Places to Meet Single Men

I'm surrounded by female friends and relations who continually lament the lack of dating opportunities for ladies in their mid-thirties. Personally, I'm hit on all the time, and I've been married 6 years. And it's not just because I'm married (and so unavailable) or look like Megan Fox (not even close), it's that the things I do for fun have an enormously skewed male to female ratio (and I don't always wear a wedding ring). If you're looking for new places to meet men, here are my suggestions:

(1) To meet cowboys join a sport that uses guns. Many, many guys out there are looking for a lady who shoots, or at least is tolerant of their love of the shooting sports. I have attended, participated in, and enjoyed events held by the Single Action Shooting Society which combines guns and costume competitions, rather like a renaissance festival of the wild west. The International Practical Shooting Confederation and the International Defensive Pistol Association, are both fun handgun competitions. There are organizations for just about anything you can think of to do with any kind of firearm that seems interesting to you.

It's not a problem if you've never held a gun in your life and don't currently own one - just show up to an event and start asking questions. If you don't want to be a total noob, the National Rifle Association offers all kinds of beginning classes, including some that are women-only (not great for meeting men though). You can also check the internet for private classes in your area, although I'd try to get a recommendation for one, as there are some really bad private outfits out there who will teach you terrible habits.

(2) To meet geeks join a martial art. Like shooting guys, guys who love martial arts dream of finding someone that they can train with forever. I personally enjoy a form of Aikido, but there are lots of other arts out there - look around until you see something that interests you. Avoid any place that won't let you take a free lesson or watch one or two. Really good places tend to require you to watch at least one lesson before they'll take your money so that you know what you are getting in to, and fun places won't require a year's commitment; they figure that you'll want to stay. You may need to pay an up-front fee when you join to cover the cost of the gi/uniform.

(3) To meet charming, sociable guys join your local libertarian party or tea party movement. You can probably find the same male to female ratio for any really fiscally conservative candidate (look for opinions about the Federal Reserve to judge the candidate's conservatism. If s/he talks about it at all, you're good). If you're a Democrat, you may be SOL - the demographic skews strongly toward women (of course, if you'd like to meet a nice girl, this is a great option). The tea party and libertarian movements are generally broadly painted as kooks and crazies, and I'm not saying they don't exist, but I've met a ton of nice single guys with good jobs who just have a bee in their bonnet for fiscal conservatism.

Even if you're only vaguely interested in one of these topics, it might be worthwhile to give it a try. Even if you don't find the guy of your dreams, you might pick up a great hobby!