Thursday, March 09, 2006

My Internet Dating Experiences

Before I get to my long awaited blog about the world of internet dating, I do have a few business items to take care of. First the Oregon Ducks are now just nine wins from a national title, the beat Washington State tonight. Tommorrow they face the hated Washington Huskies at 8:30 PM on Fox Sports Net. Second item of business is my NCAA tournament pool that I previously announced, sign up today. It's only $10 bucks and if you live outside the greater Eugene-Springfield Metropolitin area you can pay via paypal or US mail.

Now as promised my long awaited blog on Internet Dating

As a single 29 year old Christian male there aren't many places to meet quality women. There's the bar scene, but I'm not really into that and I don't of too many single Christian women who are either. There's church which can be a good place but it seems like everyone at my church is either married or way too young. There's the career group, more commonly known as the singles group at the church, but those groups always seem to be filled with a bunch of socially awkward people who don't understand what a personal bubble is. There's friends, but it seems like everytime a friend has tried to set me up it's been a failure. Then there's the internet. Years ago I thought internet dating was just for desperate losers but I've come to realize it 's actually a good place to meet people.

On and off for the past seven years I've been of member of least one internet dating site. In fact just moments ago I was sign on at Eharmony.com. Three times in my life I've actually meet someone in person off of one of these sites. I can't say any of them were a success in fact I would I consider all three complete failures.

First there was Alexis who I met on matchmaker.com seven years ago. We met for coffee at the campus Starbucks and talked for awhile, it went ok. We actually agreed to get together one more time, for our second meeting we went to a Duck Football game. It was at the game that I realized she wasn't right for me. After the game we walked back to campus and at the end day I told her I'd call her later on. I never called, I was a jerk! Several times that school year I saw her but I managed to avoid her seeing me. That was until one day in March at the U of O bookstore. I was leaving just a she was coming in. It may have been the most awkward 30 second conversation I've ever had. It was pleasant and we went our seperate ways and I never saw her again.

Second there was Melissa whom I met six years ago on yahoo personals. She lived in Salem, so one Friday night I made the one hour drive up to Salem to meet her. We had dinner at Red Robin it was an OK time, except for the fact that three of her friends happened to be at the same restaraunt that night. After that night we emailed a couple more times but it just wasn't meant to be. She just kind of dissapeared after a couple emails.

Finally there was Andrea who I met on eharmony last June. We met for dinner one night and had a great time. After a few emails and a two hour phone conversation we had our second date, again we had a great time. As we said goodbye we discussed date number three, it was definatly going to happen or so I thought. The phone calls and emails went unreturned until about to weeks later when I got an email that read something like this "I really enjoyed getting together and you seem like a really neat guy but I don't see us being anything more than friends". That was the last time I ever heard from her. That may have been the best thing to happen to me though because it was after that that I made some changes. Even though I made that pledge to cut a few pounds several months earlier, it was only after Andrea booted me that I started running 800,000 miles a week. I wonder what she'd think if she saw me now.

So those are my experiences in the world of internet dating. It hasn't been too so successful but neither has using more traditional means. So I'll keep on trying, not real hard though because I actually enjoy being single for now.

2 comments:

justin ubel said...

Could you please expound on the two-date-wall and the phrase "kicked to the curb"?

Chris Steele said...

Don't worry, Dennis. I had a two-month wall right up until I got engaged after dating Jon for 2 1/2 months. Walls aren't necessarily bad because then you know when you're past them, and when you have a very good thing.