My friend and I had planned to go speed dating together over a year ago, but the company canceled the day before because not enough people had signed up. Every week since I have received an invite to join the next event. I hadn’t gone because the age range wasn’t my preference, the location was out of the way, or simply because I wasn’t free. However, one Sunday I woke up with nothing on my agenda and I decided to see if they had emailed me this week. Sure enough, they did! The age range was 29 to 42 and the location was at a popular market nearby. So I thought, what the heck, and responded that I’m coming tonight to use my credit.
I had curly hair in the photo on my speed dating profile, so I decided to do the same to make a great impression. I curled my hair, did my make up, and wore a V-neck top. I figured if somebody super handsome was there I would want to grab their attention with more than just a sweater. I was kinda optimistic going into it. Since they had room for me last minute, it clearly wasn’t canceled. But another part of me thought, I’ll probably see someone I already know. Or worse, they’re all going to be losers. Either way I was going to write a blog post about this!
I showed up to the venue and went straight to the bar to grab a drink. The invite said that any staff member could point you to the event. So as I ordered my wine, I asked if he knew where the dating event was. He directed me to the middle of the room with the reserved signs. The table was long and could have fit probably 40 people, 20 on each side. There was one man sitting there, so I went up and asked if he was the host. He said he was not, but the host was in the building and should be right back. We chatted for a few minutes and it honestly wasn’t that bad; although I would never like this guy on a dating app and probably not tonight either. He said he has gone to a lot of these before… so they must not work.
When I checked in with the host, he said that they were expecting 12 men and 12 women, which seemed pretty good! I was doing the math and it would turn out to be about five minutes per day. Before the event started, the website didn’t show any profile information but your own, but once I arrived it showed me the list of 12 guys. They each had their name, photo, and a brief intro about themselves. You could rank the people by the following list and ultimately had to choose X or heart.
As the dates started, the men sat on one side of the table and the women on the other. We all paired up with an empty seat between us and the next couple. An efficient setup for sure, but there were more girls than guys because not everyone showed up, which truly surprised me because people had paid to sign up for this.
Date #1 started by saying, “You could learn a lot about a person by asking them two questions: Do you like horror movies? And have you ever traveled alone?” I told him the answers were yes and yes. He went on to say he often travels by himself and listed a few European destinations.
Date #2 was foreign, which isn’t really my type. We chatted a bit, but nothing stood out.
Date #3 was definitely over the age range. He must have been 50+ years old. At one point he misheard what I said, and I didn’t even bother to correct him.
Date #4 was a fire firefighter, and honestly the only one I would’ve said yes to based on looks. The conversation was fine. He owns a house outside of the city with some land and wishes he could have a dog, but with his work schedule it’s just not feasible.
Date #5 was the man that I was first chatting with when I arrived. He was wearing a black turtleneck, with a chunky silver chain, and his hair slicked back. You could tell he was really trying, just not in the right generation.
At intermission, I got up to go to the bathroom and grab another drink. Every single girl at this event began to gossip in the bathroom. We all agreed that the guys were less attractive than the girls. We nickname some, such as “the old man” and “The Rock.” It was wonderful to see the female camaraderie as we walked back out into round two.
Date #6 I noticed this guy earlier because he had an intricate black-and-white sleeve tattooed on his arm. He said that he was an attorney, but quit and now is into like yoga and spiritual stuff. The tattoo was done by a monk from what I can recall. He was the most interesting guy so far.
Date #7 was from New Jersey; I heard him say it when he was on the date next to me. I’m also from New Jersey so our conversation started there, but overall he was boring.
Date #8 surprised me with a memorable conversation. He was passionate about his career in the film industry, and talked about travel and adventure. He was one of the more interesting guys, although he had an unfortunate hairline.
Date #9 was another foreign guy who talked about making my hobbies into a business. Again, not my type.
When it was all done, we were told to heart or X everyone on our list before midnight. All the guys left and all the girls stayed and had dinner together. All the ladies said they weren’t gonna like anyone, but I decided to like #4, #6, and #8 just to see where it went. I matched with two of them but neither of them reached out and frankly, I’m never going to initiate.
Speed dating brought me to the realization that the dating apps aren’t that bad!
Single at 30 