Quirkyalone

Another of the books that I currently have on the go is “Quirkyalone: A Manifesto for Uncompromising Romantics” by Sasha Cagen. It is a fun, witty look at single life that I picked up in the neighbourhood discount bookstore.

In one of its first pages, the book offers you a true/false quiz to determine your degree of “quirkyaloneness”:

You:

1. Display a talent for self-reflection.
2. Believe that life can be prosperous and great with or without a mate.
3. Create and maintain chosen families of friends.
4. Treat life as one big choose-your-own adventure; there is no single road map for adulthood.
5. Are not opposed to dating, but prefer not to date for social convention.
6. Would rather be alone than be in a relationship in which you have to hold back an essential part of yourself.
7. Generally feel a sense of compulsion to make a mark in culture and society, to express yourself, whether through art, writing, a small business, or activism.
8. Recognize the ways in which society prescribes happiness primarily through romantic love, and understand the failings of such an approach.
9. Have had a taste or a glimpse of a great love relationship (or encounter), which intensifies your desire to remain open to the possibility of finding a similar experience.
10. Possess a talent at deconstructing love songs equal only to your vulnerability to them.
    

So guess my score? To the “very quirkyalone” (that would be me), Cagen writes:

At long last. You have found your tribe, a brave breed to resist the tyranny of coupledom in famour of independent self-expression. Relatives may give you quizzical looks, and so may co-workers, but in your heart of hearts, you know that you are following your inner voice. You may or may not be participating in a conventional romance, but always you are romancing the world.