In other words, ONLINE DATING. Duh. Why didn't I think of that earlier? I had never tried it before and I was skeptical it would work. I had low expectations going in, but I figured what the hell? It couldn't hurt to try. Everything else I attempted had failed anyway. So I signed up to a dating website, threw up a profile, attached a photo of myself and emailed a bunch of girls.
Do I follow her and say something? Or do I stay on the bus and go to work regretting it for the rest of the day? The doors closed and the bus sped off.
You know what happened next? Absolutely nothing. I didn’t get one response. Not ONE. Now I was a failure at meeting women online and in real life. What a waste of time. I dismissed any chance that online dating could work, turned off the computer and went to bed. A few days later, I got an email from the site telling me I had several new matches. I was about to hit the delete button, but I stopped. Here was a system that automatically brought me new women every day that were not only single, but they we[...].
I had to face facts. Approaching women randomly in public wasn’t working. There would always be that 50/50 chance that she had a boyfriend. And if she was single, I had no way of knowing if she was even interested in meeting someone at that time.
What’s your name?” She was STUNNED . But she did have a big smile on her face and I got the feeling I just made her day. “Ashley!” she said. “Hi Ashley, I’m Mike, nice to meet you.” I gasped. Then reality set in and I knew I had to move things along or the situation would get awkward fast . “So ugh, can I have your phone number?” I muttered. Again, a look of pure shock came over her. “Ummm, well, I have a boyfriend.” DAMN IT! COME ON! “Oh... I see, well that’s ok. You can’t blame a guy for trying can you?” And with that she gave me one last smile and she was gone. I hadn’t cried in years, but something about that day, that girl, just made me lose it. Why did she have to have a boyfriend? Why couldn’t she have just been single? At least I would have had a chance.
I was huffing and puffing uncontrollably. Half from exerting myself so suddenly and half because I was so nervous. Finally, in between my panting, I managed to say: “Ugh hi, I noticed you on the bus just now and I had to find out what you were like.
NO! Screw work! I couldn’t let her go. I had to try! I ran the bell and got off at the next stop. I looked around and saw her heading north up the road. I ran across the intersection at full speed, almost getting hit by two cars in the process, and headed straight for her.
I needed a way to filter out the women that weren’t single. I had to stop wasting time chasing women that weren’t available. I thought of singles bars, speed dating and other singles events. I searched online for a few hours but nothing seemed to be my cup of tea. It looked as if this was another dead end. Then the light bulb suddenly came on for me. It was so simple. Instead of using the computer to find places where single women frequent, why not use the computer to find single women directly .
I started wondering if I would be single FOREVER. The thought of being alone for the rest of my life made me sick to my stomach and I just wanted to curl up into a little ball and die.
(Did I mention I did all of this in the dead of winter with 20 inches of snow on the ground?) I caught up to her, tapped her on the shoulder and couldn’t even mutter my name.