Someone once told me that the person you kiss at midnight on New Year’s Eve is the person you kiss all year long. Although I know this is not true, I would not like to repeat some of the mistakes — err, I mean, people — I have kissed, especially not for the whole year. But we all make mistakes, right?
It’s a little bit easier to convince myself of my own fallibility in light of the recent eHarmony commercials boasting that two percent of American newlyweds this year met on that Web site.
I have committed romantic mistakes in the past, both on New Year’s Eve and not, but at least I can take comfort in knowing I made my mistakes in person. If one has to be hit with a love snowball over the holidays, one might as well get hit in the face, right?
Maybe I’m old-fashioned and sentimental (Editor’s Note: Ha! That’s a good one!), but I think dating should be done through trial and error. It should involve bad pick-up lines, awkward pauses, last-minute outfit changes, and even horrible breakups. But, most importantly, dating should be done in person.
I get the appeal of the online dating world, I really do. It’s quick, it’s easy, and it makes rejection a whole lot easier. It’s so much simpler to log on to an account and see if your profile has any matches than to have to go through the hassle of pointless bar-hopping and blind dates.
I understand that it can be hard to find the confidence to ask a stranger on a date, to put yourself out there in so many personal ways at once. It’s easier to get personal with a virtual profile or to think that the person you are going to meet for coffee has been chosen for you based on multiple measures of compatibility.
But dating isn’t supposed to be easy; the point of dating is that it is personal. It’s the personal part of it that makes it so scary, but it’s also what makes it work. You can’t really get to know someone by looking at the interests they list on a computer screen. You don’t really know what a person looks like from the picture they can edit and alter before they post it on a Web site. You have to meet them, talk to them and look them in the eyes before you can even begin to decide if you are compatible.
Is that too off-the-wall for this new decade? Or could eHarmony be the new after-work watering hole for singles?
If it is, then I suppose I won’t have to worry about kissing any more frogs on New Year’s Eve — or on any other eve, for that matter. I will just have to weed out the frogs before I actually meet them, based on their heights or favorite sports as listed on their personal profile pages.
Personally, I’d rather kiss a frog all year long.
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
I agree with the general sentiment that dating involves a little awkwardness, and making oneself open to rejection. I’ve recently had guys send texts to ask me out. I guess the sting is less if I don’t respond or respond via text? It’s less awkward than a real-time voice conversation? It’s avoidable? I don’t like it. It seems cowardly to me, and I hate text messages in the first place. The fact that one goes out of his way to type something in T9 really shows an avoidance of a phone call, and I don’t want to take the time to send something via my numerical keypad.
I totally agree! Have you seen “He’s Just Not That Into You”? There’s a line in it about how in today’s society it’s more about updating profiles or changing statuses than picking up the phone. And I think what you said just validated that point completely. I know that sucks but just hang on for a boy who will pick up the phone to call you and actually talk to you…or at least one who can write out the whole word “you” as opposed to “u” in a text haha
I personally like the editor’s note.