I just got back from one of the STRANGEST dates of my life! Everything about it was different and I don’t mean a FUN or GOOD kind of different. Starting right off with the fact that I didn’t meet this guy online. Serious, it was my first non-line (J) date in months. There are these tennis courts I walk by every afternoon on my way home and I started noticing this guy there maybe three or four days a week. So of course I can tell you he was in kicking shape, who wouldn’t be after all that exercise so often?
So I started watching him play, just sitting quietly off to one side. Sometimes I’d go get a coffee and then come back to watch. Not like I’m into tennis that much beyond Roddick and that shaved head guy who married another tennis player, but it was fun to watch and even kind of relaxing. This guy was older than me but not by much, and he always played with different partners. I was really into his dedication and focus.
So after a week or two he noticed me sitting there and came over to say hello on a break from playing. We talked a little and he told me he was in the restaurant business and that he always tried to take as many afternoons as possible to go out and play tennis. He didn’t ask to see me again right away, and I kind of liked that, so I went back the following week and this time he came over and invited me to join him after the match. I couldn’t that day so we made a date for a few days after that.
So fast forward to last night, when we met up at a bar near a restaurant where he told me he’s part-owner. We’re there only about ten or fifteen minutes when he starts an argument with me, and not a constructive argument either. He asked me how much time I spend online average each day, and I told him it varies, I wasn’t sure. I didn’t know where he was going with this, but then he made it crystal clear: he said the Net “ruins people’s minds” and why am I online when I could just go do something else, like play tennis? I was shocked, didn’t know what to say right off…and then he asked me if I used online dating and I told him yes, I used it a lot. And then he just about lost it! He luanched into some kind of moral speech about the Net separating people instead of bringing them together, why am I a part of the problem, blah blah blah. I excused myself and took off, the only time I’ve EVER done that, but what else could I do? This guy was out of control.
I’m not going offline and I’m not going to listen to ignorant people try to dig up something wrong because maybe they’re not happy with their own lives. I like the people I meet, people like YOU, and that’s it