I Kissed Online Dating Goodbye!

I (M) am pretty excited to say that I have killed my online dating account. Freedommmmmm! Kissing online dating goodbye is a big sigh of relief. No more winks. No more messages. No more profile views. No more chatty IMers. 


So, what have I learned... Well, honestly, about two and a half weeks ago, I would have said, I learned that online dating is not for me. I would have said that I learned that I am not in a place to meet someone this way. I would have said that the online dating men in my age range are not my type. I would have said that enduring the creepers and the pick-up line emails was not worth the small handful of good emails and nice guys and dates. I would have said that it is so unnatural to meet someone this way. But, it is not two and a half weeks ago. It is today. And today, the most skeptical one has a confession to make: I might like a boy. And I think he might like me back. And online dating might have been a success for me. 


Mango Smoothie and I went out yesterday (Sunday because I had Monday off work, thanks Casimir Pulaski). Met in Oak Park for dinner and a movie. We were meeting at 7 and I was ready at... 5:15. Ha. Luckily, he texted me at 5:40 and said that if I happened to arrive much earlier than 7, he would be at the Starbucks down the street. I took the opportunity to flirt a bit and encourage him to keep his eye out for a cute Asian girl. So I took a few more deep breaths and then hit the road and met him at 6:45. 


Dinner was great, conversation felt very comfortable and I remember laughing a lot. We grabbed after dinner coffee because we had plenty of time to kill before the movie. Again, good conversation. We covered why he was doing online dating - mostly to "try it out" and because in his experience, he felt that there had to be someone better than the girls he was meeting at bars and in his friend group. I explained my reasons for online dating and how I attempted to sabotage my account. He responded by saying that my ridiculous standards was what he liked about my profile - he could tell that I did not NEED a boyfriend, and he liked that. Okay enough recounting the conversation. Movie was mediocre, but we had fun with it. No hand-holding despite my efforts to leave it out there.


So, when I got home, I got a text saying that he wouldn't be opposed to a study date tomorrow (Monday, again, thanks Casimir Pulaski). That would be today. So today, got on the Metra, lunched at Panera, tried to read, played some cards (I lost), went for a walk, talked, laughed... Considering we didn't really do anything, it was pretty great. A fourth date is planned for Friday and there has been some discussion along the lines of things are going good and we're both pretty happy about that. 


So what have I learned... Anything is possible. Even for the most skeptical person. And yes, Hollywood, I will sell you my story, so long as you cast Joseph Gordon Levitt as my counterpart.


And with that, I believe I have sufficiently contributed to the blog and thank you all for reading. 


-M