Stalking is only one letter away from talking...

I am a self-confessed Facebook stalker.

Being single, I find this one of the greatest forms of easy entertainment on those lonely nights. Who doesn’t find themselves mindlessly clicking away from time to time? I don’t necessarily mean spying, just checking up on your friends from time to time out of curiosity.

I prefer to think of this activity as "research" or as I like to call it Facestalking. I find it pretty amazing that the ability to access information can lead us to find people in way that we never had before. We can find so much information on a person by simply typing a name into Google and hitting the search button. We have Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and blogs.

Researchers at the University of Missouri School of Journalism have proved that online stalking, scientifically speaking, feels good. By monitoring students while they navigated Facebook and measuring physiological responses associated with motivation and emotion, the researchers found that the students derived the most pleasure from activities described as "social searching" or what they call "goal-oriented surveillance" (how cool is that!) that involved visiting another friend's profile page, reading their Wall posts, perusing their photos, checking out the events they'd recently attended.

So, why am I telling you all this? 

My date with Number 5

My dating life has turned into a slow churn, understandable for the amount of work I have been swamped with. I have been throwing myself into many different projects and I have been relatively nonchalant about the need to find my Prince Charming at this moment.

My dating service has not been too preoccupied and notified me that I would be receiving a call from Number 5 last week. Our conversation over the phone was nothing to write home about but we decided to meet on Tuesday as I was in Cape Town the weekend. Busy as always.

Here is what I knew beforehand: He is a 32 year old who lives in Johannesburg. He owns his own IT company. He loves reading, being outdoors, Latin and ballroom dancing and he was described as being an ‘energetic and outgoing personality, a real gem’. He is English. Never been married. No kids. (Yeah! No kids!)

My date with Number 4

You might want to read my previous post first (or again) for the pre-date summary of Number 4. This is the post-date post. Yes, I know I said I would have this post up the day after, but I needed some time to think the date and my response through. Here’s why.

My date with Number 4 (the technically still married with two kids dude) had originally been scheduled for Wednesday evening, but a few days ago he sent a SMS to reschedule as he had “forgotten that his daughter had something on at school” which he needed to attend. He told me that he had quite a busy week and that we could meet on Tuesday at 20:30. To me, 20:30 was a weird time. My mother joked that he probably had to put the kids to bed before coming out and my sister and I speculated whether or not he had a cunning plan to try and get me drunk and take advantage at such a late time.

Anyway, I arrived early and my whole being was determined to simply ‘get through’ the date as I had clearly made up my mind that I was not prepared to date a married man with two kids.

And then he arrived. Holy moly!!! This man was gorgeous. Think Blue Bull’s player, Flip van der Merwe-meets-Channing-Tatum gorgeous. (Okay, Google Flip van der Merwe and just know that I like the rugged type). I’m not exaggerating – this man is some serious eye candy. He is quite taller than me and has that rugby type body. Hubba-Hubba! I was completely thrown by his appearance and as we were walking towards the table I kept thinking that I was surely going to hell for desiring a married man. Well done Jeanine!

First comes love, then comes divorce...

I found a website that can calculate the days between your last date and now. It has been 116 days or 3 months, 24 days since my last date with my dating service.

I have a date for TONIGHT! I got a call from the dating agency last week just as I was about to give the lady a call – it has been a while and I am now ready to embrace the dating world again. So very excited I listened to this description: “He is 33 years old, lives in Pretoria. Non-smoker. He has his own, very successful IT company, drives a 4x4, he loves the outdoors, going to theatre, socializing with friends etc…

At this point I’m thinking… NICE!!!

BUT, then she adds… his divorce is almost finalized… and… he has two kids.

... What the?

Some people call it Valentine's Day - I call it thanks-for-reminding-me-that-my-life-sucks!

Ah, Valentines Day. I find it amusing that a day that is supposed to be all about love can conjure so much hatred inside of me. Yes, it is because I’m single. Still single.

Call it whatever you want, Valentines Day, Singles Awareness Day or Forever Alone Day, this day comes every year 14 February and to be single on it sucks. Don’t try to fool me with all that ‘I’m so content and free’ crap. Not on Valentine’s Day. This is a day where even a cute angelic depiction of Cupid wants me yelling: "Get the hell away from me - you useless, flying, half naked, midget bastard!" Yes, I have some rage issues.

Being single on this day, February 14, means you’re way more single than you are on February 13 or February 15. Like, way more. Now, there’s a lot more you can do than cry, eat ice cream, and feel bad for yourself.

Last year, I got extremely drunk and passed out in a parking lot. Not good. So, this year I decided that I needed a plan. 

Moving on up...

I’ve been a bad blogger. It has been far too long since I have last written a post. I have been busy though. I spent two weeks on what you can call an African safari, whitewater rafting the mighty Zambezi river, helicopter rides, exploring Botswana from Savuti to the beautiful Okavango Delta. Back home I spent my time packing and abusing the uncapped ADSL line.

Yes, I am way too excited to move out of this hell hole that is Kempton Park. Hate might be too strong of a word, but I dislike my home town a lot – way too many bad memories. I have lived in Pretoria before for 4 years when completing my first degree and I can’t wait to get back.

As every year ends I move into a mode of self-evaluation. I start questioning where I am, what I’ve accomplished, what I still want to do, what I need to change and the list goes on. I’ve been wrestling with the idea of “place” a lot lately. I’ve got this overwhelming feeling that God wants me somewhere else.

I've been reading...

I have spent the last three days as a hermit. I have literally just left the house to attend a small year-end function (from which I escaped early) and to eat. I have read it… the forbidden fruit of books…50 Shades of Grey and the other two in the E.L James trilogy.

I freaking LOVED the books! I could not put them down. I don’t know if it has just been a really long time since I last read anything non-academic or if it was because these were my first ‘erotic’ novels.