M.I.A.

-- Jo

ok cupid sent me this message:

Happy Birthday!

are you still single...?

yes, and your stupid site isn't working!

i didn't think i would let a dating site effect my self-esteem, but come on! i'm not lame right? no way. this is stupid.

ok, b-day drinks.

-Tootie

I am a horrible person

If you let this thing get away from you for a couple of days, it is impossible to catch up! I just spent the last hour judging people on their looks alone. Here's the thing... these guys are all probably nice. They would all be dateable if you got to know them, but not everyone can make the team. So, I had to go through and try to weed out all the nice guys that aren't hot to me. The worst part on EHarmony is that you have to answer why you are closing the match. I don't want that guy to be told over and over again that "there just isn't any chemistry." So, I just checked the box that read "other" or "I'd rather not say." The problem with "I'd rather not say" is that it may read to him that I didn't choose him because his faults were just too great or so horrible that I can't put it into words. So, I went with the vague "other" or "age difference is too great" for the guys who were 10 years older than me.

One cute guy on OKCupid totally caught me! I asked him why he had a camera in every photo. He emailed me back and said "Shame on you! If you had read my profile, you would have read that I am a photographer." AND, I am from your home state too." I didn't know how to respond. I felt horrible. I judged him on his profile pics. He was a piece of meat to me. Oh well. I guess the true nature of ourselves comes out when online dating. Men are meat. That's just how I'll have to push forward. If I like the cut of meat, I just might stop to read about the meat's personality. I am a horrible person.

Oh and adding to my list of "types of people that like me"... Indian men. Old guys and Indian men. Or maybe, Indian men and old guys are the only guys forward enough to reach out to me. Whatever the case, all these other dudes should learn a lesson from these guys. You send out a 1000 ships... one of them will return eventually.

-Blair

Really, OK Cupid?

---Natalie

ftw email of the day

From my profile, displaying my witty sense of humor:

The first things people usually notice about me

My tail!

(No really, I have a tail, is that a problem?)

(Just kidding, I don't have a tail.)

Email of the day, for the win:

---Natalie

I am an old guy magnet.

So, I joined OK Cupid and presto! Natalie and Tootie are on to something with Ok Cupid. Completely different game now. I have basically spent money on Eharmony to have annoying messages from old dudes crowd my inbox. I know they mean well, but I want to say this to all older dudes out there in the world who don't get it... If you aren't some sort of celebrity or gorgeous silver fox, you shouldn't be asking girls out that are 20 years younger than you. Go find an older lady that has kids who is easily impressed by men standing beside their fancy cars in photos. I would say about 65% of guys on EHarmony have a photo posted with a fancy car. If you are reading this and you are a dude considering posting pics, DO NOT POST PICTURES OF YOU STANDING BESIDE YOUR CAR! These guys all appear to be going through a mid life crisis.

Speaking of a real mid-life crisis...

An older gentleman "winked" at me and wanted to talk to me. So I looked at his profile. It read "I am a 55 year old man, married with an 8 yr. old daughter who I am crazy about." (sounds like a winner so far) Interests: My wife has terminal cancer and I'd like to meet you. Well, as good as that offer was, I had to decline. Now I am sure that his story is a very sad one and there must be a reason that he is doing this, but seriously if you want to start dating someone maybe wait a bit. I love the honeymoon phase as much as anyone, but honeymoon phase isn't as romantic if you have to help your boyfriend grieve through his wife's tragic death from cancer. Just my thought. Maybe I am just a cold person though. I decided to not return the wink. I did have another 2 old guys email me. I was actually impressed that they knew how to email considering their age.

BUT then, I started to have some real cute guys start to email me from OK Cupid. What? There are cute dudes online? OK Cupid was free AND had way more dateable options. These guys were witty and creative types. None of them had photos with their car in the picture! That's huge! BUT OK Cupid was giving me the goods I wanted. One guy was wearing a monkey suit in his profile pic but I found it funny. I am wondering if Natalie or Tootie have seen the cute guy in the monkey suit? Well, I saved him and a few others. I think I will start chatting now. Oh, one guy told me he liked my bangs longer. I appreciated the fact that he gave me an honest opinion on my hair (not really). He was cute though, so we'll see about Mr. Bangs. I haven't responded to anyone yet. But maybe I will tonight! I have to admit that my heart is conflicted about all this, but I have to do this. This grand experiment will hopefully pay off when it teaches me important lessons in life. Maybe I'll learn more about myself. Or maybe I'll just come away knowing any man over 50 is my type and I happen to have a thing for men in monkey suits.

-Blair

Like Malcom Gladwell said, it only takes a blink to know...

Okay, so, remember the boy I told you about a couple posts ago? The boy who likes yoga and also likes to drink? So. We have emailed back and forth several times. What happens now? I am playing the waiting game, to see if he wants to meet up. I replied to his email today, so I'm waiting and seeing if he decides to write back, and suggest a coffee date.

Here are my thoughts though, on coffee dates: unnecessary. I am hoping that when I meet someone on here that is interesting, and some sort of good DSL connection with, that we can be on the same page and agree to a 5-minute pre-coffee date meeting.

I tried match.com before, and went on one coffee date. The moment I saw the guy I'd been e-flirting with in person, I knew I was not attracted to him. Then, we had to have this entire coffee date together. AGH. So I am thinking this time, I will say, Let's just meet up for a minute and be honest with each other about if we really feel like coffee is necessary. I quit match.com last time after that coffee date because I couldn't handle the idea of going to more hour-long coffee/conversation dates with dudes I wasn't attracted to.

I'll let you know what happens with WineBooze boy.

--Natalie

Boys get hot for improv

---Natalie

Well, my date last night ended in a romp. It was fun and I felt pretty good about the whole thing. So why still no winks? Am I just better at this in person than on the computer? (Though it doesn’t really count because it was still a fellow comedian.)

I really can’t believe no guy has contacted me yet. I put a pretty picture up and my profile is a good mix of sassy and nice.

Though, I should look at it from the other end. I don’t want to talk to any the dudes I’ve perused. They’re all kind of..hmm, nice now…ugly/serial killers.

Also, the gals are going on an excursion without me. Let’s see if Tootie being around helps or hurts their chances. Probably helps. I’m pretty curt with dudes that are trying to hit on me. As in, I ain’t havin’ it. So I’d probably shove all of our shoes in my one mouth and scare them all away. Oh, Tootie!

-Tootie

OK, so I have officially signed up for EHarmony. They say you can look at your matches for free which really means that you can read your matches for free. They all read like we could really make something together. Behind that blank picture should be is a great guy who has so much in common with me. If I could just see him, then all this would be worth it. You see, you have to pay the money to see the guys. So, I did. I was curious and thought that there would be one good guy out of the 12 matches. But this is how it really played out...

I paid $50 to find out that all my 12 matches were all doughboys over 45, bald, overweight and one kid possibly from MTV's "Jersey Shore" who wears straw hats and is very tan. That kid put a heart shaped picture up of him and his ex girlfriend with the caption "me and my ex. We are so done but I thought this captured my smile." 4 of them lived within a 10 mile radius, which was good. The other 8 lived in Stamford, CT or Rutherford, NJ. I don't like long commutes and I don't own a car. Oh and by the way, I really don't care if a guy is bald or overweight. It's in how you wear it. I can find it sexy... but trust me on this one... none of these guys owned it. One guy took a picture and his expression looks painful. Like he put a broom up his ass and then took a picture. I had to officially close those matches and give reasons. That part felt bad, but I tried to be honest. It's an age thing or a distance thing. I did say on a few that I'm closing this match because "I'd rather not say." But by saying that... I said a lot.

A few of them wanted to talk to me. EHarmony sends a weird robotic email to you that reads "Match requests communication." Well, I am not sure if I want to communicate with this one. His profile pic is a picture of him about 100 yards away. He looks OK from that far out, but it makes me wonder... is it that bad up close? I guess I'll talk. The best part was, after I declined all these matches, EHarmony told me that there are no more matches for me at this time. Am I that un-matchable? So, I have to wait until someone new signs up and happens to be my type. That could be a while. So, I am gonna try OKCupid like Tootie and Natalie. Let's see if I have better luck. In the meantime, I'm going to "grant permission to communicate" with 100 yards away guy.

-Blair

Jumping into the Online Dating Pool

Hi all! Natalie here. I just joined OK Cupid. Boy, some of these boys don't have a sense of humor. Dan here sent me an email, apparently doing his best to woo me, by questioning if I have been using drugs. I thought my profile had a nice blend of wit and honesty, but Dan here disagrees. At least there's someone who liked me:

Sweet! Then there's this one, obviously a hopeless romantic:

So!

Obviously there is a well of intelligent, sensitive, and witty young men to choose from here.

Now, I actually did find one boy that I found to be very attractive. We were a 94% match and had very much in common. So, how do you go about playing the game? I added him to my "saved" list, and he then gets an email saying that I added him as a favorite. Then, he wrote me a quick note.

Nice! Now what do I do? Do I wait a few hours and pretend I did not immediately get the email? Who knows.... I immediately write back because I am excited. So we do this a few times and we find more and more in common. As it is now, I was the last writer-backer. So, the ball is in his court. Let's see if he writes! Or else I may have to check in with the gay guy and see if he's changed his sexuality for me.

Wish me luck!

---Natalie

well, ok..cupid.

Ok, I’m all signed up. I’ve been a member for about 12 hours now, should I be offended nobody’s “winked” at me yet? Who am I kidding? I don’t really want to wink at anyone either. In the not-internet-life, I’m always the one to make the first move; to do the chasing. Well not here, they can come to me! Oh lord, it’s going to be even more disheartening if that doesn’t happen. Men who sign up to a site specifically to find women but still won’t make a move? Here we go…

Already I’ve searched for some common interests, and about 15 guys in our community popped up. And that’s only the ones that had high percent matches with me. Can they see me too? I don’t want them sidling up to me at the bar now thinking I’m so single I’ve now gone to the same internet bar as them.

I feel I might get a rascally group as I’ve listed myself as a smoker who drinks often, doesn’t want a long term relationship, and doesn’t want kids. I assume that, to men, that screams casual sex. It’s not really that though. I mean, it could be, but I’m pretty picky* so it won’t be as easy as they think.

I’m actually off to a date with a guy I didn’t meet on the internet, so tomorrow we’ll see how I still feel about this little experiment.

-Tootie

*shallow

The Facts of Life and Online Dating...

We (meaning some of my closest girlfriends and I) were sitting around and discussing how difficult it is to find a nice guy to date. Is it as easy as some people think? Or is it as difficult as natural childbirth? Do we just not have the right outlet? Are bars the only place to meet guys? Are guys at bars really as weird as some of them appear to be? Are we just as weird to men at bars as we appear to be? None of us has reached success dating within our circle of friends so maybe there is another way. Perhaps there are other avenues of dating we should go down. Perhaps...

Why not try the 'good old internet' as my Mom would say? Well Mom, from what I've heard about it, all the men appear much younger in their photo than in real life, lie about what they really do for a living or have no social skills. That being said, we all know a nice couple who have met online. If them, why not us?

We all can vouch for each other and say that we are all great "catches." So where are all the fish? Perhaps waiting in the portals of Match, EHarmony, Cupid, Chemistry, JDate and so on. We each signed ourselves up to various dating websites for 30 days. Here's where we'll chronicle our online dating adventures. Maybe one of us will get lucky and find the needle in the haystack! Maybe none of us will. You never know!!!!! Here you can read our updates as we try to find love over the internet in 30 days. Gentlemen... start your engines!

- Blair