Perspective

*You've been warned.  This could get wordy.

Sometimes things happen in your life that reminds you how important it is to keep everything in perspective.

Sometimes it's a little dose of reality that makes you realize, "WTF am I doing?"

Sometimes it's as simple as online dating.

I know there are many of you are out there thinking, "Oh dear God, she is finally going to start writing about something interesting!"  And I promise you that I will do my best to keep you updated and still respect the privacy (mine included) of those involved.  Those of you who need the nitty gritty.. well, you know how to reach me. :)

Anyways, back to why I am writing this post in the first place.  Now that I am back in the dating market, I've realized just how much things have changed.  Mostly me.  I have changed.  I am a much different person than I was in 2008 when I was last dating.  Also, texting.  Back in 2008, you were texting... but you weren't texting like you are texting today.  Today, texting is a completely acceptable form of communication.  For almost every situation.  And while I understand why this is comfortable for dating (especially online dating), I find it a little too casual.   Too personal.  There is a safety thing there, I get that.  But I also wish people would realize that with texting, it is difficult to truly establish any sort of connection with someone and it's really hard to get the undertones of the conversation (this coming from a communication major who's favorite class was "non-verbal communication").

I bring up the texting (again!) because of how my week has progressed with Mr. R.  After our date on Sunday, he continued to text on Monday - which I expected.  It was great for a while, until I started to get tired of the (often) immature jokes and "potty" talk.  As the week continued (and the texts continued), I began to find myself getting a little snarky with him about some of the things he said.  At one point, I made a jab at him - poking fun - and things went downhill pretty quickly after that.

What I had learned was if I didn't find his jokes funny and didn't continue to play along, he wasn't interested in talking about anything else.  In fact, he would become downright rude.   The final straw was when he was telling me a Match-related story (that I guess was supposed to be funny) and I made an observation.  He called me a "B" and proceeded to tell me that if I didn't laugh, then I should say nothing.  When I tried to clarify myself, he continued to relate what I had done (or said) to a time he made a bad decision, even if he wasn't meaning to.  That decision still made him a "dipshit".

After I had time to calm down, I sent him a message back that what he had just said - or alluded to - was just plain mean.

Needless to say, we will not be having that date that was tentatively planned for Sunday.  I plan to write him an email today explaining to him how this little dating experiment will not be continuing.

I write this all down, not to blast him (though he does deserve it, the huge douche bag) but to remind myself that my gut feelings are right.  GO WITH YOUR GUT!  I left that date on Sunday just feeling okay about it. I was going to go out with him to give him the benefit of the doubt and to make sure that what I thought I felt after date one was really what I felt.  It won't even get that far.

This foray back into the dating world has really opened my eyes to many things.  I am glad I am doing it, but I need to keep in mind that my experiences will not always be positives one.  And that isn't necessarily a bad thing.

On a more positive note, I have another date tonight.  A first date with one of the other guys that emailed me a couple weeks ago.  This guy, Mr. M, took the initiative to call when he said he was going to (novel) AND researched some restaurants that might be good options for our date.  Three cheers for the guy that makes a bit of an effort!

Happy Friday people!