My Situation

I am 30 years old and for the most part happily single although it’s getting more and more annoying this year for some reason. I had a dating partner last year for a couple months, I say dating partner because we never actually came out & said that we were a couple. He never stated that he didn’t want to see other people & neither did I but for a while there near the end of our relationship it did seem as though we were a couple. There were a million reasons to end the relationship, which is why we did. He had issues being part of a couple and I didn’t, there was a 5 year age difference which doesn’t sound like much but the difference between 24 & 29 is a big one. The biggest problem was the personal issues that he had going on in his life; they seemed to get in the way of him being himself in front of others for some reason. When we were alone we always had a blast but when we would get around my friends he always acted so strange. I don’t know if I threatened him in some way or what but obviously being with someone you can’t go out with is a problem so we decided to remain friends & cancel the relationship thing. I tend to find that as I date people I’m not finding what I do want in a mate but rather what I don’t. I could give you a laundry list of things that I don’t want out of a relationship but some of the basics are needy, mama’s boy, alcoholic, unemployed, already married, depressed. So other than that relationship I’ve been technically single for almost 8 years now therefore I know quite a bit about dating & even more about first dates. Unfortunately I don’t have much insight on second dates or any past that point since I usually don’t get beyond the first one. I’ll tell you the major trick to dating is being able to figure out during the first date if you could be this person’s significant other and if you don’t see that happening there really is no point in having a second date now is there?