking for a guy that is prepared to be step-dad rather than a date for their own sake.
In fact, despite going on 40 websites including all the free ones I could fine, I had much more luck with dating sites around 10 years ago than I did now, which maybe points to the fact that their popularity with decent women has come and gone, or that as a 23 year old there were just more genuine viable dates going online than do in their late 20's / early 30's.
Or maybe my looks or writing skills have gone way downhill in the last decade, but I dont think thats the case, as I am now more polished in both respects and apart from a tiny good diet belly ( that does not show on most photos ) I feel that I am a better catch now than ever before.
Now in the interests of fair play, I used google and msn and various other search engines to find what was said to be the top 40 free and premium dating websites, based on number of members.
As an athiest who is not into big women, self mutilation, midgets, christians, goths or any other such subsection or community or sexual fetish I excluded from my research all websites dedicated to finding a partner of a specific type or kind and just joined the generic dating sites.
Then, when I had picked my 40, at the end of November ( thus in teh run up to Christmas when people would have most time off and feel most like having someone to be with ) I joined up to all of them.
Yes, on the same day, with the same photo ( or photos ) being good quality high resolution full face and body shots taken in the last year, used the same profile description where possible ( some had maximum or minimum sizes ) and completed all the extra bits about me, including likes, dislikes, hobbies, interestes, films, music, travel, work, etc, etc, etc.
Whenever the website suggested that I was anything less than 100% complete with my profile I took measures to do so, and again when the website moderators were not overly strict I left my direct email address or facebook details in plain sight so that anyone viewing my profile at more than a glance should be able to know where to find me even if we were not both full paying members.
Admittedly I did not actually pay a full months membership to all the websites, as some were as most were around £20 per month, some as high as £35 per month or had a minimum of 3 months upfront fees before enabling you to make full contact, and as I certainly didn't have a few thousand pounds just lying around in my bank account doing nothing I had to limit my costs.
However, I did log use the same login ID and password on all the accounts and also made sure that I logged in at least twice a day for a full week.
With regard to performing a search, I used as close as possible to an identical and fair search pattern of - single women, between 5'1 and 5'10, aged 23 to 36 of either the caucasian, asian, latino, pacific island or mixed background and if available online in the last month and / or within 50 miles, which distance range happens to include much of London.
I didn't much care for if they smoked, if they had kids, what colour hair or eyes they had, what their religious preference were, or what their job or education was ... thus I was keeping my options open to as large a group of women as possible without being totally uncaring.
On many of the websites the choices were remarkably similar, as were the dating sites themselves, suggesting multiple fronts to the same database of women ( or else a whole load of women happend to chose the very same combination of dating sites to advertise themselves on!).
A few of my searches produced less than 5 hits, while others had more but with members who had not been active in over 2 years or with no photos.
Once I found profiles that I liked I winked / flirted / added as favourites / visited profiles / viewed photos / sent e-cards / sent e-flowers / commented on profiles and wrote messages all trying to attract an interest in me or my profile.
I also replied to all messages that I received, if their system would allow it, though a few sites were extra strict and would not even met me see who was writing to me unless I had already agreed to sign up, and they were the websites that I chose to ignore and close down first as they were a total waste of time and effort.
After 2 weeks the results were all very frustrating and not very encouraging. Not only had less than half of my emails been read, but those that did had not always even bothered to view my profile or photos.
I found that certain websites sent me messages that could only be read when i upgraded to a full profile, and on a few rare occasions when I signed up for a 24 hour trial period in order to read such messags, they were almost always automaticallly generated by the website itself to introduce me to other new members, and not actually real interest in my profile at all.
Other websites were merely fronts for premium webcam girls and when i stayed loggin in i woud receive on average one chat request every five minutes and every one was from a girl asking me to verify my age via for free via this certain website ( which reading the small print would also just so happened to charge my credit card over $100 if i didn't also agree to subscribe to at least 2 hardcore porn sites at the same time!)
Throughout all the websites I could tell a theme of a scammer fairly soon as they would include superbly sexy photos, but say they were just after love and that age, race and distance were no object ... which is of course a load of old bull as I doubt even 0.1% of stunning blond 20 year olds in the world would go for an old and ugly guy half way round the world, but according to their profile these ones would!
Some sites were amusing as their own advertising was clearly lying and claiming to have many more members than they possible could have in reality. To prove my point ass a test I picked the postcode in the Outer Hebrides in Scotland and limited my age range to exactly 18 and yet this one website still tried to claim it had over 5,000 women who fitted the category, which was total baloney as the entire island is miles off the mainland coast and only has an overall population of around 21,000!
Again other sites seemed to be the target of Russian, Nigerian or Ghanaian scam artists and even after I amended my profile description on those sites to say " NO RUSSIAN OR AFRICAN WOMEN" they were still the only ones to visit my profile and / or to write me messages - which made me more suspicious still.
To test the theory of whether they were scam artists or not, ( first off not all said that they were from Africa but after a few emails they would want to come clean and tell me the truth, haha! ) I allowed a number of these suspect Russian or African women to start up a email correspondence and usually it only took five very general emails to get to the root of the scam.
Without exception, these scam artists ( or very desperate women!) all fell in love with me, wanted to be with me so very soon but sadly also were unable to and thus needed my financial help as they were unable to get a visa, a flight, a ticket to the airport, a ticket to the main city, etc, etc.
What was unremarkably similar is that none of them would give me a UK mobile, none had access to a webcam or skype and all made pathetic urgent excuses and then log off if my messages got too close to uncovering the truth early. Oh, and of course the second I refused to pay them they all got in a huff and stopped writing to me, without exception.
In the end, after being a member of 40 websites for a complete month, I had made less than 10 confirmed contacts that I felt were real, and they were spread out as far throughout the UK as Scotland from me.
On average 80% of my messages were not replied to, despite from my searches I only chose to actually write direct emails to women that shared many of my own likes and views, well share them at least on paper (or with the computers own compatability rating percentage ).
Now, although I am single and would have very much liked to have found a partner and agreed to go to almost anywhere in the UK for a face-to-face meeting, it did appear that my search was overall fruitless.
It particularly surprised me to find that women just a couple of years older than me and within 5 miles, who (meaning no disrespect) were hardly stunning in the looks department and shared many of the same likes as me still didn't find time to write back to me even though reading their profile they could not find a more suitable match if they lined up all the men in England.
A sad fact was that on many websites I had more genuine appearing messages from women over 45 or overseas than within my own country and age range.
So, removing the girls under age, overage, fakers, scam artists, africans, women with more than 2 kids, women with no photos, women who are greatly independant and women who "dont know why they are doing this, but they were talked into it by a mate and think it might be a bit of fun" over 40 profiles in a month I did not find a single woman that I made a strong connection with enough to give out my phone number and have a good honest and open conversation with.
Around ten women made it as far as adding me to their facebook friends list, but instead of this being a good sign, their interest almost instantly dissappeared and so even when I sent them a private message or fb chat request they ignored them or wrote back one liners to say that they were busy and talk later.
A couple of times I was hassled into giving it out far too soon, and of them one turned out to be african scammer and the othe was a bunny boiler from up north who must have called me a dozen times in one hour leaving offensive messages and I chose to hang up on them earlier and were not picking up their calls.
So what do I conclude from my test of a month?
Well, for starters I still feel that very few attractive and successful women feel the need to put themselves on dating sights, feeling that they would prefer to meet their future match the old fashioned way ... by chance meeting them face to face first.
Furthermore, the majority of women that do go on either add very few additional edscriptive details and / or no photos and of the remaining few that do write something they almost always like "fun men, outgoing, are into pubbing and clubbing as well as a bottle of wine and a dvd at night" - oh and most seem to smoke and have at least 2 children living with them who "are their whole world", thus really looking for a guy that is prepared to be step-dad rather than a date for their own sake.
In fact, despite going on 40 websites including all the free ones I could fine, I had much more luck with dating sites around 10 years ago than I did now, which maybe points to the fact that their popularity with decent women has come and gone, or that as a 23 year old there were just more genuine viable dates going online than do in their late 20's / early 30's.
Or maybe my looks or writing skills have gone way downhill in the last decade, but I dont think thats the case, as I am now more polished in both respects and apart from a tiny good diet belly ( that does not show on most photos ) I feel that I am a better catch now than ever before.
Letter to Russia
Below is an actual reply to an email from yet another person who claims to be a Russian female after a relationship.
Tanya / Oksana / Olga ( delete as appropriate )
You say that you have looked through my profile "several times" and yet failed to see the part that said "No women from Africa or Russia ... I am NOT INTERESTED NO MATTER HOW GOOD YOUR (FAKE) PHOTO LOOKS".
Did you think I was joking or that perhaps that as you are from the autonomous Republic of Crimea and not actually Russia that this did not apply to you?
OK .. I will explain this simply to you.
If that is a real photo of you then yes you are very attractive.
If you was here in the UK then yes I would be very interested in getting to know you better.
If when we met we both found each other to be physically attracted to each other then I would be happy to consider you as my partner til such times as we either got married or split up.
However ... I am NOT rich and I do not send money overseas to people I have never met for any reason whatsoever.
If you can organise (and that includes paying) your own visa, international flight and hotel / apartment in the UK then I would be very interested in hearing more from you.
But I am not interested in exchanging email after email for you to then attempt a pathetic financial scam saying any of the following :-
'your ill; one of your parents are ill; you have no food; your have been robbed; one of your parents have died; you are about to inherit a lot of money; you are unable to pay for your own visa; you are unable to pay for your own flight; you are stranded on holiday and need to get home' or any such like that you have dreamt up to try and separate me from my money.
I also do not want to join any premium webcam services in order to see what you look like on camera ... if you want me to see then you can go on yahoo or msn like anyone else and show me that way.
I have no intention of having my age verified through my credit card via a third party or to pay to receive any erotic photo shots or lingerie that you may have.
In short, if you are selling anything then I am not interested.
I mention this only as you seem to have ignored my 'no russian' section of my profile, so you have brought doubt and uncertainty into the equation and I just want to ensure that you are not a scammer or a copy/paste merchant!, sending the same email to every guy on the same website.
What happens next is up to you, but if you are after anything except an honest and equal relationship in the UK, once you are already here, then I can not and will not help you.
Regards
Mr Springate
Tanya / Oksana / Olga ( delete as appropriate )
You say that you have looked through my profile "several times" and yet failed to see the part that said "No women from Africa or Russia ... I am NOT INTERESTED NO MATTER HOW GOOD YOUR (FAKE) PHOTO LOOKS".
Did you think I was joking or that perhaps that as you are from the autonomous Republic of Crimea and not actually Russia that this did not apply to you?
OK .. I will explain this simply to you.
If that is a real photo of you then yes you are very attractive.
If you was here in the UK then yes I would be very interested in getting to know you better.
If when we met we both found each other to be physically attracted to each other then I would be happy to consider you as my partner til such times as we either got married or split up.
However ... I am NOT rich and I do not send money overseas to people I have never met for any reason whatsoever.
If you can organise (and that includes paying) your own visa, international flight and hotel / apartment in the UK then I would be very interested in hearing more from you.
But I am not interested in exchanging email after email for you to then attempt a pathetic financial scam saying any of the following :-
'your ill; one of your parents are ill; you have no food; your have been robbed; one of your parents have died; you are about to inherit a lot of money; you are unable to pay for your own visa; you are unable to pay for your own flight; you are stranded on holiday and need to get home' or any such like that you have dreamt up to try and separate me from my money.
I also do not want to join any premium webcam services in order to see what you look like on camera ... if you want me to see then you can go on yahoo or msn like anyone else and show me that way.
I have no intention of having my age verified through my credit card via a third party or to pay to receive any erotic photo shots or lingerie that you may have.
In short, if you are selling anything then I am not interested.
I mention this only as you seem to have ignored my 'no russian' section of my profile, so you have brought doubt and uncertainty into the equation and I just want to ensure that you are not a scammer or a copy/paste merchant!, sending the same email to every guy on the same website.
What happens next is up to you, but if you are after anything except an honest and equal relationship in the UK, once you are already here, then I can not and will not help you.
Regards
Mr Springate
December 15, 2009
Internet Identity
I just did a Google search on myself and found that I had appeared in a few pretty strange places.
So once I ignores direct links of my own blog, blog comments of other peoples profiles I still came up with a few random bits where eitehr myself or my blog entries have popped up :-
December 10, 2009
Back in the UK
Well, I did try to make a go of it in Beijing, but it didn't quite go according to plan and so I made a fairly hasty withdrawal and am now back safely ensconced with my family and friends.
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