If you wouldn’t strike up a conversation with a guy, don’t strike up a conversation with a woman. Be comfortable with conversations with strangers of whatever gender with no ulterior motive, and you’ll meet more people.

If you meet more people, your likelihood of finding dates will increase as a side effect.

If you are only approaching women, particularly women you find attractive, in places that are not generally for that purpose (bars, parties, swingers clubs), then you’re being a creep.

But regardless, it’s better to have interests, pursue those interests, and meet people with similar interests. Because when you have interests, you might become interesting, and someone might become interested.

This is an extremely specific situation in a game, but…

In World of Warcraft, back in the day, there was a dungeon in Outland, I believe it was Helfire Citadel. It wasn’t particularly hard, but if you died, you were screwed. The way dungeon deaths worked was your spirit would spawn in a graveyard out in the regular world, and you would have to run your spirit ass back to the dungeon entrance to respawn. But finding the entrance to Helfire Citadel was so difficult I told the group if they don’t rez me, they’d have to just kick me, because I’d never make it back in. It was awful.

Short answer: work less.

Long answer: I actually enjoy my job, and have for a long time. If I had won several million long ago I would have kept my job because it (most of the time) was very fulfilling and important, though it has largely wrecked my body.

Now I can’t fly anymore, so while my job is still important and fulfilling, it’s not nearly as exciting, and I am constantly crazy busy, so I’d love to cut my hours about in half, probably. I’d still want to work.

Oh, and I’d build a forge in my backyard. So maybe work the same amount, but some of my time crafting things.

I think this is the main one. That song (as performed by Whitney) is absolutely iconic and absolutely transcendental. The Dolly version is good, but if it weren’t for Whitney it would be just another Dolly Parton song.

“Am I Evil” by Diamond head, covered by Metallica, and done so much cleaner and better that I got into a full-on argument with somebody (pre-google) about it it not being an original Metallica song.

Also, I have nothing but respect for Roberta Flack and think “Killing Me Softly” was a fantastic song when she performed it, the Fugees absolutely crushed that song. Listening to the original shortly after makes it fall a little flat.

In the reverse of this, when I mention “Wagon Wheel” and somebody mentions Darius Rucker I get upset. Oh, you took a solid song with great harmonies and instrumentation, and you swapped it out to be a generic country song? Way to make it “your own” bud.

Funny enough, she actually really likes Detroit Pizza. But yes, she thinks Chicago pizza is trash (I tend to agree, I hate the way chicago pizza is made… it’s messy, has too much sauce, and requires a fork which, to me, defeats the point of the pizza).

And I lived in New Jersey for awhile, and the pizza there, with a few exceptions, was some of the best pizza I’ve had (and I’m not talking that wide flat greasy stuff you get at NY street corners, I’m talking the pizza made at the restaurants run by Italians that are about half Italian restaurant, half pizza joint).

So no joke, I talked shit about pineapple on pizza for years. Then, I can’t remember why specifically, but we had someone over and asked what type of pizza she wanted, and she said Hawaiian. And there was some leftover. I grew up poor, and we do not waste food, so I decided it was worth trying it.

It was amazing. I immediately felt silly for being so against it.

My wife still refuses to try it on principle (she did grow up near NYC, so she has STRONG opinions on pizza).

Damon? Do you mean Dicaprio?