A picture's worth a thousand words (from creepy old dudes)

I'm just not as popular as I used to be. Traffic on my profile has been way down compared to previous attempts. I should be delighted that I'm not getting tons of messages from guys who've never read a book, but I just feel rejected. Or old. There is just no pleasing some people. The decline could be because I outed myself as someone looking for the real deal, the new set of pictures, or the addition of a year to my birthday. Being scientific about this, I decided to change one of these variables. But not back to how it originally was. I mean, that would really be scientific. But I'm only a social scientist, so it's ok.

So I changed the pictures. When I set up my profile this time, I used three pictures.

1. Sultry stare: Following advice from OkCupid, I went with the sultry stare into the camera. Or as best as I can pull something like that off. The picture is brand spanking new too.

2. Quirky fun: Don't let that intense look fool you! I also drink beer, just like girls you'd want to hang out with.

3. Look! I go places!: The full body shot of me standing next to a Medieval wall. Just who you'd want to travel with-- the girl in a baggy t-shirt and weird shoes.

Unfortunately, the best picture anyone's ever taken of me did not make the cut. It's really out of date at this point. But it makes my boobs look really big (not a lie), so I wondered if its absence explained my sudden lack of popularity. Also, the large rack cuts both ways. In a baggy t-shirt it just makes me look chubby or pregnant as evidenced by picture 3.

Since I don't spend my time on vacation standing in front of things, I was limited for a substitute. I also apparently spend my time at parties making emphatic points to people. The evidence doesn't lie—there are loads of pictures of me talking, hands caught mid-wild gesticulation. Do I want to date this girl, or just engage in hand-to-hand combat?

In the end, I put in a picture from my birthday last year wearing a sexy top. It's waist up so should be enough to convince people I didn't lie about my weight class. The disadvantage is that I have a drink in my hand. Chubby girl who travels or hot girl who drinks too much? I guess we'll find out which is better. Since the re-post, I got a few more your-picture-is-amazing messages so that's not actually an improvement. (Seriously. No pleasing me.) But we'll see if the change convinces guys I contact to email me back.