Having moved into my own space, the process of dating has commenced. I've been using OkCupid with fairly good results - most of the people I meet up with are decent conversationalists with good taste in food. Death pneumonia derailed a lot of my August dates, but so far I have:
- Consumed pad thai, talked tech culture, hiking, and Portland data centers.
- Had a ton of sushi, talked fantasy novels, gone to Powell's, and spent a very pleasant four hours talking about the life of a third mate aboard tanker ships.
- Had french cider and a Cajun style bison burger in a surprisingly swank corner of 82nd Ave*
- Driven out to a barn party with the sole intention of meeting up with one person, dragging them off into a dark corner, then leaving.
- Introduced a date to Ethiopian food, attended a local meetup, and gone to two strip clubs.
So far, dating seems to involve a lot of filtering via OkCupid and letting dudes buy me food over some very mild protests. This is a novel enough experience to me that I'm willing to allow folks to pay. (That, and I have a policy of not turning down free sushi. More fish for me!)
I've never done this dating thing before, much less via OkCupid. Obtaining partners has more or less happened by me or the partner grabbing one another, making with the smooches, and ending up in whatever arrangement we've ended up in. There's something really pleasant about having an evaluation stage involving food, mutual friends, and protracted courtship, though. It's also nice to have no expectations attached - whereas Ethiopian food dude is probably too loud for me to ever see sleeping with, much less partnering with, he does at least have decent taste in whiskey.
This being Friday, however, I have plans that do not involve dating. karma_debt and mordel are once again playing hosts and doing the canning gig, and it's a festival weekend down in Eugene. So just as soon as I pry myself loose from the keyboard, it's off to tackle dread zucchinis and wrangle some mead.
More thoughts from the dating circuit as the weeks go on.
* 82nd Avenue has been a hive of scum and villainy for a while. Past 82nd, up until somewhere in the 100 numbered streets, it tends to be full of Russian mafia, bad strip clubs, and title loan joints. It also has all the good non-Thai and non-Japanese Asian restaurants in town, including good pho, all regional varieties of Chinese, Burmese, Indian, and a number of very, very nice kebab joints.