Virgin Atlantic has made their inaugural flight of their new London to Vancouver service. Flights will initially operate four times a week from London Heathrow to Vancouver throughout the summer up until 27th October 2012. The British airline anticipates up to 40,000 passengers will travel on new route in the first season.
The Online Dating Double Standard: How Fear Can Prevent Dating Success
Many people go online in search of their elusive soul mate, only
to find all of the wrong people on the other end of the meeting.
Many women think that they are alone in this outcome, but it
happens to guys too.
Women have met so many men online, who only seem interested in a
roll in the hay, that they have built defenses that may stand in
the way of their ultimate success in dating and lifelong
happiness. The ladies always tend to believe that they are the
only ones that get the short end of that stick, but it just is
not true – it really does happen to guys too.
My best friend recently re-entered the dating game, after his
wife of ten years decided that she wanted to play the field
rather than to stay committed to her husband and her vows. He is
a good Christian man, who is only looking for the next Mrs.
Smith. Yet, all of the ladies he has been meeting online are only
in the game for one thing – a roll in the hay.
Girls, you are not alone.
Dating on the Internet is just like dating in real life, with
only minor differences. In person, one can look into the eyes of
their potential date to see if there is any real interest. In
real life, one can read the body language of their potential
date, to see if the interest is real and the intent is good. But,
if you were to accept a date with someone met online, then you
would actually have to agree to that first date in order to get
that one-on-one to measure the interest and intent of your date.
Men and women both fool themselves, by believing that they can
read the person at the other end of the conversation, simply by
asking questions and reading the written answers. It is not that
simple, especially if the other end of the conversation is only
interested in night of passion, because the guy only interested
in a one-night stand will likely tell you exactly what you want
to hear. If he is willing to lie to you to get what he wants,
then he will not be the kind of person you want to meet anyway.
But, here is the rub. Many people, men and women alike, feel that
the most effective way to avoid the one-night stand type of date,
is to demand a commitment of a long-term relationship from the
person with whom they are speaking.
Would you commit to buying a car you called about, sight unseen,
and without having at least looked at or driven the vehicle
first?
You certainly wouldn’t, would you?
So, why do you want someone else to commit to a long-term
relationship, sight unseen, without first meeting that someone?
Commitment runs two ways. If I were to commit to a long-term
relationship with someone I had never before met, then I would
expect the person forcing the commitment to approach the
relationship with the exact same commitment for me as I had given
to them. Just as a marriage relationship requires two people to
work together towards the same ends, any commitment undertaken
will also require both parties to invest the same care of concern
for the promise.
But, the person demanding that kind of commitment before our
first date is just as likely to find one hundred reasons not to
go out with me on a second date. It just goes with the territory.
It is just basic human behavior that assures me of that outcome.
The person demanding a commitment from me, without having first
met me, is a person who fears what I might want from them. But,
when the fear is so strong as to demand an upfront commitment for
a date, then the fear will most assuredly prevent the date from
leading to greater things.
This is the very reason why I choose to only date women who are
willing to approach a date with “No Strings Attached.”
“No Strings Attached” gives me the liberty to determine if I
like the person enough to go out with them a second time. And
“No Strings Attached” gives her the ability to decide on her
own free will if she will want to go out with me on a second
date. “No Strings Attached” permits both my date and myself to
go out on a date, without fear and without pressure to make
things work.
With no expectation of a second date assumed, then both my date
and myself are free to explore one another, to see if there is a
real future potential for the relationship.
Ladies. I know that I am looking for a long-term relationship,
and one day, I might be willing to invite my girlfriend to become
my wife. “No Strings Attached” should never be viewed, as “I
only want a roll in the hay.” Instead, “No Strings Attached”
means that I would like to get to know you a bit better, before I
agree to any kind of long-term or committed relationship with
you.
Just as I want the chance to get to know you before I make a
commitment to you, you should want the same from me.
Hit me up, if you live in my neck of the woods. I am single, and
I make a real good living. I am looking for a long-term
relationship, with the potential of marriage, and I may truly be
looking for someone exactly like you. But until you can put away
your fear and agree to go on a date with no strings attached,
then you and I will never know what could have been.
———————————————————————
Lance Metzger writes about relationships, offline and online
dating. Our no-strings-attached dating site has become a popular
online adult dating destination, due to its large membership
base of people looking for relationships of all kinds. Learn
more at: http://www.nsadatingsite.com/
Consider Lance’s new Kindle book, “Making Memories: Creative
Dating Ideas”: http://raintreepublishing.com/creative-dating-ideas/
GROWING GOOD CORN
Have you noticed how all of life is connected? You probably know
about the relationship between honey ants (farm ants) and aphids.
The ants can’t seem to get enough of the tasty honey dew left behind
by aphids, those tiny sap-sucking insects probably living in your
garden. These two insects have a fascinating relationship. In
exchange for all the sugary treats aphids deposit on leaves, the
ants wage fierce battle against wasps, beetles and spiders that try
to dine on aphids for lunch. As those aphids keep their ant friends
happy, the ants keep their aphid buddies alive. Everyone wins,
except the plants, of course.
The ants do better because of the aphids. The aphids do better
because of the ants. It’s a relationship called mutualism, and the
rest of us could probably take a lesson. People, too, succeed best
when they help others out.
James Bender, in his book How to Talk Well (New York: McGraw-Hill
Book Co., Inc., 1994), illustrates how it benefits to everyone when
we mutually help each other. He relates a story of a farmer who grew
award-winning corn. Each year he entered his best corn in the
regional fair where it won a blue ribbon.
One year a newspaper reporter interviewed him to learn about how he
grew blue-ribbon corn year after year. The reporter discovered
something interesting. He learned that the farmer actually shared
his best seed corn with his neighbors.
“How can you afford to share your best seeds with your neighbors
when they are entering corn in competition against yours each year?”
the reporter asked.
“Why sir,” said the farmer, “didn’t you know? The wind picks up
pollen from the ripening corn and swirls it from field to field. If
my neighbors grow inferior corn, cross-pollination will steadily
degrade the quality of my corn. If I am to grow good corn, I must
help my neighbors grow good corn.”
It’s a simple and important principle. His corn cannot improve
unless his neighbor’s corn also improves. He cannot succeed simply
by watching out for Number One. He succeeds best by helping his
neighbors succeed. That’s mutualism.
And I am aware that it goes for me, too. Do I want to succeed? Then
I must help others to succeed.
Do I want to live in peace and harmony? Then I need to help my
neighbors also live in peace, and the very peace they experience
will add to my own.
Do I want to live meaningfully and well? Then I should help to
enrich the lives of others, for my own happiness and well-being is
bound up in the lives I touch.
In other words, if I want to grow good corn, I need to help my
neighbors grow good corn. Call it mutualism. Call it a principle of
success. Call it a law of life. I only know that none of us truly
wins until we all win.
– Steve Goodier
__________
Find Steve Goodier here: http://stevegoodier.blogspot.com/.
Newsletter: http://LifeSupportSystem.com.
Online Dating Is A Difficult Process That Offers Some Rewards
Many people who are on the dating scene turn to the online dating
websites to find new friends and lovers. But that road is a hard
one that can occasionally bring those with great patience – great
rewards.
Beyond everything else, patience is required of anyone who is
pursuing friends, lovers or mates in the real world and online.
When I do the dating thing in the real world, I find several
opportunities to talk to the person in whom I am interested. Then
after a few meets, I pop the big question, asking for a date.
Then date night comes along and it may work, and it may not, but
more frequently all seems well early, only to fall apart at a
later date.
Folks, online dating comes with all the same pitfalls as offline
dating. You advertise yourself, you find people whom you may be
interested, you try to talk it up, and then the first date comes.
That first date may work and it may not.
In the end, online dating is much the same as offline dating,
with a few more benefits and pitfalls thrown in to frustrate the
person seeking a date.
The Differences Between The Online And Offline Experience
The biggest difference between the online and offline dating
experience is a benefit that comes from it.
Benefits Of Online Dating
With online dating, you get to be introduced to people with whom
you may have never had the opportunity to meet in person –
usually due to different lifestyles and different locations.
With online dating, you also have the ability to sort through the
profiles of hundreds or thousands of people to narrow your list
to your best matches more quickly.
Shortcomings Of Online Dating
When you meet someone you like in person and you say hi, he or
she will usually say hi back. For every 20 emails sent out, as
few as 2 or 3 may respond back.
Some online daters have defined this as the difference between
“talkers” and “doers”. Many point out that most people online
only want to talk about meeting, but when it comes down to it,
they will be unwilling to take the “action” step.
This actually happens in one of two ways. First is when you send
out an email and no one ever responds. The second is when you
actually set up a date, only to be stood up.
Let’s be honest about why this happens.
So many people have heard horror stories about people who have
met strangers online, only to have the meet go horribly bad. Yes,
the criminal element hangs out online as well as at the local
mall.
Ladies fear the criminal predators, and the guys should fear the
fake profile predators who are always working towards asking for
money to be sent for a needed emergency expense.
The one time I ran into the fake profile predator, I should have
known when she could not talk intelligently about her hometown. I
knew the gig was up when she started professing her love after
only a few conversations. And the gig was finally up, when this
woman who supposedly made about three times as much money as
myself needed help to pay for her babysitter in some far off
state.
The trick to ensuring your safety is to always make your first
date in a public place. That way, if things go badly on that
first date, then you can seek assistance from other people if
necessary. You can even ask the cashier to call the police out to
help escort you to your car.
Unfortunately, many people go so far as to set up a date in a
public place, but when the scheduled date time arrives, they
simply do not show up. Many of the people who got stood up were
good, honest people, but the person who stood them up will never
be able to find that out, because they never met the person whom
they agreed to meet for that first date.
Fear Is The Greatest Demotivator
When dating online, the opportunities are available for some
great people to meet and get together, but too often, people let
the fear of contact stand in the way of letting people come
together. The fear of responding to an email is the greatest
threat to the successful fulfillment of one’s relationship
desires, but also the fear of actually meeting someone in person
will prevent even people who have chatted online for a long time
from coming together.
I am always amazed when I think back to my friend Lisa, who
chatted with a guy online for more than one year, before the two
of them met. And then they dated for several months when he moved
to her hometown. They are still married eight years later. With
so many things that could go wrong in the online dating
experience, it is nice to know that there are success stories
that we can share.
———————————————————————
Lance Metzger writes about relationships, offline and online
dating. Our no-strings-attached dating site has become a popular
online adult dating destination, due to its large membership
base of people looking for relationships of all kinds. Learn
more at: http://www.nsadatingsite.com/
Consider Lance’s new Kindle book, “Making Memories: Creative
Dating Ideas”: http://raintreepublishing.com/creative-dating-ideas/
Some of our biggest medal hopes have been transformed into superheroes in a bid to urge Britain to support their quest for home glory at this summer’s games.
Swimmer Rebecca Adlington, open water swimmer Keri-anne Payne, diver Tom Daley, water polo captain Fran Leighton, disability swimmer Sascha Kindred and synchronised swimmer Katie Dawkins teamed up to produce a stunning image, which shows that Britain’s best aquatic talent is ready for the challenge ahead.
With just months to go, our superheroes are encouraging the nation to show its support for the British swimming teams as they prepare for the biggest competition of their careers.
As part of the British Gas ‘Free Swims for Britain’ campaign, those who sign up to support the teams will be able to take the plunge for free in more than 700 pools, in leisure centres, health clubs and hotels across the country.
Free Swims for Britain runs from 13th April to 30th August 2012. For further information and to book your free swims go to www.britishgas.co.uk/freeswimming