It's a question asked of me quite often. In the rough-and-tumble that is the dating world, do you stand out if you actually care less? Well, that depends on the people we're dealing with. Take a blonde bombshell who gets asked out all the time, with guys buying her flowers and candy left and right. Then, out of nowhere comes an attractive guy who isn't swooning over her. Though friendly, he treats her as he would any other woman he meets. She doesn't know for sure whether he's interested in her -- something she, quite frankly, is unaccustomed to -- and that piques her interest. The guy is effectively posing a challenge, and she's compelled to unearth why he doesn't allow himself to be made putty in her hands like all the other chumps do. That being said, giving off a more non-chalant vibe might work when the target is very attractive and has no shortage of options to choose from. Some people perceive those who give them the cold shoulder to...

When society tries to make you feel guilty for enjoying your alone time, tell it to go fly a kite! There's nothing wrong with taking pleasure in your own company. It doesn't make you weird. It doesn't make you antisocial. It doesn't make you selfish. And it doesn't make lonely and desperately desirous of human contact. It makes you human! We all have to interact with others on a daily basis -- whether with family at home or coworkers in the workplace -- plus attend to other matters that can further sap our time and energy, from flat tires to unexpected doctor's visits. This can leave us feeling drained at the end of the day, prompting us to seek solitude. For many people -- particularly the introverts among us -- nothing can be more rejuvenating than time spent indulging solitary activities like reading, watching movies, and sleeping. Extroverts, on the other hand, derive energy from social interaction, so it should come as no surprise they would be du...

The other day, I stumbled upon an article or post on Facebook about someone disgruntled over something her new boyfriend was doing. He wasn't cheating. He wasn't staying out late. He wasn't spending wastefully. He was simply calling her several times a day. Now, people have different thresholds for what they consider excessive calling. If you've just begun dating the person, calling more than twice a day may give off the impression that you're a tad clingy. But that all depends on the person. Some people get so "into" their partner that they might welcome a flurry of calls each day. That's why you have to gauge early on whether the other person would be receptive to more calls or turned off by them. As I indicated in my post yesterday, I know full well from experience that relationships in which one person is very clingy and the other typically standoffish don't work out too well in the long run. There has to be more if a balance....

Ladies, take note: If you want to keep your man happy, there's really one thing you have to do. No, it isn't to cook him food, although that'd certainly be a plus in our book. It's merely to make him feel loved. Men like to feel needed. They like to feel useful. The worst feeling in the world is being in a relationship with someone who acts like they couldn't care less if it ended tomorrow. Before I got with my now-wife, I dated a few women who were standoffish, and, frankly, emotionally distant. Unsurprisingly, those wound up being flings rather than long-lasting relationships. It's as simple as that. All it takes to keep a man happy is to make him feel desired. Men, of course, should do their part to make their partner feel loved as well. If attention and affection aren't being dispensed equally, it could lead to serious problems down the road. Do you agree? Have you found this to be the case in your relationship(s)?

They say women are usually better at making and keeping friends than men are, and I have certainly found this to be the case in my own life -- with male friends and family members alike. In general (not always the case, but very often so), women seem to be more accessible, reliable, and consistent than men. Men tend to be a little more standoffish, usually off doing their own thing. Some of my male friends, on different occasions over the years, have used words like "emotional" and "dramatic" to describe me. To be completely honest, I can't exactly refute those claims. Once you're someone I care deeply about and have invested plenty of time in, I can become rather sensitive if I perceive I've been slighted or taken advantage of by you. In other words, I feel that I "keep score" and read into things a lot more than my male buddies. I don't take kindly to friends kicking me to the curb whenever they enter into a new relationship. Why? ...