Welcome to all!

The days of summer are nice and long which means that there are many things to do. I hope you have been taking advantage of the opportunities. The chances for meeting someone interesting offline or online increase and there are many things to go and do once you meet up.

Here are some memorable lines from Wordsworth. See if this puts the summer into perspective for you.

“We’ll talk of sunshine and of song,
And summer days when we were young,
Sweet childish days which were as long
As twenty days are now.”

Find a cool evening to take a summer bike ride with someone special. That’s one of the best way I can think of to make the summer days last long.

By the way, did you know that I have ridden a bicycle across America three times? Talk about long summer days. But that’s a long story and cycling is not our topic for this newsletter.

Enjoy the issue.

Be sure to check out the reviews below of a couple of the best dating services on the internet, Big Church.com and Lavalife.com. Internet dating is one of the best ways for busy singles to safely meet and to get to know each other.

Enjoy the following features of The Dating Advisor and keep your spirits high!

In This Issue

1) Favorite Dating Service Reviews
2) Romantic Movie--The Natural
3) Find a Unique Gift at Blair.com
4) Article--20 Tips to Keep Love Alive
5) Love Poem--When I Was One and Twenty by A.E. Housman
6) Love Song--Sometimes When We Touch by Rod Stewart

1) Favorite Dating Service Reviews

Big Church.com
When you sign up with BigChurch you will be joining a huge community of Christian Singles who really love what the site has to offer. Big Church is part of the FriendFinder network and shares many of the same great features. There are three distinct communities in Big Church that you can join, and of course you are welcome to join all three. There is the Dating and Romance group, the Pen Pal group, and the Bible Study and Prayer Partner group. This is just a great faith-based dating service that you are sure to enjoy. It’s a great thrill to be able to find a date or a friend who shares your same faith and values!

Membership

Your free membership with BigChurch allows you to create a nice profile with a picture and allows you to browse through the large international membership in three different categories. So whether you are looking for a serious relationship, a pen pal friend, or a partner to Bible study with, you’ll be able to find a wonderful partner quickly. As a standard member you will be able to read the many articles and tips that are available, read the advice line, join an interest group, and take a free IQ test. You can even search the Bible by keyword or phrase. Increase your knowledge and enrich your life! When you are ready to upgrade and talk to some wonderful people, you’ll find that there are numerous upgrade memberships to choose from.

Review continues Click Here.

Lavalife.com
Lavalife is "where singles click." When you click on lavalife you’ll find 10,000 or more singles on the site almost any time of the day. Lavalife currently has over 8 million online members. Lavalife is a supersized dating service with a great looking website and an outstanding assortment of features. It is quick and easy to get started with lavalife, and in no time you will be searching among their enormous membership for that special someone who really catches your attention. There are many success stories here and you just may be their next one.

Membership

At lavalife you can create three different profiles because they offer three distinct communities of members. There is a Dating category for friendship and fun encounters, a Relationship category for finding someone who is open for serious possibilities, and there is an Intimate Encounters category where you might be able to start something wild. The first thing you should do is to take a Tour to get an overview of all of the possibilities on lavalife. Then create your profile and add up to 10 photos. Then browse to see who matches your criteria from among those currently online or among the membership. You’ll see that there are lots of great people here that you will want to communicate with. Now it is time to buy some credits. Review continues Click Here.

2) The Natural Movie Review

This Robert Redford film is magical even if you don’t like baseball. It’s about summer dreams and romance. Those are a fine combination. The cast is terrific. Many of my favorite actors and actresses are in this one. Redford, Glenn Close, Kim Basinger, Barbara Hershey, Robert Duvall, Wilford Brimley, and Richard Farnsworth. By the way the DVD has a commentary by Cal Ripken Jr., a pure bonus play. Enjoy the heroic home runs.

Here's a review by Amazon.com editor, Robert Horton.

"From the sun-dappled heartland, a young man (Robert Redford, in soft lighting) emerges as maybe the best baseball player anybody's ever seen. On his way to the majors, he is cut down by an enigmatic black widow (Barbara Hershey) and vanishes for many years. When he reemerges, a silent mystery, he lands a spot with the New York team and begins tearing up the league--he's still the natural. Fans of the Bernard Malamud novel will be dismayed at the pure mythical hokum of this film, but baseball fanatics have been known to watch and rewatch this one; after all, it's constructed as a kind of shrine to the national pastime. Barry Levinson (Rain Man) directs the movie with an unabashed devotion to the game, although the film could use more of the realities of chewing tobacco and pine tar. Redford is fine, and Kim Basinger and Oscar-nominated Glenn Close are effective as the women in his life. The crowning touch is the soaring, extraordinary music by Randy Newman, the singer-songwriter turned orchestral composer. --Robert Horton."

3) Find a unique, fun gift at Blair.com

Look at the wonderful selection of women's and men's clothing and the neat selection of home furnishings. Especially, check out the Clearance section. Are you a sucker for bargains?
Click here.

4) 20 Tips To Keep Love Alive by Garry Gamber

"Have you ever been at a loss to think of something special that you can do for that special someone in your life? Maybe you want to do a little extra for an important event, like his or her birthday, Valentine's Day, Christmas, or anniversary.

Here are some excellent tips and ideas of some special actions that you can take to help keep love alive in your life.

1. Give your loved one a top ten list: Top Ten Reasons Why I Love You. (It’s okay to include bonus reasons.)

2. Change the screen saver on the computer to something like “You Are the Light of My Life” in fancy or bold letters.

3. Stick an “I Love You” note on his or her steering wheel while they are at work.

4. Give her the top half of a pair of your pajamas on a cold night.

5. Write a poem for her, even if it is short, and even if you can’t write poems."
Article continues Click Here.

5) When I Was One and Twenty by A.E. Housman

Love poems have the power to inspire us and to warm our hearts. We should take a few minutes each day to recall an inspirational line or stanza.

When I Was One and Twenty

When I was one-and-twenty
I heard a wise man say,
"Give crowns and pounds and guineas
But not your heart away;
Give pearls away and rubies
But keep your fancy free."
But I was one-and-twenty,
No use to talk to me.

When I was one-and-twenty
I heard him say again,
"The heart out of the bosom
Was never given in vain;
'Tis paid with sighs aplenty
And sold for endless rue."
And I am two-and-twenty
And oh, 'tis true, 'tis true.

This is a simple, elegant and direct poem. By the way, this was set to music many years ago by George Butterworth, a contemporary of Houseman’s. The recordings can be found and are interesting.

Did you know that Housman failed his exams at Oxford? He didn’t let that stop him. He became a professor anyway.

Read interesting notes about the backstory of When I Was One and Twenty.

6) Love Song: Sometimes When We Touch
by Rod Stewart

Rod Stewart has done a terrific job of taking older love ballads and recreating them. He has a flair for love songs.

Here is a good example.

Sometimes When We Touch

You ask me if I love you
and I choke on my reply
I'd rather hurt you honestly
than mislead you with a lie
And who am I to judge you
in what you say or do
I'm only just beginning
to see the real you

And sometimes when we touch
the honesty's too much
and I have to close my eyes and hide
I want to hold you till I die
till we both break down and cry
I want to hold you till the fear in me subsides

Romance and all it's strategy
leaves me battling with my pride
But through all the insecurity
some tenderness survives
I'm just another writer
still trapped within my truth
A hesitant prize fighter
still trapped within my youth

And sometimes when we touch
the honesty's too much
and I have to close my eyes and hide
I want to hold you till I die
till we both break down and cry
I want to hold you till the fear in me subsides

At times I'd like to break you
and drive you to your knees
At times I'd like to break through
and hold you endlessly
At times I understand you
and I know how hard you try
I watched while love commands you
and I've watched love pass you by
At times I think we're drifters
still searching for a friend
a brother or a sister
but then the passion flares again

And sometimes when we touch
the honesty's too much
and I have to close my eyes and hide
I want to hold ya till I die
till we both break down and cry
I want to hold you till the fear in me subsides
Subsides

That's all for now.

Make it a great week.