The Dating Chronicles (Part I)

I've decided to document my weird/funny experiences dating these days. The names and any super specific details are being changed for privacy reasons.

So, dating these days isn't exactly easy. No one really meets anyone in person anymore. We meet all potential future partners on through apps and other dating platforms. While this gives a wider array of people to meet than just being introduced to a new person by friends, there are plenty of issues with it. Just look at the existence of MTV's Catfish if you need further explanation. There's the added issue of communicating with someone most likely exclusively through messaging through the dating app, or some other messaging system before meeting them for the first time.

The One Where I Went on A Date With Myself (But More Negative)

I started looking for a new relationship through a website (that also had an app, but its known more as a site than an app). I'd been single for a while, and it seemed like it was at least worth a try. After a few rounds of people turning out to be bots trying to get me to download some app or sign up for some website, and a few rounds of the quintessential "you didn't respond to me as quickly as I wanted, time to text insults and threats at you", I finally matched with someone who was a real person. Let's call this person Andy.

We began talking and realized we had a few things in common. We were both into science and a little nerdy. We messaged for a few weeks before he asked me to dinner. I agreed. The day comes, we meet at the chosen location. We sit down.

He starts talking and I realize...we're basically the same person. 

Andy and I went to the same small college. We had the same major. We took the same classes, with the same professors. The only reason I hadn't met him before this moment was a slight age difference. He was two years older than I was. 

And so, dinner went from "let's get to know each other" to "let's take a very long walk down memory lane" and I was not interested in going there. If I wanted to relive my college days, I'd either 1) got to grad school like everyone keeps telling me or 2)actually pay attention to the emails they keep sending me about alumni events. College wasn't a bad experience for me, it was just done and sitting there, talking about every professor I'd ever had and hearing Andy's opinions about fellow classmates of mine wasn't particularly interesting. It didn't help that most of the people who were mentioned, he didn't have anything nice to say about. If I wanted to spend a few hours listening to someone complain about other people, I could just stay home and watch rant videos.

Anyway, so we went to the same college at the same time. And we have the exact same interests. We dislike similar things. 

And then, he brings up one of two forbidden topics on a first date: politics. Now, don't get me wrong, that's a question you need to ask this day and age, given the political climate, but once we had the "what party do you vote for" conversation, I didn't want to spend twenty minutes listening to him list off all of the ways we're going to die soon because of the current administration, but that's what happened. 

Look, was Andy nice? Yeah, I guess so. But there was no spark, it didn't feel like a real date. I wanted to leave before dinner arrived. First date, you want to make a good impression, but he didn't. When I told other people about this date after the fact, I explained it like this "imagine going on a date with me, but I was more negative". 

Bottom line: I like myself, I like who I am, but I don't wanna date myself. I don't have the patience for that.