The Relationship Market: Quality Control

I admit: one of the things I really get tired about in the Christian young adult world is the incessant need  for a series on "Love, Courtship & Marriage" (or LCM for those who grew up in the 90s). Sure, the "love" market gets crazier with age: a lot of 'prospectable' partners already are matched up or contracted (literally), some have lost their 'appeal' (or in desperate need to reclaim it), and others simply are running out of time.

Yup, contrary to the popular line, "Love can wait forever," let's face it: life can't.

What's keeping me or others from entering into a relationship? And what is pressuring me to enter one? I remember back in my teens how we would be asked, "What's your ideal mate/partner?" but never was I asked, "Why do you want an ideal mate/partner?"

I Love Women

Our company just gave out free doughnuts today in celebration of International Women's Day, and while the happy gesture was mildly corrupted by Fellow Pao's signature insinuations (haha), I still found myself doing some introspection...

(And no — I am well aware, assured and secure on my 100.07% male gender/sexual orientation. Thank you.)

How did women affect/influence my life?

Here's a list:

Confessions of an "Unlonely" Loner

[And another repost from my old Multiply account. Yes, I'm on lazy mode.]

Single, but never alone. What does it really mean?

Several years back, we were tasked to carry on the leadership of the Single Adults Ministry (SAM) in our church. I always love to do the visuals and promotions, and with the help of our then-new digital projector and PC (which ran on a 256mb RAM, and a proud 60gb HDD), I'd take time to tinker with ideas and stuff.

One of the challenges then was thinking of a good concept on how to promote the SAM. I mean, what is SAM all about? Looking at our small group, it wasn't exactly a pretty sight: most had relational issues - that meant both those who had relationship problems, and many of those who wished they had a relationship. But as the weeks go by, I realized a question: What makes them come back and stay?

Single, but never alone. It was both an idea and a challenge - yet something I myself didn't understand fully.

3 Lovely Thoughts for the Loveless (on Valentines Day)

[A repost from my old Multiply account]

Thankfully, nobody's pestering me this week about Valentines. I'm not trying to be a stuck-up person (God knows how natural I can be at that, nyahahaha) - but seriously, the marketing hype during this season is soooooo annoying. I mean, what does it mean to love, really? And so I thought, "HEY, why don't I write my own ideas about it?" So to give myself a little bit of peace, here goes my three-piece of advice: