Friday, April 10, 2009

Why Internet Dating Sucks.





MICHELLE EVANS 78, My Nigerian Sweetheart. Yeah. Right.













I'll confess, in my quest for a soul mate I've had more than my share of misadventures. The way things have been going for me, I feel as if I'm some sort of "loser magnet". And with each passing year that feeling is becoming stronger and stronger. I've dated or have been involved with alcoholics, insane woman,women saddled with more baggage than a luggage store, or who have more issues than a magazine stand and at least one welfare cheat. Am I a "loser magnet" or what?

In 2002 after I finally got onto the web, I discovered a number of Internet chat sites and dating services. I was under the somewhat naive belief I would be meeting all kinds of available women because,after all, the world wide web covered a lot of uncharted territory; somewhere out there women of my dreams was waiting for me.Hoo boy, was I in for a jumbo sized surprise. And not the pleasant kind of surprise, either.

My first Internet sweetheart(if you can call her that) was a woman named Sue(chat room non de plume: Busy Mom67) whom I met while surfing AOL's chatrooms. After a brief cyber encounter, I called her on the phone and our conversation began at twelve noon and lasted until between eight or ten that night;if memory serves me right. We both agreed there was a connection and after a week of long, heartfelt talks we decided to meet at a mall near Philadelphia since she lived in Hellertown, Pa and I lived in Newark, Delaware.

Upon our first encounter, I presented Sue with a bouquet of roses as a token of my affection. As we conversed over lunch at an local restaurant Sue suddenly got a call on her cell phone. Sue told me that she had to go home immediately but never said what the reason was. Being the sensitive soul that I am, I said I understood and we promised we'd meet again.

Well(you knew there was a "well" coming up didn't you?), she made and then proceeded to cancel each and every meeting we were supposed to have over the next few months. Now, I'm a patient guy, but after half a year of this asinine horseshit I finally asked if Sue was interested in me or not. Sue said that we lived too far away from each other(two hours to be exact) and that she wasn't sure how she felt about me. When I reminded Sue about her claims of having feelings for me, she replied," They're just words."

Let me tell you, I felt like I'd just been kicked in the teeth. Sue had been stringing me along me for the entire time, so I immediately stopped all communications with her. It's a shit shame the way some people play with your heart and then cut you loose after they've had their fun. Oh well, at least she never asked me for any money.

Which brings me to someone I made the acquaintance of on Yahoo who goes by the moniker of Michelle Even78. This was a few months ago, but the relevance will soon be made clear to you.I began an IM correspondence around November of last year with this person who from the get go acted as if she were my girlfriend and that we were destined to be together.

Now here's where things get kinda sticky. First off, Michelle claimed to be an American living in Nigeria where she made a living as an interior decorator. She also told me she was from Baltimore, but was currently working on a decorating project and would be returning to America when the assignment was over.

There was something about her that didn't quite gel as far as I'm concerned. From the get go I smelled the proverbial rat, so I mentioned how much I liked Baltimore's Inner Harbor. She stopped IMing me for the evening. Still, I kept corresponding with her just to see how far Michelle was willing to go with her deception.

Although Michelle sent me her picture I don't think, in fact I'm damn sure, that she's not the woman in the picture. You see, when I downloaded her picture into the "my pictures" page, there in the corner of her photo was a caption that read: Computer Models. So Michelle is probably grossly overweight and homelier than a beat up shoe or she just might be a guy. The mind boggles as the stomach turns.

During one of our IM conversations, Michelle mentioned that her birthday was coming up and she needed $400.00 for a dress. She wanted me to send her the money, even though we barely knew each other. Thus began a weekly ritual of Michelle asking me for various amounts of money. During the Christmas holidays she asked me to send her $750.00 for plane fare in order for her to come and visit me.

Now, maybe it's just me, but don't interior decorators make a lot of money? Here she is constantly crying poor mouth which leads me to believe that Michelle is either a world class liar or is the most incompetent interior decorator in the world whom no one would hire even as a joke(personally, I suspect the former). As far as her wanting me to finance her visit, I'll bet you dollars to doughnuts if I had sent Michelle the money, once the cash reached her grubby little paws she would have disappeared like a thief in the night. And I would have been $750.00 poorer.

In hopes of squelching Michelle's constant wheedling me to send her cash , I pretended to be flat busted broke. Of course I'm not, but I hoped this would encourage her to stop asking me.You know, you can't get blood from a stone. But she kept trying. Oh boy, did she keep trying.

Then the final shoe dropped: one day Michelle wanted to know what bank I used and even had the unmitigated audacity to ask me for my account number. I told her it was none of her business and that's when Michelle wrote to me" Why won't you give me your account number?" We've been together for six months." Wait one freakin' minute! Our only communication was IM messages with each other and she thinks we're in a relationship? Yeah. Sure we are.

I immediately logged off of Yahoo and removed their chat site from my computer. And with that, I once again put another notch in my loser belt. People like her I can well do without. Maybe I should just get a dog instead.

Thursday, February 12, 2009

What She Says Vs. What She Means: Breaking The Code.










There's an interesting phenomenon when dealing with women: there is a code they employ where something that is said ain't exactly what it means. I've come to believe that women really believe in their heart of hearts that we men are stupid beyond human comprehension and will swallow whatever bullshit they dole out. In the interest of helping all of you guys out there, here are some helpful morsels of info you need to know to guide you through the male/female relationship jungle.

1. When she says,"It's not you,it's me."

Bullshit. Hey guys,take it from me;it is you. I discovered this little pertinent fact in a 1994 issue of Playboy magazine. In 1995, when I dated a women named Helene,(or Crazy Helene as she was christened by the people where we both worked) she dumped me saying I wasn't good enough for her(for a fuller account of the entire mess, check out my earlier post entitled "My Misadventures In Romance." At one point while she was kicking me to the curb, Helene said," It's not you, it's me." I was both pissed and yet somewhat fascinated. For her to entertain the idea for even a nano second that I'd buy her feeble assed comment showed me just how pathetically stupid she thought I was. It also pointed out to me how incredibly crafty and intelligent Helene thought herself to be. Sorry Crazy Helene, you're not that smart. Not by a long shot.


" I'll call you."

So you're talking to this woman whom you're attracted to and you ask for her phone number. She says," Give me yours and I'll give you a call." Dude, that's a no brainer. She's not gonna call you! You've been shined on. You'd have a better chance of winning money from a scratch off lottery ticket. And if you really, really think you'll hear from her, boy, expect to wait for a very looooong time. At least until eternity ends, to be exact.

Let me think about it."

Ya know, once upon a time when I was more positive type of fellow, I really thought in my heart of hearts that when a women said those very words she actually gave the matter some thought. Yeah. Right. Recently I heard that particularly phrase recited to me not once, but three times within a years time frame, so I'm now hip to the facts: the broad wants nothing to do with me when she says that. End of sentence.

It first began with woman I know at work named Dawn. She's decent looking, but to be blunt, I wouldn't be kept up nights fantasizing about her, if you get my drift. However, Dawn considers herself to be her families gift to us poor, miserable, undeserving men.

 Okey.Whatever.

Anyway, I asked her out on my birthday because I thought it would be nice to have a date while celebrating my natal day. She said," Let me think about it." Well, I didn't see her again for about a week after my birthday had passed and incident was never mentioned again.

The next time I heard those five discouraging words was when I asked someone named Sherri out a few months later. Naturally the two of us never dated, so that was that. Now, you would think I would get the message at this juncture. Oh no! Not me, Mr. Optimistic. I'm still looking for the pony in the horseshit. The only problem is that I'm up to my ass in horse dung with no pony in sight.

The third time this crap occurred was when I asked a co-worker named Connie out on a date. Again, I got that same old, shopworn expression. This time, though, I had a different reaction; I thought that maybe she was just playing hard to get and I decided to pursue her. Big, big mistake. Connie eventually told me point blank that she wasn't interested in me. It's a good thing I didn't waste too much of my precious time on the likes of her. So now the jury is in folks; "Let me think about it"actually means: "I don't want to go out with you. No way. No how."

Now that I'm armed with this knowledge, the next time I hear those words of discouragement I'll simply tuck my tail between my legs and crawl away like the dog that I am. I enjoy a challenge, but I also know what a brick wall is and I'm not going to beat my head against it.

You know, when I told someone I was going to write an article about the code females use(as opposed to simply telling us men the truth), their reaction was," Don't do that. People will think you're being angry and bitter." Hmmmm.....Let me think about that.

The 2009 Anti-Valentine's Day Hatenanny!






Welcome to my Anti-Valentine's Day Celebration where hostility and anger reign supreme. On this saccharine day of the year those of us who are lacking a significant other are forced to endure "cute couples" as they walk hand in hand,gazing at one another all google eyed with stupid,sappy expressions on their miserable love struck faces. I wanna grab a shovel and smack the both of 'em upside their slap happy heads.

People who have yet to find their "soul mate", "love of their life", "special person" (feel free to add your own sickeningly syrupy sweet phrase.That is, if you have someone in your life and then proceed to cram it up your ass with an air compressor) find Valentine's Day interminable at best and sadly depressing at worst. I intend to exorcise my demons of loneliness by railing and decrying against a day that if I had a special someone I would be celebrating with instead of ranting and raving. So in place of a Valentine's Day Hootenanny, welcome to my 2009 Anti-Valentine's Day Hatenanny. Let the hostilities begin 'cause this is season when hate turns me on! And if I'm in the same, unhappy situation next year, be prepared for another barrelful of belicose bitching from me. Crapppy Valentine's Day!