Us Divorce Single Parent Meet

Online Dating Undercover Revelations: OK Cupid (Pt. 2)

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Let's dig a little deeper into OK Cupid's DNA, and what we're looking for when we go online to find a 'partner' a 'hookup' or 'a relationship to last the rest of my life.' (Start here: Online Dating Undercover Revelations: OK Cupid (Pt. 1) )

They offer a little 'What's my best picture' service that delivers some interesting feedback about the demographics and the types of women who find your pictures attractive. Well, it's not a very scientific process, as most of my raters were in their early 20's, and pretty far from my desired demographic. But the data is fun anyway, and heck, they picked my main profile picture for me, so that's good. Here are my top three photos and the fuzzy data that goes with them.

So in my demographic of 31+ girls (eh hm: women, thanks) here are my big winners. These are my rater's self-identified types. I'm glad conservative and stoner fell right off my map all together.

Artists
Nerd < maybe
Liberal
Free Spirit
Deviant

And sure enough the picture of me as a parent (with daughter) doesn't even register with the 18 – 22 yo girls. Okay, fine, so the man as an artist appeals to my demographic. Fine.

But it all really boils down to who I'm interested in. And I'd say my top types are in alignment with my tastes, so we'll go with that photo for now. And let's see how it's worked so far, in my two weeks back on the site.

OKC reports I get about 5 views a week. Hmm… That sucks. I've been sending out emails and 'Hellos.' Again, I'm guessing a lot of women are using the A-List paid option to NOT show up in my visitors list. Oh well.

So let's see if I've gotten any responses via email.

Yep, a few have responded. And a couple I've gotten to texting with. That's a higher form of intimacy, because it requires the exchange of phone numbers. I don't think you'd give a creep your phone number. And it usually takes a bit of emailing first to establish a mutual appreciation. And then you move to the quick and telling text exchanges. You can tell a lot about someone's self-expression. How do they respond to jokes? Are they playful? Are they friendly? Are they tech-savvy?

One of the best reality checks I've come up with for online dating is to send a real-time selfie. If the person on the other end is overly self-conscious they won't be able to send one back. They'll send something else or ignore your request all together. The selfie is the lowest common denominator of glamour shots. If they radiate in a selfie, you have pretty good odds that their profile photography isn't photoshopped or glammed into unreality.

And really that's all we're trying to establish at this point. Is this person real? Are they authentic in their behavior (texting and responding) and their appearance (if you can get a selfie)?

And next can you move it to an in-person meeting? How smooth is that transaction? Time and place? Do they reset the date several times? Do the postpone? Often it has been my experience that a postponement (even if they say they are sick) really means they are having second thoughts. Or they have started up with someone else and are hedging their bets. The longer the postponement, the more likely it will not happen at all. And that's okay, you don't want someone who's sort of in and sort of out.

The most frustrating near-miss is the one with someone who's not sure what they are looking for. If they are on a dating site, shouldn't they be interested in a relationship? Or is the R-word scary? Maybe they really just want to 'date.'

And one of the things we can be sure of, none of us has the answers. What does dating after divorce, or dating as a single parent look like?

There are a few controls built-in that help buffer the startup process, in my opinion. If we both have kids and ex's in town, we will be navigating a fairly complex scheduling process. And you can get a feel very quickly if it's going to be easy to negotiate or a pain in the ass. If it's really hard to find the time to get together, it's probably not a fit. Or perhaps the other person is scared to get in a Relationship. No problem, move on.

Here's what you want, regardless of what you call it.

• Time together.
• Both people making efforts to come up with solutions to the scheduling issues.
• Laughter and easy-going conversation.
• Fascination beyond the physical attraction.
• Sexual chemistry.
• Emotionally and mentally stable, as far as you can tell.
• Deals with changes and uncertainty easily.
• Joy.

And in my estimation those qualities in ONE PERSON are hard to find. Don't rush through it, if you've started to make a match. Slow. Keep building on the friendship. (Does that sound cliché? It might, but really, you get over the 'let's just have sex' part of relating to someone pretty quickly. And I'm pretty sure most women would not be okay with every date night having us say, 'Let's just stay in and do it. I'll bring Chinese.' It doesn't work that way in the long-term, and it shouldn't be your focus in the short-term.)

If you get too far ahead of yourself, thinking about pairing up, or how they would do as a step-parent, you might need to take a time out. This is no longer a race against time, it's a race with time. You've got limited time. You need to make the most of the opportunities you do have to meet and greet. If there are a lot of signals that 'this is not working very easily' you might consider resetting expectations and going back to the dating pool.

BUT…

If you find it's working. That might be even more frightening, for both of you. What if… So don't go there. Slow down. Take it easy. Enjoy each other's company, in and most importantly out of bed. And then just bask in the time you do find to be together. And see how flexible you can be with the idiosyncrasies of life as a single parent. There is a long way to go before you need to begin planning.

So don't set your expectations too far in the future. Stay in the moment and see how compatible you are, how close your friendship can become. See, for me, part of the problem is I was drawn in and captured by the beauty and sex thing before I really got a deep understanding of the person I was committing too. Don't make the same mistake again. There's no hurry to move into the next stages, and in fact, just mentioning them might freak both of you out. When you hear yourself talking about (enter your freak out here: moving in, marriage, step-parenting) just take a deep breath and drop back into the moment, into the presence of this cool person, who happens, if things go well, to think you're cool too.

For now, that's as far as I've gotten. I like you. I like hanging out with you. And that's enough.

Do you know what's enough for you? I know my ideas change all the time. But I keep coming back to the smile, the joy, and the friendship.

Sincerely,

The Off Parent

back to On Dating Again

related posts:

image: she is my drug, bryan brenneman, creative commons usage

Online Dating Undercover Revelations: OK Cupid (Pt. 2)

Let's dig a little deeper into OK Cupid's DNA, and what we're looking for when we go online to find a 'partner' a 'hookup' or 'a relationship to last the rest of my life.' (Start here: Online Dating Undercover Revelations: OK Cupid (Pt. 1) )

They offer a little 'What's my best picture' service that delivers some interesting feedback about the demographics and the types of women who find your pictures attractive. Well, it's not a very scientific process, as most of my raters were in their early 20's, and pretty far from my desired demographic. But the data is fun anyway, and heck, they picked my main profile picture for me, so that's good. Here are my top three photos and the fuzzy data that goes with them.

So in my demographic of 31+ girls (eh hm: women, thanks) here are my big winners. These are my rater's self-identified types. I'm glad conservative and stoner fell right off my map all together.

Artists
Nerd < maybe
Liberal
Free Spirit
Deviant

The most frustrating near-miss is the one with someone who's not sure what they are looking for. If they are on a dating site, shouldn't they be interested in a relationship? Or is the R-word scary? Maybe they really just want to 'date.'

And one of the things we can be sure of, none of us has the answers. What does dating after divorce, or dating as a single parent look like?

There are a few controls built-in that help buffer the startup process, in my opinion. If we both have kids and ex's in town, we will be navigating a fairly complex scheduling process. And you can get a feel very quickly if it's going to be easy to negotiate or a pain in the ass. If it's really hard to find the time to get together, it's probably not a fit. Or perhaps the other person is scared to get in a Relationship. No problem, move on.

Here's what you want, regardless of what you call it.

• Time together.
• Both people making efforts to come up with solutions to the scheduling issues.
• Laughter and easy-going conversation.
• Fascination beyond the physical attraction.
• Sexual chemistry.
• Emotionally and mentally stable, as far as you can tell.
• Deals with changes and uncertainty easily.
• Joy.

And in my estimation those qualities in ONE PERSON are hard to find. Don't rush through it, if you've started to make a match. Slow. Keep building on the friendship. (Does that sound cliché? It might, but really, you get over the 'let's just have sex' part of relating to someone pretty quickly. And I'm pretty sure most women would not be okay with every date night having us say, 'Let's just stay in and do it. I'll bring Chinese.' It doesn't work that way in the long-term, and it shouldn't be your focus in the short-term.)

If you get too far ahead of yourself, thinking about pairing up, or how they would do as a step-parent, you might need to take a time out. This is no longer a race against time, it's a race with time. You've got limited time. You need to make the most of the opportunities you do have to meet and greet. If there are a lot of signals that 'this is not working very easily' you might consider resetting expectations and going back to the dating pool.

BUT…

If you find it's working. That might be even more frightening, for both of you. What if… So don't go there. Slow down. Take it easy. Enjoy each other's company, in and most importantly out of bed. And then just bask in the time you do find to be together. And see how flexible you can be with the idiosyncrasies of life as a single parent. There is a long way to go before you need to begin planning.

So don't set your expectations too far in the future. Stay in the moment and see how compatible you are, how close your friendship can become. See, for me, part of the problem is I was drawn in and captured by the beauty and sex thing before I really got a deep understanding of the person I was committing too. Don't make the same mistake again. There's no hurry to move into the next stages, and in fact, just mentioning them might freak both of you out. When you hear yourself talking about (enter your freak out here: moving in, marriage, step-parenting) just take a deep breath and drop back into the moment, into the presence of this cool person, who happens, if things go well, to think you're cool too.

For now, that's as far as I've gotten. I like you. I like hanging out with you. And that's enough.

Do you know what's enough for you? I know my ideas change all the time. But I keep coming back to the smile, the joy, and the friendship.

Sincerely,

The Off Parent

back to On Dating Again

related posts:

image: she is my drug, bryan brenneman, creative commons usage

Online Dating Undercover Revelations: OK Cupid (Pt. 2)

Let's dig a little deeper into OK Cupid's DNA, and what we're looking for when we go online to find a 'partner' a 'hookup' or 'a relationship to last the rest of my life.' (Start here: Online Dating Undercover Revelations: OK Cupid (Pt. 1) )

They offer a little 'What's my best picture' service that delivers some interesting feedback about the demographics and the types of women who find your pictures attractive. Well, it's not a very scientific process, as most of my raters were in their early 20's, and pretty far from my desired demographic. But the data is fun anyway, and heck, they picked my main profile picture for me, so that's good. Here are my top three photos and the fuzzy data that goes with them.

So in my demographic of 31+ girls (eh hm: women, thanks) here are my big winners. These are my rater's self-identified types. I'm glad conservative and stoner fell right off my map all together.

Artists
Nerd < maybe
Liberal
Free Spirit
Deviant

And sure enough the picture of me as a parent (with daughter) doesn't even register with the 18 – 22 yo girls. Okay, fine, so the man as an artist appeals to my demographic. Fine.

Us Divorce Single Parent Meet

But it all really boils down to who I'm interested in. And I'd say my top types are in alignment with my tastes, so we'll go with that photo for now. And let's see how it's worked so far, in my two weeks back on the site.

OKC reports I get about 5 views a week. Hmm… That sucks. I've been sending out emails and 'Hellos.' Again, I'm guessing a lot of women are using the A-List paid option to NOT show up in my visitors list. Oh well.

So let's see if I've gotten any responses via email.

Yep, a few have responded. And a couple I've gotten to texting with. That's a higher form of intimacy, because it requires the exchange of phone numbers. I don't think you'd give a creep your phone number. And it usually takes a bit of emailing first to establish a mutual appreciation. And then you move to the quick and telling text exchanges. You can tell a lot about someone's self-expression. How do they respond to jokes? Are they playful? Are they friendly? Are they tech-savvy?

One of the best reality checks I've come up with for online dating is to send a real-time selfie. If the person on the other end is overly self-conscious they won't be able to send one back. They'll send something else or ignore your request all together. The selfie is the lowest common denominator of glamour shots. If they radiate in a selfie, you have pretty good odds that their profile photography isn't photoshopped or glammed into unreality.

And really that's all we're trying to establish at this point. Is this person real? Are they authentic in their behavior (texting and responding) and their appearance (if you can get a selfie)?

And next can you move it to an in-person meeting? How smooth is that transaction? Time and place? Do they reset the date several times? Do the postpone? Often it has been my experience that a postponement (even if they say they are sick) really means they are having second thoughts. Or they have started up with someone else and are hedging their bets. The longer the postponement, the more likely it will not happen at all. And that's okay, you don't want someone who's sort of in and sort of out.

The most frustrating near-miss is the one with someone who's not sure what they are looking for. If they are on a dating site, shouldn't they be interested in a relationship? Or is the R-word scary? Maybe they really just want to 'date.'

And one of the things we can be sure of, none of us has the answers. What does dating after divorce, or dating as a single parent look like?

There are a few controls built-in that help buffer the startup process, in my opinion. If we both have kids and ex's in town, we will be navigating a fairly complex scheduling process. And you can get a feel very quickly if it's going to be easy to negotiate or a pain in the ass. If it's really hard to find the time to get together, it's probably not a fit. Or perhaps the other person is scared to get in a Relationship. No problem, move on.

Here's what you want, regardless of what you call it.

• Time together.
• Both people making efforts to come up with solutions to the scheduling issues.
• Laughter and easy-going conversation.
• Fascination beyond the physical attraction.
• Sexual chemistry.
• Emotionally and mentally stable, as far as you can tell.
• Deals with changes and uncertainty easily.
• Joy.

How To Meet Divorced Singles

And in my estimation those qualities in ONE PERSON are hard to find. Don't rush through it, if you've started to make a match. Slow. Keep building on the friendship. (Does that sound cliché? It might, but really, you get over the 'let's just have sex' part of relating to someone pretty quickly. And I'm pretty sure most women would not be okay with every date night having us say, 'Let's just stay in and do it. I'll bring Chinese.' It doesn't work that way in the long-term, and it shouldn't be your focus in the short-term.)

If you get too far ahead of yourself, thinking about pairing up, or how they would do as a step-parent, you might need to take a time out. This is no longer a race against time, it's a race with time. You've got limited time. You need to make the most of the opportunities you do have to meet and greet. If there are a lot of signals that 'this is not working very easily' you might consider resetting expectations and going back to the dating pool.

BUT…

If you find it's working. That might be even more frightening, for both of you. What if… So don't go there. Slow down. Take it easy. Enjoy each other's company, in and most importantly out of bed. And then just bask in the time you do find to be together. And see how flexible you can be with the idiosyncrasies of life as a single parent. There is a long way to go before you need to begin planning.

So don't set your expectations too far in the future. Stay in the moment and see how compatible you are, how close your friendship can become. See, for me, part of the problem is I was drawn in and captured by the beauty and sex thing before I really got a deep understanding of the person I was committing too. Don't make the same mistake again. There's no hurry to move into the next stages, and in fact, just mentioning them might freak both of you out. When you hear yourself talking about (enter your freak out here: moving in, marriage, step-parenting) just take a deep breath and drop back into the moment, into the presence of this cool person, who happens, if things go well, to think you're cool too.

For now, that's as far as I've gotten. I like you. I like hanging out with you. And that's enough.

Us Divorce Single Parent Meetings

Do you know what's enough for you? I know my ideas change all the time. But I keep coming back to the smile, the joy, and the friendship.

Sincerely,

The Off Parent

back to On Dating Again

related posts:

image: she is my drug, bryan brenneman, creative commons usage