Chronicles of Online Dating - Part 1

Here it goes.  Taking a huge gulp, swallowing my pride and revealing secrets about my dating life. 

**GULP!!!!**

So I just recently decided to join Match.com, which is a decision I’m still unsure whether or not I’m in agreement with.  I did it about 6-7 years ago when I lived in Atlanta and was fine with it then.  I was young, bored and desperately wanted to meet someone.  Fast forward to present day and meet 29 (very soon to be 30) year old Bekah who is miss independent, secure and satisfied.  As I progressed through my mid to late 20’s, I learned who I actually was and became not only satisfied being single, but really enjoyed it.  Those dreams of getting married right out of college and having kids now look like a nightmare.  I have genuinely enjoyed my life as of late and am very content with where I am.  Recently however, I’ve begun to think that I have become too independent and closed off.  I am not gung ho on going on a dating frenzy or getting into a relationship but I do feel like I need to spice up the dating life to keep myself open.  So, after talking myself out of it and deleting my profile about 10 times, I decided I’d do Match for one month, and one month only.  Granted I picked December, probably the worst possible time to give it a try, but whatevs. I'm not really into it or totally committed so 30 days is the best I can do.

This is where theses blog entries are really going to begin.  Being on Match, you clearly are confronted with a plethora of shocking, funny, enjoyable and horrendous occurances.  While I will likely not provide day by day updates or detailed information about my progress (ok who am I kidding…they are probably all going to be tale worthy) I am going to give all of you men out there some recommendations and guidelines.  It is shocking the lack of “game” or as I like to call it, integrity, some men have. 

Let’s get started, shall we?

• ·        If you are going to email a girl on Match, think of something other than “Hi. What’s up?”  An email like that guarantees immediate filing into the “trash” file without even looking at your profile.
• ·        If I make it clear in my profile that dating someone who believes in God is a must and you are Agnostic or an Atheist, it’s probably NOT going to work out.  This only leads me to believe that you must not understand what the definition of your said religious belief even means.
• ·        If you live 5 (or even 1) state away, do you really think this is going to go anywhere?
• ·        If the first thing you say in your email (which also happens to be the first thing said in your profile) is “I own my own home” I will probably (definitely) make judgements about your personality.  Perhaps incorrectly and unfairly so, but if you are trying to make the point that you are financially stable or responsible, there are numerous other ways to do so that don’t make you look like a pretentious showboater.
• ·        If you’re going to be lazy and unoriginal by copy/pasting the same email to all of the girls you contact, at least make sure what you are pasting is still relevant.  I will not let you off the hook even if it means I lose you as a potential date, because you need to learn a lesson!  I had a guy email me last week on Wednesday and say “Hey! How’s your weekend going?” My response was “Well, if it were the weekend, I’m sure it would be fantastic, but my week is going well.”  I had this happen again last week when a guy emailed me talking about all the sports he liked when he said “I love baseball as well and am really into watching the World Series right now!  It’s so exciting.”  Oh really?  The World Series is still going on the week before Christmas?  Did they call a rematch or something????  Come on guys, get it together!
• ·        If you ask me for more pictures, your chances of our conversing continuing drop at least 70%.  I have about 12 photos on my profile ranging from dressy to sporty to self portraits on my phone, which we all know, are not forgiving.  I intentionally put a wide range of photos up so that there is no mistaking the “real” me.  If you need to see more than 12 pictures to decide whether or not I am worth meeting, congratulations you are spectacularly shallow!
• ·        Lastly – to the one who sends decent emails for a week with good grammar, seemingly strong character, and decent questions but then throws out the “I’m really just interested in an f-buddy”….I am currently Google searching where you went to preschool and asking your teacher to re-enroll you because you are clearly a child. 

 That’s just week one.  Fortunately I am only giving myself 4 weeks!