The Big First Date...

Remember when I said I was going to blog all about my “okcupid” blind dates? Well, I’m not going to do that anymore. My reason is simple: When I eventually become facebook friends with these potential men, they are going to see that I blog, and when they see that I blog about them, they may not come around anymore. Everyone has a right to privacy. Also, I don’t kiss and tell. So from now on, only the bad dates will be reported in full detail (those suitors don’t have a right to privacy)…and my date on Friday went extremely well.

We connected, we had fun and we are planning on going out again this Thursday night. Success! Why did I put off online dating for so long? This first date was definitely an exception to a rule. Usually, meeting complete strangers in person after virtually no conversation online ends in awkwardness and a pint of ice cream on the couch at 2 am. I’m sure many future dates I go on (a girl has to leave her options open, right?) will not work out quite as nicely as this one did, but I’m not as nervous anymore. As long as I’m smart, what’s the worst that can happen? – Famous last words?

People are dating online now more than ever before. I went to dinner the other night with my friend from home and her boyfriend. Her college friend, who lives in the city, joined us and said she had joined a new dating site for NYU, Columbia and other Ivy and semi-Ivy league students called “Date my school.” And of course, because things always work this way, there was an article in yesterday’s Sunday Times all about this new exclusive dating site. I am unable to join because my .edu address is not welcomed (Hey, T – want to give me yours?). But it just goes to show that there are tons of new dating sites opening up to give young professionals more than just a “meet your soul mate” option like match.com and e-harmony. Date my school is specifically for students and recent graduates looking for others who are just as exceptional and career-focused as they are (I guess they assume that if you go Ivy, you’re automatically career driven. They can work out the problematic issues with such a thought process later.) Fact is it works. Some of us just want to date and are new to the city or too busy with school and work to find the time. Dating sites like these help us find matches that we normally wouldn’t find walking the streets.

This is the future. Some of us may still meet “the one” in a bar or in the prepared food aisle of the grocery store (Patti Stanger, the Millionaire Matchmaker, keeps telling me to go there to meet eligible men), but for many of us, it’s much more about structure and planning and much less about the right place, right time scenario. I know my mother will read this and be sad for our generation. We are unable to communicate; we are all going to end up alone; but we’re working on it! We’re trying to adjust to our technological lives and if online dating is the way to do so, then by all means, let’s try every option at our disposal. Just don’t go to dinner with a stranger unless you’re certain you’ll enjoy the company. Dinner takes you past the point of no return and could end up being the longest two hours of your life.