Hollywood movies, Hallmark cards, nosy parents - they are in a conspiracy to make us miserable for being single. Without such reminders, we wouldn't have complexes about not having a significant other. To be sure, it is a pleasant thought for a single guy to have what is known as a 'relationship.' Our nagging friends insist that we will 'mature' from the experience. But isn't maturity overrated?

You may have had a girlfriend before but for one reason or another, you parted ways, whether amicably or in some embarrassingly chaotic scene. Did you grow in some way from the experience? Perhaps yes. But are you sorry for being single again?

Be grateful. Let us hear it from KC, a typical California surfer dude, who has been in a relationship for the past three years. Sure, he loves his girlfriend Lianne, but in a drunken stupor, he revealed to me the things that he missed about being single.

"I'm so sorry I don't see you guys that much," he mumbled between heaves. "You know what I miss the most? Free time for my guy friends - you guys! Whatever happened to our random trips around the city drinking beer and screaming at the top of our lungs? That was so eighties movie-ish!"

Taking him on his offer to share what he was feeling, I asked, "What else do you miss of being single?"

"Back then, I actually saved money. Lianne doesn't scrounge off me really, she even makes more money than I do. But paying for all the gas and the food we eat out, and the trips out of town every month - it all adds up to zero savings. I think I'm even behind my credit card payments."

He went on: "And I was good at basketball once! I could make a 12 foot baseline jumper no sweat, it was my specialty, my 'bread and butter' shot! Now I couldn't make a layup to save my life! Life is unfair!"

Before passing out, he also mumbled about his "career growth," and how he wished he could focus harder on his projects for internet and software companies. He estimated, in an almost hieroglyphic formula, that it would take 1.8 times longer to get to his dream position in his company.

So that it wouldn't sound so sad, I shook him a bit and said, "Lianne is worth it anyway, right?" But he could only say, "I don't know."

Miserable being single? Maybe you don't appreciate enough the time with your male friends, the financial savings, and the more time to pursue your career path and hobbies that being unattached allows.