Let's play with Matches!

Well, I had every intention in the world of writing something yesterday, but time got away from me. I’ve actually had quite a bit going on, and wanted to give it a proper introduction. As you know, I've jumped into the online dating pool. Sure, it's a slightly embarrassing avenue for meeting girls, but I've brushed my apprehension aside and pledged to give it everything I’ve got. So finally my profile was good to go (after a couple of re-writes), and I was ready to Match. Which brings us to this….welcome to Date Week 2008!! (applause)

So, I began trading emails with a girl named…umm…Penny (I’m gonna use pseudonyms). On paper, she was perfect. She liked sports, but also museums. She was pretty. She seemed sharp. After a few emails, we decided to meet for a drink. The date was set: Wednesday. Was it really that easy?

I also began to get a handful of emails from some other girls. I wrote back, they wrote back…it was fun. I started talking to a geologist – her name was…er…Fanny? (name suggestions are more than welcome, by the way). She seemed really cool too. Now, I don’t know if everyone sounds perfect on paper, or if I just happened to have met two perfect girls in my first three days on the site…umm…not likely. Anyway, Fanny wants to have a drink. We haven't set a day yet, but I'm assuming it'll be this week. It is, after all...Date Week 2008!

(side note: here’s something I wasn’t expecting – the residual Match confidence booster. I’d been getting emails from cute girls who were interested in me, so naturally, my confidence began to grow. I was out Friday night at a bar, and saw this very intimidating girl sitting and talking to her (also intimidating) friend. And when I say “intimidating” – she was blonde, pretty, dressed very nice, very girly, sipping a glass of champagne…I mean, this simply isn’t the kind of girl I approach. Ever. So maybe it was the seven beers I’d had, but something gave me the courage to plop down and start chatting them up. I made her laugh and I was blabbing and blabbing and I ended up getting her number and we planned on meeting for drinks this week. Let’s call her Gabby. Welcome to Date Week 2008, Gabby! Anyway...)

Here’s my concern about Match. Part of me feels it's just like playing the lottery (though not in that "one in a billion" sense. Stay with me here). Let's say you buy a lotto ticket….actually, let me use a true-life example. The Texas Mega Millions was $165 million a couple weeks ago, so when I was in Dallas, I decided to buy a ticket. Why the hell not, right? It was actually a really great decision, because it made the four hour drive back to Houston perfectly bearable. I spent the whole car trip daydreaming about what it would be like if I actually won. I was thinking about my new apartment in New York, my apartment in Austin, what kind of car I would buy...it was a nice dose of fantasy. Well, it's the same thing with Match. You find this girl and you trade emails and you build the person up in your head. You get excited. When you picture them, they're beautiful and smart and funny and sexy. And then judgment day arrives.

When the numbers were drawn on that following Tuesday, I really didn't want to check my ticket. I knew I hadn't won. I'm kinda worried it's gonna be the same thing here. The fantasy is over. Time to check the numbers. Maybe I'll win nothing, maybe I'll win three dollars. Maybe she'll be everything I've ever wanted, but the odds are against me. Anyway.

So I actually had to change my Wednesday drinks with Penny to last night because a friend of mine was going to be flying into town that day (kinda last second). Last week she mentioned that Monday and Wednesday worked best for her. And now Wednesday was out the window. So I sent her a Match email at around 3:00 yesterday and asked if we could do tonight (Monday) instead. Because I'm way too impatient and I sure as hell wasn't going to wait until next week to meet her. She emailed me back that yes, tonight was fine. Where should we go?

So I did a little digging and found this bar that was kinda dumpy but in a "cool" part of town, and we met there. I was actually pretty nervous while I was getting ready and while I was waiting for her to show up. She showed up. And she was pretty. She looked just like her best pictures, if not a little better. She was tall, really pretty blue eyes, long blonde hair. I had lowered my expectations so much that I truly was pleasantly surprised. It was really awkward for the first five minutes or so. We talked a little about Match and how strange the whole process was. She talked about the weird guys who were emailing her and "winking" at her. We talked about Austin, about New York, about work. Basically it was a blind date. We drank and drank and she revealed that she does indeed smoke (despite the protestation of "never!" on her profile), so we had a smoke and drank some more. It felt like we were loosening up toward the end. I made her laugh, she talked a lot. It was fine.

Umm...and that's about it. I really wish I had more to write, but I just don't. It was what it was. We met for beers, talked for about four hours, I walked her to her car, we had a little smooch, I went home. Was she nice? Sure. Do I feel any yearning? No. Will I call her to hang out again? Mmm...I honestly don't know. She's moving about a mile from my apartment, so I'm sure I'll give her a call at some point. But I don't really feel any urgency. I'm not quite sure what I was expecting. Actually, yes I do. I was expecting to be completely and totally disappointed. But I wasn't. But...I kinda was too. Because I didn't hit the jackpot. I won three dollars. Oh well. Did I really think the first one was gonna be the last one? Nah.

So welcome to Date Week 2008! I can't believe this is all happening so quickly! Hopefully more updates to come on the happenings with Penny, Fanny and Gabby! Stay tuned.