your letter

so my friends have been in a matchmaking mood the past year and a bit.

nothing involving me (they know better), but it's still amusing watching the gears turn. candidates analyzed and proposed, rejected and catagorized systematically. it's funny because i know that at least for me, the whole concept of matchmaking is fun not because i want my friends to be happy -- it's fun because it's like playing the stockmarket.

all you do is try and back a winner. you want bragging rights -- to be able to say at their wedding "well, i remember i met so-and-so and thought they'd be perfect. and i was right!" i mean, i owe cam like a hundred bucks, but if i introduce her to her husband, she's going to owe me a lifetime of favours. forget bluechips, you can only cash them out once. i'm investing in relationships.

sadly though, we should be pragmatic. who actually knows what they want? and if we don't know what we want for ourselves, what are the odds someone else knows what we want?

my proposal is if you cannot consistantly think of a good present to buy for someone, you have absolutely no jurisdiction to try and set them up with someone. that should be like the general rule of thumb for friend matchmaking.

bankrupt people should not be day-trading, so why should lousy gift givers be able to matchmake?

we needs standards people, standards!

the downfall of this however, is everyone thinks they're a good gift giver.

oh world, how cruel you can be at times, making a cosmic joke of our ignorance.....