</p><p>Note: This story originally appeared Sunday, October 16, 2005</p><p>`Anastacia'</p><p>Five-second bio: She's 32; an event planner; grew up near Chicago and lives in Waldo. Relationship status: Single.</p><p>Social circles: It's hard to meet men here, she says. "You walk into a place like the Kona Grill, no one talks, no one mingles. The people you come with are the people you talk to."</p><p>Crash: But if your car breaks down, 10 people will pull over to help. "Do I have to have my car break down every day on the Plaza to meet people?"</p><p>She could write a book: Really - on bad dates. She was set up with one guy by his mom, a co-worker of hers. He drove a semi, had a huge belt buckle and for dinner took her to a truck stop with the rest of his family.</p><p>Thanks, Dad: "I'm OK with being single, but it's just when I get that phone call from my dad: `Are you dating? I really don't want you to die alone.'"</p><p>Read her diary: She thinks KC has an identity crisis - and so do its men.</p><p>`Chris in Olathe'</p><p>Five-second bio: He's 33; a marketing manager for an auto manufacturer; grew up in Flint, Mich., and now lives in Olathe.</p><p>Relationship status: Single.</p><p>Heartbreaker: He met a woman after moving here and was with her for three years. And then "I basically walked away because I didn't want to get married to her. ... I just had some doubts. I didn't want to get married just because we'd been together three years and this was the next logical step."</p><p>Miss Wrong: Now, if he realizes the woman he's with isn't the one for him, he gets out of it. "I would rather be single and have myself available to meet someone else."</p><p>Where the girls are: He has met women at his doctor's office, at a New Year's Eve party, in a co-ed softball league. He's exploring alternatives to the bar scene, such as Young Friends of Art.</p><p>Read his diary: He'll discuss how his attitude toward dating has evolved.</p><p>Hampton Stevens</p><p>Five-second bio: He's 37; a freelance writer whose resume includes The New York Times online and ESPN.com; grew up in Johnson County and now lives in midtown.</p><p>Relationship status: Single (a "serial monogamist currently in hookup phase").</p><p>Meet and greet: "In terms of places to meet people, Kansas City is atomized" - very nichey. At "divorcee bars on the Plaza," a woman you encounter is likely to have gotten the house and be "a formerly desperate housewife."</p><p>Why he has never married: He says he's too selfish, too set in his ways. And "I never met a woman who was man enough for me."</p><p>Men's libber: Stevens decries the male-bashing he sees as prevalent today. Men too often get the short end of the stick when it comes to divorce and child custody, he says.</p><p>Read his diary: "I expect to take thinly veiled shots at women who've done me wrong," he jokes. And he'll "get people dialed in to just some cool, jammin' vibe in Cowtown, baby."</p><p>`Jacinthe'</p><p>Five-second bio: 30-something; works in interior design; has lived most of her life in the Kansas City area, these days in south KC.</p><p>Relationship status: Single.</p><p>The `L' word: Jacinthe, who's gay, isn't big on the bar scene. For one thing, "lots of straight people hang out in gay bars," so you can't assume anything. And you have to worry about "lesbian-baiting - people setting you up to do you harm."</p><p>Go online: "It seems like the Internet is the mode of choice for 30-somethings. I'm just starting to embrace that. It's taken some time to accept that that's what it may take."</p><p>Single vs. unsingle: "I'm realizing I'm so particular, and I think that's mainly why I am single at this point in my life." She thinks too many gay people stay in bad relationships just because it's hard to meet someone new.