<![CDATA[Musings of a Romantic Mind - A Few Random Thoughts]]>

<![CDATA[Musings of a Romantic Mind - A Few Random Thoughts]]>Sun, 20 Nov 2011 20:25:26 -0800Weebly<![CDATA[Manic Monday - The Horrors of Dating in my 30s]]>Sun, 20 Nov 2011 20:20:26 -0800http://www.joanneellis.net/2/post/2011/11/manic-monday-the-horrors-of-dating-in-my-30s4.htmlEpisode 4 – Speed Dating and Mr TV

Speed Dating is an interesting idea and I went in with no
expectations. For those who don’t know the concept, you date a number of men,
in my case fifteen, for five minutes each. You then have to determine which men
you would like to date, be friends with or never see again. They are then
correlated and matched. If you pick date for someone and they pick friendship,
it defaults to friendship. If you say no then the details aren’t given out.

I received one date match which I thought was pretty good
considering I had only marked down a handful of dates myself. The others were
all friendship matches or no match for the three I said no to. My date match
contacted me. I remembered he worked in television, thus the original name, so
I thought he could be interesting and successful.

We met for a drink, which turned into dinner, which turned into
more drinks followed by hot kisses at my door. It was a great date. One of the
best ones I’ve had for as long as I can remember. He was witty, charming and
mature with an interesting career. Things looked promising.

Leading up to our second date I still wasn’t sure. Yes, we had a
great first date but we are always on our best behaviour. We are flirty,
charming, sophisticated and witty. So I don’t hold too much on the first date.
Aside from all this he’s an Aries... and they aren’t always a good idea for a
Taurean. Regardless, I thought there could be more to it, I wanted to find out
whether I wanted to pursue things, whether I should go with chemistry and see
whether we had something of substance once the gloss of a new prospect wore off.
He also carried a lot of baggage... but I have my fair share so I wasn’t going
to let that influence me.

The second date he impressed me. Dinner, wine, interesting
company, great conversation...

You see the reasons men speed date are very similar to the
reasons why men online date. See if you can work out which category Mr TV fell
into and why I won’t be seeing him again. ;)

]]><![CDATA[Manic Monday - The Horrors of Dating in my 30s]]>Sun, 20 Nov 2011 20:01:40 -0800http://www.joanneellis.net/2/post/2011/11/manic-monday-the-horrors-of-dating-in-my-30s3.htmlEpisode 2 - Mr Shiny

When I joined the online dating site, all I wanted was a user
friendly site that I could cruise around on, and wouldn’t cost me my left arm.
I’ve made friends on forums and various other places online before so I knew how
easy it would be to talk to people.

The interesting part is the initial response. Flirtations flying
about, a plethora of men and loads of people to browse through with pics. This
is where, of course, the first thing can go wrong. As we all may well know,
anyone, at any time, can post a fake picture. This is obviously the number one
rule. Add to this, a profile that seems great, you want to believe the photo
could be real. I’m using my real one.

So when you find there on screen, what sounds too wonderful...
well he probably is. For the purpose of my first story and to keep what little
I know about him a secret, I’m going to call him Mr Shiny, for that is how he
appeared. He had the credentials, he ticked all the boxes and our banter was
fun and flirtatious... I had an internet crush. Not the first time... will it
be the last?

He took my number after prolonged internet dating and we had
several get to know calls before arranging to meet. Now I wondered at this
point why his voice didn’t seem to match... didn’t quite fit. So, after several
days of zero communication, I was supposed to hear from him about the time to
meet after he finished work. Needless to say I heard not a thing. Silence
followed a very long session on the phone.

Now in the age of internet and text messages I spend less time
talking on the phone. I still like to do it but why call when you can say it in
text, so a long phone conversation is rare but encouraging. Day and place set
then... nothing. I still to this day, over a month later, have no idea what
happened. He was probably married and looking for a shag on the side. Who knows
but I should have thought it weird when he was reluctant to exchange details
but happy to take mine... so my first flirtation came to a screaming halt.

A little disheartened, I decided there was more than one guy on
the site. Perhaps I could give it another go... think again.

]]><![CDATA[Manic Monday - The Horrors of Dating in my 30's]]>Sun, 13 Nov 2011 19:19:12 -0800http://www.joanneellis.net/2/post/2011/11/manic-monday-the-horrors-of-dating-in-my-30s2.htmlEpisode 3 - Mr Hard Up and The Married Man

There has been an update since my last entry. It seems Mr Shiny
hasn’t fallen into a black hole or isn’t in traction after an unfortunate road
accident but is cruising the site again for his next victim. I have still
received no word. Not a sorry for the silence, or acknowledgement of my message
which read, hey what gives? No explanation. Perhaps he is being nice and doesn’t
want to hurt my feelings. Um, it is too late, you’re silence and rejection
did sting. Be a man and at least say, sorry I stood you up, you’re not what
I’m looking for. This is still a mystery but I guess I have to accept the
fact that I was rejected... for whatever reason. Thankfully I am resilient
and I bounce back... until the next time anyway...

So I continued on with the site even though my first interaction
went sour. While I had been communicating with Mr Shiny I came across two other
contenders who seemed interested. The first was the married man. At first I
didn’t realise this to be the case. I learned quickly after this to check the
status before investing any of my time. He attempted to dazzle me with poetry
and sweet flattering words. When I learned he was married this only intensified
his pursuit and how much he wanted to meet me.

Now, before we go on, I must get one thing very straight. I don’t
want to be the other woman. There are several reasons for this. The number one
being that I couldn’t do that to someone. I couldn’t knowingly conduct a sordid
affair with another woman’s husband. I have standards. I have morals. I don’t
want to be the cause of someone being hurt. Perhaps if he was the ‘perfect’ guy
I may break my morality and attempt some sort of relationship but I’m not
immoral and I don’t like him enough so the point is moot. He continues to pursue
and boost my ego and I continue to play hard to get... because in this instance,
I am. It’s flattering and sometimes he’s sweet but it isn’t enough to make
me ignore my judgement.

The other is quite simple. I don’t like to share. I could blame
this again on being an only child but I won’t. You see, envy is one of many sins
I am guilty of. I don’t like the idea that the object of my affection is sharing
this affection with someone else. The green eyed monster comes out and I become
this totally different person, and I don’t like when she escapes. So basically
The Married Man was disregarded before I even started.

So this brings me to Mr Hard Up. Now why am I calling him this?
Good question. And one I’ll answer in a moment but first, if I’ve learnt
anything from my experience on the dating site it is this, the men are
either:

Married, admitting they are and state quite freely they are after an affair
Are married and don’t admit it but are quite freely looking for an affair.
Pretend to be someone they aren’t.
Are single but is only looking for a booty call.
They aren’t attractive.
Now I realise this sounds very judgemental of me and
I know I’m not going to win Miss Universe or I’m not 25
but there has to be an attraction no matter how nice they are. If I couldn’t
kiss them, then I can’t date them.
Then there are the men who are seeking a relationship, are what
they portray, aren’t unattractive and are seeking the same as me.
But I think these are the ones that are harder to find.
As yet I haven’t met anyone on the site (besides Mr Shiny the con artist)
that I could truly say, yes this could lead to something.
I don’t think I will be finding my soul mate on the internet. I’m still waiting to be
surprised.

Anyway, Mr Hard Up, he seemed like the last point. Genuine,
nice guy who is searching for love. As it turned out, he was after the
booty.

I didn’t know this at first. I had lunch with him but there was
no spark. I couldn’t imagine kissing him. It wasn’t that he was
unattractive... just not my type.

I have a single friend who I have been going on all these
adventures with. Online dating, speed dating and the
like... and I thought perhaps they would hit it off. How wrong could I be? As
soon as he found out he wouldn’t get the booty from her, he ran for the hills
before deciding to give it one last go with me. Suffice to say, I no longer
am in contact!

My friend also organised a date with one of these
guys. He turned out to be pretending to be something he wasn’t. Thankfully
she spotted him before going to meet him. The funniest thing about this is...
that he actually thought it would be OK that he wasn’t what she thought he
would be. He was at least 20 years older than he said and wasn’t as he
portrayed at all. So he turns up knowing he has lied and didn’t think she
would reject him! All very strange. She has decided she won't find her soul
mate on the internet.

I was ready after the three strikes to say, it is time to give up
on the online dating. Since then, in the last two weeks I
have been communicating with a seemingly nice man. We have been chatting in a
friendly way with no talk of meeting or exchanging numbers but rather
building a friendship slowly over time. I’m not sure where I want this to go,
if anywhere, but it has renewed my faith in the kind of men on the site. I’m
having a pleasant exchange with what could become a new friend. Time will
tell with this one.

Next week I will delve into the world of Speed Dating and my foray into this world with Mr TV.
]]><![CDATA[Manic Monday - The Horrors of Dating in my 30's]]>Sun, 06 Nov 2011 23:34:34 -0800http://www.joanneellis.net/2/post/2011/11/manic-monday-the-horrors-of-dating-in-my-30s.htmlEpisode 2 – Mr Shiny

When I joined the online dating site, all I wanted was a user
friendly site that I could cruise around on, and wouldn’t cost me my left arm.
I’ve made friends on forums and various other places online before so I knew how
easy it would be to talk to people.

The interesting part is the initial response. Flirtations flying
about, a plethora of men and loads of people to browse through with pics. This
is where, of course, the first thing can go wrong. As we all may well know,
anyone, at any time, can post a fake picture. This is obviously the number one
rule. Add to this, a profile that seems great, you want to believe the photo
could be real. I’m using my real one.

So when you find there on screen, what sounds too wonderful...
well he probably is. For the purpose of my first story and to keep what little
I know about him a secret, I’m going to call him Mr Shiny, for that is how he
appeared. He had the credentials, he ticked all the boxes and our banter was
fun and flirtatious... I had an internet crush. Not the first time... will it
be the last?

He took my number after prolonged internet dating and we had
several get to know calls before arranging to meet. Now I wondered at this
point why his voice didn’t seem to match... didn’t quite fit. So, after several
days of zero communication, I was supposed to hear from him about the time to
meet after he finished work. Needless to say I heard not a thing. Silence
followed a very long session on the phone.

Now in the age of internet and text messages I spend less time
talking on the phone. I still like to do it but why call when you can say it in
text, so a long phone conversation is rare but encouraging. Day and place set
then... nothing. I still to this day, over a month later, have no idea what
happened. He was probably married and looking for a shag on the side. Who knows
but I should have thought it weird when he was reluctant to exchange details
but happy to take mine... so my first flirtation came to a screaming halt.

A little disheartened, I decided there was more than one guy on
the site. Perhaps I could give it another go... think again.

]]><![CDATA[Teaser Tuesday - Ragnar the Murder]]>Mon, 31 Oct 2011 20:06:39 -0800http://www.joanneellis.net/2/post/2011/10/teaser-tuesday-ragnar-the-murder.html

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by
MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along!

Just do the following: ·
Grab your current read
Open to a random page
Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page

BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS!
(make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for
others!)

Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

Here is my teaser from Ragnar the Murderer by Lily Byrne

Fair of face and curvaceous of body, men couldn't resist Saehild. Their parents insisted she should not get married until her fifiteen birthday however, and as that loomed, soon Aelfwyn would lose her annyoing but amusing companion.

Here is the link to Ragner the Murderer:
http://www.amazon.com/Ragnar-the-Murderer-ebook/dp/B005BENNW2/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1320116690&sr=1-1

Here is the link to Teaser Tuesday:
http://shouldbereading.wordpress.com/2011/11/01/teaser-tuesdays-nov-1/

]]><![CDATA[Manic Monday]]>Mon, 31 Oct 2011 01:27:37 -0800http://www.joanneellis.net/2/post/2011/10/manic-monday2.htmlI must be manic as I am starting NaNo tomorrow and have decided to start my weekly serial blog about The Horrors of dating in my 30s.

This week's episode is titled: A preview into dating in my 30's and the internet.

Ten years is a long time in the dating world. The internet was
invented and people now speed through dates or place a personal ad. Basically
the chances of being rejected before even meeting someone or within the first
five minutes of meeting are high. I have come to the conclusion that it takes
more than two dates and one night of passion to find out if you should even
pursue anything further. Why waste several months on the wrong man? So my
mission became; how do I find the right man and where? Not so suddenly at
thirty something, with two children, I’m on the hunt for a man.

So it all begins with internet dating sites. Is this like the
blind date? In a way yes but blind dates are usually set up. People known by
people you know. A vague screening process has at least taken place and this
person has been spotted in real life and isn’t being represented by a sexy
photo plucked off the internet and a fake profile. Is the offline internet
meeting the blind date equivalent of the 10’s? I was about to find
out.

For the purposes of anonymity I won’t name the actual places I
cruised all for the name of research. Well that is what I’m calling it anyway. I
decided before I began that I could claim the expenses as tax deductions. I
could find out a little bit about the dating world for the purposes of writing
and actually score a date. It would be easy or so I thought.

I wasn’t prepared for what I would discover in the online world
and I discovered very quickly that people aren’t always as they pretend to be or
what their profiles claim (OK I’ve been on enough internet forums to know this
already but I went naively into this thinking that this was different). If
someone seems too good to be true then they probably are. Needless to say the
internet dating part of my tour was interesting and has many parts so this
episode will be broken into two. This week I set you up, lead you into my world
and then let you know how horrid the dating world can be. I hope that this is
really the case and not that I am totally undateable!

So next week begins my journey into the horrors of the dating
world in my 30’s and the internet.

]]><![CDATA[Teaser Tuesday - Have a Nice Weekend by Ian Ellis]]>Mon, 24 Oct 2011 19:49:55 -0800http://www.joanneellis.net/2/post/2011/10/teaser-tuesday-have-a-nice-weekend-by-ian-ellis.html

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along!

Just do the following: ·
Grab your current read
Open to a random page
Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page

BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS!
(make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)

Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

Here is my teaser from Have a Nice Weekend by Ian Ellis

Will just sat in his chair, feeling sad for the days he'd had, and that would never return. For a youth he could never recover, and for a life that was passing him by, with no plan and no future.

Here is the link to Ian's book:
http://www.amazon.com/Have-A-Nice-Weekend-ebook/dp/B005GFT6K4/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1319510890&sr=1-1

Here is the link to Teaser Tuesday:
http://shouldbereading.wordpress.com/2011/10/25/teaser-tuesdays-oct-25/

]]><![CDATA[Writers I know Wednesday - Jillian Brookes-Ward ]]>Wed, 07 Sep 2011 01:10:19 -0800http://www.joanneellis.net/2/post/2011/09/writers-i-know-wednesday-jillian-brookes-ward1.htmlLinda Loves....? Now that would be giving it away.

This is the second book I’ve read of Jillian’s and although I loved Nathaniel, I enjoyed this romp more. I didn’t read the blurb before reading this book because I didn’t want to know anything going in, I wanted to let the story guide me... and what a tour....

My favourite part... well to narrow it down is hard, this surprised me, made me swoon and I couldn’t wait to indulge in this wonderful fantasy.

A wonderful husband in Tom surprised me the most in this story. His growth and love had no boundaries, simply endearing him further.

Adam... well you will just have to read about him to understand this love affair.

There is far too much to say in words what I loved about this book. It is perfect for a snuggle in and indulge. It kept me on the treadmill for longer which is a bonus.

If Jillian’s writing were to become a sweet it would be chocolate fudge... Linda Loves...?

]]><![CDATA[Writers I know Wednesday - Robert Craven]]>Tue, 23 Aug 2011 20:35:56 -0800http://www.joanneellis.net/2/post/2011/08/writers-i-know-wednesday-robert-craven.htmlGet Lenin

I’m going to start my review with a WOW! This is a fantastic historical story based around a subject that always interests me, WWII. But it is more than just a story about the war, it is so much more. Spanning across several countries and years, this story will grab you from the first page.

Get Lenin has it all, espionage, drama, thrills, sadness, love and a dash of passion. Robert has created characters that stay with you long after you have finished reading. It is a tapestry of interwoven stories all rolled into one. It took my breath away on many occasions.

In the beginning the characters are introduced, the scene is set and it builds slowly to a thrilling climax. Not only is it a thrilling ride but it is beautifully written with flowing, colourful descriptions and fabulous scenes.

Every step of the way I held my breath for Eva while at the same time being enthralled by her journey. This is also a story about abuse of power and Robert shows us the horrifying acts and sad stories surrounding war and
Hitler’s rise to power.

I planned to read this slowly and did so to begin with, taking in each wonderful word but as I got closer to the end I didn’t want to read slowly, I wanted to find out exactly what would happen when they went to Get Lenin.

I highly recommend this book by Robert and I look forward to the release of the sequel.

]]><![CDATA[Teaser Tuesday - Linda Loves...? By Jillian Brookes-Ward]]>Mon, 22 Aug 2011 23:02:12 -0800http://www.joanneellis.net/2/post/2011/08/teaser-tuesday-linda-loves-by-jillian-brookes-ward.htmlTeaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading.

Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

Grab your current read
Open to a random page
Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page

BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You
don’t want to ruin the book for others!)

Share the author and perhaps a link to the book so that folks can add it to their own TBR lists.
Link to the book:
http://www.amazon.com/Linda-Loves-ebook/dp/B004G08VTW/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1314078994&sr=1-1

Don't forget to pop over to the host site below.
http://shouldbereading.wordpress.com/2011/08/23/teaser-tuesdays-aug-23/

Here is my teaser from Linda Loves...? By Jillian Brookes-Ward

Despite being a man who did manual work, Tom’s hands were always smooth and soft. Adam’s rough skin seemed to her to be like the bark of the oak tree he loved, stronger and more masculine. She breathed out deeply as thoughts of her lover filled her.

Next week I will be posting my review. :)

]]>