ae

lfFE ona SCVIE

  
 
    
      
 

By Sharon Miki

ometimes experiments lead to great
discoveries; cures for diseases, space

travel, etc.... However we can’t all
be scientists, and sometimes experiments
just lead you back to where you started.
Back to nothing, unfortunately, is the not-
so-startling conclusion of my month-long
investigational foray in the world of online
dating. With mere days to Valentine’s, I’m
sorry to say that I’m no closer to finding
“The One”, a committed relationship,
or a date for February 14 online. I have,
however, learned some valuable lessons
along the way that might help make me a
better and more self-aware person.

Putting yourself out there is
emotionally scary under any circumstance,
but putting yourself out there to be
anonymously perused by random maybe-
lovely but maybe-crazy people is scary
in a different way that I hadn’t previously
considered.

In my case, although I obviously used
a fake name, a long-gone lover found me
while browsing through the local ladies
of Plenty of Fish. Having a dedicated
“T’m single” web space caused a lot of
confusion for this ex, who seemed to take
my being on Plenty of Fish as a sign that
I wanted him to contact me. While I was
hoping that POF would lead me to sexy

10

ye ex-boyfriends)

new singles, the only person I actually
interacted with outside of the Internet was
this ghost from my old life; rekindling a
plethora of hurt feelings and negativity that
I thought I'd ditched in 2006 along with
my Juicy Couture pink-velour stretch pants.
This run-in with the past highlighted the
inherent risks of online dating that are so
easy to ignore when your vision is tinted
with rousing prospects of candlelit dinners,
companionship and copulation.

I’m not saying that online dating
doesn’t work out for some—just check out
any eHarmony commercial —I just think
that you should be fully aware and prepared
to accept the potentially embarrassing,
dangerous and heartbreaking risks that
could come with dating online.

What will I do, now that I’m off the
Internet? Well, admitting to being single
still generally makes me feel like the old
olive and aubergine tweed couch in my
grandma’s basement, the one held together
by sticky, decaying duct-tape that no one
wants to sit on. Still, being forced to look
at my flaws as well as my fortes for this
whole online dating thing has given me
more peace with myself than any bottle of
wine or man-bashing girl’s night has since
I’ve been single. I’m not alone; there are
tons of people looking for the same things
I am, and I’m a lot less crazy than several
of them. Maybe I’ll jump back into reality

Ghosts of

Advertising your;: a status online has obvious consequences

and ask out that guy from class. After
all, he knows what I look like without
Photoshop and I know that there’s more
to him than “sports, Two and a Half

Men, and gettin’ laid.”
Maybe Valentine’s 2012 will be a
little more lovely.

 

 

 

EES
=
RAPE
er
WS
ac yout? We're inviting

B.C. youth to a conference
in Vancouver from August 19-21, 2011
— all expenses paid!

If you‘re aged 18-30, live in BC, and want to
learn about transportation, sustainability and
planning, apply to attend by January 31, 2011.

See translink.ca/bcyouthsummit for full details!

octane ata

EOS
e

reans/AAini