Where’s the “smut”, you ask? Good question.
I just haven’t been in the mood to write about sex. I’m not getting laid. It’s been far too fucking long for no fucking. Gah! Poor me. Woe is me. That I should be NOT having sex is truly a disservice to mankind. Truly.
I’m on the verge of the dating scene but I face that classic conundrum: Meeting the Man of My Dreams. My job’s about as anti-social as it gets: I sit at a desk with headphones on as I pore over television shows frame-by-frame-by-frame. Yeah, I don’t meet people through work. This past year has been spent just trying to keep up with the speed of life, so, no, I haven’t been meeting new people through activities or clubs or anything like that. That’s about to change. Big time. (I’ll tell ya all about it as that unfolds.)
Someone said what happens before the date? How do you meet ‘em? Well, sorta fucked if I know, you know? My city’s known for being hard to tap into new groups. It’s a strange town, man.
But, yeah, for me, I’ve been putting ads up on dating sites, which is pretty fucking pointless thus far. I’ll probably resort to Craigslist when my life’s settled with finding a new job and all. Joining clubs and such is a great notion, but it can be an expensive prospect and doesn’t always yield the results you want. Making eye contact and smiling at strangers is great, but then that’s just a lookie-see method of attraction and doesn’t speak to who you are, what you love, and things in the mental/emotional categories that really need to be clicked upon for a true connection. Me, I’m too smart to not include mental acumen as a primary attribute in a mate. Smart cookies only need to apply, thanks.
No matter how you slice it, meeting someone new takes risks. Whether it’s the risk of taking a chance and asking them out on the spot in a café or something, or whether it’s the risk of meeting some new stranger off the internet. It’s a risk. Yes. You may very well fail, you’ll probably get hurt and rejected, and that’s just the way that goes. Will you spontaneously combust and become a fragment of yourself after rejection? Only if you let their “no” matter.
I was terrified to start dating after a prolonged period of abstinence after my mother’s death. I’m talking years of licking my wounds and only one sexual encounter in all that time. I went and placed an ad on Lavalife eons ago, and then I went and used an 8-year-old photo because I had such low self-esteem and thought I was completely unwantable. I don’t know where that headtrip came from – probably from all the drinking and drugs and self-isolation that I put myself through. I really don’t know.
Then I had a date. A date with a guy who drank five beers in 90 minutes. Nice, but way wrong for me. I went home and realized that it was an okay date, I had a free meal, nice guy, wasn’t right for me, and, you know what? I was all right with that. I did it again. Another date. Not bad, not right, so I moved on.
I suddenly realized it wasn’t such a big deal to date. I could head out, meet new people, and if it didn’t work out, it didn’t work out. Yeah, I’d get fucked over by dishonest guys and all, but it ultimately didn’t matter. Me, I will actually accept more dates than I probably should, because I’ve learned a long time ago that there might be more than meets the eye. If I was looking for friends, for instance, and read some kind of profile on my best friend, GayBoy, and saw his grammar and spelling and all that, I’d just walk away. “Not my type,” I’d think. Not a reader, etc. But he’s my best friend – 15 years strong now.
I’ve heard certain people claim you should never turn down a date. Do I agree? Nah. But I think there’s no harm in taking the chance. Who knows when it’s going to work, you know? Besides, my motto in life is “why not?”.
And I’m pretty shy in real life, I have trouble with the whole meet-a-strange-guy-in-a-café thing, but once I’m in an environment where everyone’s communicating, I’m in there like a dirty shirt. Bound to make you snort your drink or choke on a cracker at some point or another ‘cos I’m funny without trying IRL. One of my New Year’s Resolutions is to start smiling more at sexy guys who I find checking me out. Must be more brazen. Note made.
But, y’know, with the online thing, I’m not too scared to contact guys. I do it. They don’t respond? Who cares. They do? Great. Let’s see how that shakes down.
It’s funny. Six billion people in the world, and most of us are sitting around trying to figure out how to meet ’em. And they’re everywhere. Loneliness, I find, is one of the greatest ironies ever, but it’s a symptom of our society – our society of walls and distance and noise. We’ve created a culture of disconnection, thanks to all our electronic gadgets and time constraints and the cars that keep us hostage and separated from others, and now we’re trying to find out how to reconnect. It’s a bump-in-the-night, lucky-if-you-get’em scenario, and it’s all about keepin’ on tryin’, and keepin’ it real when you meet ’em.
Roll them dice and see where it gets ya.