Make Your Own Luck: Where the Boys & Girls Are In DC

The moment my eyes fell on him, I was content." – Edith Wharton

“Go west” says a female colleague if you are seeking single, available men in Washington, DC.  It’s true; the District is reported to have the worse female to male ratio in the nation.  At last count (in 2007), there were 52.9% women to 47.1% men and rumor has it that if you subtract the percentage of men who are gay from this number, (and the jury is still out on this), the ratio for women is roughly 13-1. A National Geographic “Singles” map suggests that the single men live in Los Angeles while the single women are on the east coast, in New York City. This suggests that the competition here is fierce and some of you may already be feeling the pinch.  

How exactly does a single, man or woman then enjoy the summer and remain hopeful of meeting that pot of gold boy or girl?  If there really is a “surplus of women” as the map suggests then perhaps it’s time for a little bit of strategy combined with a “wee” bit of luck? 

Ernest Hemingway said “you make your own luck” and that means you get out there and get going to places other than the usual suspects, namely, the stale and staid gyms and bars and try things that may feel out of character but which could turn out to be just your pot of luck. The whole idea is to meet people, socialize, and have fun.

A few ideas on places to meet fun, interesting people some which are familiar some which may be new (and I can vouch for most of them) include the following:

1)     “Jazz in the Garden” every Friday on the Mall, beginning at 5:30 p.m., the National Gallery of art offers free jazz performances at the outdoor café in the Sculpture Garden.  A mix of professionals, families, tourists, it’s quite lively and relaxing. Ah yes, and the sangria is also deliciously refreshing.

2)     The hottest new online venues are the social networking sites like Face Book and Twitter.  The nice thing about them is that you can meet or discover people through their posts, the games or quizzes that interest them, and having a mutual friend/s is also a great launching point for conversation. It’s so much easier and stimulating than, playing to a banal script, i.e. “so what kind of things do you like to do?”

3)     Also hot are the traditional online dating sites many of us appear to have succumbed to in our desperation (though friends will be slow to admit they’ve tried them): eHarmony and Match.com.  While feedback suggests they can be hit or miss, they’re great sites to get your toes wet if you’ve been out of the dating scene awhile. Also, if you’re on a budget, Metrodate offers you a free membership, allowing you to create your own profile and search by specific locales in the Metro DC area.  Finally, there’s even a venue for those professionals whose schedules are simply too tight to spend online searching.  “It’s Just Lunch”  will do it for you. You simply show up to your pre-arranged lunch date or after work drink.

4)     Art gallery openings are plentiful in the District (Dupont Circle, Logan Circle Penn Quarter). Currently, the annual Artomatic 2009 event which runs through July 5, 2008 brings them all together in one place. Nine floors, quite impressive.

5)     Volunteering.  Our President’s recent Call to Service asks us to participate in our nation’s recovery and renewal. This creates an opportunity to meet and develop a bond with one or lots of people across a number of organizations, and for a good cause. Simply type in your zip code and you’ll find opportunities to volunteer in your local area.

 There are of course many other places here in Washington, DC, the tried and true coffee shops, I also hear Costco and dog parks are hot spots.  So there’s really no need to go west to find your pot of gold. The best way to approach making your own luck is to keep in mind that it’s just a date! You don’t necessarily have to be on the hunt for “the one” and even if you are, have fun in the meantime, while you are casting that net a little wider. 

Where am I?

Consistency is the last refuge of the unimaginative. 

-- Oscar Wilde

Dear Friends & Readers, 

I am STILL around and brewing up a storm of 'riddles.' My apologies for having temporarily ducked out but I got hit with one those "splash"es I referred to in my last post, The Sky is Falling.  Please check back soon!  ---Riddle Me This

The Sky Is Falling! and other Good News

"Like cold water to a weary soul, So is good news from a distant land." -- Proverbs, 25:25

I wonder how many people wake up of late, thinking like I do, that is, wondering what new Chicken Little/Henny Penny doom and gloom news will splash them in the face, reminding them, yet again, just how bad things currently are the national and global economy.

I actually find that I'm now apprehensive about turning on NPR or CNN (even moreso) for fear of more depressing “breaking news.” Some people I've talked to report that they've just stopped listening altogether. Well, I'm not good at burying my head in the sand, unfortunately.

Day 50: This just in…”the Dow is down another 80 points, plunging close to 21% since President Obama’s Inauguration.” Day 46: The jobless rate is the highest in 27 years. People are losing their homes (circa 2007). Some are living in tents. The rate at which the earth is radically changing is much faster than previously thought. Ah yes, and "enough already" Michelle Obama needs to “put away her thunder and lighting” bi-ceps (maybe she's hot?!well, she is HOT, but maybe she's hot).

The news media and journalists compound the problem, daily contributing to our malaise by pounding to a pulp, like a cacophony of dissonant hammers, even a molecule of hope or promise we might be trying (desperately) to cling to. And some of us are so (foolishly) intrepid that we will even publicly admit that we want our newly elected President to fail. So, if I’m hearing this correctly, we want the U.S. to continue its slide into the moniker of a nation of losers?

I’m nearly despondent now and afraid to hear the next installment in this Grapes of Wrath saga. If you’re listening out there, contrary to popular belief bad news is not necessarily good business. It just makes me want to hear you less, watch you less, listen to YOU less. In fact, I experimented with that idea last week, electing not to poison my already fragile attitude by commencing my day (or my evenings for that matter) with little to no news, except what was essential for work. I did just fine and I definitely felt better.

I’ve become exhausted reading and/or listening to the biting criticism, the bile, the negativity. Isn't there there any good news out there?

RIDDLE ME THIS...

Yes, we are in a recession, depression, economic downturn/crisis, -- a nightmare, what have you.

We’re tired of bail outs, losing our homes, our jobs, our healthcare, our peace of mind. But have we forgotten what we only barely ‘survived’ intact the ethics and antics of the last 8 years? Have we forgotten how we arrived here in the first place? This country is in a shambles. Where was the “outrage” then as we simply sat silent as it was being pulled apart brick by brick right before our very eyes?

Sure we want some sign of a recovery despite all previous warnings to the contrary that it was going to get worse, before it got better. We all heard it, “recovery won’t happen over night." We all acknowledged the challenges ahead, but we’re angry we opine and we’re just not seeing the results. The blame abounds! “Tonight, we report on the new FILL-IN-THE-BLANK outrage. “Change we can believe in is hoopla,” it’s business as usual, surmised one CNN correspondent. “We want more leadership from this President!” Well, last I recall, we re-elected one who clearly wasn’t a monument to this assumption and we kept him along with his renegade buddies, anyway. Why didn’t we stop, then, what was clearly a runaway train?

They wanted no rules. De-regulate it all! Only unfettered markets (read: greed) will spur economic growth (for the top 1-2% perhaps). If you think about it, former financier, Bernard Madoff currently represents the epitome of thinking in this country toward the powerful, privileged and very monied, toward what happens (or rather doesn’t) to those who rip off the livelihoods of others, namely the middle-class and the poor. Caught and placed under house-arrest, Mr. Madoff continues to live in the lap of luxury smiling smugly at the cameras while he gets his affairs (and remaining hidden assets?) in order. Where is the outrage there? Similar to the wall street (little "w" little "s") and auto industry bailout, they’ve gotten their payoff, their bonuses, and "We the People?" well, we will get the bill, to manifest itself in increased taxes and looks like have we may even have to pay for it in cutbacks in public security amongst other essentials (according to today's news reports).

Our emotions seem to run from he’s not doing enough to is he doing too much, we now worry "he's over-extending himself." I believe President Obama said it first, and we all welcomed his frame of mind that "It's going to be part of the president's job to deal with more than one thing at once.” So maybe he can actually walk and chew gum at the same time, as my mother would say. However, I can just hear it now, if he does just focus on the economy, the cry will probably then be something along the lines of ‘but what about all your other campaign promises.’

Obama became President riding a wave of much needed hope in this country with his “Yes We Can” mantra. He did that in the face of incredible odds. We helped him. That, in itself, I believe is testimony in support the notion that we can overcome these many crisis currently rocking the world. Hope and believing in the possibilities are powerful, ultimately, and so much more attractive than the alternative. A tiny chicken named Chicken Little cried, "the sky is falling" and Henny Penny, and Ducky Daddles, and Goosey Loosey all agreed. But what about The Little Engine that Could, that children's tale that serves as a metaphor for the American (no, everyone's) Dream teaching us the value of optimism ( I-think-I-can! I-think-I-can!). What about trying that one for a 'change?'