UpDATE #501,220
So when it rains, it pours. I was complaining about my deeply boring life and then – poof! Things accumulated and now I find myself deep into a week in which I’ve had back-to-back commitments for many, many nights. Most of it is fun (seeing adult friends and also a new baby friend, namely A.’s newborn girl, who, at 4 weeks, is probably the youngest person I’ve ever met). Some of it is less fun (blind date with co-worker’s son’s friend – see below). And some of it is not much fun at all (meeting on health care quality facilitated by a truly smack-worthy, self-important woman).
Also: one difficulty of online dating is that when you start you strike up conversations with a bunch of people, and you want to rule them out one at a time, but instead have to juggle them and find time to go out with them and keep track of who is a criminal prosecutor and who is in business school and who is a start-up guy. And you have to remember which banter occurred with each individual, and that is tiring. I haven’t kept up as well as I should have.
Actual UpDATE
I went out with co-worker's son's friend. He was a really nice guy but absolutely no sparks. Nothing notable or entertaining or blog-worthy. He did, however, tell me about just give, a site where you can make a donation on someone's behalf, and they get to choose the charity. An old friend of mine (with whom I've mainly lost touch) has invited me to her wedding. She's not registered anywhere, so I'm going to get her a "just give" certificate.
Update on the last UpDATE
I confirmed that the Canadian did in fact earn two degrees from the Very Prestigious School at which I work. In stalking him in the alumni directory, followed by Facebook (my officemate's account), I discovered that one of the Canadian's facebook friends is a JDate guy with whom I am also corresponding. How weird is that?! The Canadian and I are planning to go out on Sunday. I am excited and also nervous.
Possible UpDATE
I've been corresponding with this guy who seems cool (he's a criminal prosecutor) and well-traveled. He is, however, really into the equivalent of the Daytona 500. He pays homage to the Daytona 500 on his profile. In our email conversation, he described his travel experiences as follows: "In addition to my annual pilgrimage to the Daytona 500, I have also visited Vietnam, Sudan, and Greece." When I asked him WTF, he provided a detailed account of how awesome it is, and listed, by name, all the friends that share his love for the event and travel with him each year. Is it time to cut off contact? I welcome your thoughts.
Posted by Dori at 9:05 PM
10 Comments
I'd definitely give racecar guy a try. Sometimes the best people have quirks that are not easily explained but that become endearing. You'll be able to feel that out face to face, I think. But then again, I've always been into novelty dating. Not my type? Bring it on! Makes for a lively night.
I'm a bit confused... When you say he's into the "equivalent" of the Daytona 500, what do you mean? Do you mean like the European Formula One?
To me, the red flag isn't the racing (lots of great people like car racing), but the enthusiasm for a sport that you're not interested in. Know what I mean?
Good luck with the juggling and have fun on Sunday!
You know what, racecars can't be automatic grounds for dismissal. A very good friend of mine ended up marrying a dude who is way into stockcar racing. He is in fact the flagman at a number of small-scale events. Also, do you know about Kiva? It's the microfinance site that allows lenders (i.e., the recipient of your gift certificate) to choose the person (generally entrepreneurs in developing countries) that they want to help. I've given a number of Kiva gift certificates now and everyone gets very stoked about them. The best part is that when the loan is repaid, your gift recipient has the option to re-lend the money, so theoretically she could lend it forever, making it very much the gift that keeps on giving.
By "equivalent" I mean as sport similar to car racing. (To protect privacy. Meaning: he's into horse racing.) Which is more weird, no?
I think as long as the horse/car racing isn't an offensive activity, I might give it a chance. However, if he will expect you to attend his annual trek with him even if you don't find it enjoyable, that may pose a problem. Otherwise, it might be a good time for you to do something he might not be so interested in.
Oh...see, I think of those two sports as a lot different. I see it as an appropriately classic, all-American (if inhumane) sport.
I think the way he listed his travels is certainly a yellow flag - not quite enough to cut off all contact, but something you should seriously consider after your first date if you want to invest in a second. At least you have plenty of other possibilities, and hopefully someone will work out.
Best of luck!
Wait. We *just* went to the horse races for the first time and it was fun. I dressed up and ate concession food and we even won $12 (and then lost $20, but still). Unless he has a tragic gambling problem, talks about it non-stop, or is looking for someone with whom to share his racing passion, I'd say it's not a deal-breaker.
-K
On second thought, listing all of his friends by name is mighty weird. I'm with Jaclyn. Yellow flag.
-K
It's the name thing that's more weird to me ... how odd is it to describe some habit and then write to a total stranger that "Karen, Mike, Chris, Bill, Matt, Ella, and Tashina" join every year???
Post a Comment
« Home