Category Archives: dating

love and cheese.

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so exciting to have found a new approach to dating and romance

i feel pretty sure this method will be the winner!

Notes: TYROMANCY: The use of cheese as a divination tool was known in the ancient world and the Middle Ages, although the details aren’t very well-recorded. Some say the shapes of the holes in the cheeses were thought to hold meaning—a heart shape could indicate love, and certain holes could be read as initials. Women in the countryside would predict future husbands by writing the names of suitors on pieces of cheese. The first to mold was believed to be the ideal mate. It may be worth noting, however, that the Greek diviner Artemidorus did not feel that cheese divination was very reliable, and included cheese diviners among his list of “false diviners,” alongside dice diviners, sieve-diviners, and necromancers. (The interpretation of dreams and livers was far more dependable, he felt.)

“i pondered what else I should take for him. flowers seemed wrong; they’re a love token, after all.

I looked in the fridge, and popped a packet of cheese slices into the bag. all men like cheese.” 

-gail honeyman, eleanor oliphant is completely fine

and cut…..

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 in honor of the 10th anniversary of this film, made here in ann arbor, i’m reposting this blog from my past.

ever had one of those days? the ones that take a funny turn?

i picked up a movie from the library recently, ‘the five year engagement,’ and when i saw the cover, i remembered that i had almost been in it. by accident. really.

it was the summer and i’d walked downtown to meet my date. when i got to one of my favorite local townie spots where we’d planned to meet, i noticed there was a barricade, some roadie types, a sound system and all sorts of equipment set up outside. having lived here for more than a decade, i knew there was always a festival, parade or protest popping up, so none of this surprised me. it  could easily have been for a street dance, a car show, or god knows what else, so i simply stepped over and around everything, and walked on in.

once inside, i looked around, it was a bit dark and hazy and didn’t see him there yet, so i sat down at an open table. while waiting, i noticed that something about the place looked different than it normally did, but i couldn’t quite put my finger on it. i then got a phone call from my date, asking where i was, and when i told him i was already where we’d planned to meet, he said he’d arrived, but couldn’t get in because it was closed off to the public, as they were shooting a movie there. and he wondered how i had gotten in.

ah – that’s when it all made sense and it dawned on me. i had unwittingly walked right into the middle of a movie set. i thought it was awfully dark for being the daytime, and things were moved around, and i heard someone yelling out something, but figured it was a bartender, and thought maybe they’d redone the place, trying to go a bit more upscale. i loved it just the way it had been though, a cozy, casual, old-school, welcoming place. all this went through my mind quickly and then i remembered, they’d been shooting in various locations around town for some weeks now, but it never occurred to me that i had crashed their party. i was suddenly an accidental extra.

i’m sure the only reason they let me on set in the first place, was because i’d ambled on into it like i was supposed to be there, (and i thought i was), so no one stopped me. and i was dressed like a townie, (since i was a real one), so i fit right in.

we laughed out loud on each end of the phone as i shared my revelation, and i casually got up and walked off the set and into the daylight once more, as if i was walking to my personal production trailer, only to find my date waiting in another location. where they were NOT in the middle of shooting a scene for a movie.

when i picked up the dvd at the library, a part of me somehow hoped to see myself in that scene, but not surprisingly, i was nowhere to be found, other than somewhere on the cutting room floor, perhaps.

“acting in’Star Wars’ I felt like a raisin in a giant fruit salad,

and I didn’t even know who the cantaloupes were.”

– Mark Hamill

image credits: universal studios, old town bar

 

pda. (pandemic dating adventures)

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it’s been an adventure to say the least. 

(not saying who is who, but we unmasked for the photo)

“dating isn’t just about dating anymore. you are picking your potential apocalypse partner. choose wisely, folks.” 

-word porn

image credit: google images

naked? with gravy? with ketchup?

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the more time i spend in the “always interesting” world of online dating, the more i’m amazed by the many options and specialized sites that appear. npr recently featured the latest in michigan dating sites: yooper. singles.com.

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for those of you not familiar with the state of michigan, it’s made up of two peninsulas. the lower peninsula, and the more remote and rustic, upper peninsula. the upper peninsula (u.p.), is where the ‘yoopers’ live. originally settled by the native americans, and later the cornish and finns who came to work in the mining and logging industry, they have their own dialect, and have tried off and on to become their own state. much to their dismay, they are still a part of our state as of this posting.

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one of the food mainstays for these hardy working people were pocket sandwiches/pies known as pasties. filled with root veggies, and with or without meat or fish, a pasty is considered an art form in the u.p., with recipes passed on through generations.

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and just like people from every culture all over the world, yoopers are on the universal quest for love. thus, their site was born, and just like every other dating site, it has its own slant, target demographic, and set of parameters. to register you’re required to answer a series of questions only a yooper would love:

a) how do you prefer your pasty served?

naked, with ketchup, with gravy

b) favorite color?

carharrt tan, real tree camo, duct tape grey

c) interests?

wearing plaid, bear wrestling, outdoor snow activities, chopping wood, home brewing

d) favorite great lake?

and then there’s the pitch:

At Yooper Singles we will match you with a quality Yooper.  Each of our members is looking for a long lasting connection, that’s deeper than Lake Superior.  Every year, dozens of  single Yoopers seek love in the vast forests of the Upper Peninsula and along the beaches of the Great Lakes.  Yooper Steez pioneered the dating industry in the Upper Peninsula by launching Yooper Singles and within days, YS has served as many as eighteen Yoopers, across all fifteen Upper Peninsula counties. We continue to redefine the way single Yoopers meet, flirt, date and share pasties, proving time and again that you can make love happen in the Upper Peninsula and that lasting relationships are possible. Our members aren’t only serious about finding flannel, saunas, and pasties, they also seek love. Yooper Singles puts you in control of your love life; meeting that special Yooper and forming a lasting relationship, where you can live happily ever after … in a log cabin. Whether you’re interested in Lumberjack Dating, Fisherman Dating, Finnish Dating, Native American Dating, or just finding someone to share your venison with, we can help you find the date or relationship that fits you best. Search free through all of our online personals. Literally, dozens of single Yoopers in your area have posted their dating profiles on Yooper Singles.  Young and old alike, bearded and not, from everywhere around the world, there is a Yooper waiting for you. Find your Yooper today!

and the reviews:

I have finally found my lifetime sauna partner — Toivo

Thanks, for helping me find my lumberjack— Jane

love, eh?

maybe i’ve been looking on the wrong peninsula?

i do really love the great lakes and pasties and accents.

still not sure about the bear wrestling though.

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Right now, I’m as single as a slice of American cheese.
Nick Cannon

credits: npr/stateside, yooper.singles.com, michigan pasties