The Future of Dating

This isn't a crotchety post about the "good old days" when dating meant you'd have to walk through 8 feet of snow uphill both ways just to meet someone, only to have them turn out heinously ugly and you still have to date for 3 years just to be polite. No, this is about how the fact of meeting someone has turned into such an online affair. Internet dating used to be the stuff of gimps and computer geeks, with a few goths and wiccans thrown in for good measure. Now, if you are single and not registered at one of the ubiquitous dating sites, people begin to wonder if you indeed play for the other team or are contemplating a life in the church (It could be the Church of 50 cats, Cases of Frosting and Housecoats, BTW.). Ha! You scoff. Ariel, I met my lova at the Quik-E-Mart. Or, we met in the self-help/spirituality/sexuality section at Border's. Yes, I'm sure you did. And then what did you do? You ran home and checked out his/her page on MySpace. Or FaceBook. Or Friendster (is anyone on that site anymore?). Or you boffed their avatar on Second Life to make sure y'all are truly compatible. Sometimes the web seems to be one giant version of Life's Cliff Notes--and I must admit in the case of the two-time felon with outstanding warrants and babies in several states, I'm grateful. But even though a blog can be a sliding-door to the soul, and "View my Pictures!" can speak a thousand words, aint nothing like real, living, breathing, unplanned, un-premeditated, acting and re-acting thang, baby.