Smaller # Of Fish In The Sea Than I Thought

So, I’m pretty much back to where ever I was a week or so ago. Yesterday I texted the girl from my post “First First-Date With A Girl” asking her if she was still interested in coming by to watch a show we’d discussed. No reply. Last night I found out that she used to date my girl crush from my post “Tired Of Men, Time To Try Women?” who sparked my attempts at dating women. I’m pretty sure they even met through the same dating website. I’m not sure why, but I almost immediately lost any interest I’d had in her –though of course she has no idea about my discovery of this, or my crush on someone she’s dated. I’m pretty happy we never mentioned names of those we’d dated or had crushes on. I’m also glad I decided against inviting her to an event my original girl-crush would have been at. It’s funny actually- when we met, she expressed being put off by how small she felt the gay/bi community was for women on these sites and how everyone seems to know each other on them.
Today she sent me the following text:
“Hey sorry I took so long to get back to you; i got this when work was super hectic. It’d be fun to watch it but i’m kind of just starting to see someone so I do want to be straight up abt that. It was too early to say anything before and probably still too early but It seems better to be more upfront than not. Im sorry; i still feel really ill equipped when it comes to the dating scene.”
She was pretty surprised by how truly okay I was with this answer today. I suppose the timing of the news, my feelings on it, and the timing of her reply just sort of worked out for the best.
Moving on, last night I also got a text from an entirely new girl from the dating website. We haven’t spoken much, but we made plans to meet next week. Oh how my life suddenly sounds like some little soap opera story. (And these are just the parts I share with you!)

(Goldfish Bowl = Dating Website)

(Goldfish Bowl = Dating Website)

Small World

I don’t have any new dating website messages to share with you, so I’ll tell you a couple of true short stories…

When I was a teenager MySpace was popular. I only used it to speak to people I already knew, but one day I got a message from a random guy. We had a friend or two in common, so I decided to reply. I was on a break with my then boyfriend and so we chatted every night for a few weeks. A lot of the time we’d talk about his ex. He didn’t seem to be over her. Then one day I got another message from another random guy. I was hesitant to reply, but seeing that I was already speaking to someone I didn’t really know, it couldn’t hurt to start chatting with one more. We would also chat pretty often over the next few weeks. He had an ex he wasn’t quite over as well. I’d share stories about the guy I had been with up until our break and they’d tell me about their ex. It went on for a while until one day one of the guys decided to share their ex’s MySpace page with me. I noticed her a few things on her page. It was the girl the first guy had been describing to me. Turns out they had the same ex they weren’t over, each dated her for a couple of years (not at the same time), and each had stumbled across my page, liked my picture and decided to message me out of the blue. Neither had met the other before. I couldn’t believe the coincidence and when I shared the news with them they were pretty surprised as well. A few days later we decided to hang out as a group and you know the two guys seemed to bond over sharing the ex and actually became friends. Now wasn’t that a cute little story?

Here’s another one…When I joined my first dating site in the summer of 2009, I got a message from a guy about a week later who I wasn’t particularly attracted to, but seemed pretty interesting. We started chatting and before I knew it we became internet friends. He lived a couple of hours away, so we never got around to meeting…for four years. We continued to text and call each other, and remained in touch. There were periods of time we wouldn’t speak for a couple of months and then every once in a while we’d catch each other up on everything. Earlier this year I went on a couple of dates with a guy I’d met at a party. It didn’t really work out, but we were trying to keep up a friendship, so we decided to meet for dinner one night. My schedule had been all over the place that day. I don’t usually plan so much at once, but I was set on not cancelling on anyone and meeting him. So, we met in an area I hadn’t frequented and he took me to a restaurant I’d never heard of. We were waiting to be seated when out of nowhere a guy comes up and shakes my hand. He said it was nice to meet me. I nodded and smiled, but if that wasn’t confusing enough, the next thing he said was my name. It was the guy I’d been speaking to for four years who didn’t live anywhere near there. He recognized me from my pictures and I didn’t recognize him at all –He was in fact a lot more attractive than I’d believed him to be. He so nonchalantly said hello and went back over to have dinner with his sister. I stood there for a good 10 minutes shocked and confused. From miles away, to a city he didn’t visit more than a couple of times a year, he was at a restaurant neither of us had been to before, at the same time I was there, and recognized me. If that wasn’t enough the waitress seated us at a table right next to him and his sister. Also, I hadn’t spoken to him in a couple of months at this time and was actually about to text him the night before to catch up, but got tied up with something. I’d love to tell you about the romance that later ensued –but it never happened. Completely friend-zoned at this point in time, I now just have another friend -who’s no longer just some guy I talk to on the phone…But aren’t coincidences awesome?
SMALL_WORLD-1-from-Bob-Wilber