Match Girl

The old social mixer of the 50's is now Internet dating and Internet dating means Match.com. And I imagine the social mixer of the 50's was fraught with the same type of disappointments that one experiences on Match today: no or too little attention from the partners you would wish to communicate with and too much attention from those you would prefer not to communicate with!

As for me, in the course of a three day trial, there were many too many emails and winks. And some of them are disturbing like when they come from someone who has chosen the name "alcapone" and lives in North Dakota, many thousands of miles away from me (which is a good thing).

And then there is the slippery reality of Match. Such as if you sign on, just to update your profile and sign right back off, you can search your "name" and it will show that you are "Online Now" for an entire hour even if you are only there three minutes. I suppose clients would enjoy it as it makes one seem more available, more engaged. But the truth is you are not there and given that they are trying to make "matches", it has the potential to create conflict rather than harmony between mutual match people. Besides, it's false advertising.

And then there is just the general uncomfortable feeling one gets walking through the grocery store and the same man keeps passing you and smiling at you as if he knew something you don't know, which he does. He has perhaps read your profile on Match and either doesn't post his own or doesn't fit any criteria you have searched so you would not have seen him there or he's married and just searches Match for jollies. Then, the last prospect is the one fraught with danger: he is a rapist, ax-murderer who searches Match to identify single women and the area they live in and then he stalks the local grocery store and follows them out to their car at night!

So it is a wonder any woman posts a photo on Match and it is some sort of ironic mystery to me as to why I have. Unless it is because, maybe, just maybe, there is someone out there like me, just hoping to meet a sane, mature, loving, unattached person to share the daily joys and disappointments that life offers.

Todays word was once again prophetic:
fraught \FRAWT\ adjective
*1 : full of or accompanied by something specified -- used with with
2 : causing or characterized by emotional distress or tension : uneasy

Example Sentence:
Cordelia found internet dating to be fraught with dangers, yet she reluctantly and hopefully posted her profile there.