Dooce's most recent post inspired me to write about my own dating experiences. So here goes. But before I begin you should know that if anything can be said about me, it's that I have staying power. Staying power that has often proved to be to my detriment.

I started dating Guy #1 when I was 15. I dated him mostly because I wanted a way to get out of the house and he had a car and payed attention to me. It wasn't for his looks. And yes, I do realize how pathetic that makes me look. I didn't say this would be an ego-boosting experience for me. From certain points of view you could say I used him, but so did he so we're even. I broke it off with Guy #1 after a year and a half because he pretty much lost his mind and I realized staying with him would probably end up being detrimental to my desire to stay alive.

I dated Guy #2 for about 6 months starting the spring semester of my senior year in high school. He was cute and, well...that's about it. He was your typical self-absorbed jock type who ended up cheating on me, which is when I broke it off with him. Smart, huh? I really have no explanation of why I dated him except that he was cute and asked me out. I wish I had more to say about my dating experience with him, but I really can't remember anything. You can see how much it meant to me.

Guy #3 was a re-bound that lasted 3+ years. Yes. I said 3 YEARS. He was a nice enough guy, easy to look at but not cute enough to be afraid of, and he treated me pretty well. I spent most of my college years dating him. The one thing I really liked about him was that he was into cars. This was the period of my life that my fledgling fettish for cars turned into a full on obsession, and I really do owe it all to him. But despite this shared obsession it wouldn't last. There were two things about him that ended up being the downfall of our relationship: 1) He suffered from severe anxiety, and 2) his mother controlled his life. I broke up with him after realizing I couldn't spend the rest of my life with someone who couldn't see past the next panic attack.

I started dating Guy #4 right before I graduated from college. This ended up being an almost 3 year relationship, with a 4 month break somewhere in the middle. Truthfully I probably shouldn't have started part 2 with him, but what do you do? Matters of the heart are complicated. He was a good guy, but when it came down to it, not the right one for me. I got a great dog out of it, and if I hadn't dated him, I never would have come to Austin, which means I never would have met Otis.

This is the part where I say "it all works out in the end". And you know what? It all works out in the end.

If you take away anything from this post, it should be that I made some colossally stupid dating decisions. I encourage you not to follow in my footsteps if you're stil out there in the dating world.