Are Mormons allowed to use the internet?

It's been a solid week since I started on OK Cupid, and I have to say, I've learned a LOT. Not necessarily about myself, or about the gay community, but really about the online dating community.

Though I'm trying to be 100% on board with online dating, part of me makes a joke of it, even informally with my circle of friends (and formally, through this blog. But have no fear, the show must go on!) Part of me wants to legitimize online dating, so that when I raise my kids and they ask,  'Daddy, where did you meet DaddyTwo' (Sidebar: yes, my kids will call me Daddy and him DaddyTwo- that's a dealbreaker if he's not on board with this (Sidebar to the Sidebar: Is there any question why I'm single right now?)) I'd like to share with them a romantic, swept me off my feet story. I envision it to be raining, and I'm walking home from the gym, and he's walking home from the gym, and I forgot my umbrella, and he notices, and he offers a space under his big yellow umbrella, and we exchange names and realize that we are neighbors, and then from there, we have kids and live happily ever after. Ok, so maybe I stole some of those details from a popular CBS TV show (copyright laws won't let me post the name of the show here). But the truth is, there is a WHOLE TV DESIGNATED TO HOW SOMEONE MET SOMEONE ELSE'S MOTHER!

We all love "The story". We all want to share "The story". Hell, you came here specifically to read "The story". And at some point, one of these blog stories will be "The story". It will be a part of our wedding toast. But saying "I was scrolling through OK Cupid and stumbled on his profile" may not go over nicely with the second cousins and grandparents (Shout-Out to Grandma!) at the reception.

Additionally, OK Cupid gives you a percentage of "match", "friend" and "enemy" (Interesting choice of the word enemy, as it seems kind of... extreme). It bases these percentages off of the responses to your questions that you choose to answer. Question one might be "Are you a dog or cat person", and then WHAM Question two asks you "What is your sexual position", "Are you into S&M", or any variation of gay stereotypes that I can't type on this PG-13 Blog (Shout-Out to Grandma!) Which questions determine if I'm a match with you? And how much am I willing to answer out in the interwebs about what happens in my bedroom (well, what is supposed to happen in my bedroom. As a brief reminder, I am single. Hence, this blog)

Finally, a little known fact. In the one week that I've been on OK Cupid, I've had about 80 page views. Not bad. In two days with this blog, I had about 200 page views. Apparently, I need to change my OK Cupid photo to Clarinet Boy to ensure that I get more pageviews. It worked for you, right?

So is this online thing legit?  And what other venues am I trying, as I jump feet first into the dating community? I've met a total of three guys at a bar while living in Chicago (and they, I know, are avid readers- hey boys!) The purpose of this resolution was to get rid of Grindr and all other "Right here, right now" types of apps, and really find guys with substance. So I'll continue to explore this OK Cupid forum, but am always looking for other ways to put myself out there.  A great friend constantly tells me that he'll show up when I least expect him to. Which is why, in all honesty, this blog and experience exists. I am going into every date not expecting much. If he really does wow me, he probably won't even be made a Blog entry for a few weeks!

In boy news, I was stood-up tonight by a Mormon. Well, not a real Mormon, but he plays one on Broadway. I was looking forward to a coffee date, to compare it to my 'successful' bar date. I think as a general rule, if I'm stood up, I'll be cautious to continue conversation with him, unless he has a huge... (Shout-Out to Grandma) religious upbringing. But he's Mormon, so there's hope that he does. Or, he acts like a Mormon, so there's that.

Yum. Now that's a religion I can follow (note: that is not him!) (also note: googling "Gay Mormon" doesn't yield as many responses as one might expect)

Lesson learned? Our story is what we make of it. Perhaps the cutest version of our story will be that I blogged about him for weeks before we even realized that it was destiny. Perhaps in 22 years when I finally meet 'him', society will be 100% OK with OK Cupid. Perhaps he's reading this right now?

Joe Fox (RE: You've got Mail)