About the advertisements saying "Webpage cannot be found," I have that problem too, but only at work. We have a pretty strict internet filter here (I work at a Christian college) that tends to block ads. I'm honestly surprised this whole site isn't blocked! The filter searches for keywords (or so I'm told), and sometimes it blocks the craziest things!
Some of my dealbreakers are quite shallow, yet they are important for me.
For me, divorce is an obvious dealbreaker (no offense), so I'll move on.
One is weight. I'm not exactly skinny myself, but if someone is really overweight (truly obese), I'm just not attracted to him enough to even get to know the person inside. I realize that's probably a flaw on my part, but that's the way I feel.
Another is smoking. I've seen my grandfather have serious health problems due to 50+years of smoking, and I don't want that for me, my husband, or my family.
Drinking is another one. It might be a little negotiable, but probably not. He would have to give it up if he wanted me!
A big dealbreaker would be if someone breaks my trust in even "small" things or is not dependable.
Some other really, really insignificant things are sports and video games. While I would be glad for him to enjoy those things, I want a litte attention too!
A big one (and in response to an earlier post) would be a man who expects me to work all day while he does nothing. Unless he is already rich, I expect him to support the family. I'll contribute with a full-time job until the kids arrive, but then I want to work from home.
One that might seem really picky is a lack of intelligence. I don't mean that he needs to have as many college degrees as I have...that's education, and that's not important. What I mean is that we need to be on the same intelligence level so that we can communicate with each other clearly.
Sorry about writing an "epistle" (as a friend of mine would say), but I've given the topic a lot of thought and prayer. I know many of you won't agree with me, and I'd like your comments and opinions as well!
I actually don't listen to much classical music...I think it's because I am a full-time music faculty member at a Christian college. By the time I escape the music building after a long day of accompanying for every voice major in the program, the LAST thing I want to do is hear more classical music!
But if I had to say which sacred classical music moves me the most, it would have to be settings of portions of the Mass (I'm not Catholic, by the way, but I have studied the Mass in detail and know most of the translations for the Ordinary). Faure's Requiem is simply breathtaking. I like other sacred works as well, such as Handel's Messiah, and Haydn's The Creation. Vivaldi's Gloria is another favorite. Notice that most of these are choral works...I accompanied for the college choir for 4 years, and became quite proficient at playing all of these works!
If you like celtic music, you have to check out Celtic Woman. Another good group is Celtic Thunder (kind of like Celtic Woman, but made up of 5 really cute guys!). For both groups, the music is a mix of traditional, popular, and original compositions.
A good Irish composer is Phil Coulter (he actually write and arranges the music for Celtic Thunder as well). Most of his music is instrumental, or at least the arrangements on his CDs are primarily instrumental.
For a soloist, I really like Hayley Westenra. She's from New Zealand, but has Irish roots and sings traditional and popular music.
A good tenor is Paul Byrom. Right now, he is singing with Celtic Thunder, but he has a solo career between tours. He only has a couple of CDs out, but he said he's working on more that will be released through Celtic Thunder. He has one of the best voices I've ever heard, and he can sing in a wide variety of styles. Hearing him sing live was one of the highlights of last year for me, and I'm going to hear him again this fall.
I've always said that my guy doesn't have to be supermodel georgeous, but neither I do I want to feel like vomiting every time I look at him! Average is fine because I'm just average myself.
I'm rather new to the whole online dating/friendship/relationship thing. That said, here are my opinions. I had an awkward (maybe you would even say bad) experience on another site and can tell you what NOT to do! Here goes:
A guy sent me an IM while I was online, and to be polite I chatted for a few minutes. I could tell he wasn't the one for me based on our conversation and his profile, so I politely (I hope) ended the chat and hoped that he would get the message by my "professional" attitude. He didn't get the message. Instead, my inbox was soon filled with messages, prayers, scriptures, etc. When I didn't respond to each one within a couple hours, he got offended and asked what he did wrong. To make matters more awkward, he wanted to IM me everytime he saw me online and wouldn't take no for an answer. I had to disable the IM feature, which of course meant that fewer people contacted me, and eventually I gave up on the site altogether. I considered reporting him, but I was not regularly contacting anyone else, and it was easier to find another site.
I guess the moral of that story is this: Don't become an online stalker if someone just politely chats with you!
Now on to the good things to do: I like to receive a real message rather than a wink. Winks are fine, but then I feel like the ball is in my court and that's awkward for me. I like for a guy to point out something we have in common, add a little info that is not in his profile, and comment on something he found interesting about me. Keep it short, and (at the risk of sounding insecure in yourself) allow me an "out." This might be as simple as saying "If you think we might be able to be friends, just hit reply!" That lets me know that I can just ignore the message if I want to without feeling guilty.
