Category: Confessions of a Singleholic

Chapter 41: The Reality show model

Every once in a while, I realize that I have been holding onto what could be a great story. Sometimes I completely forget to ever write about them until something randomly reminds me, and for that, I apologize. This is one of those cases. And, it’s all thanks to a TikTok video and a comment I wrote that blew up that reminded me that I have to share this story.

Last year, my friend Vivianne decided to come to visit me in Boston from New York. She spent the weekend with me, and we had a great time. Because it was a FREEZING November weekend, when we got back to my apartment we would usually just hang out to warm up. Vivianne had recently gotten into watching “Love Island UK,” and she decided to get me into it, too. 

Y’all. This show is ADDICTING. I wish it wasn’t because I actually still haven’t finished the season we started watching. I mean, it’s 40+ episodes per season, no joke. 

In any case, Vivianne got me into the mindless entertainment that is Love Island UK. And, because I have an addictive personality, I continued watching it even after she left. This was where I first saw Elliott. 

We watched an earlier season, so I figured that Elliott and I were about the same age, give or take. And Elliott was VERY attractive. Tall, dark features, nice smile, and clearly took care of himself. He also seemed like a pretty chill guy from what I saw. He seemed decent, didn’t take himself too seriously, wasn’t sleazy towards the girls, and wasn’t psychotic. I mean, to be fair, to go on reality TV you have to be at least a little bit crazy. But it didn’t seem like something I couldn’t handle. So, I was extremely surprised when he only lasted a day in the villa. After that, the girls in the house voted to keep another guy in the house over him. But he was so sweet about it! So clearly, I was crushing. 

And if you didn’t know, I do have great Internet sleuthing skills. So, I went on the hunt. First, I found a Love Island Wiki page. Through looking at the season page, I was able to find out his last name. From there, it was very easy to find his Instagram. He had actually become even more attractive from when he was when on the show (I mean, he’s a model) so I followed him right away. I was pleasantly surprised when he almost immediately followed me back. 

Then it was onto the hard part. Getting him to talk to me. He had already liked a few of my photos, so I knew I had that going for me at least. Really, the only thing I could do was start sliding into the DMs. I knew this might be tricker than what I was used to given the fact that he lives in England, is a hot model, and I knew nothing about him. But I was up for the challenge. 

I saw a meme one time about someone joking that when they’re drunk they respond to people’s Instagram stories as if they were personally made for them. But, I don’t have to be drunk for that. I just respond to EVERYTHING for no reason other than that I can. So that’s how it started – with me just responding to a lot of his Instagram stories. He would see and often “like” the messages, but we only had a few very basic conversations from them. I knew I had to up my game. 

I had to download TikTok for work, and had seen this thing called “The Silhouette Challenge.” I was bored, so I decided to make one of my own. (Not nude, though). And one of my friends had a great idea. I should add Elliott to my “Close Friends” list on Instagram, then take everyone else out of that list, and post the finished product to my story – but only for my Close Friends list. So I did. To increase the odds of him seeing it, I even blocked him from seeing my story for a few seconds and then added him back. Apparently, this would make my story would get pushed to the front of the list for him. (Don’t ask how I know this). But even that didn’t work. He didn’t even see it.

Fortunately for me, I apparently didn’t even need to go through all of those steps. The next time I responded to one of his stories with a flirty message, he took the bait and reciprocated. Now I was getting somewhere. 

Photo by Jess Vide on Pexels.com

Elliott and I went back and forth for a bit with some flirting and such, mostly on Snapchat, but it was very clear he wasn’t interested in learning too much about me. Anytime I tried to ask about his life, he’d change the subject. Which was fine – for me, it was just harmless flirting – but he was NOT giving me much to work with. And I get bored way too easily for that. 

I’ve kind of learned that about Taurus men. They’re usually very attractive, are a lot of talk but not a lot of action, and are not very creative when it comes to conversation. Yes, Elliott is very hot, but a girl can only do so much with looks when there isn’t a lot of personality to go with it.

Which I don’t really get. I mean, usually, people who go on reality shows are kind of crazy and have big personalities. And ys, I could say that he just wasn’t that interested in me but remember, I was mostly getting my foot in the door via Instagram story replies. And let me just say that sometimes it was VERY hard to come up with something to say. He just did not give me a lot to work with. I’m not saying he’s boring or has no personality. I’m sure he does and that he’s a lot of fun once you get to know him. But, I just haven’t seen very much of it. Maybe that’s why he only lasted a day on the show. 

He is also a bit too shallow for me I think. One day, he posted something about not working as hard on his core exercises and I said that I didn’t mind that. I actually prefer more of a ‘dad bod’ to a super ripped body. Apparently, all he got from that was “dad bod.” He then got upset thinking I’d said that he has a dad bod. So I had to explain that no, he doesn’t. Still, he stopped talking to me for a few days after that. Sorry, I’ve already experienced having to constantly stroke a man’s ego — and I’m just trying to have some fun here — no, thank you. 

So, while I never really expected anything to happen with Elliott in the first place, beyond some flirting and another funny story that got me some clout on TikTok for a hot second, it definitely isn’t going anywhere. But, it was fun while it lasted.

Plus, I get to add a random reality star to this, and I definitely didn’t plan on that. At this point, though, I feel like just about anything could be in store for me next! I’m manifesting something positively amazing, personally.

Chapter 40: Grocery store guy

Growing up as a child of the 90s, plus a Disney lover, I’ve seen about every single movie “meet-cute” you can think of. The dog leashes getting twisted at the park, getting in the same taxi, you name it, I’ve probably seen it. But one that always sort of stood out to me as especially cute was the grocery store meetup. 

Growing up as a child of the 90s, plus a Disney lover, I’ve seen about every single movie “meet-cute” you can think of. The dog leashes getting twisted at the park, getting in the same taxi, you name it, I’ve probably seen it. But one that always sort of stood out to me as especially cute was the grocery store meetup. 

Maybe it’s because I’m fairly short, so I always thought this was a pretty easy one to make happen. All I had to do was need something on the top shelf that I just couldn’t *quite* meet. Then, a handsome, smart guy would come out of nowhere and grab it for me. Of course, all the times that I have needed to ask someone to grab something for me it’s never been a guy even in my age range that’s available to ask for help. But I remain optimistic. 

Recently, I was in Arizona. I was originally planning on just staying in the Phoenix area for a few days and taking a day trip to Sedona (where I really wanted to go). Thanks to my parents, however, I ended up spending a few days in Sedona and then headed to Phoenix. I was excited to get out in nature, have some sun (I was getting a little too pale), recharge my crystals, and mostly, just have some time to myself to think through some decisions I needed to make. Also, I was excited to have a chance to make more positive memories than the last time I was there. Really, I didn’t have any plans or expectations beyond a few things I wanted to experience at some point in both places. Having any kind of romantic entanglement was certainly not high on the priority list. 

The day I drove from Sedona to Phoenix, I’d done a really cool yoga and meditation hike (which is exactly what it sounds like). But because of the weather and location, for some of it, we literally sat on the ground. That was in the morning and lasted a few hours. Then, I was in the car for two hours driving. So, I wasn’t exactly camera-ready. But after checking in at my hotel, I wanted to get a few things so that I had some snacks and breakfasts in my room. And wine. I wanted wine. 

Arizona is really pretty, if you didn’t know.

As I walked down the wine aisle, I hear two guys talking. One of them was asking the other if he knew of any sweet wines. His friend said no, he wasn’t sure. Meanwhile, I was mostly just looking for a wine with a twist top since I don’t know how to use a corkscrew, so I had plenty of time to listen in on their quest for a sweet wine. 

Finally, I offered my suggestion when I noticed a wine that I like that happens to be pretty sweet. And me being my overly friendly self, I ended up spending the next few minutes helping the guy who seemed more invested in this hunt find a sweet wine. Meanwhile, he kept an eye out for a red wine with a twist top for me. 

Eventually, he found his wine, but I was still looking for mine. But somehow, the wine conversation seemed to be an open invitation to him to linger for a while, so he introduced himself. He gave me two names that weren’t even slightly related and I’m still not sure which was his actual name. Think of him saying something like, “My name is Deacon but you can call me Lee.”

For the purpose of this story, we’ll go with Lee. 

He tried to shake my hand but I said no because I’d been traveling and just wanted to be respectful towards his health. This was true, but also I feel like I just haven’t had human contact with strangers in so long I was caught off-guard. But, he understood. He asked me where I’d flown in from, I said Atlanta (which was true). Then, why I was in Arizona, I said some friends and I were getting together for one of their birthdays (which was not true) and I was in charge of getting some things for the first night. I was NOT about to tell some guy I didn’t know that I was traveling alone. 

Eventually, as it always happens, he asked for my number. And as usual, I gave him my fake one. He finally walked away to find his friend and I timed my exit from the grocery store perfectly. I had noticed that he’d already texted me, but I don’t text and drive. Plus, I wanted to wait until I was back and settled in the hotel before I answered.

When I did answer an hour or two later, he said he thought that I was already ghosting him. Great. Y’all know how much I love a guy who can’t handle if a girl doesn’t immediately respond. Then he asked how I’m single, because I seem like a “beautiful, intelligent, ambitious girl.” Which is true. But I’d forgotten that I mentioned something to him about looking at law schools, so it kind of creeped me out at first that he somehow knew all of this. But points for the compliment regardless. 

Lee started trying to hang out VERY quickly. Which, I get, because he’s also not from Arizona. He actually lives in California, but he’s a personal trainer (what is it with me and personal trainers??) and has some clients in the area that he comes out to visit. But Lee was with friends. Obviously, I couldn’t hang out with them when I said I was also with a group but actually didn’t know anyone out there. At least not that wanted to hang out with me. The first night, I said we were just chilling at the hotel. He asked what the plans for the weekend were and I said it was up the birthday girl. 

Over the weekend, Lee just did NOT get that I wasn’t interested. Maybe I shouldn’t have given him my number if I wasn’t interested. But at the time I did think it might be nice to make a friend while I was out there. Plus it just wasn’t a super comfortable position to be in and say no. But Lee kept saying that he just “wanted to have fun.” So it became pretty clear to me why he was so insistent on hanging out. Like, calling me four times in a row kind of insistent. And that’s just not my style.

The next night, I had plans to go out to dinner. But, the place I chose had a super long wait so I went back to my hotel. When he asked what we were doing, I just said we had dinner plans but might go out later. Then I ignored his texts for the rest of the night because he kept asking me if we wanted to pregame with them. I haven’t pregamed since college, so at this point I started to question how old he was. 

The Full Moon (in Libra) in question.

The next day, I told him we weren’t huge club people and that we were more dinner people. Then he sort of invited himself to our next dinner in a roundabout way, so I knew to avoid that topic for the rest of the day. He did ask me some questions about myself, which was nice I guess. I did learn that we are the same age, but he kept using the wrong “your/you’re” form. That’s a HUGE pet peeve of mine. I managed to avoid the going-out topic in that conversation, which again you’d think he’d have taken as a signal. But no. 

I had already decided to extend my stay, but no way was I telling him that. As far as he knew, I was leaving Monday so on Sunday, he was REALLY trying to get together. At this point, I asked some friends on Instagram which approach I should take – honest truth that I just wasn’t interested in hanging out, or honest truth that I’m super into crystals and energies and had to do my full moon ritual that night. They chose the second option. 

So I told him that my friends and I had to get ready for the full moon that evening. I thought about milking it more and mentioning a sacrifice or something really weird – one of my friends suggested I say we were hoping for better harvests, I was thinking saying that we’d also be manifesting fertility – but I decided to leave it as a vague “are they a witch coven or just weird?” interpretation. 

I thought that would be it. But no. Later that day, he responded asking me what the ritual was. I told him, and STILL not getting it. He asked me if we could talk more about it. At that, I just stopped responding. If you’re not going to get the picture, not my problem. I really thought that the “she might be a witch” stuff would do it, but Lee was determined. 

Points for persistence?

At least I learned that grocery store meetings are possible, though. And that I’ve still got it even when wearing dirt colored pants and smelling like a rental car. My friends are all in agreement that I’m the only person they know who’d go to a grocery store in a completely different state and meet a guy who asked for my number, and then have to pretend to be in a witch coven to get rid of. I think that’s accurate. It looks like the Universe isn’t quite done with giving me blog material just yet. 

But to end on a happy note, I did finally release a lot of the stagnant energy and hurt and feelings I was still holding onto from my experience last year while I was there, and I finally feel like I’ve learned all the lessons I was meant to learn from that. My friend said that when that happens, it means the Universe is getting ready to send someone new into your life and that it’ll be a positive experience… so who knows, hopefully one of my next few posts will be about the grocery store meet-cute that I really want. 

Chapter 39: The Disappearing Act

Hello, friends! Sorry for the unexpected hiatus. I had another shortage of material and then a crazy week so I’m a bit behind.
Speaking of unexpected disappearances, that brings me to this week’s post. Let me introduce you to Mac, yet another Bumble-bust.

Hello, friends! Sorry for the unexpected hiatus. I had another shortage of material and then a crazy week so I’m a bit behind.

Speaking of unexpected disappearances, that brings me to this week’s post. Let me introduce you to Mac, yet another Bumble-bust. 

Mac seemed nice on paper. He has a good job, just bought a new place, and seemed to have his shit together. Overall, a fun guy. 

Even though he’s a self-proclaimed ginger, and save for a very brief Ron Weasley phase, the only ginger I’ve ever been attracted to is Prince Harry circa 2014, he was funny. If you know me, you know that looks are definitely not everything to me. But, personality is, so I was excited to get to know him. 

So far, I was enjoying talking to him. Even if I wasn’t anywhere near the point of knowing whether or not it was going to go anywhere, Mac definitely seemed like the type of guy I’d want to be friends with. And no, that’s not me instantly friend-zoning him. I’m just stating a fact. 

We started off chatting on Bumble, and things were going pretty well. We had similar taste in music, movies, and general hobbies. He’s close with his family, and seemed genuinely interested in getting to know me. He didn’t judge me for saying that Twizzlers are my favorite candy. Plus, he balanced being on the “flirty but not sexual” line very well. Mac just seemed like a cool guy. 

After a while of talking on Bumble, we transitioned to text. He asked for my number, but made it clear I wasn’t obligated to do so if I wasn’t comfortable with that. I respect and appreciate that. I almost gave him my real number, but at the last minute decided to stick with Google Voice. Just in case, you know? 

Over text, we talked even more. He definitely seemed to have a good sense of humor and knew how to make fun of himself without making it sound like he’s just fishing for compliments. That’s something I rarely find in men, so it was a definite plus. I’m very attracted to men who know that they’re human and don’t take themselves too seriously. But, I also can’t stand when guys constantly put themselves down JUST to get me to compliment them. Confident but not arrogant, basically. 

Also, speaking of compliments, he almost immediately complimented my smile and my eyes. I personally think they’re my most attractive features. But, I feel like at least on dating apps, it’s usually a body part on my lower body that gets the most attention and compliments. Itt was nice to know that he was actually looking at my face in the photos. 

Another factor that’s very important to me with a future significant other is that they understand, appreciate, and at least kind of share my obsession with Marvel movies. If you didn’t know, I’m a huge superhero fan. My brother and I have seen almost every single MCU movie together. We always go within days of it being released, if not opening night. The few exceptions are when I was studying abroad – my brother waited for me to get home from Italy so we could see “Iron Man 3” together – “Dr. Strange,” and I think maybe one other movie. It’s a tradition for us (and always will be) so I need someone who understands why that’s a big thing to me and gets just as excited about new movies and TV shows as I do. Mac did. 

He also was fascinated that I used to work at Disney. He said loves the parks and the whole Disney-vibe. That’s another dealbreaker for me – you don’t need to be quite as big of a Disney fanatic as I am, but at least like it. I also just like when people show interest in something that I’m clearly very excited about talking about. He also told me he’d take me to a bar or somewhere to watch a Bruins game so I can finally understand more than the very basic rules of hockey. He’s a big hockey guy, so I thought that would be perfect.

So far, it seems like things were going fairly well, right? Well, they were. After a bit of talking, he asked me if I’d be up for going out with him that weekend, and I said yes. And not just because I needed material – I genuinely wanted to meet him in person and see what I thought. We picked a day and a general idea of where we’d meet. It seemed like things were on track for us to meet.

The Disappearance

And then, nothing. We had plans to meet Thursday after work. The Sunday before, we were having a great conversation about wines. Monday, I asked how his day was. Silence. I figured, it’s Monday, maybe a rough day, no worries. So I let it slide. Wednesday, I asked him if we were still on for the next day. More silence. By Thursday, I basically had a deadline that if he hadn’t said anything to me by noon, I wasn’t going out with him.

When noon came and went, I figured I should at least notify him that I was about to ghost him – karma, and all that – and pretty much just said that I wasn’t sure what happened, but no worries, and best of luck. It was like he’d disappeared into thin air – one minute he was there, having a great chat, next thing you know… poof. 

I wasn’t upset about it, really. I mean, I didn’t even know him yet. But it was just really strange. Considering on that same day, or maybe the day before, I had another Bumble match cancel our Friday date because he found my blog (yes, seriously) I thought that maybe Mac had found it, too. But he didn’t seem like the type to get worked up about it, so that didn’t seem right. I thought maybe he’d tried to do some social media stalking and couldn’t. He didn’t have my real number, maybe he thought I was catfishing him. I definitely like to give people the benefit of the doubt and make excuses for their behavior, clearly. (And you wonder why I’ve been in so many toxic relationships.) 

For a hot second, I did think about saying something a little bit spicier about how it’s rude to ghost people. Then I watched that Netflix movie “Desperados” and thought maybe he’d been in an accident like the guy in that movie. So I didn’t even bother. But, it was weird. I had gone from having 3 dates scheduled that weekend to 1 – and I ended up canceling it because of the craziness of the past couple of weeks. 

So Mac was another bust. His loss, right? I did look up news reports that weekend just to satisfy my own curiosity and see if maybe something had happened to him, but I couldn’t find anything with the limited knowledge I had. My money is on him not being quite as easy-going as he seemed and finding my blog, or thinking I was catfishing when he couldn’t find my Snapchat or Instagram or anything with the phone number he had. 

Mini-Tangent Ahead

This brings me to my next point. I realize that my having this blog may deter some men. I knew that when I started this, and I did it anyway. And some of you know the details of the guy who canceled on me, but I’m not going to go into it on here because it’s not worth it. 

But I do wonder – do the guys who don’t (or won’t) like that I have this blog not realize that I only write about the crazy stories? I mean, how many people do you know that have had their date run off because of a ‘dying dolphin’? Or get sent photos of 9” long dildos at 6am? That’s funny!

Alstroemeria is the friendship flower. <3
Photo by Skylar Kang on Pexels.com

And if it’s not a crazy, funny story, it’s a “lesson learned” story. I’m trying to help girls (and guys) realize that they are not alone in the heartbreaks. They’re not the only girl who has been cheated on, or (unknowingly) cheated with. They’re not the only girl who’s had a guy make them feel like they’re nothing more than a body. I’m not afraid to own up when I make a mistake or have some sort of lapse in judgment in a relationship. Those are real human feelings that happen to EVERYONE. Yes, this is cathartic and fun for me, but I do it more in hopes that maybe I’m helping one person out there realize that they’re not alone in the way that they feel. 

To be honest, I have a lot more that I could say about that matter in general, but again, not worth it. Really, if there’s any guy – past, present, or future – who judges me because of this, it’s a bullet dodged. Whether it’s because of the knowledge that they’ll probably end up doing something that’ll put them on it, or some sort of sexist/misogynistic view, if they want to take themselves out of the running, be my guest. 

Moving on!

Pandemic Dating

I’m going to be honest, y’all. Dating has sucked lately. I’ve been open-minded, and I’m still very optimistic and hopeful that I’m going to meet someone amazing soon, but it’s been nearly impossible to find a decent guy on the apps lately. I even upgraded my Bumble account for a month to see if that helped. Nope.

In the past few months, I think there’s been maybe one guy that I’ve been at least somewhat excited about. He turned out to be a major workaholic so I accepted a while ago that the chances of him making an effort to meet me are slim to none. No offense, but I feel like if you’re not going to put in any effort, you shouldn’t be on an app saying you’re looking for a relationship.

I feel like I do better in person anyway. I’ve never thought I was going to meet the love of my life on an app (okay, maybe once). There’s definitely some sort of organic, natural meet-cute in my future. But with the way Boston is right now, it’s been extremely difficult to meet anyone. I’m running out of stories because I haven’t been on a date in forever, I haven’t been able to go out and meet people in normal environments. Not even friends – I finally resorted to Bumble BFF.  Overall, and I know I’m not alone with this, it’s just kind of been not very fun.

Maybe I’m the only one who saw the masterpiece that is the Lindsay Lohan as Elizabeth Taylor movie, but the scene where she’s just yelling that she’s “so bored” has been an accurate representation of my feelings towards my love/social life lately. I need some excitement. So I’m going to make a conscious effort to go find some, regardless of the circumstances of my city’s rules. But still staying safe, obviously. 

Iconic.

So that brings us to the end of this week’s chapter. Will I be back next week? I honestly don’t know yet, if I have some inspiration then yes, if not, then stay tuned for whatever excitement I’m able to find and create for myself soon.

In the meantime, I hope everyone is staying happy, healthy, and safe! Sending you all the positive vibes!

P.S. What do you think of the redesign? Let me know!

Chapter 38: The Actor

Don’t judge me, but back in the day, I was VERY into “Teen Wolf.” And by ‘back in the day,’ I mean five years ago.

I’d like to say that I was mostly interested in it because Tyler Hoechlin is a beautiful man, which is true. Or, because I fell for Dylan O’Brien’s comedic timing, which is also true. But, really, I’m just a nerd who was very into supernatural-like shows (including “Supernatural” itself… still crying over that finale). 

In any case, when I went to Orlando for my first college program and discovered that my neighbor turned best friend, Tanner, was also a big “Teen Wolf” fan, I was very excited. We talked about it. We watched it. It was just one of the many things we were able to bond over throughout our program.

The day that we discovered that Orlando would be hosting a Teen Wolf convention at a nearby Sheraton – appropriately called BeaCON Chills – we were over the moon. We immediately bought basic tickets (Disney doesn’t pay a lot, okay?) and were thrilled to go. We requested different work schedules and everything. Dedication. 

The first day, we got there early to scope out the hotel. This proved to be a great idea because after taking weird videos in the hallways, we hung out in the lobby. There, we were able to meet and get photos with Dylan Sprayberry and Arden Cho by ‘casually’ bumping into them while they were checking in. I think that’s also how we met Eaddy Mays. 

Once we got registered, we were invited into the main room where most of the events would be held. It was around this point that the organizers – and the actors – realized that BeaCON Chills was not going to be as popular as they might have hoped. So essentially, it pretty quickly turned into a pretty low-key event. The actors just kind of hung out with the barely a dozen or so of us that decided to attend. 

Also, to be clear, none of the official “main characters” were there. It was Arden, Dylan, and Eaddy, who all played minor or supporting roles. Also, one of the main character’s dads (Sheriff Stilinski/Linden Ashby), the actor who played the lacrosse coach, another supporting side character that Tanner had the hots for, and another actor that was on the show for only a bit. He is the main subject of this story. 

I’m still going to give him a fake name because that’s kind of my thing at this point, but I’m fully aware that y’all can just Google this and find out who it is. But, he’s a twin, a few years older than me, and he was also on “Desperate Housewives.” I’m going to call him Ed. 

Ed is pretty attractive. Maybe more so to the sexually repressed virginal version of myself that I was at this time, versus my perception of his looks today. So being the person I am, always looking to go big or go home, and forever on the hunt for an entertaining story, I decided pretty quickly that my mission for the weekend was to lose my virginity to him. I had realized by that time that the whole “waiting for marriage” thing was not going to pan out for me like I’d planned. But, I hadn’t gotten involved with Christian just yet, so this seemed like the perfect opportunity. 

To be fair, this wasn’t a completely baseless decision. There was some definite sexual tension with me and Ed. 

For instance, when we first got there and the organizers realized it was going to be a small group, for the ‘kickoff’ event they basically just had us all sit in a circle and talk to the actors. I ended up right next to Ed. I could tell that the other girls were a bit jealous about this, but I was actually pretty chill about it. At the end of the day, he’s just a human. Really, I don’t get very starstruck for even A-List people, and I think he was into that.

I don’t remember what, but at one point he said something kind of sassy to me. So I told him he was an asshole. It looked like the other girls were going to kill me the way they looked at me. But he thought it was funny, he laughed. Then we all got talking about horoscopes and star signs, and he told me to guess his sign. I guessed he was a Virgo, and he went, “I’m definitely not a Virgo” and winked. To that, I rolled my eyes. Again, he thought it was funny that I was clearly not fawning over him like he was probably used to. He also would occasionally touch my arm or something. So, again, mild sexual tension.

Tanner and I had a great time at the convention. There was a really fun scavenger hunt, lots of Q&As, and just some fun times. There was one day where for extra money you could go to this separate room and take a bunch of pictures with them. But we didn’t have money for it. So instead, we hung out in the other room. We took selfies saying, “Help us, we’re poor,” and tagging them in it. One of the actresses thought this was hilarious, and ended up inviting us in anyway. I’m pretty sure this was another moment where everyone who actually paid more hated us. 

Lol at me giving “Tanner” a fake name and then putting a picture of him on here.

Tanner went to more of the events then I did because I refused to call out of work for it. On one of the days Linden Ashby found out I wasn’t there because I didn’t want to call out of work. Everyone knew we were a package deal, so they’d all been asking for me. When I got there later in the day, he told me he was proud of me. He’s like, TV Dad goals, so that was pretty amazing. He said this to me during the Halloween party night where I was Ariel and literally wearing nothing but a mostly sheer green skirt and a purple bra. This costume was mostly done to make progress on my mission, but I’m getting ahead of myself.

The biggest bit of progress I had was one day where they had a break between panels. During it, I went up to Ed and told him that I was really cold, and asked if he was going back to his hotel room at all. When he said yes, I told him to bring me back a jacket. He said he would. 

But he forgot. He did go up to his room, but forgot to grab me a jacket. So when the panel resumed, I asked him where my jacket was. He felt so bad for forgetting that he literally jumped off the stage and came over and took the jacket he was wearing off to put it on me. The other girls there swooned. 

I, of course, went to the bathroom and took a lot of selfies wearing this jacket. Then I had a great idea that I probably stole from an outdated “Seventeen” article. I’d put my phone in the pocket. Then, when I gave it back to him at the end of the day I’d ‘forget’ to take it out of the pocket. This would force him to have to figure out how to get it back to me.

This failed. The second I gave it back to him he was like, “Uh, you forgot your phone.” So that was a bust, but I was kind of proud of my attempt. 

Other than that, he was actually really nice. I told him that I’d wanted to be an actress when I was younger and he gave me some solid advice about how to break into it if I ever decided to pursue it. He even followed me on Twitter so I had a way to get in touch with him if I had more questions. 

By the last day, I knew I was running out of time with my mission. Hence my very slutty mermaid Halloween costume. I looked cute, though. To be honest, I’m pretty sure my tactic for seducing him (besides my clothing) was basically just like, existing. I was in WAY over my head. At this point, all I’d ever done was kiss, and he could probably tell. I mean, I remember when I told Christian I was a virgin like it was some big secret. Instead, he laughed because it was so blatantly obvious. Ed seems like a decent person and not a self-proclaimed virginity collector like some people I know. So, that was probably was a turn-off instead of a turn-on. Which is understandable. Can’t fault him for that. 

The photo that got us into the VIP photo session.

My last attempt was at the farewell event which was basically a very awkward dance party. I invited a friend of mine from work, Courtney, which was fun. She taught me how to do the Bernie (remember when that was a thing?). But alas, no progress was made that night other than him signing my shirt. He started doing autographs and I couldn’t find any paper, so he offered to sign my shirt instead. (It seemed cool at the time.) So I ended that night, and a week of being one of the more normal ones at a “Teen Wolf” convention, still holding that V-card.

I’m pretty sure he was also dating a girl from the show at the time. That also probably contributed to the fact that the mild sexual tension never went any further. Again, decent person. We had like one Twitter message conversation a while after that, but then I deleted that account.

Tanner thinks I should just send this to him but I’m (fortunately or unfortunately, I can’t decide) kind of losing my crazy streak. So I feel like I’ll just keep this one to myself. 

So, that’s the story of my failed attempt to lose my virginity to a supporting actor at a fucking “Teen Wolf” convention. Which was held at a very touristy Sheraton. Clearly, I had low standards at the time. Considering how I did end up losing my virginity, and who it was to, unfortunately my standards did not raise much in the few months after that. Seriously, Madeline, a Macaroni Grill was your idea of a romantic date? But, fortunately, I have a great sense of humor. And, I realized that it was not nearly as big of a deal as I made it out to be at the time. 

I would love to run into Ed again someday just for the fun of it. Especially because now that I think about it, he owes me a game of “Guitar Hero.” But for now, I get to have the memories of a very strange but entertaining convention, and an amazing week with my best friend. 

Chapter 37: One Hit Blunders, Part VI – The Russian

When I got back to Boston after the holidays, I was eager to get back into the dating world. Like I said in my Q&A last week, lately I’ve been doing a lot of work on myself. After taking lots of “me-time,” I finally feel ready for a real relationship. I just need to meet someone that I want to have a relationship with. With Boston still in the not-fun stages of lockdown, it’s basically out of the question to go out and meet someone the natural way. Which means most of my searching has been on the apps that I live to hate. This is how I met Anton. 

Anton and I matched on Tinder. He looked very tall, has a good job, and is a bit older (I think 34 or 35). Overall , he seemed nice. We started talking and he got kind of flirty pretty quickly. Not in a sexual way, just in an overuse of emojis way. But when I found out he was Russian that somehow explained it. Maybe this is just my own experience with Russians/Eastern Europeans, but I feel like they’ve all been really into emojis. Like, sending me the kissy-face with the heart one right off that bat. Kind of weird, but not a deal-breaker. 

I liked that he seemed very interested in me. He was eager to learn more about me, and he’s smart. So when he asked for my number I came *this* close to giving him my real one. But at the last minute, I decided to stick with the Google Voice one. When I sent to save his number, I realized apparently I’ve matched with too many guys with his name. I ended up having to clarify that he was “the Russian one.” And yes, I save numbers (most of the time). I’m bad with names and if I do end up going out with them, I need to remember who I need to look for. 

We texted back and forth a bit, he kept up with the emojis, but overall no bright red flags. I thought it was funny because I asked what kind of music he liked. He said since he grew up during the 90s he was a big fan of bands like Nirvana. I’m always fascinated by people who grew up in other countries identifying their childhood with American bands. So I agreed to meet him for a date. Nothing crazy, just a coffee date. But, I hadn’t been on a date in awhile so I dressed pretty cute just because I felt like it. It was mostly for myself, though.

We met up at Haymarket, which isn’t too far from my place. Almost immediately, I knew he was not going to be the one for me. I don’t know why, I just had a feeling. I have very strong gut reactions that are usually pretty good at telling me if I’m going to have good chemistry with someone or not. And I was pretty positive I was not going to have it with him. I was right.

First of all, while Anton’s profile pictures were correct in depicting his height, as soon as we were able to take our masks off I realized that I had overlooked one of my biggest rules. Usually on dating apps, I take notice if a guy only has closed-lip smiles. It usually says something about their teeth and smile. I had forgotten to take that into account on Anton’s profile. 

Listen, I understand not everyone likes the dentist. Maybe growing up he didn’t have access to a good one, but I feel like if you live in a city that’s known for its healthcare, you have a good job where you can definitely afford it, and are trying to meet someone, and you still haven’t done anything to just show a bit of an investment in yourself, it’s a bit of a warning. I mean, if you aren’t going to show that you’re willing to practice good hygiene and that you can take care of yourself on a part of you that people see nearly every day (at least pre-mask days), what else are you slacking on?

And to be clear, this wasn’t an, “Oh, he has coffee stains,” or “Could maybe use braces” issue. This was like, ‘needs braces and perhaps other orthodontic work, has probably never had a dental cleaning, and I’m questioning if he even brushes his teeth’ situation. Maybe that isn’t a deal-breaker to most people, but I take pride in the fact that my dentist compliments me every six months. Plus, my smile is one of the things I get the most compliments on. I’m not saying I need a guy to have Julia Roberts-level teeth, but a good smile is important to me.

But that wasn’t even the worst of it. We had agreed to get coffee, so I went there preparing to get coffee. It was about 11:00, so I’d already had breakfast. But then he told me he was hungry. Which, fine, go ahead and get something to eat. But we didn’t even get coffee yet. Instead, I’m walking around with him while he tries to decide what to get to eat. What he finally decided on, I don’t think I’ll ever understand.

Y’all. He went to one of the seafood booths. I like seafood, but not at 11 AM on a date. And he got, I kid you not, a whitefish sandwich with onions on an everything bagel .

I feel like if I made a list of foods you shouldn’t eat on a date, I would put all three of those things at the top. Fish. Onions. Everything bagel? I love a good everything bagel but not on a date! Who does that? I was probably more flabbergasted by his choice of food than I should be, but I was just very confused by this decision.

But then, because Anton decided to get food, we couldn’t just walk around. We had to wear masks inside the market but I figured once we got the coffee we could walk around the area outside and stay under the awnings. Since he wanted to eat, though, we had to go outside and sit in the rain. First he got all annoyed that the tables were wet. Like yes, that is usually what happens when it’s raining, things get wet.

I was able to pull my jacket down to sit at least. We wouldn’t have even needed to sit if he hadn’t thrown off the plans by getting food to eat there instead of just to go. I’d grabbed a pack of veggies to take home, but that was it I wasn’t planning on eating there because it had always just been coffee, and then I was sitting there watching him eat fish and onions at a wet table. 

While he ate, we talked a bit more and it was extremely apparent that we have virtually nothing in common. I sat there staring into the distance begging myself to think of something to talk about on more than one occasion. During one of our silences, I decided to ask if he had any pets and if he liked animals. Specifically, dogs, and he said no! He said he used to be afraid of them but isn’t anymore, but that he doesn’t really like dogs or get why people love them! At that I should have just stood up and left because it’s just not going to work out with me and a dog-hater. Ever. 

When he finally finished eating, he said he had to get home to go back to work but that he’d walk me back to my place. That wasn’t necessary but he insisted. So while we had more awkward forced conversation on the walk, I decided to pull a move my friend Jessica taught me. I lied about which building was mine. I walked him to another apartment building near mine and said it was mine. When I realized I wouldn’t be able to get into the building because I didn’t have a key, I *suddenly remembered* that I had a prescription to pick up at the drugstore around the corner. So I ran off to aimlessly wander the store while he called an Uber from outside my fake-apartment building.

He had given me a hug before we left and said we should hang out again and I gave one of those non-committal “sure” responses. But Anton never texted me. I unmatched him on Tinder. I think it’s a testament to how absolutely awful I am at hiding my feelings because that’s not the first time a guy has done that – ended the date with a tentative next date and then upon seeing and hearing my reaction to that possibility, never followed up. It’s kind of nice, though. I don’t have to turn them down and feel bad for rejecting them. 

So that was the end of the story with The Russian. You know, I’ve always thought I was going to marry someone from another country because I like accents and foreign guys and all that, but the more experience I have with them the more I feel like maybe I really should stick with American boys. At least they probably wouldn’t eat fish and onion sandwiches on a first date.

Chapter 36: Questions & Answers

Hello again, friends! Welcome back to another week. It feels so good to be writing again, and I’m especially excited for this week’s chapter.

A little while ago, I asked my friends on Instagram to ask me some dating and sex-related questions that I could answer on my blog, and they delivered. So while I won’t have one specific story for you this week, I’ll be sharing some extra information with y’all throughout my answers. So sit back, relax, and enjoy.

1. What are your top three deal breakers on a first date?

This is a good question, and very easy for me to answer. I have misophonia. It basically means that certain sounds trigger me in a way that might seem unreasonable, but I literally cannot control how much I can’t stand them. It’s a thing, look it up. The BIGGEST trigger for my misophonia is loud chewing. I absolutely cannot stand it. I thought about going to see “A Quiet Place” in the theater until I saw a whole bunch of people with misophonia saying it was basically torture. All they could concentrate on was people eating popcorn loudly. Some things are crunchy, sure, but excessive crunching, mouth/lip noises, it’s a huge no from me. That will not be the soundtrack to the rest of my life. So that’s my number one.

My second one would be people who are rude to the waiter/waitress, or anyone in the service industry. It’s a huge turn-off and 100% not the kind of person I want to be with. I’d say my third is smoking because that’s a big deal breaker for me, but I’m usually good about screening them out before I even get on a date with them. Instead, I’ll say cockiness. I love a confident and ambitious guy, but if they cross that line into “cocky” territory, they’re out. 

2. Do you listen to Call Her Daddy? How do you feel about it?

A friend of mine did tell me to listen to it so I did for awhile, then I got out of it. Honestly I just couldn’t stand their voices. I did start listening again recently. I like listening to podcasts while I’m working and I didn’t feel like searching for another one. While it is pretty funny – and I will give them some credit for sort of inspiring me to start this – I’m not a huge fan. Beyond the whole Alex / Sofia drama, they’re both narcissists and promote some extremely toxic behaviors that I can’t justify. So I listen to it for the funny stories and sex tips more than actually trying to be a “Daddy” or taking any of their advice seriously.

I’ve also heard that Alex isn’t as funny without Sofia or her ghostwriter so I probably won’t continue listening past The Funeral. But like I said, it is entertaining I just don’t get all the hype. Then again maybe I’m just bitter. I sent in a recording to be a guest co-host when they were advertising that – because I am all about taking advantage of opportunities to promote myself (wait, am I a narcissist?) – and they never even sent me a generic email response.

3. If you could sleep with any celebrity, who would it be?

Look at that face.

Another easy (but good) question – Liam Hemsworth, 100%. I am in love with him.

4. What’s the weirdest thing a guy has asked you to do?

I’ve probably been asked to do some weird things that I’m not remembering, but really only one comes to mind. I don’t think I talked about this in the post, but The Area Manager asked me if I’d let him pee on me. We were talking about if we had any kinks and if so, what they were. He told me that that’s his biggest one and he’s never had a girl let him do that (gee, I wonder why?). So he asked if I would. In this same conversation he was also confessing to engaging in some pretty odd sexual acts, so I guess at the time I just felt like the pee-thing was relatively tame based on his past experiences, so I was just kind of like, “Probably not,” and moved on.

Actually, I think I told him that since we still had plans to go to the beach at that time, maybe I’d get stung by a jellyfish. Then he could live out his dream that way since everyone pees in the ocean anyway (don’t act like you don’t), and then told him that in any other situation, that would be a no, and I changed the subject.

5. Why should someone have a healthy sex life?

I think it’s super important to have a healthy sex life! It’s so good to get in touch with yourself and learn what you like. Plus there are studies all the time telling us how it’s good for your physical and mental health to have frequent sex. But beyond the obvious benefits, I think it’s important to (1), get in touch with your own sexuality and understand how you relate to it and feel about it, (2), embrace your sexuality and know that it doesn’t make you a bad person (got to love that Catholic-guilt), and (3), find someone who loves that aspect of you as much as you do.

Coming from someone who felt very sexually repressed (mostly my own doing) for most of my formative years, I can honestly say that taking the time to evaluate your relationship with your own sexuality and feelings towards sex is crucial to actually enjoying it. It’s an important way to express intimacy and feel close to someone. But mostly, get more in touch with yourself and find even more things to love about your absolutely amazing self.

6. What’s your go-to post-sex snack?

You know I don’t really know that I have one? But I guess it would be the same as my go-to drunk snack. Which is essentially any combination of carbs and cheese. Nachos, mozzarella sticks… something along those lines. Or maybe something sweet . Pierre gave me macarons from Laduree (my absolute favorite), and I’m pretty sure I’ve made myself sugar cookies on at least one or two occasions. 

7. What are your thoughts on lingerie?

I love lingerie! It makes me feel so fancy! If only guys appreciated it as much as I do. I think I’ve been with two guys that actually appreciated my lingerie and weren’t just like, “Cool, can you take it off now?” Sometimes I wear it at home for myself because it makes me feel extra confident and sexy. I think it’s pretty and can be so empowering, even when I’m just wearing it for myself.

I have a couple of cute sets from Adore Me, but honestly most of mine is from Amazon. These are my favorite sets (one, two, three). They were purchased for a photoshoot I did but ended up not needing them. I feel like because I’m single and don’t wear it a lot, it’s not worth spending too much on it. But when I find a guy who appreciates it and whisks me off to Paris every other month, maybe I’ll splurge on some La Perla. 

8. What’s your favorite sex toy?

Believe it or not I’m not a huge fan of sex toys. Christian bought me my first couple of toys, – one I left on his car one of the many times I was mad at him, and the other I threw out. I love going to sex toy stores, though, because I think it’s entertaining and very eye-opening. I’ve brought a couple of friends to ones for the first time. Including the time my roommate and I got lost on the bad side of Orange Blossom Trail at midnight.

But the one sex toy that I can honestly give a great review is the Womanizer. There are lots of different versions. I think I just have the classic. One of my friends from work came in one day talking about how amazing it was. She talked about it all day so I gave in and decided to try it out.

9. What’s the craziest thing you’ve ever done for a guy? The most romantic?

Craziest thing I’ve done FOR a guy or TO a guy? Because those would be two different answers. 

For, I would say lying to my family about “getting coffee” so that I could make a 30 minute drive in 23 minutes trying to cross “Australian” off my list only to get stood up by Bruce. And then buying tickets to another one of his shows just to fuck with him a little. 

To, well, I do always say I’m a “slow simmering 2, ready to boil up to 10 at any moment” when it comes to the Crazy Scale. I could probably do a whole chapter on all the times I’ve been a bit crazy. I would say the top three craziest things I’ve done are: (1) having a stakeout with my best friend where I left eggs on Christian’s windshield (so he knew I could have egged his car), a vibrator on his car door, and a pair of underwear on his front door, and then calling him repeatedly, (2) Venmoing Al asking to pay me back for birth control months after he ghosted me and then talking to his parents when I saw him at work, or (3) meeting a guy in a Best Buy parking lot so I could tell if I felt comfortable going to his place. 

Most romantic thing I’ve ever done? Definitely fly across the country to spend the weekend with a guy I’d only met once, but we all know how that ended up. 

Also as a total aside, for some reason this question made me realize I’ve never talked about how I tried to lose my virginity to an actor at a Teen Wolf Convention (I feel like I was **THIS** close). That will definitely be an upcoming chapter. 

10. How do you feel about PornHub? What about OnlyFans?

I don’t really watch porn. It’s too long, the guys are never hot (RIP Tumblr porn gifs, you are missed), and the baby-feminist in me can’t get past how the women are treated. So I don’t really have strong feelings on PornHub in that respect. However, on a serious note I do know that they don’t do a very good job of moderating their videos. I don’t want to get into details because I know they could be triggering for a lot of people, so you can do the research yourself. But I think that if you’re going to run a site like that you have a responsibility to keep children, assault victims, and sex workers safe. 

OnlyFans, I don’t really know too much about it. I know what it is and the basic premise but I’m not positive I fully understand how it works. Maybe I’m just overthinking it. I know Bella Thorne and all the ‘celebrities’ who hopped on there suck. But, I think human bodies are beautiful. I don’t think that there should be ANY shame in choosing to share it if you feel comfortable with doing so. So long as it’s safe. Have I thought about starting one from time to time? Yes. Especially during the worst parts of the pandemic where this girl needed some $$, but I don’t think it’s for me. But more power to anyone who does!

11. Does your family know about and read your blog?

My family knows about it. I think I told my dad about it but I don’t remember. My mom reads it (hi, mom) even though she knows pretty much everything on here already since I tell her everything. I know my grandma reads it, she thinks it’s hilarious. I’m pretty sure a couple of my aunts read it as well. But my brother and my dad are forbidden from reading it. I sent one chapter to my brother but told him that was the only one he’s allowed to read.

12. What’s the worst sex you’ve ever had?

My dream.

This is kind of tough because I’ve been lucky to never have had truly awful sex. Gut reaction, I’d say Chad not because he’s bad necessarily but just because I really don’t think I was in the right headspace at the time. I also don’t think we really had good chemistry, nor were we really working as a team. When I really think about it, though, I’d have to say Christian. Again, not that he’s bad but I think at the time I built him up SO much. I didn’t really have anything to compare him to, and now that I do I realize it wasn’t anything very exciting or memorable. Plus, I’ve had much more fun with guys who actually listened to what I did and didn’t want to do. And didn’t make me feel bad if I wasn’t up for performing that day. 

13. What hasn’t a man swooped you up yet? You’re a CATCH.

Easily my favorite question here. I DON’T KNOW! I always tell myself that God just has someone so incredibly amazing for me that it wouldn’t be fair if I’d had good relationships in the past, too. But being totally honest, I think I really needed some time to myself. I needed to figure out why I wanted a relationship, what I was looking for, and what I could bring to the table beyond great baking abilities and lots of dad jokes. For a long time I was definitely wanting a boyfriend for the wrong reasons. I was lonely or I wanted to be validated or make someone jealous. But I’ve done a lot of work on myself and grown a lot. I dated myself and all that good stuff, so I definitely feel like I’m in the right place to be in a HEALTHY relationship for the first time ever.

Now it’s just a matter of finding someone, which if my Bumble and Tinder accounts are accurate does not seem super promising. There are not many suitable options there. If the world could just open up again so that I can meet someone amazing in real-life, that would be great. I know he’s out there!

Well, that’s it for today, y’all! I hope you enjoyed this one and if you ever have any other questions you want to see answered, feel free to send them my way. I am clearly an open-book. Have a great week! Be safe!

Chapter 35: The Stage-Five-Clinger

It’s been a minute (or lots of minutes), but I’m back at it!

Welcome back to Confessions of a Singleholic, ladies and gentlemen. Today I have a fun little story for you about my favorite type of person. A guy I’ve never even met getting clingy and needy. This story is brought to you by Tinder or Bumble, I can’t even remember. I’ve decided to call the guy I met Austin. 

Austin and I matched shortly before Christmas, and we began talking pretty quickly after we matched. At first, everything seemed to be going pretty well. Honestly, I’ve been trying to be better lately about not making a snap-judgement about which way to swipe. Austin is one of the guys who got a swipe because I took more than 3 seconds to look for any prominent red or green flags (I’m judgey, I know). I decided he deserved a chance. This is to say that he isn’t exactly what I would think of when talking about the type of guy I want to meet. But, I needed material, and because I love y’all so much I’ve found myself swiping right on people specifically because I thought they could give me a good story. 

In any case, Austin and I started talking and then, as it usually happens, he asked for my number. As usual, I gave him my fake one. (Side note, I recently skipped right to giving a guy I matched with my real number – fingers crossed that doesn’t come back to bite me in the ass later). 

This all happened on Christmas, mind you, but it was a chill holiday for us – like I’m sure it was for many of you. So, it wasn’t a big deal for me to exchange numbers and send a text or two throughout the day. But he immediately started with something that I HATE. He’d occasionally say, “Oh, I hope I’m not keeping you from your family on the holiday.” Meanwhile, he’s also bombarding me with questions.

To be fair, I used to do this with guys. I’d say, “Oh, I hope I’m not bothering you,” but you know when I did that? When I was extremely insecure, had little confidence, and placed 90% of my self-worth in how the guy I was interested in at the time was treating me. So this was an automatic orange-ish flag for me. I’ve spent the past year working on that. I’m not about to bring it back into my life (and future relationships) in a different way. 

But, we kept talking and overall, things were okay. He started asking me when we could go out pretty quickly. I get wanting to make plans and not just be pen-pals (and I’m all for that). But at the same time, it was over the holidays. I’d already said I’d be in North Carolina for an indeterminate amount of time. It was not like he needed to put a rush order on scheduling a date with me. However, that’s exactly what he was trying to do. When I’d say that I wasn’t sure when I’d be back, but would let him know, he’d listen for about three and a half hours before trying AGAIN. 

Photo by Plato Terentev on Pexels.com

He also continued up with the, “Hope I’m not intruding on your time,” thing and, honestly, at that point he kind of was. I was trying to enjoy time with my family. Really, I’m just not someone that’s super attached to their phone anyway, so it was a bit annoying. I have notifications turned off for pretty much every single app so that I’m not constantly on my phone. Also, we were doing lots of outdoorsy things – snowtubing, sledding, etc. – and I had my phone in the pocket of snow pants that made me look like a marshmallow and I was not really about to dig it out with my gloves every five minutes. He also knew we were outside, so not necessary to be trying to get my constant attention and then act like he didn’t want it.

Also, through our conversation I wasn’t getting the idea that he’s overly ambitious – which is totally fine! – but not what I’m looking for in a partner. I have a lot of big plans and dreams, so I definitely need someone who supports and understands that. We really didn’t seem to have a lot in common. So my responses were slowly having more and more time in between them. 

The real kicker, though, was after less than a week of talking he suddenly hits me with, “Part of me feels like I may be losing your interest?” 

I’m sorry, huh? I love when people are upfront. I think it’s commendable to ask instead of hinting or being passive aggressive. But at the same time, I’d told him repeatedly that I was with my family. I also hadn’t even met him yet so I didn’t even know if I was truly ‘interested’ in him anyway.

At this, I told him that I’m not someone attached to my phone. It’s more important to me to be ‘in the moment’ than it is to be a great texter. Pretty much the only people I text back right away are my parents. At this, he got overly apologetic. This put me in a weird spot because then I felt guilty. I was basically consoling him for asking a question. But, I don’t feel like I should have to explain myself over something so silly. Especially after only a few days of talking. Been there, done that.

After that, he apologized and told me how embarrassed he was like three times. It would have just been so much more attractive if he’d just been like, “Okay, great, thanks for explaining.” Then moved on. Over the next couple of days of awkward conversation I felt like I had to be a better texter, but it felt very forced.

The funny thing is that this whole time he kept being like, “I’m just really excited to meet you” every time he tried to make plans several days before I was even planning on being back in Boston. Or when he was “so embarrassed” for asking me if I was losing his interest. I find this hilarious, because after we exchanged Happy New Year’s, I never heard from him again. He was so into me, apparently, and then it just took two days of me not answering his texts immediately and he suddenly lost all interest. I wasn’t sure if we’d have stuff in common, but I was willing to give it a try (and not just for material, I promise). So it was just very weird.

In any case, that was the last time I heard from Austin. I guess he isn’t quite a stage-five-clinger, but pretty much any guy that acts needier than I can sometimes be basically gets placed into that category immediately. Then again, he’s a Scorpio. I think you all know how I feel about romantic entanglements with water signs at this point (hint, not very good) so I guess that explains it. 

So The Stage-Five-Clinger was a bust, but at least he got me back in the writing – and dating – game.

See you next week!

Chapter 34: Dating Apps – Ranked and My Profile Rules

You know you’ve used too many dating apps when you can create a ranked list of them.

There are a lot of dating apps out there, and I’ve used a ton of them. From Hinge to Happn, Coffee Meets Bagel to Bumble, there are so many options out there. While I’m just one person and my experiences are probably vastly different from someone else’s, I wanted to share my ranking of the apps that I’ve used. So here are eight dating apps ranked in order (worst to best) for your reading pleasure.

8. Happn

Happn gets the bottom spot for two reasons – one, because it’s where I met The Creepy Catfish, and two, because now that I think about it, the premise of it makes me feel like it was the inspiration behind “You.” Seriously, it’s a “Criminal Minds” episode waiting to happen. If it wasn’t that I was asked to download it out of support for someone I don’t even remember, I probably would have never used it because seriously, it’s creepy. How it still exists I don’t really know but I don’t remember having a good experience with finding anyone except for one person that made me seriously question my safety and consider entering a convent. So, Happn gets put at the bottom of the list. Easily.

7. Coffee Meets Bagel

I only used Coffee Meets Bagel for a little bit, but from what I remember I didn’t have much luck. I know some people have had success, and I’ve heard that of all the dating apps they tend to have the highest number of highly educated users, but that wasn’t my experience. If I’m remembering correctly, I talked to maybe two people during my brief stint of being active on it. To be fair, I was using this in Orlando where (no offense) there are VERY slim-pickings when it comes to straight, available men who are also boyfriend-material so maybe I’d have a different experience if I used it now. I was also kind of confused at the functionality of the app and didn’t feel like I was using it correctly but again that’s kind of a personal perspective. Regardless, I wasn’t a fan.

6. OKCupid / Plenty of Fish

I put OKCupid and Plenty of Fish together only because I genuinely don’t remember which of them I actually used, and in general I get them confused and don’t really know the difference. Dating apps all start to run together after a while. I know I used one of them, and by “used” I mean I created a profile, went to bed, woke up to over 50 messages, got overwhelmed, and closed my account. Listen, I know I’m a catch but there is clearly a bad gender ratio on there if I’m waking up to over 50 messages after less than 12 hours of making a profile. I know people who’ve met their significant other on both of these apps, but I’m too lazy to weed through dozens of messages to find someone who knows the difference between “your” and “you’re.” So it was not my thing.

5. EHarmony

Y’all already know how I feel about EHarmony, and if you don’t, go back and read my review of it here. Yes, it’s supposed to be one of the most trusted and successful paid dating sites, but again, I was not a fan. I hate the way that you “unmatch” someone, I hate how much information they force you to provide in order to get the full benefits that you already paid for, and I was not finding quality men on there considering the price of it. The only reason it’s not lower is because I feel bad shit-talking them as much as I have so I gave them a couple of bonus points to be nice.

Me.

4. Clover

Clover is another one of those apps that I think I used for maybe a week total, if that. When I got no matches after a week or so, I deleted it. I’m impatient.  However, I do give them points because I like how many features they offer and that they seem to really be trying to create a quality app that people can use for a variety of reasons. I don’t feel like it’s as well-known as some of the others so it isn’t used as much, but I feel like if they keep up with being innovative and maybe increase their social media presence it could get more popular easily.

3. Hinge

I’ve actually had the most success with getting good matches that led to good dates on Hinge, but because it’s where I met The Stalker and it took them several months to respond to my numerous attempts to report him, they got bumped on the list. They’re still top three because again, I know it’s a good app and lots of people have had really good luck and success stories, but I don’t like that they didn’t seem to care about users’ safety. It’s a shame because I actually like the matching method on there the best, but safety is very important to me, so they got moved to third.

2. Tinder

Call me crazy but I actually like Tinder. Do I expect to meet the love of my life on there? No. But, I have met a handful of guys who’ve at least provided me with a good story for here. I know that Tinder is considered more of the “hookup” app and not relationships, but that doesn’t mean it’s not fun to use from time to time. I feel like Tinder is kind of like that person you know that’s really popular and even though you want to hate them because of their reputation, you just can’t. It’s simple and straight-forward, and even though I’m pretty positive most of the ‘people’ on there are bots or catfishers, I don’t totally hate it.

1. Bumble

I’ve actually only had mediocre success on Bumble, but I like the app as a whole the best. I like that it’s simple and to the point, I like the design, and I like the different filters. I also like that they’ve kind of adopted some of Hinge’s ideas and now instead of having all photos you can answer prompts to add to your profile, too. I really like that girls message first because sometimes I accidentally swipe on someone I didn’t mean to on dating apps and I feel bad ghosting them if they message me first. I also feel like it’s just a bit safer that way. Plus, they provide some ideas for opening lines which I think is pretty cool. Overall, I feel like it has mostly good quality people on there, it’s easy to use, I feel safe, and I haven’t met anyone crazy off of it (yet), so it’s my number one.

Maybe it’s just me, but I personally have a set of “guidelines,” if you will, of what I look for on a guy’s profile. Okay, it’s more like a list of “Don’ts” that, unless they look like Liam Hemsworth, get them an immediate swipe left.

My Rules

  1. No more than one “holding a fish” photo.
  2. No more than one mirror photo – and if he has a mirror photo/gym selfie, his face has to be in it, too.
  3. He’s allowed to have a group photo, but if ALL of the photos are group photos, it’s a no-go. I’m trying to find a match, not play a game of Guess Who?
  4. I allow one grammatical or spelling error, but if he doesn’t know the difference between “your”/”you’re” and “there”/”their”/”they’re,” unfortunately, it’s an automatic nope.
  5. If he doesn’t have anything written in his bio, it makes me wonder if he’s capable of having a conversation. It depends on the rest of the profile is this ends up being a no.
  6. No ridiculous abbreviations. Does it really take so long to write a full sentence? No. Just use full words, please.
  7. A cute cat or dog in a photo can cancel out one (and only one) of the rules above to put them in potential swipe-right territory.

Do you agree with my ranking? Or, do you have any suggestions for dating apps I should try? Christian Mingle, Farmers Only, I’m open to suggestions. Let me know in the comments!

Chapter 33: The Repeat

Take two.

Have you ever matched with someone on an app, and then had them stop talking to you, and then somehow rematched with them later on? That recently happened to me. 

When I saw Naveen’s profile on Bumble a couple of months ago, my first impression was that he was really cute, and seemed very put together! He was also holding a super cute puppy in his main picture and just overall looked like a cool guy from the rest of his profile. 

So, since it was Bumble and I had to start the conversation, I opened up with what I thought was a cute line. I figured that if we hit it off, he could be fun to go out with. I told him that the puppy in his picture was the second cutest thing I’d seen all day, and when he asked what the first was, I said that he was.

And, crickets. 

Naveen did not answer. Side note, I get SO frustrated when that happens regardless of what the opening line was – just in general, like where do these guys go after they swipe right? So many times I’ve matched with a guy, sent him the opening message soon after, and then the match expires because he just doesn’t answer in time – but like, he had to have been on recently for us to have matched? Are they robots? Were they abducted? I don’t know, it’s just annoying.

In any case, Naveen didn’t answer but I figured maybe he was busy so I let it go and went about my day. Well, days. Finally, I figured I needed to clean out my matches that were not going anywhere so I tried one more time with Naveen and still, no answer. So I unmatched him. 

I went off of Bumble for a bit after that because I was getting ready for the LSAT and really focused on studying at that time, and then I had a friend in town, so I just wasn’t as active. But then I decided to go back on just to kill some time and after swiping for a bit, guess who popped up again? Naveen. 

I decided to swipe right on him again just to see what happened, and I was surprised to see that we managed to match again! This time, I tried a different tactic with my opening line and challenged him to show me the last photo in his camera roll on his phone, and he did. I wouldn’t have been surprised if after that he disappeared again like last time, but he didn’t. This time, he was actually very chatty.

As we talked, I realized we had a good amount in common and he seemed very engaged which was quite a shift from last time. We exchanged numbers (well, he did, I gave my fake number) and eventually Instagram usernames (which is basically second base I think) and have been chatting since then. 

Of course, like most guys I’ve experienced on dating apps, he seems keen on trying to get things to go in a sexual direction with our conversations but I quickly change the subject and he goes with it, so I feel like maybe he just thinks that’s what girls are into? I don’t know – it’s definitely like an orange flag and something I’m keeping in mind, but not completely cutting him out. Mainly because I’m running out of stories on here and need to go out on some more dates to get more material. 

But also, he’s offered to cook for me, and he’s currently on a vacation that I’m VERY jealous of but he said he’d take me sometime, so I have to give him some points for that. He also kind of looks like he might actually be royalty or something with how well he dresses and just his overall demeanor from what I’ve seen. Does anyone remember that TLC show, “Secret Prince”? Maybe they brought it back. 

I haven’t told him yet that we already matched, and I’m wondering if he recognizes me from the first time around. So far I don’t think so. I’m waiting for the perfect moment to remind him that we already matched once but I didn’t like his lack of responsiveness. I honestly didn’t even know that you could rematch with somebody, but now I know. 

In any case, I’ve yet to meet Naveen but I’m hoping to do so soon (once he returns from his trip and I know he doesn’t have COVID). But, he seems somewhat promising. Maybe it’s really the second time that’s the charm. 

Chapter 32: One Hit Blunders, Part V – The Joker

Creepy clown makeup not included.

The first guy that I actually went out with after getting back on Tinder and Bumble upon my return to Boston was a guy that I’ve decided to call Clark. 

Clark opened up by asking me something about robbing a bank – I don’t remember exactly what the situation was, but in any case it was a good ice breaker and I thought it was funny and original to start planning a bank robbery (which I’ve never done and will never do), so I went along with it. This is also why I’ve decided to refer to him as “The Joker,” because The Joker from Batman robs banks, plus, this was clearly a joke that we should rob a bank – right?

Clark isn’t really what I usually go for physically, but he was cute and at this time I was just looking to meet new people so I wasn’t being very picky. He was funny, though, and he has a good job and seemed decent so after a bit of back and forth, he asked me out and I said yes. 

We made plans to get drinks at a bar near Quincy Market on a Sunday night, and then about 45 minutes before we were meant to meet he told me he would be running a little bit late. He was having some car issues but he’d let me know when he was leaving. So, at this point I figured it was something fixable but he’d just be late, so I kept getting ready. 

When it was getting closer to our meeting time, though, I texted him again (got to love that Google Voice number) and told him to let me know when he was leaving so I knew when to leave my place. At this time I was completely ready – hair, makeup, all that – since he had never made it sound like the date wouldn’t be happening. Then, a few minutes later after we were scheduled to be meeting, he texted me that he was very sorry but he had to cancel because to fix his car he needed to go get a piece from his mom’s house, and he wanted to get it fixed before he went away at the end of the week.

Honestly I was probably more understanding than I should have been, but he said he was sorry and offered to make it up to me another night that week, but I did think it was a little weird that he didn’t at least offer to get an Uber or something, and that he HAD to fix it at that very moment when he knew I was ready to go. But, because I’m nice I gave him a second chance and we decided to go out to the same bar later that week. 

On the night of our date (for real), I ended up getting there before him, but not having to wait too long. When he showed up he was a bit shorter than I expected, but cute. It was weird because of COVID times we couldn’t hug or anything, so we just kind of walked in and found a table. I got a hard cider, and he got a vodka soda. 

We ended up also ordering an appetizer to split, just some buffalo wings, which were pretty good, and the date itself was decent. Nothing to write home about – I definitely wasn’t feeling a major spark or romantic chemistry or anything –  but he was funny and I was having a good time just being out of my apartment. 

After a bit, though, I could tell that I was ready to go home because it was way past my bedtime and I knew that this wasn’t really going to go anywhere, but it just felt very weird trying to find a way to nicely tell him I was ready to wrap this up and go home. 

Photo by Akshay Anand on Pexels.com

Finally I found a way to get that message across, and this is where the biggest problem with Clark came to be. As I’m sure y’all know by now, I’m old-fashioned and expect to be paid for on a first date. So when the bill came and I did my customary offer of splitting and he said, “Yes,” I was not pleased. But not just because I’m traditional. Because he also said, “Let’s do 50/50,” despite the fact that my hard cider was nearly $4 cheaper than his vodka soda, and he’d had two of them. And the wings we ‘split’? I ate maybe two or three, while he ate more like six or seven. 

And on top of that, he was telling me how his company and industry have been “thriving” during all of this while then listening to me talk about being unemployed and trying to survive off of unemployment. I’m a big believer that if you can’t afford to eat out you shouldn’t eat out, which is why I ordered a cheaper drink so that if he did say we should split it I wasn’t paying for overpriced liquor. He was the one who suggested the appetizer, too, and he ate so much more of it. Plus, the fact that he was basically gloating about now having to experience the stress that millions of people have had to experience lately… it was a major turnoff that essentially, he was letting me pay for him since his drinks were more expensive. 

Also let me just remind you that he basically stood me up just a few nights before, and promised to “make it up to me.” So his idea of making it up to me was letting me pay for part of his vodka and wings on a first date? I just think that’s tacky. 

However, he did offer to walk me home so I was almost willing to give him just ONE more pass. That is, until we started to get close to my place. When I told him I was right across the street so we could part there, and I could clearly see the look on his face that showed he was very much expecting me to invite him up. Even though I really don’t think any of our conversations had been very flirty, and he didn’t even attempt to woo me, so this felt very weird to me. I was very unimpressed with this and even though I lied and said we could hang out again, I knew we would not be. 

When I got back to my apartment, I brushed my teeth and got into bed. A bit later he messaged me that, “I’m cute and we should hang out again soon.” Yes, I am cute, but I just said thanks and good night. And, luckily, I never heard from Clark again.