Okay, you've selected a quality photo, presumably of yourself, or changed an existing photo of bad quality, and you've come up with a catchy headline. Now you get down to the good stuff: The personal profile. Here you are presented with the opportunity to list your personal data in such a way that people will actually want to meet you.

Any site you choose is going to have a personal profile area that will give us a general idea of who you are. Not too much thought should go into this because you should already know the answers and shouldn't have to think of anything flowery to say. These categories are all very cut and dried. All one has to do is to fill in the little blanks. Easy, right? Well, see for yourself.
Usually the first question asks your gender, male or female. Very simple, wouldn't you agree? Well, it used to be to be simple years ago before they started all this sex change stuff, so I suggest if you can't choose male or female, you maybe one of those who would want to start your own "Singles" site, such as "Horny Hermaphrodites."

I caution you that this will be a very good time to start using spell check if you haven't already. I was going through ads one evening when I pulled up this gem. If I didn't know better I would have thought the ad I was reading was not a guy's ad but that of a woman's. He looked just like a woman, described himself to be 5'8", 130, long brunette hair, sexy, funny, loved yoga, crocheting, and dancing as hobbies, and described what he thought would be a perfect first date as going to a lovely tea house in Boston. Now I've never claimed to be a brain surgeon but the only thing I could figure out is that either he is looking for another guy or instead of putting F for female, she put M for male and her ad ended up in the "Male Seeks Female" section. Gosh, I thought we started with the simplest question there is, but thanks people, for the added laughs.

ONE little letter can be detrimental to your ad, so for Pete's sake, or anyone's sake, watch your spelling!

Next on the list is age. Gee, let's get this out in the open and over with right now! Great! This is the one topic we women spend our entire life trying to hide and now we have to announce it to the entire world. And I know everybody puts his or her correct age; I'll bet not one soul out there has ever lied about that one. You know why I know? Because before you sign up for a service they have a sixteen-page agreement you must read and agree to before they take your money. There's a "loyalty clause" that states something like, "I promise that I answered all my questions on this matchmaker dating site truthfully and honesty, so help me Guido."

I always knew women lied about their age, but it shocked me when I found out how many guys did, too. I thought guys were more secure than that. Yeah, forty is waaaaay older than thirty-nine. And forty-nine doesn't sound half as bad as fifty! But it cracks me up when I meet a guy and before we even sit down, he lets me know that he fudged his age by a few years. Nice. Now that I know he's a conniving liar, I won't have any surprises later, now will I?