Date Bait Update

What a trip!

As you know, my bud Robin and I headed South to the Village Saturday to participate in Date Bait, the program designed to introduce relationship-minded men to relationship-minded men. We were ushered into a largeish room on the upper floor of the GLBT Center, which eventually filled with 67 guys lookin' for love. The nice thing is, that truly is what most of them are looking for. With the internet and Fairway's frozen foods section being what they are, never has it been easier to score sex, if that's all you want. So, to pay twenty bucks for the humiliation of saying, "Yes, I am looking for more. Are you?" already speaks volumes about the participants.

So, first of all, 67 is too many. It took a long time to go around the room introducing ourselves (we each got a minute, but, let's face it: that's more than enough time for me to look cute and garner a few good laughs). The room was packed. I never even got a good look at many of the guys. And when the open-socializing thirty minutes happened, it was a scramble just to remember who I'd though might be a potential. As for the guys? Many were too young for me. Many were too old. Of the 67, I could identify maybe twenty I would gladly meet in the social half hour. But remember, that amounts to 1.5 minutes each!!! Anyway, I got to speak to about half the guys I zeroed in on. Everybody scored their SAT-like cards with who they'd go on a date with and a computer matched like-minded folks. 68% of the guys there ended up with a match, 32% ended up with 2 or more. My final tally was 3 (it was initially 2, but on the subway home I ran into a guy who hadn't been able to find me in the crush). Three nice guys, one of whom is great looking, one of whom is 6'6", one of whom is losing his hair. Three nice picks!!!

So would I recommend? Not to the feint of heart. It's very commando. Robin hated it, but did end up going on a date with the room's favorite hottie. I had, if not a blast, a good time. I've had one of my three dates and it was nice. We will go out again.

I think Robin and I will return for QwikDates, which is a bit more structured. Anyway, being open to the possibility is good. I hate to think of turning fifty as a single man. I mean that.

So, my friends, we shall see!