Friday, July 10, 2009

By The Numbers: Online Dating History Edition


In the world of online dating, chemistry is an elusive thing. My hot and heavy recent encounters with hunky cop and Match.com member Rich got me to thinking about my long history with seeking romance in cyberspace.

It was my good friend and diva extraordinaire Heidi who convinced me back in ‘04 to sign up with Match.com. Since then, I’ve had my share of both lackluster dates and unexpected sparks.

Here are some of my online dating milestones -- By The Numbers:

Number of online dating sites tried: 5
Number of first dates that failed to merit a second: 11
Number of online connections that stretched to two dates: 2
Number of Match.com boyfriends whose dogs were a factor in our breakup: 1
Number of weeks spent texting a Jdate.com guy before saying no to date #2: 4

That JDater was Scott, who had a penchant for texting -- and for inviting me out at the last minute. Interestingly, he said I was being ‘difficult’ for not obliging him.

“So difficult,” he wrote in a text message, “I think I may have to kiss u for days to keep you in one place xo.”

Considering we’d only gone out once, his overture seemed creepy rather than cute.

When I finally told him -- by text, of course -- that our scheduling patterns would prohibit a second date, I couldn’t help appreciating the irony. After all, I pointedly mention in my online profile an aversion to interminable email/IM/text communication. With good reason, as Scott reminded me.

Coming up…the effect of weddings and babies season and the importance of a mutual spark.

1 comment:

J. Philip said...

I met my wife on the old AOL personals, which are long gone now, replaced by match.com. We exchanged emails and IMs for 7 months before meeting in person. In general I found that the more I vetted them online, the more likely we would have good chemistry in person.