Almost set up Google Analytics. I've been curious about who the heck is reading this thing. Humans? Bots? The gub'mint? 

I didn't do it. The whole thing is designed to treat this blog as a *shudder* business. I assure you, Google, absolutely nothing productive is going on here.

There's a need, however, to feel connected. Or validated maybe? I mean, I love you, but who are you? At this point in the relationship, loving you tells me more about me than it does you. I better get that book I heard about on NPR, How To Not Die Alone. 

Excerpt from the article about the book:

In her book, Ury categorizes frustrated daters into three primary categories, and they each have unique challenges.

1. The Romanticizer: If you are caught up in the fairytale about how you want your love story to play out, this could be you. 
2. The Maximizer: If you are a swipe addict with a checklist of qualities for the next best match, you fall into this category.
3. The Hesitator: If you have trouble getting started dating or have a million reasons for why this isn't your time to find love, this is definitely you.

So which one are you?

I know which ones I am, but I don't want to think about it right now.

Maybe I can fold a review of this book into dating advice for my nephews. I mean, I think about the literature we read in high school and does any of it provide practical approaches to developing and maintaining relationships? Romeo and Juliet? A Midsummer Night's Dream? Cyrano De Bergerac? To Kill A Mockingbird? Moby Dick? (Well yes, if you mean a love of chowder. I love the part of the book where Ishmael creeps over to the kitchen and yells another order of chowder and they bring it to him.) 

If memory serves, we mostly get stories where people are just instantly attracted to each other and that's that. The obstacle to their relationship is usually societal, I guess? It's not like one of them chews with their mouth open and it's very annoying and the other has to grapple with accepting them despite every meal being mental agony. (Queequeg eats steaks with his harpoon, which is just adorable (not the whole thing, apparently the head separates from the shaft, like when he shaves with it, but still I like the idea of it being a Swiss Army Spear that he uses for everything, like opening mail.))

There's Catcher In The Rye, which I didn't really like, but at least the character expresses some of the frustration of being a human who is attracted to humans. There's 1984, which does a good job of showing a relationship developing between/because of traumatized people, but that's probably not going to be as useful, although it might be eventually.