I've often found online dating to be a weird, impersonal thing, that I had assumed only the desperate turned to. I was wrong. Very, very wrong. Not only have I been schooled on this topic by all of my friends- my ex, had a lot of luck with online dating. He unfortunately had a lot of success on okcupid.com while dating me-- but that's entirely beside the point.
Someone outline the reasons for the success of online dating- people do everything online these days, including finding their perfect significant other. Folks who are utterly quirky are able to find the ying to their yang, and meet that certain someone who is perfectly quirky just like them. If they could find love, couldn't I do the same?
I figured it was worth a shot. So, I jumped through the hoops, created a profile and after days of muddling with it, took the bigger plunge- I put up photos. Yikes! The immediate response from men on the site was overwhelming to say the least, but I was dedicated to churning. (Thanks again, Betti!) So I figured it was time to take the plunge.
I responded, flirted, and tried to figure out what my dealbreakers were. Sooner than I was ready, I had a date. Let's call him Mr. Awkward Laugh. He's super sweet-- tonight was suddenly hit by rainfall so he unfortunately showed up to our date soaked to the bone. I tried to be diplomatic and put him at ease, but it was clear that he was so uncomfortable. (I definitely would be too, while getting caught in the rain is fun, it's never the first impression you want to make).
He took a moment to dry off in the bathroom, and then we started to warm up to each other. We probably spent 2.5 hours together at dinner, chatting through the mundane (TV shows we watch), to the more interesting (challenging roommates- my worst instance was someone with serious drug problems).
Overall, It was a lot of fun. I came home with a smile on my face, and no real complaints. He insisted on driving me home, which I probably shouldn't have agreed to, but he was SO nice. He didn't try to kiss me, but we did exchange an effortless hug and phone numbers at the end of the night.
We've already had a text back and forth and are making plans for Sunday night. He's looking up some bands that I mentioned this evening, and I'm processing it all. After some of the dating horror stories I've heard, could it really be this easy? Or did I just make it so?
On the flipside- Ben has NO idea how angry I am with him. I've gotten no less than 8 texts from him today. I'm waiting for the finnicky designer to come over (more on him later), but am unsure as to whether he'll still be in the mood to spend time with me once he's done riding his fixed gear bike to my apt from downtown.
Wish me luck blogosphere- tomorrow is certainly a new day
PS Mr. AL paid for dinner and drinks & gave me the leftovers.
