Happy New Year, Rooth!
Is your deck green treated or redwood?

It's composite material. Wood and plastic. Trex stuff, different qualities.

Ah, I kind of know what that is. Did you get the solid composite boards?

The bendy parts were solid. The straight parts were the newer stuff, with the hidden interlock channel whatsis. That stuff is .. well, also solid, but it has a skin for the color and texture, rather than being homogenous. Does that make sense?

Yes it does. I've never seen the interlocking kind, but with just a skin, I hope it stands up to the elements.

What will you do on New Year's Eve?

Well, since I just now found my iron, I'm ironing my shirt. And then I'm going to put my suit on, and go to the NDK NYE masquerade ball (http://ndkdenver.org/nye). :)

Only two of the questions were asked, so if that means you're still open for three more imma steal one.


Question for one of FA's eligible bachelors, so your female friends can keep our eyes open and fling eligible bachelorettes your way! ;3

What is your perfect/dream woman? Not just physical, but mental, personality, etc.

Still 3 questions available, ayup. :)

I'm old and wise enough to know that there is no good answer to your question that actually addresses 'physical', 'mental', or 'personality'. I could describe my perfect woman to a tee, and you could find her and present her to me, and if there is no chemistry, the tiniest things will become the death knell of the relationship. On the other hand, if you brought me someone matching only half of my parameters, but the chemistry is intense, nothing could ever come between us.

I'm also insufficiently jaded as to think it'll make no difference how I answered. And I've got just enough exuberance to play at an answer despite what wisdom tells me:

It's perhaps better to start by answering the opposite question: what turns me off. But even then, exceptions can and have been made. Obesity and smoking, for instance, really turns off my romantic light bulb. Although, having said that, I once dated a smoker knowing full well she was a smoker because she was just THAT enchanting to me, AND she said yes to a couple of dates! :) What qualities did she have that compensated for the smoking and its accompanying stench? Well, she was quick witted, geeky (computer and scifi savvy), forthcoming, and yes, physically attractive. I had known her from a distance for years, soo I had some sense of these things before asking her out, but I really wanted to learn more and explore potential with her. Her forthrightness meant she didn't "play the game". I hate the game, so that worked nicely for me, and sped things up a bit. :) However, we didn't make it past a couple of dates because the chemistry simply wasn't there. We were playful and fun together when in a group, but left to our own devices, flames fizzled. I'm sure she had other reasons, but they went unvoiced.

Thus, my "ideal woman" is not flawless, but she's flawed in ways I'm equipped to handle, or can adapt to handle. I consider myself skilled at adaptation, but of course we all have our limits. I used to think smoking was one of those limits, before the above anecdote. Still, I guess it's fair to say the less adaptation that's necessary, the better the odds of success. But I firmly believe that some adaptation is necessary, from both parties. This is the part some call "work" when they say things like, "a relationship takes work". You have to spend time figuring each other out, and in doing so -- consciously or not -- you suppress or adapting (some of) the aspects of yourself that turn your potential mate off.

For example, I have a lot of crap in my house. I'd call it "moderate hording." My basement is full, my shelves are fully decorated, and I generally have a lot of things I don't need. It comes from years spent filling the empty void in my life. If I were to strike gold by finding some amazing woman, and this aspect of me was a problem, I'd remove large quantities of my stuff for her comfort, without really batting an eye. It's something I recognize I have to do anyway, it's not an aspect of me I'm proud of or embrace, it's just there, a part of what makes me me, and a part that is subject to change, particularly when it's no longer "necessary".

Another example might be 'puns'. I make a fair number of them. I'm not the worst with them, but it's a consequence of being a "literalist", with a reasonably quick wit always on the lookout for wordplay that, by me, is fun, and fuels thinking. If a potential love interest was clearly turned off by such humor, I'd have to work at suppressing it, but I would eventually. It's a social crutch of sorts (and also a family trait), one that, over time, I'd have less need of, much like the hoard that fills my life void would no longer be needed as it began to be filled by something so much more special. Puns would probably never vanish entirely, but I'm sure they'd become less frequent if she didn't respond well to them. That's part of the subconscious adaptation aspect of relationships I mentioned earlier. Call it "conditioned response" if you will, but the result is the same -- people change, more so when they're together, hopefully in ways that improves the odds of success.

My "ideal woman" is also accepting of my faults (which includes incompatible interests that are not inherently flaws -- e.g., if she's religious, she might see my atheism as a fault). This year, I'll be focusing on improving upon my own faults, or at least the ones I can control, under the premise that diminishing them will improve my odds of breaking through some lady's "perception filters." (geek reference! ;)). I'm easing into Whole30 (which is going to end up being more like 60 or 90, with a gradual entry). I'll be hitting the gym more often this year (a common resolution, but for me it's an effort to return to my success from 2012 that was disrupted by family crisis). And I have a goal to get rid of more stuff than I bring in this year. And I'll be resuming my journal writing, with a focus on mulling over *current* missed opportunities instead of dwelling on the ones from *years ago*.

How's that?

As usual, well thought out and nothing less than I'd expect, coming from you. ;3

I will then, wish you the very best of luck with all of your goals this coming year, keep my fingers crossed for you, and should I see any eligible ladies fitting that description, let them know there is a sweet, eligible dragon looking for that special someone over yonder.

Sweetly put, thank you.

Curiously, I just got off the phone with my sister. She is visiting my mom in New Mexico, who lives in a very tiny town. My sister went to get her hair done at Lucile's, and evidently Lucile somehow remembers me and "misses" me .. from 20 years ago. Turns out Lucile was exploring the idea of renting one of my mom's properties, and I met her at the house in question and showed her around. Evidently I left an impression, but for the life of me I couldn't remember Lucile at all, and I only barely remembered showing that rental to anyone. Sis was trying to entice me with flattering comments about Lucile. However, Lucile is also substantially older than me, so much so that my mom, overhearing my sister's comments and knowing Lucile personally, shouted out in the background, "NO! She's too old for him." It was kind of funny, because my mom's never really taken any sort of interest in matchmaking for me, so her sudden outburst was quite out of character. ;)