Blind, But Not-So-Blind, Dating

I can't quite decide yet. Either my loyal readers (Shout-out to Grandma!) a) were craving some funny material, b) really want to see me meet someone, or c) really want to see me murdered. In a 24 hour window, I received multiple requests to check out OK Cupids newest launch: Crazy Blind Date. I've alluded to this before, and I'll do it again, if you preface the term "Blind Date" with the word "Crazy"...who knows what kind of crazies you'll encounter. I'll get to the 'blind date' portion of the date in a minute (scroll down a few paragraphs if that's all you care to read, but trust me, this next part is kinda funny, too)

Let's talk about date preparation, first. The date started at 7:30pm, so prior to the date, I ensured that I had friends that were going to check in with me during the 8:00 hour to make sure I was still alive. I have to give public thanks here to my good friend, who I reached out to, to text me at 8:00pm to make sure I was still alive. At 8:17, he texted me. As anyone who has watched a Lifetime movie knows, ANYTHING COULD HAVE HAPPENED IN THOSE 17 LOST MINUTES! Thanks, friend. I'll remember that. Next time your house is on fire, I'll wait 17 minutes to call the fire department. We'll see who has the last laugh.

Also prior to the date, I had a few minutes to get ready. I'm not sure about everyone else that reads this, but I have a few go-to-outfits for a first date. And given that it is winter in Chicago, I have a limited number of cute-first-date-sweaters-with-cute-button-down-shirts-underneath-options. These go-to-outfits are perfect because I feel that the color compliments my eyes nicely and I feel they look great on me (what doesn't...) (plus, you should see me out of them). You have to be careful in the dating world in Chicago so as not to re-use an outfit too soon after the first encounter. You have to keep tabs on what outfit you wore for what first date. (The same goes for underwear, but I feel that is an entire blog entry in itself)

My wind-blown hair. Sexy.

The issue came in not with the outfit, but with the transportation. I am a Chicagoan now. I bike to the train, I bike to the gym, I bike to dinner. I hate spending $2.25 on a bus when my body is fully capable of getting there via a Schwinn. I had forgotten, in my preparation for this date, that not only was I going to bike there (3 miles), but I was going to be in a cute sweater. And that I have a massive sweating problem (I'll chalk that up to "Reason I'm Single #488) The plus side is that my hair has this sexy 'wind blown' look. The other plus side is that sweaters don't show sweaty pits. (TMI? I told you to scroll down if you just wanted to read about the blind date portion...) Luckily, I arrived with time to spare to put my outfit back together in the bathroom of Starbucks.

Note This is not me

Here we are. The actual blind date portion. To be honest, this date wasn't actually blind. I'll explain the app first, and then I'll explain why it wasn't "blind". "Crazy Blind Date" takes your "OK Cupid" main photo, jumbles up the image, and provides only the most basic stats (age, gender identity, sexual orientation) (Don't I get mad props for being politically correct here?!) So all I knew about this guy was that he is 33, male, and gay. I also know that his ideal date would be at Starbucks at 7:30 on Wednesday. My ideal date, for your reference, (and in case you want to sweep me off my feet) is at a martini bar. Obviously that says a lot about me. There are several guys that show up, with pixelated jumbled photos, and with their ideal date, and you choose which one sounds appealing, and then the app contacts the guy and says, hey, this jumbled guy is interested in your date proposition. Whaddya say? If he accepts, then the app notifies you. The tricky part is that you can't communicate with the gay until an hour before your date. GASP. You can't learn anything about them, you can't stalk, you can't even see other pictures. Unless, of course, he finds you on "OK Cupid" with the same photo and messages you.

FOILED. He found me on "OK Cupid". He recognized my bowtie (yes, Klassy Lady has a bowtie picture for his OK Cupid) He stalked my writing, my photos, my everything (I wonder if he reads my blog??) So it wasn't so blind, afterall. We messaged back and forth via OK Cupid and decided that though we saw some basic stuff about eachother, we'd still go through with it. And I'm happy we did.

"Meyer", as I will call him, looked exactly like his picture (expect, of course, he was not pixalated or jumbled). In hindsight, perhaps I should be mad at him for not looking like his picture...

He has a huge smile, cute eyes, and an adorable personality. Truthfully, there isn't much to blog about regarding him, because we had a great conversation. We talked about OK Cupid, and me being new to it, and our decision to try out to Crazy Blind Date portion. It made sense. Guys on OK Cupid are allowed to linger. You're allowed to have small talk for a long time, you're allowed to get by with a quick 'hello' to show that you're still interested. At least with this blind date portion, you're forced to jump out of your comfort zone immediately. And it could either go really well, given the right personality, or really horribly. Meyer was very comfortable immediately, and that helped. He was my first meet-up of the new year (not counting Clarinet Boy) and it helped that it was a quicker, more forced, but not-picture-based meeting.

Meyer and I talked movies, we talked Jody Foster, we talked jobs, we talked vacations. We're going back out on Friday night, after an awkward exchange of phone number, because all-in-all, it was a really cool experience. I'm happy that I felt pushed in this direction, because it really moved me out of my comfort zone. 

Lesson learned: Maybe you don't NEED to look like your picture? Or maybe we all need to break out of our comfort zone once in a while and try something new. Kylie Minogue's newest hit reminded me, in the first few lines, "What's the worse thing, that could happen to you? Take a chance tonight and try something new". In retrospect, the worst thing is that my story would be the next featured Lifetime Movie (I hope they'd include my awesome blog in the movie)

Next post (Spoiler Alert): Male Call. A cruising experience like none-other on Sunday nights at Roscoes.

Joe Fox (Re: You've Got Mail)