NTSC-RePlay 018: First Dates II

[Hirst]

Just sneak in via the back entrance.

[Neon Ignition]

[fuse]

I had a sugar momma at one point, briefly

An entire page and no-one's asked for more details. I'm disappointed in you all!

Since the original thread I've split from one long-term partner, taken a good year-and-a-bit on my own, and then dipped my toes into the world of online dating for the first time. Most people you speak to have horror stories, but I consider myself to have been pretty lucky, having found someone great relatively quickly, and am now creeping up on 5 (very happy!) years in their company.

Just as with anything else, it's not a one-size-fits-all scenario and the idea that everyone's got to be channeled through the same process and/or set of expectations is way off. Tinder's reputation as a meat market for casual hook-ups neither played to my strengths nor my interests, so that was never even a consideration for me.

[Asura]

An entire page and no-one's asked for more details. I'm disappointed in you all!

This was years ago. She was shy of 20 years older than me, and I met her on a dating website. Talked a few times, and one night she came over, plan was to maybe go out for food. She rocked up in a sports car, and was wearing a bespoke suit from a prestige label, which was a surprise.

Turned out she was a mid-level director at a company, ~80 miles away. I won't say in what field, as that might make it too easy to look her up, but it was a business where people would probably recognise the name. Ultimately though she was pretty loaded.

The plan was to go out; she said she'd pay for food if we stayed in, so we stayed in. She was fun! Loved movies. Really big fan of fantasy movies specifically.

She came back a few times, usually giving me a call and coming over a couple of nights later, and it always went the same. Sometimes she'd buy me things, like once she bought me a DVD boxset, once she bought a videogame I'd mentioned (I don't remember what).

Honestly I didn't really think about it much, as I was so busy with my own stuff, until this came up with one of my friends who got me to look back upon it retrospectively - older, wealthy woman, younger bloke, turns up after work in a flash car, doesn't want to go out and be seen together, buys me gifts that I would consider expensive but are peanuts to a wealthy person...

It ended not long after, just because it wasn't meant to be anything more than it was. But that's the daft story of how I had a sugar momma and never actually realised it.

[Blobcat]

Nothing wrong with IKEA once you know all the shortcuts through the store to get straight to the end for the hot dog counter.

When we lived relatively near to an Ikea many years ago, we would just go for a meatball lunch and pick up some kitchen tongs enough to get the free parking. My mother-in-law LOVES the hotdogs there (would always insist we go to Ikea when they visited as their nearest was over an hour's drive away).

As Asura said we never really had a first date but I do remember our first kiss, the day Resident Evil 4 came out on the Gamecube lol. It was many years before we started dating officially as we both had stuff going on in our lives but it was a pretty cool evening and he looked damn good that day.

[speedlolita]

I met my first girlfriend via MSN Spaces.

I must have been 15 and she was like 13. Just kinda strolled around town and then had a big hug at the end before I went home.

Second girlfriend I don't really count, that was when I was about 25 after being single for 3 or 4 years. Became familiar with them via Facebook after being added randomly. Kinda the same deal, strolled around town and got a soft drink. And then towards the end of the date she gave me an ultimatum I don't remember the specifics of and then threated to harm herself... I think that was a pretty big red flag but that relationship dragged on another few months before it came to a natural conclusion. Not good.

More recently I met my current girlfriend via Twitter after being mutuals on there for a few years. Friendly tweeting led to a date to London Zoo and then we went to the Prince Charles Cinema to see one of my favourite movies (Lost in Translation). Much more pleasant experience there.

When I was single I remember signing up for a few sites. OkCupid was probably the most successful usage of one of those sites but really I just liked browsing profiles of strangers for the fun of it, like people watching or something. I remember one girl said she collected PS1 games but I decided to point out why European releases are inferior instead of reply normally.

[fishbowlhead]

One first date lasted 20 seconds as i walked into a pub, saw she was wearing uggboots to a first date and also looked like a slob, then she opened her mouth and made it even worse, i just stood there and went “nope”, and walked out.

[Asura]

One first date lasted 20 seconds as i walked into a pub, saw she was wearing uggboots to a first date and also looked like a slob, then she opened her mouth and made it even worse, i just stood there and went “nope”, and walked out.

I only once had a date like that; got set up with a girl who was of the landed gentry, family-wise. Had awful things to say about working class people, which for some reason she didn't think I was. Of course she hadn't worked a day in her life. Was only with her for ~15 minutes; literally pretended to have a phone call to leave.