Showing posts with label online dating. Show all posts
Showing posts with label online dating. Show all posts

Sunday, June 30, 2013

Dating Bender: Updates

Tommy: Never heard from him - shocking, right? Thank goodness.

Parker: I think you have probably living under a rock (or most definitely not reading my blog ;-) if you don't know what's going on there...  

Abe: Didn't hear from this guy either. I guess his 3 out of 5 was an over-estimation. On another note, he has also since deactivated his profile - guess I was right about him not being quite ready to get back in the game.

...TMBOG2: Still haven't heard from him, but I have a sneaking suspicion (as does my friend, Andie) that       he''ll randomly pop up again.

Bernie: He never called me! This one I am actually surprised about! But I think it might be due to the fact that I didn't let him kiss me. WTF? This is why guys in LA suck so much. I knew my suspicions about him being "a typical LA dude" were right, I just thought it would take him a little longer for his true colors to show. At least he spared me the string of BS down the road...

Dylan: Shocker of all shockers, he has not contacted me to set up a date yet (but stay tuned, I still don't think this one is over...).

So - a couple weeks of dates and 6 guys later, I actually think I found an amazing guy - thank goodness, because there were ZERO other prospects (which is actually kind of depressing to think about).

I have deactivated one of my online profiles and just to mix things up have signed up for a different one to see if I can get some different results...

Parker is leaving next week for the rest of the month and even though it's been a whirlwind two weeks we have decided not to have "the talk" until he gets back, so that means I can keep checking out what's out there until then - and possibly beyond (although I am hoping that's not going to be the case).

Stay cool (those in LA know what I mean) and Happy Sunday!

Saturday, June 22, 2013

Dating Bender: Episode 3 - "Putt Putt Putz" & Bonus Blog: "Playing It Cool, Fail."

Stats -
Name: Abe
Age: 33
Height: 5'11"
Occupation: Movie Biz (Production)
Hometown: Somewhere in North Carolina
Currently Resides: The Valley (do I need to say ugh, again?)
The Date: Drinks and Mini-golf (points for creativity!)

This was my first real "awkward first date" experience. Abe was nice, I liked him, and we generally had a good time... Wait, let me back up a minute...

We decided to meet for a drink in The Valley since the best mini-golf place is there and I suggested 7pm. I left my place around 6:15 knowing that it usually only takes me 40 minutes max. to get over the hill (I apologize to my non-LA readers if this is not making sense to you...). At 6:55 when I was still on Sunset I sent a text that I was going to be "very" late, not wanting to specify a time since I had no idea how much longer it was going to take me at that point.

Fast forward another 30 minutes and I had finally arrived at this (actually) great little Gastropub we were meeting at. But, with over an hour in the car, it really got me thinking. My first serious relationship was long distance: I lived in Austin and he lived in Dallas. That's a 2 1/2 hour drive. What I disliked most about that relationship was how disconnected we were from each other's everyday lives because spending time together was always an "event." We weren't integrated into each other's social circles and essentially were taking mini-vacations every time we spent weekends together - and I vowed never to get into a long-distance relationship ever again. What I mean to say by all that back-story is, dating someone that takes over an hour to get to on a Friday night is kind of like having a long-distance relationship particularly if you plan to go home that evening as well. All told, I was in the car for 1:45 last night getting to and from the date...I could be almost to Dallas by now! (If I still lived in Austin, I mean ;-) So already before the date I had kind of decided that this guy would have to be REALLY special for me to consider him a real prospect. He was dating at a disadvantage, which I'll admit is not really fair, but hey, them's the breaks.

On to the the date: the reason it was awkward - every time he did or said something he thought was awkward, he said it! Like, "oh I can't believe I said that", or "oh, that was awkward."  It was kind of endearing at first but then it just got a little annoying. Dude, let me make up my own mind! If he hadn't kept pointing it out, I wouldn't have noticed, I just thought he was funny. But I was still mostly having fun.

So after mini-golf we walked back to his car (we met at the gastropub and I left my car) and he asked me, "so how much do you want to see me again?" We had brought a flask of whiskey to mini-golf so it was funny at the time and actually not weird. So I responded with, "you should tell me on a scale of 1-5 how much you think I want to see you again." (Trying to get a little inside info. for my blog...hehe) He misinterpreted and asked, "How much do I want to see you again on a scale of 1-5?" So I said, "Even better! Sure." And he said 3. HE. FREAKING. SAID. 3. I was like, "okay, cool. You wanna take me to my car?"

He couldn't understand why I was annoyed, so I explained to him that 60% is not good. He tried to reason that 5 out of 5 seems too eager but he probably should have said 4 out of 5. I asked him why he would want to date someone who would be freaked out by you being eager to see them again? We decided to go grab one more beer to try and salvage the evening, but there were no seats so we ended up standing by the bathroom and he proceeded to tell me about his effed up sisters.

Still, I chalked up the end of the night to us having spent WAY too much time together on the first date, him being nervous, and relatively new to being back on the market, me asking a dumb question and then getting mad about it only because I had whiskey in my system and decided I would give him a quick peck when he dropped me off to indicate I was willing to try again.

So I leaned over to give him my hug/peck move and I got the cheek! W.T.F.!?!? All I could say was..."oh, wow." And I got out of the car. He felt like an idiot because he got out of the car and came to kiss me as I was unlocking the door to my car, and apologized for not realizing "that's what was happening." But, seriously, dude? You can't possibly be that bad at dating.

Chances I'll hear from this guy again: 3 out of 5 (lol)

BONUS BLOG: Thursday night I had plans with my girl Kelly. She is a dancer and had a show that I went to go see...while I was out I got the cutest messages from Parker; the man is really not into game-playing. Me like-y.
Him: What are you getting into tonight?
Me: At my friend's show and then going to a CD release later
Why are you so cool? Hah That sounds like a lot of fun?
Haha, you just happened to catch me on a rare cool night ;-)
Haha. Well sounds like you've got a great night ahead of you. I'll probably lay relatively low tonight, I have a late night tomorrow 
...and we had a late night last night :-)
Yeah we did. A great one :-D Was worth it.
Agreed.
Wish it wasn't going to be until next Thursday that we go out but I'll take it - though I'm going to the Venice Music Crawl on Saturday and then a friend's house party so if you have any interest in coming to the Westside let me know.
I know...damn our opposite social calendars! I'll let you know if anything changes.
Well, fast-forward to after last night - and on the heels of Monday night's date fail and I started thinking...I really like Parker; we had so much fun and our Chemistry is undeniable. I think I was a bit spoiled because that is how I felt with TMBOG2 and then I felt it again with Parker so soon so I might not have noticed how rare it actually is. (Kudos, Dating Bender for teaching me lessons!) So I this is what I sent to Parker this morning:
Me: Good morning sunshine :-) How was your night hike?
Hey! Really cool, but I'm a little sore. Got some cool pics though. How are you?
I'm good! A little sunburned from my Runyon hike yesterday, but I'll live.
No fun, sorry to hear that. What are you getting into today?
I have a BBQ to go to at noon, it's a going away party. But, I realized that I don't want to wait until Thursday to see you again either...so I was hoping the invite for the Venice Music thing is still on the table :-)
Yeah, for sure :-) And I'd love to see you today!
Cool, I'll let you know when I head to the Westside.

 Umm...so how cute is that? "I'd love to see you today!" Good thing the feeling is mutual or I'd be muy creeped out by how into me this guy is. 
So, EPIC FAIL for playing it cool with Parker, but he is making it awfully hard. I am a sucker for a man who pursues me. And don't worry, I am still going to date bend. Mr. Sunday and I are meeting for patio drinks tomorrow. Stay Tuned.





Wednesday, June 19, 2013

Another Text Message Blow-Off Guy.

One would think that one heart wrenching TMBOG would be enough to last a lifetime but noooo, I had to have two of them! And strangely enough they were both what drove me to write and then pick back up this blog. So interesting!

A couple days ago in my post explaining where I have been for the past two and a half years, I mentioned this supposedly great guy that I had been talking to for a couple months. Well, we had just had this amazing date - only our third - despite having been talking for so long, but it had seriously been going great and it wasn't just in my head, I swear. Again, with the third date curse for the TMBOG.

We had gone out on a Wednesday and he was headed out of town for the weekend but he said he wanted to see me again soon, so we had made plans for Sunday night. I suggested he come over to watch the Game of Thrones season finale. We had been talking about it at dinner.

On Friday he sent me a text that he was really excited about seeing me on Sunday (so cute!) and what should he bring? Wine? Dessert?

Immediately, I started thinking, Oh, crap! Does he think I invited him over for dinner? Dinner had not been my intention but rather than obsess about it, I just asked him what time he was getting back to town and if I should make dinner too. He said he would be back late afternoon and certainly didn't expect me to make him dinner but would gladly accept. A great answer, which of course meant I was happy to cook him dinner - so I told him to bring desert.

I now realize Date #3 is WAY TOO SOON for the "cooking dinner for a guy" date, even though it kind of happened organically and accidentally...but I digress and foreshadow...

He came over around 7 - I had some snacks on the coffee table and we opened a nice bottle of red wine that I had around the house. I had prepared dinner to the point that it would only take 20 minutes to finish so we hung out, snacked, talked and then I finished dinner relatively quickly when we started to get hungry. (For the record: I made a Mediterranean Pasta with artichoke hearts, sun dried tomatoes, olives, roasted red peppers, and parmesan cheese with mustard chicken and Greek Salad - honestly, not a huge effort, I like to cook).

As it had been since the moment we started talking, the whole evening was so comfortable (even when we broke one of my wine glasses) we had great conversation, no awkward moments and just a generally amazing time. We ate around 8:30, tuned into GOT at our leisure (thank you DVR), and when it was over, we finished off the bottle of wine and eventually got frisky(!). So freakin' fun. He was an incredible kisser and I know that I was not imagining our chemistry.

At one point he said to me... "I am really trying to be good here."
I said, "I appreciate that...we'll have time to be bad another night."
Then he said, "Then I should probably go before I take off my pants."
To which we both started laughing. Cute, right?
We kissed some more... (and ya know, some other mostly PG-Rated stuff). But it did not go further than that, because I'm a lady!

When he left he kissed me and said, "I'll call you tomorrow, let's do something on Thursday or Friday." A-MAZ-ING! :-)

He did not call me tomorrow.

Instead, two days later I got this (and I quote):
Hey there. So I've been giving this some thought and the truth is, I don't think I'm ready for this. I'm beginning to think that I signed up for [online dating] as a distraction more than anything. So far, you are the only person I have gone out with more than once and as things have progressed, I've realized that it is disingenuous for me to continue. I don't want to lead you on or waste your time. You are really cool girl and I like you a lot, but frankly, my life is at a crossroads and I need to do some soul-searching before I can really be intimately involved with anyone. I'm sure this comes as a surprise and I apologize for that. If you want to have a conversation I'm available to do so later this evening. Please don't think that you did anything wrong, because you didn't. I'm truly sorry for wasting your time. -TMBOG2

WTMEF!?!? (What-the-Mother-Effing-F**k!?!?)

Whew, where do I even start? First, let me just say, I didn't even bother to respond. Which was hopefully infuriating or at least unsettling for him.

Now let's take a stab at dissecting this note that puts the "mess" in text message, shall we?

Here's my ("he's a total a**hole") interpretation:
I'm not looking for something serious - I only signed up for online dating to get laid and usually that happens right away, but at most I didn't think it would take this long. Since you haven't slept with me by now, I am not willing to put in any more effort. I liked hanging out with you enough to stick it out until now, but you are clearly looking for a relationship and I don't want one, or at least not with you. Even though I told you I was ready for a relationship, I was lying...to get laid. It's not you, it's me. I'm sorry, that I'm not sorry. (and when you sign your name, that pretty much means Sayonara forever.)

Here's my ("giving him the benefit of the doubt") interpretation:
I think you might more into me than I am into you, and I'm not sure I'm ready to jump into a relationship so quickly with anyone, or with you. I'm a little freaked out and I don't want to be a bad guy so rather than talk about it, I am just going to feed you a bunch of BS about soul-searching and end things now so no one gets hurt. But if you want to talk about it, we can.

The couple things in his original message that really kill me are:
1. "You are a really cool girl and I like you a lot" - why bother telling me he likes me a lot?  Cool, I liked you a lot too, fat-lotta-good that does me now. It is so confusing to me why guys do that... I don't care that you like me anymore. Do they honestly think it will soften the blow? It doesn't, it doesn't make anyone feel better if the overall message is still "goodbye."
2. "If you want to have a conversation I am available to do so..." - What do you mean, if I want to have a conversation? Wouldn't that make me really pathetic? (Yes). You just sent me an epic text telling me you don't want to see me anymore, what do I have to talk to you about? I'm certainly not going to try to change your mind...I have long-standing policy against convincing men to be with me (My Ex, unfortunately, excluded).
3. "Please don't think that you did anything wrong, because you didn't." - Well, I wouldn't have thought I did anything wrong until you went out of your way to say that, and now I know I did something wrong and I know what that "something" was. I showed him that I was excited about him too early on. I know that I didn't overtly come on too strong, but it was just the care I took in making dinner and "entertaining" in my home, in general. In how effortlessly and smoothly the night went, he saw how interested I am in something long-term and he freaked, plain and simple. Lesson learned - the hard way. :-(

I told you that I didn't reply, but here is what I wish I would have sent back:
TMBOG2, It would have been nice if you had been the one who wanted to have a conversation about this prior to sending me a text message soliloquy. From what you wrote though, I gather that you have no interest in ever seeing me again, so at this point it doesn't seem that we have anything to discuss. Best, Penny
Okay, enough obsessing. I am actually mostly over it since it happened a couple weeks ago, but hadn't yet put pen to paper about it until today.

Stay tuned tomorrow for another Dating Bender post!

Tuesday, June 18, 2013

Dating Bender: Episode 1 - "This is 40?"

Stats -
Name: Tommy
Age: 41
Occupation: Actor (Ugh)
Hometown: New York
Currently Resides: The Valley (Double, Ugh)
The Date: Drinks at Tom Bergin's (An Irish Pub in the Miracle Mile area)

I was really hopeful going into the date, we had a good conversation prior and my mom has been encouraging me to date older guys since, in theory, they would be more apt to settle down faster.
In his pictures he didn't look 41.

I knew immediately when I walked in it was going NOWHERE. Yikes! Honestly that has only happened to me two other times in my life and neither of those times were that fun either. I hope this is not a sign of things to come in the coming weeks...

He was nice enough, but there was NO spark and he was not nearly as cute as in his pictures. He didn't seem like he was trying at all, he looked tired, and not as "rugged" (read: a bit effeminate). Plus, he basically went out of his way to tell me that even at 41 he still wasn't sure if he was ready for a relationship, WTF?

We had moments of fine conversation, it wasn't all terrible. Then...he asked me about my siblings, which was sweet but...I mentioned that one of my sisters was dating a guy that no one in my family liked and he said, "She'll probably get pregnant in 3 months."

Admittedly, I had a bit of a crazy moment (and by "a bit of" a I mean ALOT-of-a)...I asked him, "why would you ever put something like that into the Universe?" And if that ended up happening I would kill him for having said that. I obviously didn't mean it, literally. But, I kinda did, in a figurative sense. Who says that? Your sister will probably get pregnant by the guy that no one in your family likes? (Again, admittedly, the normal reaction is probably not saying if it happens you'll kill someone, and I did apologize, but still...) The supportive options would have been along the lines of, "I'm sure it will all work out the way it's supposed to," or "maybe he'll turn out to be a great guy," or "she's probably just going through a phase, and she'll realize you're all right eventually," ya know, something to indicate he has a normal empathetic and/or supportive gene. Particularly because shortly after that he told me that two of his siblings are in bad relationships...WTF x 2! Obviously he's an idiot and there is a reason he is single at 41.

I do feel badly that I acted like a psycho, though. That has honestly NEVER happened before. It was such a weird gut reaction. I guess I have a button, a crazy button, that gets pressed when it comes to my sisters that I just found out about. You learn something new every day.

Note to self: Don't talk about not liking your sister's boyfriend on the first several dates!

Chances I'll hear from this guy again: 0 out of 5

Good thing I don't give a sh*t.

Monday, June 17, 2013

What a Difference Two and A Half Years Makes...Well, Kinda.

Wow, I am ashamed of myself that I let this project fall by the wayside! For those of you who followed in the early days, have been checking back periodically, or have recently found the blog, I am TRULY sorry. I do, however have what I consider to be a series of pretty decent excuses.

Right after the time of my last post, I went home for the holidays to find out that my mom had been diagnosed with breast cancer. It was one of the most difficult times in my life. I left Austin and moved home to take care of her while she got treatment and to take over her business while she recovered - I am happy to report she has been in full remission for over two years! (knock on wood).

Okay, sad stuff over...

About two years ago, I moved to Los Angeles because I got into Graduate School and have quite possibly been the busiest I could have ever imagined being in my entire life. Now that I graduated (and have yet to find a job quite yet) I FINALLY have some time to focus in on my personal life again...

I was being pursued by a guy who I thought was really great, and he happened to break up with me out of the blue via text last week after an AMAZING date two nights before (more on THAT in the next post). I have since decided that I am going to do a little dating experiment, that hopefully we will all be the beneficiaries of.

With the help of two very convenient dating websites, and possibly some real-life chance encounters, I am going to spend the foreseeable future dating like a man. (Confession: I did watch that stupid movie "Think Like A Man" this weekend, but I had already thought of the idea before that!) And NO, I will not be sleeping around, I am just going to line up a bunch of dates with different "great" guys and compare and contrast them (and write about it for you!) In fact, I already have a date lined up EVERY. SINGLE. NIGHT. THIS. WEEK. (edit 6/19: Almost every single night this week, and it's starting to look like it's gonna spill well over into next week too!) I'm going to take a page from the male playbook and not focus in on any particular person until they really prove to be something special. And this is LA, so who knows how long that will be...

I think this strategy will help me in particular because I'm pretty monogamous by nature so when I decide I like someone I tend to get excited and want to move into the "relationship phase" pretty quickly; this doesn't usually bode well with the men-folk. I don't know if you know this, but boys scare easily. ;-)

So, buckle up and let the hilarity ensue!

Glad to be back!
Love, p