You see... I prefer the woman to always make the first move, and initiate conversation...
I wish women would do that as much as much us guys do, would make the dating game more easier..for us guys
BA you keep mentioning being or not being attractive. If this worries you I'd like to suggest that you find someone to ask about it, as in "what do you think I could do to improve my looks".
I once asked a similar question from a female friend of mine. It was in a time when I was thinking if I ever will find a gf myself. Anyway, I asked from her basicly if its my apperance that turns women away from me aka "Am I too ugly?". She told me that I am not and gave me a big hug. Later she confessed to me that she lied plus told me that I am ugly, too skinny..and basicly in her own words "Yuck..eeh"(
friends, huh
?) Well, at least she apologized

I stopped asking the question, because of what happened..and when I finally started dating I realised that there is someone for everyone, and that swimming in self-pity doesnt really do anything good
I mean, speaking again just from my own male perspective, I'm always thinking that the women is automatically measuring any guy against a standard like Fabio or some type of image of what their ideal fantasy man would be like..
There is
fantasy and then there is
reality.
Its true that women are often very vocal about their idea of a perfect man..but the thing is that when any one of us guys or girls fall in love, those lists usually get thrown out from the window.
We cannot really choose the person we fall in love or wont

..sucks but thats part of life.
And besides, if all women
really would want somesort of Adonis, most of guys would never date a single woman

Yeah, I'm not big on internet dating sites, mostly for the reason that I refuse to pay for the right to communicate with a woman... if things get so bad where I'll pay money to find a female, I may as well... well, you know, lol.
Bolian, you should at least give it a try

I met my current gf at OKcupid plus made new friends from there and wrote with some interesting women:
http://www.okcupid.com/
It may take some time to find the "right one" from these sites but it is very much worth the effort. One just need to have patience
(You seem to know yourself pretty well plus you like to write..so creating an honest plus good profile there should not be a problem
)
Besides, I think the OKcupid is much more fun and interesting than many other dating sites..plus its free
