I often read dating stories in magazines and wonder how many of them are made up. Horror dating stories, coupled with the ‘once in a million years’ fairytales are enough to make any self-respecting girl choose a life of singledom, and for a cynical girl like me? Why would I want to even try?
This Five in Five deal was supposed to ‘break me’, in a sense, and prove that my cynicism wasn’t warranted. That my previous experiences (usually falling into the horror category) were bad timing, bad luck or just those ‘once in a million years’ examples.
Halfway through this social experiment in dating, I don’t feel like I have been swayed to a life of romance and happiness. A number of events have led me to believe that my cynicism is warranted and that without it, I may very well end up ‘in a freezer’ (according to my very, very cynical friend).
This is a special edition column about Ryan Gosling. If you read my column last week, you will know that just over week ago (while I was still open minded), my friend Lola had given my phone number to a guy at a BBQ by the Yarra and that after a shaky start, many text messages had been exchanged and we had plans to catch up for a drink this week.
All sounding okay so far, right?
The day of the date rolled around. While we had made plans to meet at his place for a drink (don’t judge me yet!), I did have my reservations – where was the effort? The tradition? Any semblance of romance?
Now, I’m a modern day girl who is prepared to go to a guy (three whole suburbs over!), however my better judgement eventually got the better of me and the going to the house of someone I didn’t know seemed like a not very bright thing to do (and the very, very cynical friend made the freezer comment).
I requested a change of venue, being completely honest about the fact that I didn’t know Ryan and it really wasn’t a smart thing for a girl to do, to go to the house of a man she didn’t know.
And he understood – that’s fine – he said, before confessing that in the interests of full disclosure (and since I was being honest), he wasn’t actually the guy my friend had given my phone number to the week before. He had been at the same event, yes, but essentially he was the friend of a friend of the actual phone number recipient.
Pause for reaction.
Yep, no longer are girls being openly rejected by someone they have got up the guts to talk to (and yes, I realise I didn’t do the talking at the time, but I was there at least) but they are being bandied about among friends – possibly some kind of amusing yet cruel joke among the males of the world.
So, Ryan Gosling’s ‘friend of a friend’ – let’s call him Steve Carrell (this has a bit of the Crazy Stupid Love thing going on), asked if I still wanted to go for a drink. Last chance to back out, he said.
While I did feel a little out of my comfort zone – ok, a lot – I had to figure, nothing ventured, nothing gained, and so with a pub selected (no way was I doing a house visit now!), I went out for a drink in the interests of Five in Five in mind.
It would seem that this would make an excellent ‘how I met your mother’ story, the kind of tale you tell your grandkids about the quirks and calamities of the dating game. I had a lovely night out with Steve, however I don’t think this will be a story we will be telling anyone in years to come.
Three dates down (speed dating totally counts as a date night), two to go. Stay tuned.
To support Sarah, and raise funds for Concern Australia, visit her fundraising page here.
Missed the first three columns? Read them here, here and here.
