Crash & burn

 Ugh, perfectly awful date (only my second one this year) tonight. Guy talked the whole time; asked me maybe 3 questions in 3 (grueling) hours we spent together. I finally started just saying stuff, and he paid no attention to anything I said, never asked a follow-up or showed any interest in what I had to say.

Then he leaned in to kiss me when we got to my car, but I dodged him, said thank you, and walked away; he stood there a moment and then audibly said "interesting." Like I owed him a kiss? Ew. Yet another red flag in an evening full of them (here's a couple):

He belongs to the Single Professionals group out in OP, told me he dated several women in that group (he's been divorced about 5 years), and recently joined 3 online dating sites (apparently ours is the first date he's had).

Among the many many many observations he offered over the course of the evening was that he doesn't like city dwellers, which is a completely bonkers thing to say to your date WHO LIVES IN THE CITY.

I actually messaged him when I got home and said thanks for the evening, but I love living in the city, so clearly we're not a match.

Only positive of the whole evening was he paid for a mediocre dinner and there's enough leftovers for a mediocre lunch.

One other weird red flag: when we were arranging the date, he asked me for a suggestion, I gave Ragazza, which he didn't want to go to, so then I suggested JJ's, but he didn't like the menu once we got there. He wanted to go to Cooper's Hawk, but insisted it was on the far side of the Plaza (it's not); we started walking and I suggested 2 places a block away (O'Dowd's, which I have been to, and Gram & Dun, which I have not; both very nice), but he didn't want them either (so this is a total of FOUR suggestions by his date that he objected to); we ended up walking to Cooper's Hawk (4 blocks away) in the unpleasant heat, because that's where he really wanted to go all along. I would NEVER consider dating a person like this (besides his utterly disrespectful conversational style and the fact that he is crushingly boring) - persistently disregarding the preferences of his date is a total deal breaker.

Back in the saddle

 I had a lunch date today (the first date this calendar year, unbelievable!) It went exactly like all the rest of them: he talked the whole time. At the end, he said he's not very available and might be moving abroad. 

I'm not totally sure how to take this. He has an unusual schedule because he works long and inconsistent shifts. Either he's trying to get out of staying in touch, or he just wants to make sure my expectations are appropriately low.

He's a nice guy, I wouldn't kick him out of bed, so I wouldn't mind trying a second date (I'm really trying to have appropriate expectations...I want an immediate spark, but maybe the absence of egregious red flags and The Ick is enough). 

Anyway, I gave him my number, it's up to him now if he wants to reach out.

More online dating scams

 For the second time in a month, an eHarmony match contacted me on my WORK email (with the same subject line). I Googled it and got the advice that scammers use reverse image search to find you on LinkedIn or your company website.

The first guy told me he had met someone, and wished me good luck. 

The second person seemed legit - his email sig showed him as a real estate agent, with a local phone number (and, I checked, a LinkedIn profile), but I still don't want to engage with him this way (he says he's not a paid member and can't see my eHarmony messages). I'm debating about reporting the profile, since it seems likely it's not real.

Why am I paying all this money to eHarmony? They have terrible security for the price.

Unserious as usual

 I wasn't really feeling this guy anyway, but then he got on this thing where he wants all the tea from my divorce, weird, and then he suggests I'm deperate and hopeless? wtf? 

Whatever dude

 You've got to have balls the size of Texas to call me patronizing after posting this comment. 

(He only post comments to my FB page a couple times year and it's always to denigrate me in some way...)

Anti-Israel sentiment is tearing the Dems apart and ruining friendships

I posted this after a kind of upsetting conversation with some friends at a happy hour event, where they insisted both that this was true and that it would lead to Israeli soldiers on the streets on American cities (which is just a WILD level of unserious conjecture).  Dems are gonna lose if this is what Democratic voters are focusing on.

But this person is a problem. Still struggling with what to respond to the comments he posted - I ended up saying the ethics lecture thing, hoping he can take the hint - if not I'm probably gonna have to tell him to stay off my wall with this stuff. He's someone I consider a friend, but I have family in Israel, this is not cool with me.

I know this person's views, he has been posting aggressively on his own FB page. It makes me uncomfortable, but I haven't said anything yet (and he's entitled to his opinions, if they're on his wall).

eHarmony is whack

 

eHarmony continues to be a complete waste of money