"We could not be dorkier. Unless we were on J-Date"

So, gigantic dork that I am, I have fallen deep in like with Gmail's chatting application--you know, the totally awesome thing that lets you chat with other Gmail users who are also sitting in front of their desks with less work to do than will occupy their 8(ish) hour workday. It's great. Saves on the email space, and Gmail stores your chats in a special chats folder--and you all know how much I love folders. Gmail is just so neat and organized and wonderful for people like me. I even love the subtle little "bloonky noise" that happens when someone writes to you. Unless you have the sound off and don't even notice it for 3 days. A-he-henyway, this lovely Gmail chatting application has little non-intrusive animated chat "smilies." (or "emoticons" - a more technical, not as fun word) They are, at present, very amusing to me. I enjoy them. Particularly the one called "big nose wink," which looks something like and actually turns right-side-up after you type it like ;^) and winks at you.

Which brings me to the quote/title of this blog post. Bec and I were discussing ways to go on dates without actually going on dates. We want to sample the fabulous dining establishments of San Francisco, but have neither the money nor the...well, it's really the money we don't have enough of to sample said fabulous dining establishments. The joke-of-a-solution to our dining dilemma was J-Date. Double-J-Dating, to be exact, since really, it would be far less awkward to go together. Or would it? Two Chatty Females Seek Two Rich Guys To Buy Them Dinner. Ah, who wouldn't jump on that opportunity? There's really no un-awkward way to go about it. So now I am on a mission to find a non-creepy benefactor-of-sorts who wants to buy us nice meals, with no dating-type-obligation of any kind. Like that's going to happen. Good thing I like my cheap-o and delicious Trader Joe's food. Also, I don't know why J-Date has this terribly awful dork-and-a-half stigma, but it does. The term J-Date somehow implies nerd (not that I'm not one) or "person who can't find a date" or "Jewy Jew Jew seeks other Jewy Jew Jew" or something. However, contrary to said stigma, I know plenty of nice, attractive, normal people who are, or have been, on J-Date. My cousin met his wife on J-Date. Alas, I do not want to meet a "nice Jewish boy" on J-Date. Or at all, really. Dating online kind of freaks me out. Dating (someone you've never met) in general kind of freaks me out. Quote I can't stand: "a stranger is just a friend you haven't yet met." Oy.

Let's be honest folks, I just want a free dinner at a nice restaurant. I should really use that Chez Panisse gift certificate I got for graduation one of these days. But since I have only one chance to use it (and probably to go there ever in my life), I want it to be something special. Knowing me, I'll use it to celebrate the birth of my first child in like 10 years.

I am all full of digression today. Maybe it's from not posting a blog since Friday. Maybe.

The point? "big nose wink" has now been dubbed "Mr. J-date" And Bec and I spent a while trying out those smilies (which some people spell "smileys" which may or may not require an apostrophe, but looks more fun and smiley-like than "smilies," and also looks a lot less like "similes" which is not the same thing at all) and getting quite a kick out of them. And, as usual, I am a total and complete dork.

In other news, JobSearch2007 is about to begin. Any suggestions? I want to be in the Bay Area, specifically the East Bay, more specifically Berkeley. I have many fine qualifications including writing, editing, organizing, reading and reviewing, making lists, and being a complete nerd for grammar and all things dictionary-thesaurus-encyclopedia-related. and smilies. and similes. I am as open as a 7-11 to anything you might suggest. Know of any magazines or newspapers that would want me? Any theatre-related folks that I could help? I want a full time, $30,000+ a year with benefits job. I'd like it to not suck the life out of my soul. But like I said, I'm open to anything. Suggest Away!