Aww, I hear despair and defeat. Please try not to give up! I think that there are relatively few matches out there for quality people like yourself. So you end up having to wait for another person of your sort to come along before anything really happens. You're definitely not ugly! Even if you *weren't* what is commonly considered attractive, you have a lot of great qualities, IMO. Not everyone cares only about salaries and god-like looks. I personally give no damns about such things if I don't like someone's mind. Salary only matters to the point of being able to support one's self and contribute. Surely I'm not the only girl who thinks that way.

Oh, and the comment about dating to find out about your personal qualities - throwing some of those out there would be what would more likely get you the dates, act as that hook to get someone to take a step towards you. Unfortunately, a lot of people are time-crunched and want to have an idea ahead of time about what personal qualities you might have that would make them want to invest. It's tough to go on a bunch of dates just to figure out if people are honest, sensitive, creative, heart-on-sleeve -- whatever. It's also telling what you would choose to say about yourself, what adjectives you would use. You know?