Having resigned from Match.com and signed up at several other online matchmaking services (see June 3, 2004), I pursued approximately the same approach at the new sites: Create and post a profile of my own, then use their built-in "matching" systems to create "hotlists" of favorites; browse the full roster of profiles more broadly (because their systems aren't ideal); develop an annotated list of candidates; send out query letters; and see what develops.

At all three of these sites, registrants make their sexual preferences and interests explicit. I described myself in my profile (see the next post) as a dominant/Master in search of a submissive or slave, and posted indications of assorted others tastes and flavors of sexual activity that I enjoy or would consider. I've never actively participated in the quasi-official bdsm "scene," not because of fear or shyness but simply because public sex doesn't particularly pull me. But I've played bdsm games with my lovers for years; for whatever reason, the women who have entered my orbit for the past three decades have had a propensity for those particular pleasures, and I've been more than happy to oblige, and to learn from them.

Lo and behold, an almost immediate response from a viable prospect: attractive (from the portrait she posted with her own profile), early forties, intelligent, articulate, her sexual inclinations on the table and (mostly) matching my own, and definitely interested. Plus located in the same city as I am. So I find myself suddenly in correspondence with an apparently compatible candidate.

Unfortunately, she's going out of town for the summer, so we won't have a chance to meet before the fall. On the other hand, this allows some correspondence time, and a chance to get to know each other that way. And who knows what else may develop in the meantime? The plot thickens. Stay tuned.

More to come . . .