Top 5 Reasons Why I am single...

A couple of weeks ago, Houston was hit rather severely by hurricane Ike and as a result the city has been pretty much a mess for the most part. No electricity, gas shortage, people fighting in lines to enter grocery stories etc etc. In short lot of drama was happening. So here I was sitting at home from 6 in the evening to 10 at night with nothing to do. I'd pretty much exhausted reading all the books I have at home, no TV, no Internet, phone had to be used sparingly with the fear of exhausting the batteries. Basically idle mind was happening, and so to try and overcome any devious ideas that would otherwise start creeping in, I decided it was time for introspection... Now that is quite some introduction isn't it.

I started by analyzing why my past relationship had failed. It's been a good four years but since I've always used avoidance as my coping mechanism ,I never quite got to analyze what went wrong there. Anyways, it's probably best that I don't go in to the details of that analysis. But then I started thinking about me being single and pretty happy about it. Parents and other family members obviously are starting to make some noise about it, but I can handle that. Next thought was about the reasons why I am still single and I came up with quite a few.

1) I have a mental image of being with a woman who is more of a tomboy (I am very much straight), someone who is very adventurous, someone will go bungee jumping with me, someone who will play tennis with me on weekends, someone who is willing to get down and dirty and messy and sweaty (while cleaning ;)). Someone who will not want me to get down and open the door of the car for her, someone who will not wait for me to hold the door for her as she walks, someone who will not expect me to pull the chair out as she sits. Sure there are times when I get very chivalrous and will open the door for the lady and pull the chair out for her and stuff. But for the most part I'm most comfortable with women who are very informal like I am. And not that there are not many such girls out there, but I've still to meet one that fascinates me.

2) My obsession for speaking English the correct way (for me this is the British English). Although I do like the US, I still prefer the British English. The use of articles, 'a, an and the' is something most Americans don't understand and that drives me crazy. And nowadays it is difficult to find a person who speaks the British English (if she has the British accent, that will definitely get a few more brownie points). This has nothing to do with Americans or Britishers for that matter, but anyone who pronounces 'ask' as 'aks' really gets on my nerves big time and there are several people in my family who do it. Mom thanks for all those grammar lessons as a child :)

3) I am bad at remembering dates. Birthdays, Anniversaries...you name it. I was never able to remember my ex's birthday and always got in to trouble for that. I admit to a certain extent it was my fault. I mean on her birthday I called her to play the April Fool's joke on her, but I forgot to wish her a happy birthday! I never understand why dates play such an important role in a woman's life. I mean not only are you expected to remember her birthday, but also her mother's, her father's, her dog's , her best friend's (who keeps changing every three months). It doesn't stop there, you are expected to remember the date you first held hands, first kiss, first......gimme a break! Jeez if you are so interested in dates then you should think of being with a historian na not a biologist. We only remember those days of the month that are safe ;). And yes it takes me time to remember that time of the month when suddenly the hormones take complete control and irrational behavior and demands are justifiable. In the year and half that I was with my ex, I had gotten used to getting angry phone calls past midnight every month. After a few of these, the light bulb flashed in my head and that was my cue, " Time to be a patient listener, remove the guy hat of wanting to solve problems, right now it is time to zip up and listen, that is all."

4) I am not willing to spend money on flowers. Why are flowers important to women? Even if you gift her a car, if it's not accompanied by a flower, the look you will get on her face is priceless. It's almost like any gift is incomplete without a flower. A life-form that is meant to wither away and is certain to meet it's death in a few days, for some unknown reason is of prime importance to women. I must admit though flowers also work when you screw up (for the most part). However, I am not ready to spend money on flowers.

5) My flat (apartment) is not the best organized one and very often there are empty coffee mugs lying around, there are clothes thrown around, books piled up. In short it's a mess. But in my mess I know where things are kept. I have yet to meet a girl who has at some time or the other not offered to clean it. "No", I say, 'you'll mess up the system if you clear it up'. This is how I like my things to be, it's my system, it's worked for twenty odd years, I don't see why it can't work further.

OK now I can't think of a sixth reason and I think five reasons are good enough to make me feel good.