The New Time Suck

O.K., so some might say I have a slight propensity to addiction. (See: online poker. Which I hardly ever play anymore, by the way, so there is hope.) I never thought, however, that I'd become addicted to an online dating site.

If eHarmony is a stupendously boring church sermon that makes you wish someone would shoot you in the head and get it over with, Match.com is a wild, crazy party that goes on all night. When we left off yesterday morning, I had just posted my profile and had a few winks and e-mails. (By the way, a wink is when someone just sends you a little message that they've viewed your profile and are interested, but they don't actually write anything--they're waiting for you to initiate contact.) Then I left for the day to go visit my sister in Sandusky, and by the time I checked back in around 9:00 last night, I had about 12 winks and 10 e-mails. Today, those numbers are about doubled. Of course, I can't possibly respond to all of them--this could quickly turn into a second career if I did that. But I do find myself surfing around almost compulsively, exchanging e-mails with some people, and I have to say--it's a hoot. Unless a lot of people are blatantly lying, there are quite a few genuinely interesting guys on there. We talk a lot about music and books and music and such, good places to go out in Columbus, cool restaurants and shows, etc. Some of them, of course, I have no interest in actually dating--and I've been clear about that, and everyone so far has been perfectly fine and cordial about it. They'll just say, "It's been nice chatting with you--good luck!" or something like that. I haven't really gotten a weird or creepy vibe from anyone yet. I'm sure there are some less-than-desirable people on there somewhere, but I plan on being very selective about who I actually meet, so overall, I've got a good feeling about it--and it's just a lot of fun.

I am staying realistic about the whole thing, though. A lot of these people have been on the site for a while, and I understand that it's a common phenomenon that when a new person signs up who seems even slightly interesting and/or attractive, everyone kind of pounces. Hell, I've only been on the site for a few days, and I would do the same thing if a new attractive, interesting person's profile appeared. So, this attention might not last forever--and that's fine. I'm just concentrating now on cultivating e-mail relationships with the real prospects . . . and actually learning a few new things about Columbus in the process.

So, my first date is Thursday night. His name is Craig, he's 31, and he works for a wine importer. Should be interesting. He's got four photos posted on his profile, and in each one, he looks a little different--I'm curious about which one he'll look like in person (if any--you never know!) I will give a full report after, of course. No expectations except to satisfy my curiosity and hopefully have some good conversation. We shall see.