Dust has settled on my break up. I've decided to give online dating a go just to pass the time until I find another guy in a taxi rank covered in sick, probably in a Santa Costume in October, as per usual.
Baby steps everyone, baby steps. An important part of getting over a bad situation is distraction. This seems to tick all my boxes. So let's do this! Let's meet people! Let's tell ourselves to meet people!
Don't force yourself if you're not ready
I should say right now that I'm not ready. I've failed on part one. However, regardless of how I feel right, if there's something I do enjoy it's an adventure and a good story. I don't reckon I'll meet the love of my life on the kind of gross layout of a dating website however at the moment, it's a great distraction and it's been great fun.
Choose a website that suits you
I have tried two so far. One was the free site OkCupid and the other, Match.com. I'm not being snobby about the free site - hey! it brings online dating to everyone - but thanks to the ease of having signing up, it felt like everyone had a married-but-wanting-extras vibe. I guess if you have to pay for the pleasure of meeting new people, mostly (mostly) your heart's in it.
Work on your profile
Two pictures, I felt, was enough. I only wrote two pieces of information about myself. One is I once had a fish that lived for 18 years and the other is I work in the "media" - I don't know how I'm going to drop into conversation I have a sex and dating column and they could possibly be featured in it. The fish thing was actually a great ice-breaker so if you're uncomfortable gobbing on about yourself - pick something weird and go with it. I felt that was enough but because of the guy who was a 7/10 in looks but had 9/10 for chat, I think I'm going to fill mine in a bit more. At the end of the day, it was his words that got a conversation started.
Be choosey
This is not a "giving someone a chance" situation. You're not meeting a mutual friend in a platonic situation and feeling a spark. Everyone on this website is looking for the same thing. So far I've deleted an email from someone who used too many exclamation points and someone who said their favourite film was Mamma Mia. I don't feel I need to give a snarky replies to "do u like shagging?" anymore. I'm used to it. This is the first time I feel I can be as picky as I should've been all along. Keep your standards high.
Any luck so far?
Oh you'll see. Stay tuned.
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