Dateophobia
Fear of dating. This is what I decided to cure myself of this month. Figuring that the only way to get used to it was to do a bunch of dating, I signed myself up on match.com. After 2 weeks of this (God, it sure seems like a lot more than that...), I have the following to report:
1. I'm actually far more social than I thought. I also had fun meeting new people. Who'da thought it?
2. If women lie about their weight, men totally lie about their height. Unless I magically got taller. No names here to protect the guilty.
I practiced my newly [re]discovered social skills in Providence this weekend at J.'s apres-Ph.D. party. It's fun to chat up strangers and get them to tell you all of their secrets! As long as you don't use it for evil. :-)
Match.com was an interesting experiment, and it taught me a lot about the kind of communication style I tend to identify with. It also reinforced what I already know: namely, that the number of guys who can both keep my interest and not be overwhelmed by me is a very, very small number. I'll soon say goodbye to match.com, now that I've established that I'm not a social klutz. It's served its purpose. Whew!
Stopping in Boston for a date this weekend put me in the South Station bus terminal just as my old friend T. was walking by. After not seeing each other for more than 10 years, there was much jumping up and down and squealing and generally making idiots of ourselves. She lives in Portland now too! Yaaaaaaaaayyyyyyyyy! This was definitely way more exciting than any date I've been on lately...