This is a think piece in preparation for my next personals ad. Funny thing is, I hate personals, mostly because I pretty much shun meeting new people. Anybody who enjoys the dating process is deeply disturbed, anyway, but meeting a total stranger cold just because it seems like a good idea on paper -- that's a whole different ballgame. It's about as much fun as a job interview at the dog food factory.
My experiences with personals have been a mixed bag thus far. Best case: I had a fling with one really cool guy, but I'm not sure it counts, since it was actually his best friend whom I met on the personals board. Awkward. Worst case: I woke up in a stranger's room only to find out later that my housemate had had exactly the same experience just a few weeks earlier. I mean exactly. Really awkward.
One thing about blind dates is there's that unpredictable chemistry question: it can be as flat as last night's opened beer, or it can knock you out of your panties from across the room. And it's fickle in a way no number of flirtatious emails can predict. I have a friend who carried on a torrid email affair with a guy she met online for about two weeks; on the big night he picked her up -- and then returned her about twenty minutes later. In the car on the way to the restaurant, they had discovered instant mutual non-chemistry, and had the brains to call it a wash rather than putting themselves through yet another bad date. Good call. At least if you meet someone at a party or through friends, you have some time to suss out that tricky attraction factor prior to winding up sitting across the table from him or her at some gruesome trendy bar with the evening ahead looking about as long as War & Peace.
So why is it I'm thinking about posting again? I'll get to that later. (Probably in part 3 of this particular rant.) There's also . . .
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