numbers

i always have interesting conversations with people that prompt the little creature in my brain to start moving that wheel...this time it involved men...here was the question: is it possible to come up with some simple method for a single woman to gauge the "dateability" of a single man that calculates a range where all the men fall into?...i think we did...

here are the basics...there are four main categories...mind you, this is intended for a single woman who is looking for a single man...the categories include: attraction, personality, career/education (is he financially stable - can he take care of himself), and baggage factor.

you can rank from 0 - 10...0 being the least in the category and 10 being the absolute highest...then you subtract the baggage factor from the total and divide by three (the first three categories)...the baggage factor includes past relationships (psycho/drama with the exes), children (unfortunately, this can be baggage because a younger single woman is not normally prepared for this - but remember, you can rank that as high or low as you see fit...if you dont see a child or two as baggage because he gets along well with his ex and children, that affects your rating), emotional stability, career pitfalls, trouble with the law...you get the idea...

we used this formula for over 30 different men...and the results were remarkable...all the results fall into four categories:

* 0 - 3 "out of bounds"
* 4 - 6 "friend zone"
* 7 - 8 "first down"
* 9 - 10 "touchdown"

the interesting thing about this is that the guy who faired around a 5 in the attraction category, scored the highest at an 8.36...but he had no baggage....his personality and career were high scoring...the guys that scored in the first section (we had a few that were less than 1) were clearly unsuitable...they need to get their shit together big time....those in the second category were the guys who were good to hang out with but not there for the next level - if a few of them got on track, then they may elevate to the next level...

the third section is the ideal place...this is the guy who has a strong connection with you and is comfortable with who he is and is content with his place in life...he is clearly not in the friend zone and you are clearly interested...the extremely rare final section should be what the "first down" section should aspire to...this is the successful long-term relationship...you are both happy and compliment each other well...no major hurdles lie in wait...

this is purely for entertainment purposes, but it gave a quick snapshot of a friend's dating history...her experiences ranked so low (all but a tiny tiny few were in the lower two sections)...her stronger connections/relationships scored higher overall...

no one should be looking for that "touchdown"...it isnt too often that a return yields a TD...it is silly to pin your hopes on scoring that way...it's great, but you also need other components for success...

cg