Dear Men on Tinder

Please learn how to provide a decent profile picture. Let me give you some tips: Have a smile on your face, don’t use a group photo, don’t use a photo with anyone else but yourself in it, don’t be in the bathroom taking an awkward selfie, don’t have a picture of something else, and don’t have a scrunched up look on your face. You want it to be the best representation of you so we are interested in seeing more.

If the only reason you are on Tinder is to hook up, then by all means keep your photo without a shirt on otherwise you are sending the wrong message.

Please hear me when I say that most people don’t trust a profile with one photo only.

I never trust a profile with one photo.

Make sure your photos are recent. If you tell me they aren’t in your bio then I don’t understand the reason you don’t update them vs telling us they aren’t recent. Sounds like you are hiding something. If you are, it isn’t going to go well for you when we meet in person.

I realize we are still in a pandemic. Having a photo with your mask on doesn’t show us your face. I’m not interested unless I can see your face. Ya dig?

Now for your bio- We are looking at your bio to see if we have anything in common. We are looking at your bio to see if we are interested in what you have to say. You make it impossible by saying things like ” I dislike writing these”, and “I’m an open book, just ask” or having nothing to say at all.

I don’t want to match and then find out we don’t have anything in common. What a waste of my valuable time.

If you have to say you are normal/a good person, then you probably aren’t. These things don’t need to be announced. Just let them be true and live your life.

Have you heard of spell check? Use it! I’m literally looking at someone who is saying this> “I’m giving g this ste last try after one years been her God lord only fucking scam profile and God digger.” What kind of response does this person think he is going to get?!?

It isn’t welcoming and he sounds like a jackass. Not someone I’m certainly interested in getting to know.

When a person is willing to give you their phone number and you want to move to WhatsApp – I know you are a catfish. Busted!!!

Okay, I’m done bitching about Tinder. I hope some men read this and take it to heart.

You might have better luck with a proper profile picture and telling us a little about yourself in your bio.

Good luck out there.

Bucket List Hot Air Balloon Ride was dumb.

Why is it so hard to do things as a Single person?!?!?!

Do you know how long it took me to feel comfortable to do things by myself?! When I was younger, I would pretend to stand outside the movie theater “waiting for a friend” until the last minute and then go watch the movie by myself. It was the first activity I could muster up the courage to do solo.

Shopping is easy to do alone. Grocery Shopping and Clothes shopping. Even though you won’t have a friendly opinion, I found it to be a shame free solo activity. You can always ask the sales clerk for their opinion. Be Careful- their motivation for saying nice things could be money via a commission. (Random Strangers in the store are good for an honest opinion)

Going on a Hot Air Balloon Ride has been on my bucket list for some time now.

The pandemic has changed the way their business operates. I understand. I want to be safe which is why I chose this outdoor activity to get out of the house after 6 months.

Currently the basket for the Hot Air Balloon is divided into four corners. Each corner can hold two people and they won’t allow a single person to take up a corner. How am I ever going to get on this hot air balloon? He said if the balloon was already going up and there was an empty corner, they would let me join.

I found a friend to join! Yay!! Then a week before our trip he hurt his leg. I called the hot air balloon place to ask if I could modify the reservation to just me. They would let me go by myself if and only if they didn’t resell the seats. The last minute change was going to work to my advantage.

They didn’t sell the seat. I got to go by myself. All the details were different. The ride was switched from 6:30 am to 3:00 p.m. It was a hot sunny day. The air for the balloon made it even hotter. Everyone was miserable. You could see it on their faces. Sweat dripping down for the entire ride. I sat down a few times in my tiny square. If there was another person with me, I wouldn’t have been able to do that. We didn’t go very high. We didn’t go very far. We didn’t travel fast. We didn’t feel a breeze in the air. The view was beautiful.

We landed in a farming field. They had a couple of spots to use. They made friends with the farmers. When we landed they gave the farmer a bottle of wine. They wanted us to help push the air out of the balloon ( that was fun ), tie up the balloon and push the basket into a trailer ( I couldn’t do either of those with a frozen shoulder). Then we loaded up into a van for our thirty minute ride back to the airport.

Even though I wanted the money I paid for this adventure back , I still felt pressure to tip. I wouldn’t do it again.

Don’t take my word for it. Maybe you will love it. I hope you do find out for yourself considering what the experience cost.

My favorite part: Crossing something off my Bucket List.

4 guys & a raft to the rescue

When I worked at an Outdoor Gear store, I went on all the kayaking trips they had to offer and took a couple of safety courses specific to paddling. It is important to know multiple ways to re-enter your kayak if you find yourself in the water for some reason. Most of the trips I went on were on flat water and only once did I go Sea Kayaking. I would consider myself to be an intermediate level kayaker.

One Saturday, I decided to join a couple coworkers on their swift moving water kayak trip for the day. They were going to Husum Falls. Husum Falls is located on the White Salmon River in Washington. It has a 12 foot drop, is a class V waterfall, and is one of the 5 Tallest Commercially Rafted Waterfalls in North America. There is a bridge near by where spectators can watch people “run the falls” – Husum falls Halarity

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Since this would be my first time on fast moving water, I figured it best to let my coworker friend, aka: the outdoor school Tour Guides, pick out my boat. They were the experts after all. To this day, I still have no idea why he chose an inflatable kayak.

1472772014175 — inflatable kayak pictured

No sooner had we walked down to the put in spot and got in the water, we were off. Water was moving fast. I was starting to get the feel of how to maneuver myself in the water using the paddle when the current took me, swept me into this huge right half circle, and into a cove of rocks where the side of the boat scraped along the wall. There was a huge hole torn it the boat and I sunk immediately.
Just like that- it was over. Just a few feet away was a embankment to the right. We hauled ourselves and the deflated boat up on the rocks to come up with a plan. There weren’t many options for us. Since we hadn’t made it very far, it was too far to finish the run. It was logistically impossible to make it back up where we put in. We had to wait. Wait for a person coming down with space enough to carry me and my deflated boat.

We waited on the side of water for hours. Frequently, other kayakers would stop to make sure we were okay or to see if they could help in any way. What a nice community of people to be in community with. Makes me want to paddle more.

There proved to be only 1 option for us that day. I still can’t believe how lucky we were. There was 1 commercial raft coming our way with one free spot and enough space to carry the torn kayak. We flagged them down as soon as we saw them!

4 guys were on a Bachelor party rafting trip. Their buddy was a guide and owned his own raft.

They were such good sports to let me crash. I told them all the Dirty Jokes I knew as we paddled down the river. My buddies made sure to paddle close so we could still be together.

After 20 minutes or so it was time to decide if we were going to “run the falls”. If the answer was yes- we would have to go through some practice exercises in preparation. There is a particular way to crouch down, hold the paddle and the boat, as well as a pep talk in case things go wrong. They all wanted to do it and I certainly wasn’t going to be the chick they were nice enough to pick up to hold them back.

I was nervous. REALLY nervous. I had thoughts of backing out up until the point of no return!

We did it! I did it! It was fun and it would be the first of many runs for me 🙂

Some guys go to Vegas for their Bachelor Party….

I am so glad these guys decided to raft the Husum Falls.