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Old 08-15-2014, 09:19 PM
 
Location: Richmond VA
6,874 posts, read 7,850,236 times
Reputation: 18199

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Okay, here's the background. I'm 46, mom of 2 teens, been single for 8 years. Tired of OLD. Felt like I was leaning towards a type and maybe bypassing someone I'd discounted for some stupid reason like he was a sports fan or a republican or something. Tired of dating introverts.

Speed dating event was for ages 43-59. Held at a nice restaurant downtown, on the covered patio. $29. Dim lighting! Got a drink and chatted with a small group until it started. Nice bunch of ladies plus one guy.

Here is who I met and their 'scores', (Yes or no are the only options) names changed to protect the innocent:

1. Jay, very nice man, 3 daughters, easy to talk to but now I can't remember much. Nice looking. YES
2. Don, seemed to be a guy who likes a good time, never married, probably not someone who wants a serious relationship. sorta craggy facial features but okay looking. salesman. YES with hesitation.
3. Tom, tall handsome, preppy, retired and now does day trading. He had a somewhat flat aspect...didn't reveal much about himself. NO (because retired=boring at my age)
4. Dan, HVAC expert, southern bald tall facial hair, very personable, nice guy. YES
5. Bob, Sales? nice looking, very nice guy, we talked about a city we both used to live in. YES
6. Jon, Older, bad handshake, asked good questions, nice to talk to but he looked a little like my grandma. NO
7. Doug, Upholsterer, very nice, so nervous his hands were shaking. I concentrated on making him feel comfortable. NO
8. Noah, shifty eyed, sort of reticent, seemed disinterested in the process. got out a piece of gum for himself (did not offer me one) then threw the gum wrapper on the floor (OMG, a litterer!) half heartedly mentioned a band playing at a bar later this evening as if he was asking me out but he was a big NO
9. Keith, very negative energy, (we were getting tired at this point and it was hard to focus on the conversation.) Don't know what we talked about but I found him very unappealing. NO
10. Mark, cute, smart, commercial insurance salesman. personable. I caught a glimpse of his scorecard and he had circled NO for every single woman he had already met. If by some strange chance he might give me a yes, I would go out with him but I don't think likely to go beyond one date. YES with hesitation.
11. Craig, nice looking, owns a landscape business, we talked about reading, he likes historical fiction. YES
12. Greg, nice guy with 5 daughters, sells cooling towers for industrial use. Was once a marine. Now would not pass the physical. the only guy there who was overweight, but not terribly so. Nice guy, I just wasn't that into him. NO
13-17. There were FOUR men who paid but didn't show up.

After we were done, Noah came and sat at my table and I escaped by excusing myself to go back to the bar for a drink of water. (which I really did want, but I did NOT go back to my table after that.) Jay was in a deep conversation with another woman, Mike, and Drew both took a moment to speak to me and a few other women, and most of the rest either cut out or were continuing to chat with the last person they met. Bob hesitated like he might say something but didn't want to cut into the group I was in. I chatted with a few women while we waited to see if any of the men would come by. A couple gals confirmed that Noah was weird, Keith was negative, and that they had already dated Tom and he was NOT cool. then I left.

So, I had a drink, sat on a patio, and chatted with some very nice people. Now i go to the website and indicate who I would be interested in seeing again. If they give me a yes also, we are somehow put in touch.

Worthwhile? Definitely! If I get one or 2 dates out of it, I'll be satisfied. I would do it again, but I could see how it could get pretty stale quickly. I feel confident that I handled myself well, felt pretty comfortable.

I will say that a majority of the conversations I had defaulted to: Our children, our jobs, where we are from, so it was hard to learn more about them. I did not have any love at first sight moments. In contrast to OLD, I know VERY LITTLE about these men, although I know what they look like. with OLD you get a LOT of data about them and don't really know what they look like or what vibe you will get from them.

I'm exhausted. Good night!
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Old 08-15-2014, 09:43 PM
 
6,732 posts, read 9,975,761 times
Reputation: 6848
I'm so glad you had fun .

I'm surprised you think retiring young = boring. It means someone is free to have fun! Maybe not that guy, though...
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Old 08-15-2014, 09:57 PM
 
Location: State of Transition
102,125 posts, read 107,362,581 times
Reputation: 115942
Quote:
Originally Posted by NilaJones View Post
I'm so glad you had fun .

I'm surprised you think retiring young = boring. It means someone is free to have fun! Maybe not that guy, though...
Yeah, I would say being retired has a lot of potential to be much more interesting than selling insurance or industrial cooling towers. But to each her own. I'm wondering; how does one find speed-dating events?
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Old 08-15-2014, 11:45 PM
 
33,387 posts, read 34,745,522 times
Reputation: 20030
i have thought about speed dating once. never tried it though. i think i would prefer it to OLD though as you get to meet in person and get a feel for the people. still have to make snap judgements though, and that can be unfortunate.
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Old 08-15-2014, 11:49 PM
 
Location: Queens, NY
4,525 posts, read 3,394,704 times
Reputation: 6030
Quote:
Originally Posted by rbohm View Post
i have thought about speed dating once. never tried it though. i think i would prefer it to OLD though as you get to meet in person and get a feel for the people. still have to make snap judgements though, and that can be unfortunate.
Still better than OLD, in my opinion. At least you get to meet the person face to face, which often times, attraction is initially based on looks, and how you speak (voice tonality, etc.).
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Old 08-16-2014, 12:48 AM
 
33,387 posts, read 34,745,522 times
Reputation: 20030
Quote:
Originally Posted by NewYorker11356 View Post
Still better than OLD, in my opinion. At least you get to meet the person face to face, which often times, attraction is initially based on looks, and how you speak (voice tonality, etc.).
hmm, i thought that is what i said
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Old 08-16-2014, 01:22 AM
 
Location: Oregon, formerly Texas
10,029 posts, read 7,186,391 times
Reputation: 17121
For $29 and what, 1-2 hours time? It seems like much better return on investment than online dating.

I expect the agency will charge again to get you in contact with the ones you circled yes.
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Old 08-16-2014, 02:51 AM
 
Location: Kaliforneea
2,518 posts, read 2,045,888 times
Reputation: 5258
Q. About how much time did you get to chat with each person?

$29 for a meet-n-greet, you said yes to five, maybe you'll get a couple phone numbers.
Sounds legit for one night's fishing.
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Old 08-16-2014, 07:27 AM
 
Location: Brentwood, Tennessee
49,932 posts, read 59,754,614 times
Reputation: 98359
I like the idea of it because you can tell a LOT by actually being in someone's presence. The littering thing! LOL It saves a lot of messaging/texting BS time from OLD.

I would try it again if this time doesn't pan out.
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Old 08-16-2014, 01:13 PM
 
Location: PANAMA
1,423 posts, read 1,390,892 times
Reputation: 1157
Speed dating is like a playing roulette, it all depends on the options at hand.

But it's fun I'll give you that.
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