But how many times will I have to tell some stranger my life story
Which gets longer and longer and longer the longer I live on this earth?
And how many times will I pretend I’m fascinated by the ordinary
Details of the lives of the strangers that I’ve encountered on my search?
Christine Lavin, “Blind Dating Fun”

Back at the beginning of December, I had a little personals ad contest; many of you participated by writing very creative and amusing “ads” for me. I am positive that my life would be infinitely more… unusual if I actually used one of your ads. 😉

As I mentioned in that post, one of the wonderfully unexpected side effects of my October surgery has been how much happier and grounded I’ve been feeling – better than I have for two or three years, actually. For much of that time, dating just sounded like too much effort; by December, it was starting to sound like it might be kind of fun. (Really! Shocking, I know. I swear I was off the heavy duty painkillers by then, too!)

But… I don’t actually meet any dateable people in my regular life. I’m a knitter, so my free time is spent hanging out with groups of women (you’re my pals and you’re cute and all, but…). I’ve worked at the same small company for nearly 12 years (not that I recommend poaching coworkers! No! Do not want!). So… on to the online personals.

I’ve done the online dating thing a time or two in the past and I have a few interesting stories (as does Juno). For some reason that escapes me now, the first time I did the online personals, I went on 25 or 30 coffee dates in six weeks. Shall we pause to contemplate the utter insanity?! Christine Lavin could easily have written “Online Dating Fun” instead of “Blind Dating Fun.” Out of all that craziness, I went on two second dates, one third date, no fourth dates, and finally took a break from the whole venture.

Then I dated a friend of a friend (that classic method of meeting) for a year or so. But really, once you’re out of your mid-30s, your friends tend not to have a lot of single friends anymore… at least not ones they can, in good conscience, introduce you to. So, back to the online personals – but that also coincided with the beginning of the waning energy and enthusiasm mentioned above.

Which brings us back to the present. I’ve been giving the online personals another shot, albeit on a much more restrained basis this time around – I’m aiming for quality over quantity. Wish me luck!

“Have you cleared this plan with us?! We do not approve of you having any more distractions.” -Mayhem