A Blind Date After Meeting Online
Read more articles on Relationships and Let Me Share With You.November 14, 2007
Posted by Karen Amato Schwartz
November 14, 2007
Posted by Karen Amato Schwartz
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The other night, I was talking to a friend (you know who you are!) about her upcoming blind date with a gentleman she met through an online personal ad. It got me to thinking about the possibilities that exist today in romance.
Half a lifetime ago, I joined a dating club where a person needed to write a narrative about their life, interests and relationship expectations, and the write-ups were published in a booklet which was sent out monthly. When a person received a call from someone, they could look up the profile to find out about them. It was unsophisticated, but got the job done. I actually met 10 men during that year, but I saw no one more than once. (I was at the time in my life where I was looking for magic and fairy dust, which are pretty hard to find.)
Anyway, it wasn’t a bad experience, and I wonder if today’s singles have it easier with immediate emailing and instant messaging at their disposal-not to mention Myspace, complete with pictures. Is it just me, or do you think that after reading some of the stuff that people write and seeing their albums, there’s no mystery left to get to know them better? I guess in a way it’s good as it saves everyone time. But has some of the intrigue gone from a blind date?
A year or so ago I wrote an article here about “Those Personal Ads”, commenting on how some folks go to extents in selling themselves. But, with the advent of Craig’s List’s free personals, self-promotion seems to be getting worse. For the fun of it, I read some ads yesterday and was surprised how explicit some are. With apparently no editorial monitoring, a person can say just about anything-and a few are adult content. It really ruins it for those who are hoping to meet someone for a “real” relationship. Most of the posters are between 21 and 35 and some are blatently honest about their search, whether for long term or just for fun.
What really tickled me was a category I’d not seen before, called “missed connections”. (Yes, I know I’m old and out of it.) This is where a person can place an ad saying something to the effect of “I was at the McDonald’s on Wood St. last night and you were at the next table wearing a green hat-please contact me.” For some inexplicable reason, I love it! If I happened to be single, I think it would be hard to stay away from this site, checking to see if anything could apply to me! Folks wrote about noticing others in elevators, driving past them on main roads…even walking down the street. That takes awareness of others to a whole new higher level and opens one up to endless possibilities of meeting people…although stranger danger is increased as well. (I would absolutely love to contact people to see if the object of their attention ever got in touch with them …)
So, even with a myriad of personal ads, instant communication, voice mail and cell phones, the age-old human problem of personal connection still exists. Wouldn’t it be nice, if, for just one day, everyone could connect with the one person who’s on their mind? Whether it’s the guy from the deli who wrapped their order, to the gal that seems perfect but hasn’t answered your personal ad, to the person you left your life sometime back…we all could use one day of magic and fairy dust. Here’s hoping that if you’re looking for it, it will find you soon.
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