...but damn I wish I was!

I refuse to admit that OkCupid deserves praise for introducing us though. If I had been using the site for non-research purposes I would have dismissed Mr. Rogers based on his checking off of the religious beliefs box as "Christianity and somewhat serious about it".  Not that there's anything wrong with having religious beliefs! But if you make a point of noting it on your profile, usually it's because you're a crackpot zealot. But being that Mr. Rogers had everything else going in his favor - and good god, the pickings were slim - I thought I'd go with it and hope he wasn't, you know, a nut.

As it happens, after hanging out with Mr. Rogers for the better part of the afternoon yesterday, I'm pretty sure he's not a nut. And I'd also tell him to get new pictures except then everyone else would figure out how adorable he really is and well, even though I live way up here on the other side of the border I'd just as soon not help other women to date him. Um, yet.  (You know how on POF women on a guy's favorites list can leave a note about how great he is, telling you to totally give him a chance? Right. There's a reason he's being thrown back into the sea. If they actually cared they'd shut up. Or blog about him under a different name.)

Anyways, Mr. Rogers is also very frustrated with online dating. While I've found OkCupid to be at least less freaky than other sites, Mr. Rogers says he finds that women tend to put up only one pic - usually a headshot - as a trick to avoid showing what they really look like. And then either avoid ever meeting in person - or when they do, look nothing like he expected. And not in a good way. He also tried out Match and said he came away after three months without a single date. (I've also found Match to be a wasteland for trying to connect with people - but then, now that I think about it I only had one pic up...) He countered my stories of creepy guy pics in basements and laundry rooms with emails from women who clearly looked like crack addicts. Fun times all this profile and pic dating!

I did say you'd get an loV-blog but as it turns out, it's a neighborly day in this beautywood and I'm signing off until the New Year!

Happy 2010!

It’s getting fun people! Day 5 and I’m getting asked out on dates…but I can't remember who they are! Oh my god, I’m a guy. Ok, so I’m kidding, sort of – but I’m definitely getting very sweet emails asking for dates...by names that don’t ring a bell. Which is all E-Harmony’s fault. Their user interface is not user friendly by any means – names aren’t associated with pictures when you go down the list, so there’s no quick way to remember who the heck you like. Yes, I suppose I could have paid attention to something like their names if I wanted to be all personal about it – but at this stage? I was just trying to slog through the glut of profiles.

Oh, yes, that. I am now convinced that E-harmony doesn’t do the slightest in terms of special matching. They’ve been overloading me with “meet your new match!” notices just about every hour, and not one profile I've reviewed shows anything to suggest that these men would be a better match for me than for my landlord. E-Harmony has this aura and pedigree surrounding the company because of their supposedly amazing knack for psychological profiling – everyone I spoke to who knew of E-Harmony but had never actually tried the site was even under the impression that it took months to find you the perfect match because of their whole complicated system.

Well, hello everyone, let me be the first to spill the paint on E-Harmony's pristine image: I was asked the exact same psychological profiling questions as on the other sites - just extended and ad nauseum - except they did include a number of questions about my sexual compatibility which I found intrusive and inappropriate (but I answered in the spirit of participation). Matches were produced immediately. Slowly at first, now non-stop. I don’t know for sure, but I'm quite sure I’m being matched with daters simply based on generic preferences like drinking, smoking, location, whether I like to dance or watch movies, want children - you get the point. Which would be fine – except they’re promising something much more in-depth – AND wasted over an hour of my time with their inane psychological profiling. Only to now be sending me basically any guy in Vancouver. Oh, and Blaine, WA. I thought the point of paying was quality over quantity. Seriously? I’m doing better playing Russian roulette with Plenty of Fish. More on that later.

So – back to not knowing who my dates are – E-harmony sent me so many profiles (and remember they have this 50-step “guided communication process”) that the only way I was going to get a date by next week was to cut to the chase: I sent a cut & pasted “hi! Your pic and profile seem sweet – but I can’t deal with this system – here’s my email address if you’d like to chat” email to the top seven. Yes, yes I did. I know, bad me. What else is a girl trying to sincerely date on 30 sites to do? So...there has been a little confusion in the gmail account...along with the Plenty of Fish and Match date scheduling. Sigh. Better than an ordinary life, right?

(And you, if you happen to find me here and were one of my seven of course I meant it and I’m sorry I couldn’t be witty seven different times. Please send your hate mail to E-Harmony)

First dates on Sunday! Video blogs start sunday too! woo hoo!