Despite the fact that I have been online dating for over ten years (wow, that is so sad), I have never been stood up. Until now. It's just such a lovely feeling.

Pizza Guy found me on OKCupid and we messaged for a bit, then I gave him my number. We set up a date for Friday, so we texted all week long. He said he was so excited to meet me. Having forgotten what men are like (sorry guys, its a dark and dirty generalization, but it holds true), I actually believed him. I'll give him points for confessing that he is lonely and depressed about it, so that was his main reason for OLD. And you know what? That's cool with me. I think that is most people's motivation for OLD (at least a little). I told him as long as he is dating me because I am me and not because I am a stand in to ease the loneliness, then I understood. And he assures me he likes me, we are going to have a great  time, and he can't wait. So Friday comes, and he texts and asks me what time we should get together. I text back my answer. And then I waited. and waited. I text him again (something along the lines of "are we still going out tonight?")....and waited. And just in case I got dressed, put on some makeup....and then nothing. So around 9pm I called it, messaged him and told him I wasn't waiting around on a Friday night. The next day I text him "what happened" and his reply: "I am sorry." That's it. And I never heard from him again. WTF? *sigh* So my lessons here:

1) Rejection sucks and being stood up makes it even worse.
2) I should remember men lie (okay, people lie)
3) Don't get excited about first dates (and for safety purposes, probably dates two and three as well)

If that didn't make my week awesome enough, I had a date with another guy (Poet guy) on Sunday (yeah, I'm really killin' it by lining up all these dates *eye roll*). This guy had the unfortunate idea to have our first date be going to First Friday, which is a art exhibition that all these galleries do on the first Friday of the month. I say its unfortunate because my first date with the guy I dated (and loved) for a year was at the art museum and we had the best time. Far better than walking around art galleries with this guy. It's not nice to compare, but my mind couldn't help but do so. I tried to give him a shot though. We talked a lot, laughed a lot, and he took me to some [cheap] taco place and stayed there for a few hours talking (and laughing). Overall it was a good date that lasted a long time. And he said he had a great time, and we should do it again. In the beginning, he had said he had been quite excited  to meet me and had texted me every day up until our date. So when he didn't text me the next morning....well, I knew. So I text him....and he never answered. And a day goes by, two days...I ask "hey whats up?" and he never replies. Nothing. Not one word. Lessons learned (because I didn't pay attention earlier that week):

1) Rejection and feeling used sucks
2) Men lie (yep, men. MEN)
3) Don't get excited after a good first date. Don't be lured by the words "I had a great time" or "we should do it again" or "I'll call you tomorrow." In fact, just refer back to lesson 2.

What is it with men who can't send and/or answer a simple text? To say how they feel. It doesn't even have to be real feelings (I know that's a struggle for most men). How about, "I had a great night, but I'm not really sure I want to go out again." It's not hard to say. It's not like you'd even being saying it face-to-face; it's a text message. Come on! So here is where I stand now: two more guys have taken away the illusion that guys who fall into that "nice guy" category seem to be just as bad as the rest.

I'm really excited to keep dating now. Just tickled to be back in the game.
Welcome back online dating; I sure did not miss you.

-PJ