Dating? Here's some advice on dates to remember from the book "How to Survive Dating" (Hundreds of Heads Books, www.hundredsofheads.com, $13.95), straight from people who've done it:

“The best date I ever had was in college. We went to a restaurant at the inn where I worked. Our food was half price. I was encouraged to be myself, so I ordered ribs. We had a good meal, ended the night holding each other, and woke up with no regrets.”

—Sugar Johnson, Brooklyn, N.Y.

“My date had arranged for a Valentine’s Day theater matinee to ‘Phantom of the Opera,” dinner in a very posh hotel dining room and an overnight stay. Everything met my fantasy of a perfectly romantic date. It included good company, relaxed timing, great theater seats,
good music, good food, dancing, attentive service, and more. I felt like he really listened to what I wanted and tried to please me.

“My best date included dinner, a play, a game of scrabble (which I won), kissing for the 12 chimes of the clock at midnight, and watching ‘Scent of a Woman,’ all in one night. I guess the trick to finding your true love is endurance.”

“The best date I ever had was backpacking with my wife-to-be at Desolation Wilderness. We were there for four days. We hiked across country, peed in the woods, and took frigid baths in Lake Aloha. We only saw seven people on that trip, all of them when we were on our way out of the woods.

“The best date I ever had involved picking up my then-girlfriend (now wife) at work in Seattle and driving 150 miles south to a huge used bookstore called Powell’s in Portland, Oregon. We took turns popping CDs into the machine. The store closed an hour after we got there, but we still got to browse a while and have coffee and dessert. On the way back we watched ice form on the antenna.”

“A guy I’d only seen once before picked me up for dinner and drove me up to a park. It was really dark, and as he took me through the woods, I began to get nervous. Then we came to a stream, and close to the water a blanket with candles had been set up. Next to that was a cooler that included wine and a wonderful dinner that he had cooked himself, complete with chocolate-covered strawberries for dessert. We ate under the moonlight, and I felt so special that someone had gone to all that trouble. I’d take a dinner like that over an expensive restaurant any day.

Hundreds of Heads Books’ survival guides offer the wisdom of the masses by assembling the experiences and advice of hundreds of people who have gone through life’s biggest challenges and have insight to share. Visit www.hundredsofheads.com to share your advice or get more information.