Please allow me to explain. I was sitting here this evening, minding my own business, when I got a message on Yahoo IM from a lady about a year younger than I, to whom I had briefly said "Hi" once, months before, after she had said hi to me. She said that she had noticed that my profile had changed, and that I no longer had "married" on it but "separated," and that is why she was talking to me, as she "respected the married". What?
Well, we proceeded to exchange messages in a conversation that lasted exactly thirty-five minutes and forty-five seconds. In that short amount of time, in about as many exchanges, I was asked the following questions, in roughly the order given below:
- How long have I been married.
- How long have I been single.
- What am I doing up so late. (it was about 12:21 in the morning at the time)
- What do I do for a living.
- Do I have any kids.
- Do I have any other pictures.
- Am I still living in the Central Valley.
- What kind of car do I drive.
- What's happened since I've become single.
- How tall am I.
- What first name I go by.
- Would I like to talk again soon.
For any ladies reading this -- do guys grill you like that? I can see why you ladies lurk or use invisibility mode or something. I just don't know what to make of that. Am I reading this situation correctly? Was I being scoped, cased, what have you? Geeze, it just felt so damned strange. Sometimes I wonder if I am cut out for the singles scene. Heck, in the last couple of weeks I thought I have been pretty forward and "proactive," myself. I mean, I've introduced myself point blank to women I don't know, read their journals, made comments, made friends, but this just seemed a bit, blunt, to me. Is this what the meet-markets are like these days? I tried to make a little small talk, and the lady did indulge me, for one or two lines of text or so, but it was like she was on a script or something. I don't know, but if she was interested in dating (there's that damnable "D" word again) I'd like a bit more romance, please! If she wasn't interested in "the D-word thing" then couldn't she have afforded to wait a couple more chat sessions to fill out the old info card?
Help, friends. Advice? Observations? Comments? Am I weird? Is she weird? Is her biological clock counting down in milliseconds? Is civilization crumbling around me that fast? Is this or is this not analogous to a guy introducing himself to a woman by asking her what flavor of condom she prefers to lick? Gah, I'm too tired to think about this weirdness right now.
