Despite not getting hardly any sleep last night, I am having a decent morning. My friend went with me to drop off the insurance paperwork, and I feel much better about that than I did. I had a chance to talk to my boss very briefly, and that conversation was reassuring as well. After several matches on a dating website I was getting discouraged that nothing seemed to be going anywhere, I was frustrated until I remembered a strategy a friend of mine had shared. Her son swipes right on everyone. At first I shied away from this as it seemed calculated, and not very nice. Then I realized that it was the best way to make sure you don't miss a match, and you truly never know what might happen, or who you could meet that you may have passed over initially for whatever reason.
This took some time, but eventually paid dividends. I feel like I am on a dating website for a reason so I tried to reach out to everyone unless it was completely obvious that I would have absolutely no interest in this person like the guy who said that he had six cats since I am very allergic. I wish him well, but I am not for him, nor he for me. A couple of the conversations were duds, but I expected that. One guy in particular told me how great he would be as a partner, he was an immediate turn off. I fared better with the conversations that came after him and ended up chatting with three other people; a bald guy from Illinois, a portly gentleman from the Madison area, and a window installer from a more rural area.
The bald guy was fun. We had immediate conversational chemistry and made fun of all the people who are online looking for international travel partners, marathon running buddies, and people who claim to be 'living life to the fullest', yet still in need of 'that special someone'. I'm not sure how we got onto the subject of thrift stores, but we went there, and had a lot of fun discussing the people and merchandise that can be found there. He told me his friends make fun of his frugal ways, to me that is super attractive. He said he isn't cheap, just likes to get a good value for his money, and told me about his recent crockpot purchase for $10 which would have been quite a bit more new on the shelf.
I wasn't too sure about the portly gentleman at first. He seemed more hesitant, but then we started talking about baseball and that opened the door for both of us. He mentioned that he had lost his father last summer, I told him my father died last August, and then we got into a pretty serious conversation about the family loved ones leave behind regardless of their ages. He drives up north to help his mom, he made a 'living in my mom's basement joke' that I thought was funny, but underlying the humor I could tell that he is worried about her as she does not have family close, and is also dealing with her own aging problems. He was nice to talk to, and I'm glad I took the initiative and said hi to him.
The third guy was new to the world of online dating. He was very nervous until I told him all you really have to do is be yourself. He kind of laughed and told me he could do that. I discovered that he enjoys kayaking. I learned more about the installation of windows in tall buildings, and even mentioned that I write which is something I sometimes shy away from because experience has taught me that a lot of people don't really get it, and I'm open to the idea that I may be doing a poor job of opening up about it. He kept on apologizing when he hadn't done anything wrong, but he did tell me that he had been reluctant to join a site, and was pleasantly surprised by the conversation.
Chatting with people, even the conversations that did not go well like the guy who lived in Alaska, and gave me the shortest replies possible, were better than sitting at home going through my normal routine. It's usually pretty easy to tell who is into you, and who is just not. Sometimes people like you, or you like them, but there isn't enough substance to hold things together, and sometimes people drift off, or don't bother replying which makes you wonder why they swiped in the first place although I can say that I have mistakenly swiped on people when I was in a certain mood and later questioned my own sanity so I understand how that can happen. Working late tonight and nervous about that, hoping and praying it goes well despite my lack of sleep.
Xoxo,
J