About a month ago I broke up with the woman I had been seeing over the summer. The lizard part of my brain made the decision that although there were many things I like about her, we were not destined for each other. In my own cowardly way, I had been finding reasons to decrease the amount of time we spent together and making those times stiffer and more formal for a few weeks before that. Then she finally wrote to me and said that she did not think it was working.

Monday, we met and ate dinner together for the first time, and I think that we will try for the friendship thing. The "friends after a relationship" thingy is pretty tricky, but she works hard to keep connections with people, and it might be possible.

In the meantime I have been corresponding via email with a 29 year old single mother who likes fantasy novels, computer games and roleplaying. From her pictures she is very definitely a woman I find physically attractive. I am a little concerned about the anger she seems to have towards the father of her child though. First, because I've been on the other end of that, and it brings back some bad memories. Second, because hate and love are both very strong emotions, and I wonder whether her bitterness is masking the remnants of her affection. In my line of work, I've seen it before. Who knows though, we are just chatting on AIM atm.