Showing posts with label meet people. Show all posts
Showing posts with label meet people. Show all posts
Saturday, June 4, 2011
Tactic #2 Online Dating
So, I previously blogged about my experience with online dating, but I felt I needed to include it as a Tactic so that you could understand my motivations. I pretty much decided that online dating was like Christmas presents from Grandma,---you are either getting an Ugly Sweater or a Cha Ching Check, so it could go either way. I also figured that as out going as I am, I can have drinks or coffee with just about anyone for about an hour or so. It also is good practice for business situations when you are forced to talk and socialize with people you other wise wouldn't. Also, it could be great practice for when you really find someone you would want to date. Another benefit is that just because you don't click with that person doesn't mean you couldn't be friends..and that is truly what I need. And who knows...their friends could be awesome as well even if he isn't. Most people meet the man of their dreams through someone through someone etc.....so maybe an online meeting might eventually lead to the man of my dreams, even if he isn't participating in the craziness of online dating. Since I am now in Florida and lonely I am much more excited about online dating because it is a way for me to go out and get drinks or just do SOMETHING and not be alone. If I get to meet people and get out of the house, I'm interested. Stay tuned for crazy online dating stories......
Wednesday, June 1, 2011
Tactic #1- Through Others (1)
Ok, so maybe I fibbed a little about not knowing ANYONE in Florida. When I first moved to Florida, I lived in a city where I did know a few people, my Aunt, Uncle, and Cousin. I was living in my other Aunt's vacation home in the same city, but now I no longer live in that city but instead live about an hour south.
So when I first moved to Florida, I lived near people I knew for two months before relocating. During this time I was applying for "big kid jobs" and working at a retailer for the holidays as a fill-in manager. So I did have some human interaction.
So my first tactic to meet people was to meet people that my cousin, Aunt and Uncle knew. However, I really didn't want to come off strong and make them feel like they HAD to entertain me or had to find me friends. I wanted to become a Floridian as fast as possible and not make them feel like they were entertaining a family tourist that had come for the week to stay but instead stand on my own two feet.
Now, this blog might make me sound like I'm not, but I am VERY INDEPENDENT, but I do enjoy the company of others and particularly when you are trying new things and exploring new places. At this time, since I had recently moved to Florida, I was still very independent and enjoying just "living the life," going to the beach as much as possible, wearing sundresses, walking around and oogling at the palm trees etc. It was different than now, where I still do many of the same things, but long for someone to go to the beach with me and just generally not be so alone.
(Back to the Tactic) So my cousin is around my age, hes 27 almost 28, and he works as an officer for the State of Florida. In the last year, he bought a house in the same community that my Aunt's vacation home is in that I was living in and I could actually walk to his house. (He is also single and has his shit together -even has a college degree- and would really be a catch for a lucky girl.) He has always had to entertain family members when we would come and visit and he never seemed to enjoy it- one of the complications of living in Florida I guess- so I didn't want to impose on him at all.
I was very surprised that my first weekend in Florida, he called me to go out with his friends. SCORE!!!! I'm thinking I can meet people, PLUS he works in a male dominated field so mostly in-shape manly guys, so many will likely be HOTTIES just my type. Of course I tried to play it off like I wasn't all that interested so I wouldn't sound desperate. Plus he had actually called me ahead of time and not texted, so I had to play it cool in my voice as well.....since I wasn't great at this, we decided when it got closer to going out time, we'd text. The following texts went something like this:
(251): So when are you guys thinking of going out? <-- of course I'm already ready sitting in my house
(941): eh Idk-you can just come over here and then we'll see
(251): Ok, I could do that. I guess I'll jump in the shower <--Already ready, but still scared it might be to early to claim to be starting to get ready
(wait 15 min) (251): So where do you usually go?
(941): It depends. Idk what we are up to tonight, probably a local bar <--Change clothes frantically 20 times, end up wearing a sundress still self-conscious that it is November and maybe Floridians don't wear sundresses in November even though it is 80 degrees....but I didn't want to look like a tourist
(941): I'll be over in a bit
So my cousin was known in our family to be quite a partier. He took the 7 year plan through college and I am pretty sure he had A LOT more fun in college than I did. So I was expecting a good night. I met my cousin at his house and he got dressed and then we headed out together to meet his friends. I was assuming this to be a big group of mixed sexes ready to get their drink on. We pull up to a place in a strip mall called World of Beer. We go in and it is fairly empty, but I loved it since half of the place was outside. His "group" was sitting at the indoor bar. The "group" was two guys. One was my cousin's roommate and the other was his friend of a friend of a friend. Greeaaatttt.....Think positive- two people I didn't know before.
They both had been drinking a while and my cousin and I were fresh, so we went to order a drink, turns out the only thing World of Beer offers is umm...BEER. Since I am not a beer drinker, this would be interesting. I found out that they had ciders and I ordered a Strongbow- something I knew I could handle because it had been Fluffy's favorite after he had come home from the UK. I had a couple of ciders and was feeling pretty good- so in my usual fashion I started not only talking more to the guys we were with but started exploring the bar and talking to the people next to us etc.
Through this I learned that coming to a male dominated bar (maybe because they only serve BEER)GGGGRRROOOOSSSSSSS! This made me feel like I needed to talk to anyone in the bar that was decent looking at all and inform them that this was not the case. I did talk to a few and communicate this- but it got kind of "not so fun" and went back to the group.
Turns out the "group" was YOUNG. I was expecting quite the opposite since my cousin was older than me. But these kids were younger than me. My cousin's roommate worked with him and the other guy worked at a Bait Shop out near the beach.
My cousin's roommate finally stood up because he had to go to the bathroom.....and I determined he was cute, BUT.....it was like "HONEY I SHRUNK THE HOT MAN." He was soooo little. He has a pretty okay personality, laughs, jokes and smiles a lot. He also dresses nice. He is well built- ok deliciously built if I was like 14- but it looks like he was at the Willy Wonka Chocolate Factory and played with the shrinky machine too closely. He is maybe 5'7" and might weigh 160 only because he is so well built. The smallest thing was his well sculpted waist. I think his waist could likely fit in the thigh of one of my pants legs. I'm pretty sure he is all the way through puberty and this is as good as it gets....Is there a machine that does the opposite of the "Honey I shrunk the Kids" machine?
(Honey I Shrunk The Hot Man has since been dating a girl about the same size as me- if not bigger.....I'm not sure how she does it....maybe everything isn't in proportion.....*if you know what I mean*)
Well, the night was pretty low key. I rode back to my cousins house, watched some TV with him and the "group" drank some water and sobered up and drove the whole 2 miles home and reflected on the night....I got out of the house and met some people....at that point I had been a little disappointed, but now looking back I should have been very happy. I'd love a similar night out any day now that I have lived in Florida for 7 months and don't really have any friends.
So when I first moved to Florida, I lived near people I knew for two months before relocating. During this time I was applying for "big kid jobs" and working at a retailer for the holidays as a fill-in manager. So I did have some human interaction.
So my first tactic to meet people was to meet people that my cousin, Aunt and Uncle knew. However, I really didn't want to come off strong and make them feel like they HAD to entertain me or had to find me friends. I wanted to become a Floridian as fast as possible and not make them feel like they were entertaining a family tourist that had come for the week to stay but instead stand on my own two feet.
Now, this blog might make me sound like I'm not, but I am VERY INDEPENDENT, but I do enjoy the company of others and particularly when you are trying new things and exploring new places. At this time, since I had recently moved to Florida, I was still very independent and enjoying just "living the life," going to the beach as much as possible, wearing sundresses, walking around and oogling at the palm trees etc. It was different than now, where I still do many of the same things, but long for someone to go to the beach with me and just generally not be so alone.
(Back to the Tactic) So my cousin is around my age, hes 27 almost 28, and he works as an officer for the State of Florida. In the last year, he bought a house in the same community that my Aunt's vacation home is in that I was living in and I could actually walk to his house. (He is also single and has his shit together -even has a college degree- and would really be a catch for a lucky girl.) He has always had to entertain family members when we would come and visit and he never seemed to enjoy it- one of the complications of living in Florida I guess- so I didn't want to impose on him at all.
I was very surprised that my first weekend in Florida, he called me to go out with his friends. SCORE!!!! I'm thinking I can meet people, PLUS he works in a male dominated field so mostly in-shape manly guys, so many will likely be HOTTIES just my type. Of course I tried to play it off like I wasn't all that interested so I wouldn't sound desperate. Plus he had actually called me ahead of time and not texted, so I had to play it cool in my voice as well.....since I wasn't great at this, we decided when it got closer to going out time, we'd text. The following texts went something like this:
(251): So when are you guys thinking of going out? <-- of course I'm already ready sitting in my house
(941): eh Idk-you can just come over here and then we'll see
(251): Ok, I could do that. I guess I'll jump in the shower <--Already ready, but still scared it might be to early to claim to be starting to get ready
(wait 15 min) (251): So where do you usually go?
(941): It depends. Idk what we are up to tonight, probably a local bar <--Change clothes frantically 20 times, end up wearing a sundress still self-conscious that it is November and maybe Floridians don't wear sundresses in November even though it is 80 degrees....but I didn't want to look like a tourist
(941): I'll be over in a bit
So my cousin was known in our family to be quite a partier. He took the 7 year plan through college and I am pretty sure he had A LOT more fun in college than I did. So I was expecting a good night. I met my cousin at his house and he got dressed and then we headed out together to meet his friends. I was assuming this to be a big group of mixed sexes ready to get their drink on. We pull up to a place in a strip mall called World of Beer. We go in and it is fairly empty, but I loved it since half of the place was outside. His "group" was sitting at the indoor bar. The "group" was two guys. One was my cousin's roommate and the other was his friend of a friend of a friend. Greeaaatttt.....Think positive- two people I didn't know before.
They both had been drinking a while and my cousin and I were fresh, so we went to order a drink, turns out the only thing World of Beer offers is umm...BEER. Since I am not a beer drinker, this would be interesting. I found out that they had ciders and I ordered a Strongbow- something I knew I could handle because it had been Fluffy's favorite after he had come home from the UK. I had a couple of ciders and was feeling pretty good- so in my usual fashion I started not only talking more to the guys we were with but started exploring the bar and talking to the people next to us etc.
Through this I learned that coming to a male dominated bar (maybe because they only serve BEER)GGGGRRROOOOSSSSSSS! This made me feel like I needed to talk to anyone in the bar that was decent looking at all and inform them that this was not the case. I did talk to a few and communicate this- but it got kind of "not so fun" and went back to the group.
Turns out the "group" was YOUNG. I was expecting quite the opposite since my cousin was older than me. But these kids were younger than me. My cousin's roommate worked with him and the other guy worked at a Bait Shop out near the beach.
My cousin's roommate finally stood up because he had to go to the bathroom.....and I determined he was cute, BUT.....it was like "HONEY I SHRUNK THE HOT MAN." He was soooo little. He has a pretty okay personality, laughs, jokes and smiles a lot. He also dresses nice. He is well built- ok deliciously built if I was like 14- but it looks like he was at the Willy Wonka Chocolate Factory and played with the shrinky machine too closely. He is maybe 5'7" and might weigh 160 only because he is so well built. The smallest thing was his well sculpted waist. I think his waist could likely fit in the thigh of one of my pants legs. I'm pretty sure he is all the way through puberty and this is as good as it gets....Is there a machine that does the opposite of the "Honey I shrunk the Kids" machine?
(Honey I Shrunk The Hot Man has since been dating a girl about the same size as me- if not bigger.....I'm not sure how she does it....maybe everything isn't in proportion.....*if you know what I mean*)
Well, the night was pretty low key. I rode back to my cousins house, watched some TV with him and the "group" drank some water and sobered up and drove the whole 2 miles home and reflected on the night....I got out of the house and met some people....at that point I had been a little disappointed, but now looking back I should have been very happy. I'd love a similar night out any day now that I have lived in Florida for 7 months and don't really have any friends.
Tuesday, May 31, 2011
Most of my friends would be surprised to know......
Most of my friends would be surprised to know that I participate in online dating. Ok, Ok, maybe they wouldn't be so surprised now, online dating is a little more acceptable and I've lived in a bunch of cities where I didn't know anyone and I've been single for about a year and a half......
BUT, what they would be surprised to know is that I have been participating in online dating since Jan 2008. (yes, about 3 and a half years- we can see how well its working out) It's kind of a weird story on how I got involved with it.
So I graduated college in May 2007 and had a horrific break-up at the end of college (two weeks before graduation to be exact). Then after college I moved back home to live at home with my parents and start working my "big kid job." I moved back to the city I had grown up in, yet it seemed like so much had changed. I hadn't really had that many super close friends in high school, and those friends that I did have hadn't come back home from college, never went to college, or were on the 17 year plan at college, so it was like starting a whole new life over. I also had so many of my friends through the ex-boyfriend....lets nickname him Fluffy.....that I had lost so many of my friends in the break up as well. I was super depressed about the break up with Fluffy and would have done anything in the world to get back together with him. Of course he knew this, and used it to string me along for about a year after we broke up. So between being depressed, being strung along, and working an insane new job.....that was pretty much 2007. Welcome 2008.
So I went to dinner with my Sophomore year of college roommate when she was in town and she had called some ofher our other friends from college to meet us. We started talking about adjusting to life after college and how it was so different than before college. We got to talking and one of the more conservative girls told me she had used this free website to meet people and make new friends since many of her high school friends had changed and they no longer shared common interests. She made it sound like a Facebook type of site designed to make you meet new people to hang out with etc. So about two weeks later, I was feeling lame sitting home on a Friday night by myself and decided to check it out. It kind of indicated prior to signing up that it was a dating site, but I assumed that was only one aspect of the site and that you could choose what you were wanting or something. It was free...what the heck.
So once I joined I realized, it was a pure dating site. I could only search for men and one of the questions they had answered was their idea of a perfect first date. Oh well, what could it hurt? I completed the profile and hesitantly even loaded a real photo of myself.
In the back of my mind was, "maybe you can meet someone or go on a date and make Fluffy jealous and he'll want to get back together," however, what ended up happening was guys actually messaged me and wanted to talk to me. Granted most were not my type at all....wanted me to "let them hit that".....or were old enough to be my Dad, but in a weird way it brought back some of my confidence that the bad break up had taken away and made me feel somewhat desirable again.
Initially I just spent a lot of time chatting with people online, almost acting as if it were the AOL chat rooms I used to find entertaining in middle school. It was my social interaction when I really didn't have any friends to talk to about stuff or to go out with. It was a release by getting to talk through some things about my break up with people I didn't know and would never meet. It was great to get a male perspective on my situation. To have a guy listen to me....that was desirable.
Since then I have met some people off of online and used my profile on and off depending on whether or not I was seeing someone or if I was interested in looking at it or not. Lately it has been more often than not because come on now- I'm trying to meet people in FL! (More stories to come about theselosers winners in future blogs)
Now not only would most of my friends be surprised to know that I have been using online dating....they would be surprised to know that they have even been introduced to some of the guys I have met off there.
BUT, what they would be surprised to know is that I have been participating in online dating since Jan 2008. (yes, about 3 and a half years- we can see how well its working out) It's kind of a weird story on how I got involved with it.
So I graduated college in May 2007 and had a horrific break-up at the end of college (two weeks before graduation to be exact). Then after college I moved back home to live at home with my parents and start working my "big kid job." I moved back to the city I had grown up in, yet it seemed like so much had changed. I hadn't really had that many super close friends in high school, and those friends that I did have hadn't come back home from college, never went to college, or were on the 17 year plan at college, so it was like starting a whole new life over. I also had so many of my friends through the ex-boyfriend....lets nickname him Fluffy.....that I had lost so many of my friends in the break up as well. I was super depressed about the break up with Fluffy and would have done anything in the world to get back together with him. Of course he knew this, and used it to string me along for about a year after we broke up. So between being depressed, being strung along, and working an insane new job.....that was pretty much 2007. Welcome 2008.
So I went to dinner with my Sophomore year of college roommate when she was in town and she had called some of
So once I joined I realized, it was a pure dating site. I could only search for men and one of the questions they had answered was their idea of a perfect first date. Oh well, what could it hurt? I completed the profile and hesitantly even loaded a real photo of myself.
In the back of my mind was, "maybe you can meet someone or go on a date and make Fluffy jealous and he'll want to get back together," however, what ended up happening was guys actually messaged me and wanted to talk to me. Granted most were not my type at all....wanted me to "let them hit that".....or were old enough to be my Dad, but in a weird way it brought back some of my confidence that the bad break up had taken away and made me feel somewhat desirable again.
Initially I just spent a lot of time chatting with people online, almost acting as if it were the AOL chat rooms I used to find entertaining in middle school. It was my social interaction when I really didn't have any friends to talk to about stuff or to go out with. It was a release by getting to talk through some things about my break up with people I didn't know and would never meet. It was great to get a male perspective on my situation. To have a guy listen to me....that was desirable.
Since then I have met some people off of online and used my profile on and off depending on whether or not I was seeing someone or if I was interested in looking at it or not. Lately it has been more often than not because come on now- I'm trying to meet people in FL! (More stories to come about these
Now not only would most of my friends be surprised to know that I have been using online dating....they would be surprised to know that they have even been introduced to some of the guys I have met off there.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)