About the Email....

Instead of spending hours and hours (ok, ok... more like, instead of spending days and days because I AM spending hours and hours) wondering why things went awry with the confused bachelor, I did what any self-respecting internet dater would do to forget about a misstep in the world of love - I sent emails and/or "notices of interest short of an email" to about 20 guys in the last two days. I also updated my picture to be a picture of me from a wedding I attended this weekend. In case you, gentle reader, are also exploring the world of internet dating, updating your photo every few weeks is the best way to keep traffic up on your profile. Regardless if you've had a change of appearance of not, it's good just to keep a fresh photo up there. You never know what picture will attract which guy (or gal), so change them early and often to make sure you're getting as many kits as possible.

So, anyway, as usual, the results from this fishing expedition had been minimal so far. See, in the world of internet dating, if you don't get a response to an email or .. that other thing that's not an email.. within a day or so, you can pretty much write that person off as being one of two things: 1) not interested; or 2) no longer a subscriber to that site. Its kind of good, actually. Keeps the guessing down to a minimum. And I have no problem getting no responses to emails, etc... it's just casting a wide net to see what comes back.

So, this morning at work, I was extremely bored. Coming back from a long weekend is always difficult, but coming back to not much work is actually worse. At least when you have a lot to do your day goes by fast. But this morning I found myself with some time and continued my search a bit further. I came across a profile that intrigued me. The "headline" of the profile (basically, a tweet that is supposed to entice people to look at you) said the following:

I live life by a simple philosophy, make every moment as great as possible in an effort to balance out those not in your control. Join me?

I like that motto. It makes sense to me. I want to be with someone who has that motto (and who is not in the camp of the clinically depressed like our woebegone confused bachelor) and who wants to get out into the WORLD. Now... a few caveats. This guy is not really someone I am normally attracted to. He classifies himself as having "a few extra pounds" and from his pictures looks like he would need a lot of work in the area of fashion and hair care... but those are fixable items. Plus the actual profile was really really good. He likes lists. He's a graphic designer. He's funny. He talked about what he would do with his leftover lunch money when he was 10 years old - which involved a very painful decision between buying music and buying comics. Adorable. Smart. Funny.

So, I think, what the hell. I'll email him and see if anything comes of it. He responds promptly. His email is spectacular. It's also adorable, smart, funny and well written which, in the world of internet dating, is the fucking holy grail. He SAID things about his life and made OBSERVATIONS about the world. He related a few funny stories and conveyed a positive outlook on dating in general. So, I responded in kind, telling him about some strange and funny things that happened to me this weekend and giving a bit more information about me. He responded AGAIN with an even longer email which asked really great questions about me and my profile and told me that my dog is "cute as hell."

Now, anyone who knows me will tell you that Corby, my beagle, is the gatekeeper to my heart. If Corby doesn't like you, you're not getting anywhere. So, the fact that he brought up the dog unprompted and said he was really really cute was a big deal.

So everything is great! Right? Maybe.

Here's the thing with the email. Many men who are able to email in this way are totally different people when you meet them. As if they only create a personality in writing and otherwise don't have much of one whatsoever. It's always a huge disappointment because you get so excited about the possibility of this person being really great and then your hopes are completely squashed by the void left when their keyboard is taken from them.

However....

He's already proposed a date. HUGE. Some guys don't ask you out for ages.

Also....

He made two suggestions for the date. GIGANTIC. Most guys just ask "well, what do YOU want to do" rather than actually putting some thought into the matter.

Furthermore...

His suggestions were GOOD! His first was dinner/drinks/midnight movie at the Music Box which is... wait for it... ALIENS. Hilarious! His second suggestion was seeing the new exhibit at the MCA which is one of my favorite places in the entire city. I got all tingly just reading these suggestions.

So then my excitement shut down. This happens occasionally when my subconscious is trying to protect me from something that may or may not be (in this case, a guy who seems great in email but could be a big nothing) and becomes a bit overactive in times of breakup. So, I'm going to keep emailing with the graphic designer and see how it goes. I'm going to try to stay excited and not let my current, somewhat wounded state get in my way. I'm gonna pick up those Sex and the City colored glasses and move on.... which is just what the Girls would do.