Have you met my friend OkCupid??

I was first introduced to the wonderful world of online dating by a girl friend on my City Year team shortly after I moved to New York. To be perfectly honest, I'm not too sure why I joined after hearing the horrors of what were supposed to be "first dates." I went against my better judgment and lined up suitor after suitor to go on dates with. Hey, dinner is dinner when you're poor and living off of change that your students give you to put towards getting a TV. This was the first time in my young adult life that I was not committed to any single person and I wanted to take complete and full advantage of it. Besides, what better way to go to cool places throughout New York City than to have some dude who's already been living there for a while take you...and pay!

Lucky for me, my first date went pretty swell. I met this guy in the St. Marks area (which later became one of my favorite areas of all time) where he took me to this awesome place called Marks Burgers (soon to become one of my favorite restaurants) and a speak easy bar. In the midst of a conversation, we found that we both liked Macklemore and he just so happened to have an extra ticket for ME! Now, I had already decided that I would never date this guy, but I wanted to go to that concert and it was already sold out. So again, I went against what my mind was telling me and went to that concert with him the following week. I had a BLAST...until the end of the night came and he wanted to kiss me before we went our separate ways. Although he was polite and asked, I said no, to which he followed with the same damn question. I'm sorry, but since when did "no" mean "maybe" that it would make you think it's okay to ask again. For the sole reason that I wanted to hear him stop talking as he waited with me for my train, I gave him a peck and then ran onto said train that had just reached the station--in time to save my life!

I never went out with him again. Clearly we weren't on the same page and he was looking for something that I didn't want to give him. Had he been okay with just being friends then I think things could have worked out. The funny thing about online dating is that it's really hit or miss. Either you meet guys who genuinely don't have time to meet girls because of work/school/other important things and are trying to look for something while being normal about it. OR you meet guys that are wankers and 1) can't meet a girl because they are socially awkward, 2) aren't really looking for anything other than to...you know what, 3) like playing games, just want to waste your valuable time. With that being said, online dating is just as draining--if not more draining--than meeting douche bags at bars on a weekly basis. Remember, you can block people online, but it takes longer to get a restraining order for that creep you met last week downtown on the strip.