Forgive me if this applies to you, but I’ve always made fun of people who try on-line dating. Why sit at home on your computer when you could actually go out somewhere and meet people in person?! Apparently, my laziness has kicked in because… I confess to having tried an on-line dating website for a few months last year. It wasn’t anything to get excited about. Most of the men who contacted me were not attractive in my opinion. They also had little of consequence to say/write about. I stuck it out a bit, hoping beyond hope that it would turn into a positive experience. About 7 men from that site contacted me on a regular basis, though none of them ever met me. Some were afraid to give out their phone number and preferred to hide behind their E-mail, some lived in suburbia and others simply never followed through on what they’d originally planned. Oh, OF COURSE, there was one who sent me a naked picture of himself! I must admit, he had a spectacular body, but men showing me themselves naked via E-mail, in person or via Skype gets old quickly. Suffice it to say, I went off of that website and never gave it another thought.
About 3 weeks ago, I decided to try another on-line dating website. I was pleasantly surprised to find that there were much more attractive men to be found on that one. In terms of men visiting my profile, “choosing” me and sending me messages, it’s been a huge success. Three men even managed to set up dates with me; another will wait until my return from Paris. Things were looking better already.
Last night I went on my first “date” and met my first man from a dating website. T. is originally from the Midwest, works in finance, enjoys reading and has a dog that he rescued. We had agreed to meet after work at Barrique, a newish wine bar in the Financial District. Neither of us had ever been there before. I arrived before him and made myself comfortable at a booth in the back, mainly because the waitress had said that a huge group would be taking over the front momentarily. When T. arrived, it was obvious from the start that he’s a very nice man. We had a flight apiece, two additional glasses of wine and shared some burrata. He’d already scored a few points in my book for ordering burrata! The conversation flowed easily and there were no awkward silences. In fact, we were talking so much that he insisted on cancelling his dinner plans with a friend. I apologized for keeping him from his dinner plans, but he insisted that he would much rather spend the time with me. We enjoyed each other’s conversation for a good 3 hours or more. Since I’d just missed the cable car, I walked him to BART on Market Street, then walked back to California Street to catch the next cable car. He sent me a message telling me how much he’d enjoyed meeting me and said to let him know if I wanted to go for a walk or get some fresh air with his dog and him over the weekend.
My consensus at this point? Not sure. He was a very nice man. I’m sure that other women would find him attractive, but a man whose hair is starting to gray sort of freaks me out – maybe that’s because I’m used to dating men who are much younger than me! Aside from that, I didn’t feel any sparks or chemistry on my part, though got the feeling that he did. I’ve been wrong before, though, so I would probably go out with him one more time just to be sure. If there’s no love connection, which is highly probable, I’m always open to making new friends!
Tomorrow another man is taking me to lunch. On Sunday a third man would either like to take me to brunch or out for drinks in the afternoon. My gut feeling is that I’ll end up cancelling on Sunday, though; I seriously need a full day to devote to packing and finalizing all of the finer points for my trip. If I’ve been drinking, that just won’t happen!
