While I cannot imagine my good luck at the incredible woman whom decided to spend the rest of her life with me, and I look forward to every day of it, marriage is not something I would do again nor recommend to anyone. Simply put marriage is more challenge than benefit AND for every couple I know it is the end of sex. Some might say that it is the challenges in our lives that improve us as people, but these are not those sorts of challenges. These are the petty little challenges that are easily surmounted, requiring no or very little personal bending to deal with. The big challenges, the ones that actually do improve us, can readily be had every day, single or not.
One common argument against this mad mindset I often hear is that kids deserve two parents. To this I say:
I have known the children of single parents, the children of a consistent pair of parents, and children of revolving sets of parents. I have also known single parents, happy couple parents, and unhappy couple parents. I cannot really make any valid generalizations about this, other than that being a single parent is not easy, but being a parent is also not easy, and the kids that turn out best have one thing in common which is that they are loved and supported by a parent.
For whatever it is worth, marriage is a silly concept created a long time ago when perhaps there was some logic in it.

It is as though I have been away from myself for a long time and grumpy little bastard took the reins while I was off. Finding it awkward to return as it makes me sad that I left. In other oddities of the mind I have always felt massively grateful about being alive as I am not familiar with another way of being, it always seemed great. Now I feel much less attached.

Getting older is worse than it seems when you are young. The slowing metabolism, the more fragile bits, these are obvious. What perhaps is more subtle is the burden of the mundane and how it increases with age. How free you are when your basic needs are covered by another. More subtle still is the mind. While I can remember a time where I could make sense of things and be surprised by the world, now I believe I am a set of conditioned responses. The original thoughts I sometimes bring up in conversation are from when I was young and cared for, the remainder is a set of actions and responses that I think would go the same way if I was sleep walking or conscious. It is not all bad though, I can eat what I like when I like.

Many unfortunate aspects regarding marriage revolve around sex:
- The knowledge that the best sex of your life is behind you, and was not with your spouse
- Sex becomes so infrequent that polite conversation between married couples often includes joking about never having sex
- Fights and guilt trips around sex frequency are not mitigated in any way by knowing it is normal not to be having sex with our spouse

I am not suggesting that sex is the most important thing in daily life, but it is something people typically enjoy, so why not do it?

In the interest of diversity (and not being a complete ass) here are some set ideas that I have not seen or not see much of:

Castaway
Tropical postcards
Waterfalls
Dumpster diving
Storage facility
Server room
Landmarks
Anything square society, like golf courses
Backstage at a theatre
Projector room at a movie theatre
Bookstore
Botanical garden
Greenhouse
Polaroids
Scrapbook
Rock/Mountain Climbing
Loch Ness Monster

More to come.

OK. I suppose I am a complete ass, but I say this with all appreciation and respect for the incredibly beautiful and courageous women of this site, but there are a handful of set settings that are thoroughly and completely done. In no particular order, I would say these are a few:

Bed
Bathtub
Candy
Attic
Against a key

That being said I cannot thank you all enough for what you do. For some reason this site makes me feel at home in the universe.