Day Nine: Old School

Wednesday, September 28th


Quick birdseye update. 8 days. 12 hours. 
And so far...

Emails: 271

Winks: 390

Profile views: 1119

Profile Photo view: 3208


Earlier this week when I managed to find some down time, for my own sanity I attempted to empty out and either delete or sort through my ravaged inbox, and at least try and respond to some of the people who seemed worth communicating with. Four hours later, I felt like I had climbed Mount Fuji, and that match life was once again manageable. Clean slate. Out with the old, in with the new. 36 hours later, 52 new unread messages. sigh.


Part of this is starting to stress me out. Its completely self induced stress. I don't need to keep up with this. I dont even need to read through these messages or pay attention to the winks. But, what if he's out there? What if he is one of those messages? And how am I supposed to be able to figure that out unless I not only read all of them, but look through each of the profiles and photos of the senders?


I'm starting to see two distinct groups of people trying to get my attention on match, that I have actually begun to communicate. There are emailers, and there are text/IMers. I can easily differentiate these two groups for you. Over 29- emailers. 28 and under? text/IMers. I think there are pros and cons for both of these types of communications. The emailers seems serious. I've gotten life stories followed by an invitation to have dinner anywhere in the city. Tempting. Then I have the younger guys shooting the shit with me all hours of the day, saying hi, or asking to meet up for a game at the bar. I neither like nor dislike, its just interesting, and I think it points out a certain mentality and maturity and intention.


Enough with me complaining about all these messages (although it seems to be one of the predominant gripes of my experience thus far) lets talk more about a few of the people who have actually gotten my attention now that PilotB is flying around the country until next week.  I'll start with my favorite and move down and have included their profile headlines from match.


1) D4BJ- "DAMN, i couldnt find a pic of me in my fav Ed Hardy shirt"
A trader who is currently working evening shifts. And since they tend to be boring, we began our IMship. He is 28, an ex college athlete, but is not on facebook, which I highly respect. (unless he is hiding from his past) We started chatting, and after what seemed to be a very fun, lighthearted and fluid conversation, we realized we had even more in common. He, too, just went through a breakup and his ex moved out, and over jokes and some good laughs we found a truly common ground. It was like the old school AIM convos. Strange talking about life with someone you never met via screen. He is going to FL this weekend by himself for what seems to be a much needed vacation. (jealous) I feel like our personalities mesh well from the shit we give eachother on IM. For example as I'm writing this he sent me a link about beer tasting- something not necessarily up my alley. We have tentatively planned a trip to Boston this fall, that is, if we ever actually meet.


2) Rebs321- "When life hands you lemons, just say 'screw the lemons' and bail."
Born and raised Chicagoan, but only 25. I give him credit because he is training for the Marathon in two weeks, and I promised him a fresh mix of some new running tunes. Our main communication thus far has been texting, but he flaked at a potential brunch date last weekend. Needless to say, I got him back for canceling our plans tonight. He lives in lakeview :( which is negative points in my book. Downtown people? Hello? Looking forward to meeting him, am a bit skeptical, but cut enough to overlook it. I mean, he can't live in Lakeview forever, right? He's only 25.


3) LegalGuy20- "When you judge another, you do not define them, you define yourself."
Hmm, heavy. Maybe the most serious of these guys, after a series of emails, we realized that not only do we live in the same area, we live in the SAME BUILDING. He's on floor 20. Maybe that will be his new nickname. lol. He found it surprising he had "not seen me before" thats because I'm usually late for work, and I usually look like shit except when I'm heading out on the weekends, and many of the weekends this summer, I was barely even home. He seems nice, but a bit stuffy and by-the-book type, but what do you expect from a lawyer? I don't think he's my match made in heaven, but I think it would be nice to make a friend in the building to grab a drink with, or order in some food. I also kind of canceled on him today too. Oops. Our next tentative date is in the laundry room.


4) TravelDude- The only thing this guy hasn't done is end world hunger. Even I'm intimidated by him. Which is why we have a date Saturday. I'll save the details for after that.


So the progress is slow and steady. All in all, I'm starting to think this is a good distraction, as long as I keep it a distraction and not my new life motive. This is just the surface of some other interesting things that are brewing, but I'll wait and share those with you tomorrow ;) For tonight, thats all, folks.