app date #1 – review

stood up.

Not kidding. This is why I blog about my life. A little more detail…I worked from home on Thurs, so figured I’d go the extra mile and actually get dolled up for this one. Straightened the hair…put on a nice dress…etc etc. Not gonna lie, I looked kinda hot (for an app date). Even got to Chinatown 15 minutes early. Clearly 15 minutes too early because I received the following chat on the app 15 minutes prior to scheduled meetup time.

Matthew (actual name – I’ll do this if you piss me off, so stay on my good side): Something’s come up and I can’t make it tonight. I’ll touch base early next week.

Had to smirk. At the time I was actually milling around in Ann Taylor Loft, which didn’t bode well for my budget. Immediately made alternate plans, as I was not about to waste my good outfit and hair on a no show. And proceeded to have an amazingly hilarious inpromptu evening with Sally and two of her friends. In fact, I’m 100% positive that it was better than hanging out with a douchebag who would have the nerve to cancel 15 minutes before the date.

Anyway, later on that evening, the app slider followed up with me on the quality of the date. Ironically, the slider did not ask me how the date went. Slider literally asked me – did Matthew show up for your date?

Something tells me this might be a common occurrence in app dating. However, this appears to be the benefit of using the slider to set up an app date. If Matthew does not show up for your date, you simply click on the multiple choice response “no, he did not show.” I believe the next best option was “no, he did not show, but it’s okay because we confirmed prior.” Now, Matthew did not necessarily meet either of these criteria, but he was way closer to ‘did not show’ than ‘provided ample notice.’ So ‘no show’ he goes. And Matthew is now banned from the app. Too bad for him.

App date #2 can only look up from here. Potentially two for this week. I’ll keep you posted. I’m getting kind of bored with the app already though, not gonna lie. Plus there are so few 30+ year old men on this thing, that Sally and I both have the same guys in our queue and need to negotiate who gets who. I’ll be moving back to more activity on eHarmony very soon I’m sure.

Good night!
Sara

app dating

Guys, I have a new addiction. It’s not online dating; it’s app dating. Sally so brilliantly introduced me to it. Readers, I’d like to formally introduce you to the newest dating rage (in my head):

Let’s Date

Oh my gosh. I am having a blast with this thing. Let’s Date is an app you can download on the iPhone (not sure about Droid availability). You connect via your facebook page, and once you are connected, it auto-populates what is called your ‘card,’ or dating profile. A small amount of information is pulled, but it limits the setup time to about 5 minutes. And let me tell you, that was WAY quicker than eHarmony’s two hours. EML

Next what happens is the app sends you cards of men (or women, if you so desire), where you can either choose “let’s date,” or “no thanks.” Now, the brillance of this app over other online dating platforms is that when you decide you like someone’s card and hit let’s date, the other person only sees if you like them if they also clicked “let’s date” on your card. After that, the matches move into a queue where you can either chat on the app, or literally set up a date via the date slider.

Funny story. Sally and I were having some fun with this last Friday night out at a bar when I downloaded it myself upon her recommendation. Yes, we were out at a bar, on a dating app. So even while we are out attempting to meet men in our normal, everyday lives, we chose to browse cards on our phones while out when we could have potentially met men in real life. But if you think about it, we were really killing two birds with one stone. Doubling our options if you will. Maybe we should keep this practice up now that I’m thinking about it.

Anyway, we had no clue how to use the app initially. I started browsing cards, and clicked Let’s Date on a few. Mind you, selection for women our age on the app is limited initially. Until I figured out how to cross out what I didn’t like on someone’s card, I was sent mostly men in their young 20’s. Now, I’m not trying to go all cougar on you here, so we had to quickly hit “no thanks” on the babies.

However, there were a few men my age that had some appeal. And when I say this, I am basing it purely on their pictures since there really isn’t much in the card. So I clicked “Let’s Date” on them and kept it movin. Browse and click, browse and click. Fun!

Approximately 1 hour after my initial signup, I got a hit. A nice fellow and I had mutually clicked “Let’s Date” on each other’s cards, so this fellow was put in my dating queue. Sally and I were so excited. We acted like we had hit the lottery, yelping for joy. And mind you, neither of us were in any way drunk. So picture us screaming for joy at my hit on a dating app while out at a bar. Totally normal.

Soon thereafter, the hits started rollin in. Each time – BINGO! Sally and I high five. And then, it happened. One hit sent me a date, which is basically a scrolling thing that allows you to say the location, time, date, and who is paying. I thought I was receiving a date from a fellow who wanted to go to POV at 9pm on Tuesday. And he said he was going to pay. How nice! But, Sally and I were distraught. 9pm?! Who suggests a date at 9pm?! What is he doing, shooting for a hookup here? I try to figure out how to counteroffer on the date, and spot the time scroller. I hit ‘change’ and change the time to 7pm – a more logical time for a weekday date. I wasn’t particularly thrilled with POV, but, I can’t change his entire date offer and seem ungrateful. I have to give a little here. So Sally and I figured that a 7pm time change was an appropriate counteroffer. Now, we wait for him to accept.

An hour or so later, I find myself again scrolling through some cards at the bar because I am just addicted to this thing. That’s when it hits me. I look in my queue of mutual matches, and realize that the guy never actually sent me that date. Rather, POV Tues night at 9pm, his treat is the standard setting in the date scroller. That is when I realize I just asked a guy on a date requesting that he pay. I relay the realization to Sally, and at this point we are just crying laughing at the bar. When I thought I was being all coy in my counteroffer, I really was sending him a date and telling him he’d pay for it.

Now, I could have just chatted this dude and apologized, but, I decided to wait and see if he replied. And readers, he did. He sent back a counteroffer to my what I thought was a counteroffer with a new location (yay), new day, and new time. But he left it in that he would pay. That was a nice gesture considering I just told him that he had to.

I am meeting dude tomorrow night. This will be my first app date ever. I will let you know how it goes.

And just to keep tabs, yes. I am now on eHarmony, okcupid (bleh), and Let’s Date. So I am basically now working two full time jobs. Also, an eHarmony match is also in my Let’s Date queue. That must mean something. Oh and one more thing. Terminally ill sick guy has resurfaced. He’s now found me on okcupid, and sadly, he was matched with me on eHarmony. Obviously, that went straight to the ‘block’ tab.

Good night DC,
Sara

shock and awe

I obviously need to blog more. And I obviously need to post more pleas for help, advice, goods, and materials on this blog. Because guess what? Someone bought me Mumford tickets.

Shock and awe.

This is how it went down. I woke up this morning, oddly before my alarm went off. I shut my alarm off; my alarm as of late has been the Sleep Cycle app. Each morning when I awake it asks me what kind of mood I’m in when I wake up, providing one of three options: 1) green smiley face, 2) yellow somber face, or 3) red angry face. I am not a morning person, so it’s generally a yellow and on occasion, red. I should have known something good was in store because my first inclination was to choose green. Odd considering my sleep quality for the night was only 66%, but that’s besides the point and we don’t need to debate the merits of this app here.

After waking up on the right side of the bed, I did my usual routine – check all email inboxes, twitter, Facebook, and foursquare while lying in bed. This generally takes about 15 minutes and always means that I will be running around at the very last minute trying to get out the door. All because I didn’t set my alarm early enough to plan for the 15 minutes utilized to check every possible social media outlet prior to getting out of bed. Again, besides the point.

I make it to my gmail account and find a number of messages. A never ending email thread from a friend (JK) containing random banter. An email from Dave asking how bad the damage was (he apparently read my blog and wanted more info – whoops, thought his mom told him). Then, another email that simply read:

Happy birthday elder Barber.

Love,
Ant

Two attachments were included with the email.

My first thought upon reading this was that Ant was playing one of her usual jokes on me, so I’d open it to find something utterly absurd, hilarious, and very characteristic of Ant.

My second thought was to question whether it was actually my birthday. I honestly had to contemplate this. Not surprising considering last weekend I couldn’t remember my own age. Picture this. After a wonderful day of skiing, a couple of us wound up at a bar on Capitol Hill to catch the Superbowl. A friend, Sally, and I were randomly talking about another friend of ours who we’ve known for years but always seems to remain the same age. Jokingly, she said that she’s always known him to be 37. But he can’t still be 37! Sally then asked me how old I was, to which I responded “33.” But, I began to question my own response. Am I 33? This led me into straight up panic mode. First, because I couldn’t remember my own age. Second, because it was starting to dawn on me that my initial response was likely incorrect – I may actually be 34. I even texted Mo for confirmation.

Sara: How old am I?
Mo: Old.

Awesome. Not receiving confirmation from Mo, I was forced to do the math: birthdate minus current date. The inevitable was then confirmed – I am 34. Continue freakout mode and the realization that I am edging ever so close to 35.

Back to the issue at hand. After first thinking it was a typical Ant joke, then questioning whether or not it was my birthday, I proceeded to open the email to find two floor seats to the Wednesday Mumford show.

Hold up, I think. This was too improbable and cannot possibly be real. These tickets are running at $250 a pop right now on Stubhub. So my third thought, since I was still in bed and groggy:

Am I still dreaming/sleeping?

After staring in amazement and pure awe at the tickets, opening both attachments, and re-reading said email, it did indeed appear to be true. Ant had sent me two tickets to see Mumford on Wednesday night. Not only that, but they are coveted floor seats. All as a birthday gift, and my birthday is not until August (I think).

Currently, I am floating on a cloud of excitement. After a week of hell at work, this really takes the cake. What a day so far. I don’t even know what to say or how I could ever repay Ant for this amazing gift. I’ve already blocked out my Wednesday afternoon so that my friend and I can get to the Patriot Center early for a prime spot. So. Damn. Excited.

Thank you Ant!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I have no idea how I could ever repay you for this. Simply amazing.