Paul MacLean wrote: ↑Fri Jan 22, 2021 11:36 pm As things begin to open-up, I'd suggest maybe joining a club, taking a class, etc. I did martial arts for five years -- it got me into shape and I made a number of good friends in the process.

Can't do any of that shite without a car.

Do you have a bike? Or a scooter?

I echo Paul's suggestions- volunteer at a library (lots of usually well educated nice folks there), take a class (learn to paint?) , help at a boys/girls club (lots of single moms out there!). Even something just once a week will give you something to look forward to.

Monterey Jack wrote: ↑Fri Jan 22, 2021 11:40 pm

Paul MacLean wrote: ↑Fri Jan 22, 2021 11:36 pm As things begin to open-up, I'd suggest maybe joining a club, taking a class, etc. I did martial arts for five years -- it got me into shape and I made a number of good friends in the process.

Can't do any of that shite without a car.

In all seriousness -- not being sarcastic here -- how did you get to the movie theater?

Paul MacLean wrote: ↑Sat Jan 23, 2021 11:51 am
In all seriousness -- not being sarcastic here -- how did you get to the movie theater?

A 20-minute walk to the train station.

BobaMike wrote: ↑Sat Jan 23, 2021 11:11 am
I echo Paul's suggestions- volunteer at a library (lots of usually well educated nice folks there), take a class (learn to paint?) , help at a boys/girls club (lots of single moms out there!). Even something just once a week will give you something to look forward to.

Libraries will not survive the pandemic. Nothing will.

I am forty-six, and have never kissed a girl. Fat chance of that ever happening during a never-ending pandemic that'll make casual dating verboten for the next five years.

MJ, not to be a bummer, but with that attitude, nothing is going to change. Get out and do something- join a club or something! Girls don't just fall out of the sky. You have to pursue them. And there are lots of women in the same boat as you...just need to find them.

Or, do something to get your mind off things- start working out for example.

I don't really know much about your situation, but I really hope you make a positive change. Maybe a new locale? New job? At least here in VA there are lots of jobs hiring.

MJ - don't panic. I didn't have my first serious girlfriend until I was 45. Sometimes it doesn't happen. Some people find it natural to get together with other people but others have to work at it.

I went to university but I feel I put as much effort into trying to get a girlfriend as I did in studying for my degree. It can be surprisingly hard when we've been feed on a diet of movie meet-cutes.

I have no answers but look around you: are you really not meeting women at all? Not on the train, bus or at the grocery store? Not through friends, relatives or co-workers? Not through dating websites? (Which I hear is the way to meet people these days.)

This COVID thing is not going to last forever so don't worry about it.

sprocket wrote: ↑Mon Jan 25, 2021 9:31 pm This COVID thing is not going to last forever so don't worry about it.

I saw my first maskless customer in months at work today.

Covid is NEVER going away.

Monterey Jack wrote: ↑Mon Jan 25, 2021 9:55 pm

sprocket wrote: ↑Mon Jan 25, 2021 9:31 pm This COVID thing is not going to last forever so don't worry about it.

I saw my first maskless customer in months at work today.

Covid is NEVER going away.

I dunno, a maskless customer suggests (to me) things are beginning to turn.

As far as the "girl thing", I'll throw in my two cents. I've kissed plenty of girls -- but they still kicked me to the curb. One, who I was almost engaged to, decided I wasn't enough of an enabler, so she dumped me to chase after this arrogant self-aggrandizer who was "obviously" on the road to success. He wound-up spurning her (last I heard he was a ski lift attendant). Another with whom I was in a serious relationship (and who actually had been one of my best friends in high school years earlier) dumped me for a woman, mostly because she wanted to impress her feminist friends (she's married to a man today, of course). Currently I have a friend who is actually really into me, and she's very sweet, attractive, considerably younger than me, she loves movies and we have a lot in common -- but she has some severe psychological issues, and I can't be with someone like that.

Kissing a girl isn't all it's cracked up to be -- and it's better to be single than with the wrong person. And all women have moods, and require effort, attention, validation and patience to be with. Relationships are time-consuming, and require you sacrifice a considerable degree of your independence (and all of your independence if and when kids start arriving).

Personally I'm grateful I'm single -- at the moment at least!

The older Showcase I go to is 10 minutes away from this one. Only went here a few times (last time was FROZEN) -- and obviously won't ever be going there again.

Nothing makes me sadder than a theater going under.

And now the little theater nearby is also gone. Wasn't the greatest complex but it's where we took Theo for the first movie, THE PEANUTS MOVIE, and now that too is going to be just a memory

The Dedham Community -- which was my go-to place for small, art-house movies -- opened for a few months until November before shutting down again. I sincerely hope it manages to survive, as that'd just leave me with the Dedham Showcase and the AMC in Boston (and technically Kendall Square, but I've only been there a handful of times due to the extra train mileage). It's especially tragic seeing these theaters go under just as vaccinations are showcasing a light at the end of the tunnel, possibly inside of this year.

BLACK WIDOW is now a July day and date with Disney+'s $29 premium viewing offership so there apparently isn't going to be much of a "summer movie season" in 2021 either.

I know it's a broken record, but until masks are gone and attendance levels are normal again, the revenues for all performing arts is going to be severely impacted. It'll be one of the last things to recover...maybe the last.