Online Dating

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Looking for someone to hold my hand (even when it's sweaty and gross).


A little over a year ago, my coworker asked me if I wanted to take over her Match.com account since she was already struggling to choose between two guys. At first my reaction, was “No way!” I wanted to stay strong and firmly believed I would meet my other half through friends or on a flight to California. Unfortunately for me, my coworker is very persuasive, so I caved and started my first online profile.

More than a year later I have yet to actually go on a date. While I was on Match.com I felt like I was seeing the same afaces and none of them really appealed to me. I think the larger problem was that I wasn’t really attracted to Jersey and New York guys. NYC may be my most favorite city in the world, but I’m not a big fan of the men in this area. No offense, but don’t we all have our preferences?

After the Match.com account expired, I moved over to one of the free sites, OK Cupid. I didn’t have much success on this site either, but that was mainly my fault. I was half-assing it. I think I was more interested in seeing which guys were checking me out than actually reaching out to any I found interesting, which truthfully, weren’t that many.

Now we’re more than halfway through 2013 and all of a sudden I’ve decided to finally give this online dating thing the old college try. Maybe it’s because it’s summer and the weather isn’t all gloomy anymore or perhaps I’m just tired of going to the movies alone. Or maybe it’s simply that I’m just ready. Anyway, I caved and shelled out the money for eHarmony, added a profile to Plenty of Fish, and kept my OKC profile intact. I’ve chatted with a few guys—none of them really sticking—and reached out to the ones I wanted to meet rather than waiting for them to contact me.

Have any of them contacted me? Nope. At first there’s that initial reaction of self-doubt and asking yourself, “But why?” I think that because of where I am in my life, it’s been easier for me to shrug it off a lot faster. I get it—we all have something we’re looking for and I can’t really fault the guy or myself if I’m not what he wants. I’ve gotten my own fair share of guys contacting me who seem nice, but just aren’t what I want or need. Then you get the crazy stalkers who constantly check your profile and send you messages when they clearly don’t meet the requirements you’ve indicated on your profile. They freak me out a little and I’m so glad they have no idea where I live.

I’ve been hitting these sites hard for the past week and I’m exhausted. Actively trying to find just one person to meet and hang out with takes a whole lot of work. It really is like a second job. Hopefully all the hard work will pay off like it did with my career. But I think deep down inside I’m still hoping for that chance meeting on a flight to California. I have one this Thursday—going to surprise my mom for her birthday. Keep your fingers crossed that I don’t end up next to grandma or a kid…AGAIN. Although, if I do end up next to grandma, please let her have a hot grandson she thinks I’d be perfect for in every way.