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Home: Blacksburg Age: 30 Sign: Taurus Occupation: General manager of the Lyric Theatre Nominated by: Co-worker Anna Hawthorne. "Rance turned 30 earlier this year. He's a caver (spelunker), libertarian and I think he's learning how to play the guitar. He's smart, well-spoken, funny, affable and cute. He's a very attentive listener, too." About Rance: A little nervous when he meets someone new, Rance gets goofier the longer you know him. At first, he's reserved and he approaches most initial social interactions with a safe, businesslike style. Once he's comfortable, you'll start to see his humor (which he describes as "Three Stooges-like"). Rance is honest, laid-back and down-to-earth. If astrology's your thing, it's easy to identify him as a Taurus. Born in Germany, Rance was a military brat, and he's still a traveling man. He studied Russian in Moscow and he hopes to make it to China sometime soon. General interests: Russian language and culture, politics (he ran for town council on the libertarian ticket a few years back) and books with male narrators. In fact, Rance is so interested in masculine literature that he organized a Blacksburg book club for men. They haven't posted a "no girls allowed" sign, but they do choose books that chronicle a male perspective. Two of their latest picks include Mark Twain's "A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court" and Terry Pratchett's "Thud!" Where you're most likely to find him: He visits the Rivermill Map Co. Bar & Grill and Sharkey's on the weekdays to avoid the weekend crowd. PK's and Bollo's coffee shop are mellow enough for him regardless of the day of the week. Rance's routine when he goes out: Caving is one of his hobbies, and early in the dating stage he likes to take a woman caving. Her reaction is usually a good way of gauging how high-maintenance she is. It's not a deal breaker, but it's always interesting to see how a potential partner will handle climbing and crawling the interior of a cave. How long he's been single: It's been two years since his last relationship, and he's never been married. Pro of single life: There's the freedom you have -- the freedom to go out with friends or travel at whim, but the benefits are starting to fade as he gets closer to a "settling-down phase." Con of single life: You don't have anyone to share your experiences with; books, movies and far-off destinations are more fun when you have somebody to talk about them with. Of course, you can share those experiences with friends, but it lacks the kind of intimacy you can achieve with a significant other. Whom he'd like to meet: He doesn't have a lot of patience for vanity. He finds honest, intelligent women who are comfortable with themselves and where they are in life appealing. Rance doesn't identify with any religious sect, so he'd like to find a woman who's OK with that. In the next five years, Rance hopes to: Open his own business. Two possible starting points include writing computer software or organizing traveling tours abroad. How he rates Blacksburg's single life on a scale of 1 to 5: 2 Why? There's a fair amount of variety in venue, but as time passes, he has less in common with the prevalence of Blacksburg's twentysomethings. Best date: Hiking works as a first date because it gives you a chance to talk and get to know each other, while still allowing for comfortable silences. Worst date: Blind dates are usually uncomfortable, and Rance couldn't take a dance club date early on. While he does enjoy dancing, he's a bit self-conscious about it. He saves his dance floor debuts for foreign cities and even then there's usually a fair amount of alcohol involved. How to approach Rance: Flirting isn't one of his best skills. An attractive woman flirting with him isn't going to hurt his feelings, but back-and-forth bantering has never been his forte. So open interest is usually the easiest way. |
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