Have just been to Deed's blog for updates. Am happy and glad for her that she had moved along...
I believe that being comfortable with being alone while searching/waiting for your partner is not such a bad thing. It helps you to be clearer with what you are looking/searching for in your partner.
Starting by being just friends will help in understanding the person better, the thoughts, the characters... You will learn/see the person as he/she is 1st and see if you can get along.
Like a saying goes, a leopard can never change its spots. It will be better that you have accepted the person after you knew that something in him/her rather than because you are together.
Love is not blind. But it is blind because it made people too stuborn to believe in what they know and see. Hehe... I have been through a couple of times the former. So take care, everybody.