Originally posted by: MeBeJedi
"Man is never complete until he's married. Then he's finished!"

That sounds like Benjamin Desraeli, but I'm not sure.

Let me throw my 2 cents in on the thread, though.

I'm 25 and single.
More than that, I've never dated. Not for lack of interest, mind you, there seems to always be some woman that attracts my attention. Maybe it was someone that I saw during the day, maybe I was looking at my high school yearbook and remembering people I haven't seen in the 8 years.

No, a big part of my problem is that I am very much reserved. Part of that is my...let's call it a motus operandi...is that I'm an observer, a researcher. I hate to go into any situation unprepared. Along these lines, I feel I must have some common ground with a person before I can really talk to them and get to know them.
Ex. A married coworker has a single friend she wants me to meet. (Well, I'm not sure about it, she keeps talking about it to get me flustered, but she has yet to actually do anything.) Anyways, she keeps saying that sometime when we have the same schedule, she's going to take me and this friend to dinner. I'm dead-set against it because I'm walking into a situation where I don't feel I know enough about the friend to do anything besides eat.
I'll bet I could talk, if I had any idea what to talk about.
Now, if the friend came in to the library and used a computer, I'd feel a lot less pressure. I'd be in my comfort zone at the library. I can observe what she does on the computer, letting me learn something about her. Keep that up for a few days and maybe I'd feel better about things.

I also have a self-instilled professional courtesy prevents me from saying anything to a patron at the library. I'd probably be more comfortable if I ran into one of them at a store. Maybe I'm not in my comfort zone there at the store, but at least I've already got some small relationship (supervisor/patron) with them already.

You know what I am? I think I'm a combination of Stanley Ipkis (main character from The Mask), the 1955 George McFly (Back to the Future...and before he slugged Biff) and postman Cliff Clavin (Cheers).

Do I prefer being single? I'm not sure how to answer that question. I consider myself happy in my life right now, but a lot of my high school friends are already married and having families so I feel like I am missing something from life.
Life is very routine, but that's how I like it. A shake-up from dating or marriage would be a problem for me...at first. Eventually I'd settle into a routine again.