Sex and the Cyber City: I Shall Overcome

My one month membership has now expired. I get daily e-mails from matches.com promising me that the next time I sign up I will not only get a discounted membership, but will also have a slew of guys to choose from.

Did someone call bullshit? 'Cause I did.

These e-mails are jam packed with photos of potential suitors. Some of them look agreeable, but not agreeable enough for me to pay $34.99. We're in a recession for chrissake, and I need to save my money for what's really important--the Rachel Zoe's 4 inch platform recommended shoes on piperline.com!

Back to the topic: It just gets really annoying getting these constant e-mails on my Blackberry. It's even more annoying when the pictures they send are of fuglies.

After my experience, I probably wouldn't join the site again. Out of the many guys I've seen and connected with (around 8 guys) on matches.com, it would definitely not be worth it for me to join again. I could just as easily find some guy at Happy Ending. Wait, bad example. Those are not the type of guys I could take home to a practicing Buddhist mother. I need guys with a little more class.

Well my point is the website was lame. I expected a bunch of hot career men with their lives together. Instead I got a whole lot of "old men with kids" types. The few I did manage to click with (get it- click with because it's cyber dating) seem like a distant memory now. Empty promises to meet over dinner, probably more flaking on my part than theirs.

Although there is a fellow who has managed to stay connected. We even connected via Facebook, which is a big deal. We still have plans to meet and after much lurking on Facebook, the plans are pretty solid. We regularly text each other, but like so many of those fish I've cyber-met, he too lives a good two hours away. And because he lives two hours away, our first date would be one of those where you feel obligated to sleep with him. I guess I shouldn't meet him.

Internet dating is best left to those who really don't have people skills and the time, or are just plain fulgy. There are those rare instances where you get a bingo, but those are far and wide apart, and, for $34.99, a bit pricey. I lack neither skills nor time, which is why I will conclude this experiment as failed. Maybe I'll try again when and if (big "if" there, hopefully) I'm 35 and single.

I may consider e-expenso.com, just to be on the safe side.

-Aileen Awesome