OHMYGOD!!! I found out what I am - I'm a "Quirkyalone"

[LynneSin]

http://www.delawareonline.com/newsjournal/life/2004/02/14quirkyalonesare.html

Quirkyalones are unattached - and loving it


By By JANET K. KEELER
St. Petersburg (Fla.)Times
02/14/2004

Move over, metrosexuals, make room for the quirkyalones.

Metrosexual was last year's "it" label. The word describes a straight man, usually a city guy, who seems stereotypically gay because he spends more time than his fellow Joe on grooming.

So yesterday.

This year, the buzz is about singletons, not the lovelorn kind that Bridget Jones wrote about in her diary, but singles who live full and fun lives. Like Oprah and Cher, or George Clooney and Steve Martin.

Author Sasha Cagen, 30, calls these happy, solitary people "quirkyalones," a term she coined on New Year's Day 2000 to describe herself and some friends who'd rather be single than date for the sake of being in a couple.

The idea spawned an essay in the alternative magazine Utne Reader that caused an avalanche of mail from people who connected with Cagen's quirky view of single life and the pressures to couple up.

---

I took the quiz on the right hand side of the article and I got 9/10. I've tried relationships and I sucked at them. I always thought I was "strange" for preferring to be alone as oppose to trying to force a relationship which usually just ends up a nightmare.

I'm a QuirkyAlone and I'm proud of it!! My motto even before this article was "It's better to be alone for all the right reasons than together for all the wrong ones" That should be the theme of us QAs

[NoPasaran]

1. Me too!

And "QuirkyAlone" sounds so much better than "quiet brooding loner"

[KG]

2. without doing the quiz, i already know i quailfy as a 'Quirkyalone'

but nice to know somebody came up with a label for it, i guess.

[izzie]

3. I am one but was married for 40 years.

Odd? Well more than half the time I lived alone and have been really alone for 10 years. I fear I could not live full time with any one. Retirement did it in. I liked a man half way around the world.I should have faced it at 20 but this is a nice way to be and after 10 years I am only looked at as odd once in a while. I think I will save that site, as it looks interesting.QuirkyAlone fly off on her broom once more.

[Liberal Christian]

4. As soon as you said it, I knew I was one!

I went to the site. What a great thing!!! I wish I'd known about it last week when I was writing a sermon on singleness, though.

Oh well.

[WannaJumpMyScooter]

5. My wife and I are both QA's.... hmmmm. no wonder our

life is so bizzare.

[bikebloke]

6. Another here

I grew tired of mediocre company just for the sake of company. My rule of thumb for dating: Are they better than a good book. Feeling I was being a wee picky, I lowered the bar. Are they better than a bad book. In many cases, no.

It helped than I once lived in a very unfriendly city. Rather than be miserable, I adapted. Now I'm quite content.

And think what I'm spared on Valentine's. I don't have to spend 99 cents on a card. Or knick flowers from the cemetery or a hotel lobby.....(I'm being facetious here)

[Liberal Christian]

7. Kick in honor of International Quirkyalone Day

[Rabrrrrrr]

8. Yay for the QuirkyAlones!

I should think that one needs to be a quirkyalone in order to be able to also have a healthy committed relationship. I could be broad-brush stroking on that one, but seems to me being quirkyalone means that one has found fulfillment in one's self.

Let's have a quirkyalone party!

[Zomby Woof]

9. that is VERY true

I was a quirkyalone for years and years before meeting Katy. My friends had finally gotten used to my pride in and enjoyment of solitude and comfort with myself as a single person, then she came along, and now I am in the healthiest and most fulfilling relationship of my life.

So things change, but the important thing is to keep your sense of self-acceptance and standards. To thine own self be true, et al...

Here's to the quirkyalones who define their own standards for a meaningful life. :toast:

[Rabrrrrrr]

10. Yeah!

I'm all about defining my own standards.

:toast: back at ya, my ZombyTine!

[Lydia Leftcoast]

11. I'm definitely one

Years ago, I dumped the most annoying boyfriend of my life (one of those "what was I thinking?" relationships), and a distant relative told me that I was stupid for dumping one boyfriend before I had another lined up.

Even though I was relatively young then, that advice sounded crazy.

Shortly after moving to Portland, I met a woman whose husband was a fanatic about windsurfing (summer) and skiing (winter). Those were his only two interests outside of work and televised sports, and he insisted that she take part. He would not take part in anything that she was interested in and would get real angry if she tried to persuade him.

Not for the first time, I thought, "There are worse things than being single."

[eileen_d]

12. I guess I'm a "quirkyalone"...

except for the "full and fun life" part ;)

Sorry, I just had a bad week -- getting burnt out on being jobless. I'll get over it.

[populistmom]

13. I answered true to 7 out of 10

And I've been in the same relationship all of my adult life. Perhaps one can be "quirky alone" even within one? (That's for sure.)

Or perhaps many of these things are just healthy ways of looking at what relationships themselves mean. Just a thought anyway.

[LynneSin]

17. Maybe your husband is also QA

And that's why you 2 get along so well together.

I can't tell you what a relief I feel knowing that it's ok that I prefer being single and maybe if I can get involved with other QA it can help my mental wellbeing. I've dealt with depression for the past few years (mild depression, nothing horrible) and I think it was due to the fact that people wonder what was wrong with me for not having a relationship.

I found a QA group in Philly and I might see if I can meet other QAs like myself.

QA and proud!!

[Catshrink]

14. You're not alone... You've got Abby!

I've been a QA for years. No other way.

[GOPisEvil]

15. Hey! I'm a QA, too!

:bounce:

:kick:

[Zomby Woof]

16. naw

You're just alone. :evilgrin: