Online Dating Saga Part 2 ... You'd think I had asked for the Crown Jewels!
It was about Day 7 of my online dating experience and I was starting to genuinely question my sanity. I had received so many “Flirts,” “Like your profile,” “Like your photo” that I wanted to spit ‘cause it was all a bit overwhelming! Before I go any further, please know that I was NOT thinking I was hot stuff.
I fully accepted the fact that I was new on the site, and therefore I would attract some attention. I’m sure once I’ve been on the site for a while, that will lessen. But, maybe not, because I just realized that there are lots of men signing up every day. So, there are always lots of choices for both sexes. This is a good thing. :-)
So, I decided rather than wait for my Prince Charming to find me, I’d look for him. I believe in being pro-active!
As I mentioned, last time I wrote a man (the one with the gorgeous head of white hair) nothing came of it. After several messages back and forth we both had to accept that living 2,000 miles apart was not conducive to forging a relationship. With regret we wished each other, “Adieu.” I thought to myself… “Damn!”
Next step – write someone else, which I did. It was only AFTER I sent the message that I realized he lived in Ontario also. I suppose if I’d been paying proper attention, I would have noticed that fact.
But, to be perfectly honest, I was so impressed with what he’d written about himself that my brain ignored the fact that right beside his photo it stated his age, height and location. Rats!
I stopped and thought, “Why the bloody hell am I picking guys on the other side of the country?” Poking around the site I realized that one needs to choose the parameters of the search, and the default choice is North America!
That’s why I was getting so many messages from guys in Florida, New York, California, and every other state in the US. As well as Ontario, Nova Scotia, Alberta and every other province in Canada!
Then, I noticed I could narrow the search to just BC… OK, I’m getting the hang of this!
However, BC is a large province, plus it includes an island off the west coast. Well, my thinking was that Victoria and Nanaimo (two cities on the island) are a lot closer than Ontario! It’s only a two hour ferry ride.
I promptly found a guy that I thought looked interesting, and sounded fairly coherent. He even used a bit of humour in his profile, so I wrote him.
He wrote me back quite quickly and suggested we meet. I thought, “Oh, this is getting interesting!” I thought I’d better tell him I’m on the Mainland. I also asked if he would mind coming over here, the first time. I explained that Ty is 13 years old and I can’t leave him alone in the house all day ‘cause he needs to go out and pee. Further, I explained that I could make arrangements for Ty to go to the dog sitter, so I could visit him on the island, in the future, if we “clicked.” Please know that I was more polite and circumspect than that. :-)
Well, you’d think I had asked for the Crown Jewels!
He responded with, “The ferry is a 2 hour sailing and there is at least another 2 hours for loading/unloading and driving to and from the ferry terminals. Round trip thus means 8 hours of travel, not to mention the $160 cost. That big splash of water between us isn't going away. It’s too much of a challenge for me.
The words that popped into my head were, “You wimp!” However, I was raised to be polite, you know the old saying, “You attract more bees with honey than vinegar.”
Unfortunately, my brain wasn’t connected properly to my fingers, and I found myself typing a reply which read: “I could handle the $160.00 cost for the ferry, but the 8 hours of my time would cost a lot more than that!”
Then, like a fool, I hit “Send.”
It was only after I hit “Send” that I realized what I had written – “but the 8 hours of my time would cost a lot more than that!”
I sounded like I was a hooker! I didn’t hear back from him… thank heaven! :-)
Now, it’s back to the drawing board, I mean website, for me.
