Dating sucks....we've all heard it...we've all said it. Me, I'm done with it...thank goodness, but I can't help but hear my friends talk about it and think, you know, when we were young, this is how a college date would go....."god, I love beer"..."me too"..."wow, you like beer too?"...and then boom, you have lunch at the dining hall together, walk back to your room with the clinky clanky sound of stolen glasses bouncing around in your pockets..who doesn't love being 18.....suddenly it's been two weeks and you maybe went to the mall together once, but mostly hung out in your dorm rooms and went to parties where you both relished in the joys of death punch hook ups. Then you "broke up", so to get over it, you and your friends went to a party...had some beer.."wow, you like beer"....rinse wash and repeat...Next thing you know, you're out of college, and you're done hooking up. Turning over a new leaf. You're a grown-up now, it's time to really date, to find someone (unless you found one in college and got out early, which is a smart move, because dating is EXPENSIVE and much harder when you can't just hook up any night of the week for free, errr, for free beer)....I mean, there's no more fraternity parties (except when you go back to visit those friends that still haven't graduated because they were younger or were on their 5th...6th...sometimes 7th major--side bar: there's nothing better than the following "DUDE, WHERE"S THE WHISKEY?" "WHY?" "I missed my exam"...."so, call the professor and make it up"..."it was two months ago"......"Kitchen, bottom cabinet, next to the green stuff that might have been spilt beef stew......i'll be home in 20")...Back to dating,post-college....you think "this is gonna suck"....however, we all discover "the bar", "the club", "the usual place"....you're there....drinking.....and viola...it's like college....only with captain and coke, martinis, wasted away in funking slummerville....rinse wash repeat...but before long, those drunk nights fade away, you start seriously looking, only to find that you have a smaller group of friends, everyone knows everyone, most people have coupled up....and fewer people join the group...it gets ever smaller....you wait for that connection to happen...your friends don't know any single men or women, (or just won't introduce you to any of their single friends because they remember that time you did that thing and that was just wrong and you haven't grown up yet enough for their snooty friends....but i'm not bitter)...anywho....you have a career now, so one place where you meet people is at work, but dating at work is a no-no. Just when you think there's no hope of bumping into that someone, you hear about on-line dating. It doesn't have the same stigma it once did (honest). You see, there's tons of people in your position. A bunch of folks in a small circle that no longer branches out and with just WRONG stories of their past that makes them undatable...and unintroducible. To make matters worse, your friends don't hang out at the pubs so much as go out to dinner.... It's different. Can't really walk up to that cute someone at dinner that you might have exchanged looks with while sampling riesling and poached fish, sit down at his or her table and say, "Hi....nice shoes." So, you take the plunge, not telling any one of course (hey, it's still got somewhat of a stigma). At first, you're kinda clueless...A wink here, a wink there, you send an email or two, go on a date, realize you've made a HORRIBLE mistake to go out so quickly. People lie. It's a fact. Dating is like this--first three months is all lies....then you start to get to show your true colors...hence most relationships dying at the 3 month mark, or shortly thereafter. On-line dating, most start with HUGE lies.....So, you make a few oh my god moments, and then you get gun shy. The next time, you take too long to go on a date.....and boom, it dies before it begins. The key is to think of it this way--on-line dating is like going to the bar. Sure, sometimes you have the beer goggles on, but the most important thing is that you can have sober conversations with someone, you can get to know them a little more, to the point where you're almost friends before you even meet. I went on a date with this amazing woman I met on-line. She was and still is awesome. We talked, alot, emailed, alot, had great conversations, shared stories. Our date was at a pub we both enjoyed....we decided to meet up and hang out on a friday night. We both loved music...I showed up with some burned cds (today's equivalent of "i made you a tape", only without the in-between song clicks, the radio djs talking over the beginning or end of the song that you recorded by sticking your tape recorder next to the speaker, and the required cheesy writing and comments and decorations)...She showed up with her sister and her sister's boyfriend. It was like old friends hanging out because we knew each other. It was nice. Fun. The beer flowed, the music played, we got drunk....it was like old times....college days....we danced...we drank...we left...we we're both too drunk to drive and it was too cold out to walk but we couldn't really tell...shoot, i think we might have been too drunk to walk....so, I walked this very lovely woman home.....and there it was...that distinct clinky clanky sound of stolen shot glasses and empty Guinness pints clanging together in our pockets.....it dawned on me then.....maybe nothing has really changed......in fact...it's still the same.....only now, 30 is the new 21.....