I suppose I’ve always known this to some limited extent. I’ve actually watered down some true life stories for my books because the truth was too hard to believe. Just the other night I took one look at the name of a new bull rider on the pro circuit, Stormy Wing, and said to my husband, “If I named a character that I’d get killed with criticism, but it’s this kid’s real name”.

You see the dilemma when life is so strange no one would believe it if I were to write it in a book. However, I can write it here and perhaps have someone believe me that it is the absolute, God’s honest truth.

So what was the strangeness that assaulted me last night? It was the current state of the online dating scene. My friend has decided to make online dating a second job, or at least that’s what it seems like because it takes as much time and effort as a job, and some of the men she’s encountered are real pieces of work. For instance the one with the foot fetish. To his credit he did ask her during live date one (the one and only date) if a man with a foot fetish would disturb her. She asked the same question I did when she told me… what exactly does having a foot fetish entail? I was picturing toe sucking and cringing at the fact that it’s been far too long since I’ve had a pedicure, but apparently this man enjoys his (time for some purple prose here to keep the censors at bay) ‘nether region pleasured’ by feet. I kid you not.

In another area of the net, for people who don’t want to shell out the cash for the more well known and well advertised dating sites like the foot man above did, there is Craig’s List. Apparently you can find not only used furnishings on there but also men, women, and transvestites in the Personals section. I learned some new terminology. Apparently on Craig’s List in the Casual Encounters section, “car dates” are a perfectly common thing. (I believe they are using the term ‘date’ quite loosely there.) Fair warning, keep the kids far away from that site, my eyes are still burning from some of the images I saw.

Truth truly is stranger than fiction and in the internet age, dating is, sadly, stranger still.

Cat

I am talking about indulging.

True life example. My friend told me about the new Starbucks Gingerbread Latte, full of flavor, hot, creamy, and sweet, loaded with mounds of whipped and, also, calories–probably enough to equal a person’s daily caloric and fat allowance. So we went to Starbucks, my friend and I, and decided we would indulge in this famed Gingerbread Latte of which she spoke, but we were going to be smart about it. We ordered it made with non-fat milk and just a tiny dot of whipped cream on top.

You know what? It wasn’t worth it. Yes, it was okay, but not wonderful and probably still loaded with calories. It was a pale imitation of what it should have been, and because of that, it left us feeling less than satisfied.

So that got me thinking. Do you sacrifice pleasure for frequency? Should I drink the ’skinny’ latte to save the calories so I can indulge in it more often even if each experience is lacking. If we were speaking of sex, if the question was would you rather have frequent, unsatisfying sex, or blow-the-roof-off-the-house amazing sex less freqently, the answer would be clear. I’d blow the roof off the house. However, sex doesn’t make you fat (unless perhaps you are eating comfort food off your lover, but still, the sex itself burns calories so we’ll call it a wash).

So is the answer for food indulgences the same as the answer for sex? I think yes. I think I’d rather have the kick-ass, orgasmic, full-fat, piles of whipped cream Gingerbread Latte once in a rare while and savor the experience, than waste the money and calories on the pale imitation more frequently. What do you say?

Remember, life is short. Indulge.

Cat