50 First Dates

March - I went speed dating!!

Yassmeen, Meghan, and I decided to go to a speed dating event - 50 dates in 2 hours (that's 2 minutes per date with a short break at the half way point). We met up an hour before the event at a posh restaurant in TriBeCa to mentally prepare ourselves and grab some drinks and fancy pizza; we definitely would need energy for the night.

The venue was huge - a big bar with little lounge areas around it. Name tags and score cards were distributed as everyone headed straight to the bar for our free drinks. After a short mix and mingle, we took our seats and started the event. Each girl was posted at a seat with a number on it as the guys rotated around the room every two minutes. A bell would signal the end of the mini-date and we would have about 5 seconds to write down the guy's name, something about them, and circle yes, no, or maybe. At the half way point, Meghan, Yassmeen, and I got together to compare notes and giggled about some of the creepy guys we'd met. We fixed our makeup and went right back to our dating extravaganza. After another 25 dates, we were exhausted but still giggling. We quickly compared our score cards and then decided to call it a night.

The crowd was a bit mixed - there were some old guys (one was definitely in his 50's and one compared me to his 15 year old daughter), a lot of Indian guys (I'm guessing it's a way for them to break into the American dating scene), one really forward guy (he wrote his number on my score card in an effort to "cut to the chase" - ew), a few creepy guys (one that made a racial slur, another who rambled on for a minute about his ex girlfriend), but there were also a few really cute, sweet guys who I thought had some potential.

At the end of the event, after we've all gotten a chance to digest the experience, we each signed into the speed dating Web site to enter the guys we thought were possible matches. If any of the guys that I had chosen as a potential match also put me down as a potential match, we are sent each others e-mails. It was a really fun experience and although I would go speed dating again, I think I might do a less intense evening (under 30 dates would be a lot more manageable!!).

Hopefully, some good dates will come out of this :)