Dear Breakup Girl,

In an little less than six months, I will be thirty. I have an exciting career, many hobbies, friends and lots of other really cool, ultimate total stuff. I am happier with my life and my self than I ever have been in my entire life. (You can hum “I am Woman” for this letter if you want!! )

(I hope Breakup Mom is proud.)

I do not have a boyfriend, a fiance, a husband. My problem, BG?: I really couldn’t care less. No really, I mean it.

Assorted members of my family are doing that “Your’e getting up there…” routine. Friends are trying to push me out the door with their brothers, the mailman and (I think) the local Blockbuster manager. They are saying man-trap things like “Your standards are too high” — You don’t want to be alone, do you?” — and my personal favorite: “Aren’t you concerned with starting a family?” I’ve also got a couple of friends who are totally freaking out and would marry just about anyone — they make me really really want to yack.

I am planning a solo trip to the City of Lights (Paris) for my birthday & have lots of things to look forward to. In my professional life, I am far too busy to really deal with a boyfriend for now (or the god-awful hunt for one). I’d rather go antiquing, take a yoga class, get a massage or read another travel book in my personal search for the ultimate baguette. My attitude is: if I find him while doing something I like to do — then I have a better chance of meeting someone with common interests than I do of meeting someone at a Saturday night singles dance thing, complete with the Electric Slide and Jello shots.

(more…)

Recently in Slate:

“One recent study conducted by officials at the Paris Metro — which looked at ‘missed connection’ ads placed by urbanites looking for love in the city — found that the Metro ‘is without doubt the foremost producer of urban tales about falling in love.’ The seats closest to the door, it seemed, offered the best opportunities for falling in love with the proper stranger. ‘The Metro is not the emotional desert, the social vacuum, that we sometimes believe it to be,’ observed the chief of the Paris Metro.”

Of course, that’s Paris. The sewer is romantic in Paris. But it couldn’t hurt to sit near the door, just in case. (Right, Dixie?)

Yang Ya-Ching, a Taiwanese music student living in Paris, is attempting to kiss 100 strangers and take a photo of each one for her blog. The blog is in Chinese, but Divine Caroline gives us the jist:

The desire for a lasting memory of Paris is what inspired Yang. According to her blog, the first kiss was from a worker installing outdoor advertising and was like “an autumn leaf falling into my pocket by accident.”

Some think her project may be just an excuse to kiss handsome young men. Whether it is or not, she’s hit on a great excuse for the rest of us to go out and kiss handsome young men!

Check out her blog for an album of her photos (taken by Xiang,zhen-hua), or you can see a slideshow here.

All the good ones are taken, from January 19, 1998…

Dear Breakup Girl,
I’ve broken up from my one-year relationship with my girlfriend last April. However, I can’t seem to be able to meet ANYONE single at the moment. It feels like a statistical phenomenon, although I go to parties, clubs and all…everyone I meet is in a relationship, engaged, married or worse. What’s going on? How can I break this vicious cycle?
— Patrick Loveless in Paris

Dear Patrick,
What, do you work for the Rome Tourism Commission or something? Mon dieu, you’ve completely dashed Breakup Girl’s vision of Paris as the world’s most romantic city. Try Flagstaff, I guess.
Love,
Breakup Girl

P.S. “Or worse” ?