psych0naut (![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} psych0naut) wrote,@ 2008-04-06 00:53:00 |
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| Current location: | Leytonstone |
| Current mood: |  pleased |
| Current music: | Udo Lindenberg - Sonderzug nach Pankow |
| Entry tags: | fan mail, girlfriend |
The nothingisreal.com dating service
OK, for those of you who don't know, in December 1999 I wrote an article entitled "Why I Will Never Have A Girlfriend", a humorous mathematical paper using statistics to show why I will never find true love. The tone is rather tongue-in-cheek but the actual numbers and math are correct, which is kind of scary. (More on that in a future post, though.) The article was initially published on my website, and then subsequently in the Annals of Improbable Research and, for some strange reason, in a couple university-level composition textbooks.
So anyway, the article is widely enough known that I get quite a lot of e-mail about it; even today I get comments, compliments, commiseration, criticism, and even requests for dates from random strangers every couple of days. Contrary to what it says on my web page, lately (meaning, since moving to London two years ago) I really don't have time to read all my e-mail, let alone respond to it, so all this "fan mail" (for want of a better word) keeps piling up. I've currently got 269 unread messages dating back to 2005. Last year I felt so guilty about not having the time to respond to it that I sent out a form letter to everyone who had written to me apologising for not getting back to them. I figured a form letter telling people that I got their e-mail and appreciated it would be better than simply ignoring it altogether, but judging from the angry responses I received I guess I was wrong. Now I feel even more guilty. Gawd, it must be terrible for real celebrities who get thousands of letters a day; I can't even handle 100 a year.
So I've decided to go through my "fan mail" and start responding to it, or at least reading through it. I've only made it through the most recent half-dozen or so and have already encountered some real gems. This one made me happy, so I thought I'd share it here:
Subject: Statistical Love
To: psychonaut@nothingisreal.com
Date: 2008-03-20 01:14
So for my senior year I decided to take AP Statistics. Turns out that
was a bad choice on my part. However, reading your analysis about
finding the right girl has made me smile. I'm hoping to show your
article to my stats teacher, perhaps he will get a kick out of this
too. However, the reason I am writing you is because I want to thank
you. I was speaking to a young male friend of mine and he reads to me
your charming article. He then proceeds to tell me about how he agrees
with you. My interest is sparked. We begin a disscussion of your
analysis and wonder if a similar study could be done for women. We
then start speaking of how hopeless both our chances of finding
someone are. At this point in time my young friend says to me that I
meet all of his three cryteria, and I admit that he seems to meet mine
(both of us speaking purly in statistical terms). He then proceeds to
admit to me that he has feelings for me and asks me out. We are now
dating and I am so incredibly greatfull to have him in my life. So
thank you, thank you for giving my dear boy courage. I don't think he
ever would have, had he not seen this article.
I figured since your article brightened my day/ life, that it would
only be fair to tell you our story and hope it brightens yours.
Well, I guess it's nice to know that even if I will never have a girlfriend, I'm at least helping other people get them. :)
