So Much for the Afterglow

Ok.
So, true to form, I am only now discussing something that everybody else already has talked about, and formed an opinion on.
I'm talking about online dating, and specifically, the website lavalife.

First of all, allow me to preface this so I do not crush any toes (or egos) in the process of this.

I acknowledge that online dating is perhaps the "wave of the future" and that I shouldn't knock it until I try it and I'm sure that there are hundreds, maybe even thousands of people out there who met on the internet and are totally happy. That also being said, the internet is a great way to break the ice with someone. You have plenty of lagtime to be on your most charming and intelligent game, and its purely based on the words on the screen and not your awkward body language or some kind of self consciousness about your physical appearance.

In short, I am not trying to be offensive.

I just need to get this out there because its been on my mind for the past little while.

I have a confession to make. I occasionally lurk in my spare time, and I know that I am not the only one. We all do it. Lurking includes everything from reading somebody's blog to looking at random people on myspace. It's all the entertainment and enjoyment of people watching without having to leave the comfort of your own home.
Anyway, last week I had a night off and I decided to stay home and just take it easy for once. Maybe go to bed early, eat some chips, settle into the new apartment a little better. In short, spend some quality time with myself. Of course this relaxing night in got real boring after I watched all of my Sex and the city episodes on hand, and as tempting as going to bed at 10:30 on a Saturday night was, I decided to turn to my old faithful source of entertainment: the internet.

After I got bored with all the requisite time fillers (looking at shoes on ebay, celebrity gossip sites etc) I saw an ad for lavalife. Curiosity got the better of me and I created a half assed fake profile and signed up so I could see who i knew on there.

Turns out there were a few people I knew, but more that I didn't. There was on person in particular that I had kind of noticed around school, he was in one of my classes too. So I became confronted with a dilemma. In my process of lurking, I had lurked upon somebody that I was mildly interested in; what to do?

After much deliberation and discussion, I (characteristically) decided to do nothing, and upon further consideration, stick my my decision.

But the whole thing really made me think

It takes some balls to put yourself out there for the bored and genuinely interested alike. But it also makes the whole process seem impersonal.

Who the fuck cares if you're charming on MSN or in an e-mail? You have the ability and opportunity to make yourself sound however you want to be. What is the point of dating a computer essentially? Don't we seek and start relationships because we want the company of another person?

What caught me off guard the most was the fact that there is a part of the lavalife website that is called "intimate encounters". Essentially, it's an online meatmarket. If you're just looking to have sex, and any kind of sex at that, you can go troll this part of the site. Why go to the bar? Why go out and socialize and meet people "the old fashioned way" when you can sit at home in your jammies and find your next fling?

If this is what it now takes to find somebody, I say fuck that. Get me some cats and a rocking chair right now because I'm not interested.....