The Need for Speed

Speed dating that is. One of my favorite Kerry Bradshaw quotes is that every woman is New York is looking for one of three things: a job, an apartment, or a man. Given that I have been incredibly fortunate with one and two in recent months, I am trying my luck with #3. Third time's a charm. So my wonderful friend, Monika, agreed to go to one of these events with me. I had no idea what to expect though I am pretty adventurous so I figured at the worst it would be something to write about on this blog.

I was running late from work to make it to the event - the omens were less than promising. The GW Bridge was backed up during my commute from NJ, parking was tough to find, and as I approached the bar where the event was being held (sadly near Port Authority), I could not escape the overwhelming smell of urine. That's because the man about 15 feet in front of me was in fact peeing, on someone's car. (Thankfully not mine.) It was at this moment that I realized I was so worried about being late to meet Monika that I had not spent a second thinking of some good questions to ask so I didn't have to rely on the boring, "how are you? what do you do? where are you from?" litany. What if I met an amazing guy and was just completely tongue-tied? What was I even doing here? I should turn around and go home. Or maybe Monika and I should just go have a martini.

"No, no," I thought. Just go in there, smile, and give it a shot. And I did, right after I made sure to grab a sangria. And I love meeting new people. As it turned out, I would have preferred to just hang around at the bar rather than go through a rash of dates - some of whom didn't speak English, were incapable of eye contact, and were just, well, dull. All was not lost, though - I met some really good guys (all of whom tended to be on the older end of the age range for the event - no surprise there.) In the end, Mr. Amazing (for me) wasn't there and that's okay. Just knowing that there are so many others in this city who are looking, just like me, somehow made the whole dating adventure seem to be just that, an adventure.


Whether I need speed dating to as a vehicle to continue that journey, I'm not quite sure. However, it is sure nice to have options put before you that only cost 6 minutes each.

*The picture above can be found at http://www.edge-inc.net/images/cars/Lamborghini-I-Love-Speed.jpg.