All My Single Ladies

I’d wanted to try speed dating for a while but hadn’t mustered up the courage.  I’m very shy when it comes to meeting new people, so the idea of meeting a twenty or so guys at once was intimidating… but also kind of intriguing. So much possibility, and how nervous can you really get about a date if it’s only going to last two minutes?! (Also, it looked like a lot of fun when Reba McEntire went speed dating with her best friend on her sitcom, and I’m pretty sure she met someone cute in that episode.)
 

Sitting pretty, ready to date speedily!

Last Tuesday I finally went for it! I rounded up a few of my single lady friends and went to a speed dating event at Inc Lounge in midtown. Starting with our first happy hour drink, we had the best time. The four of us got to sit next to each other while the guys sat across and rotated every few minutes. It was kind of a whirlwind, but a fun whirlwind, where you had no idea who you were going to see next and what you’d talk about for the next two minutes.  With a few guys it was the standard “what do you do” and “where are you from” conversations, then with another it was two minutes about the Australian pop music scene. One guy spent the whole time talking about how he’d attended a speed dating event before, hadn’t met anyone he liked, but had been asked to come back by the speed dating company because he was “such a great dater.” He then repeated the story (with not even one hint of humor) to my two friends next to me, and later to another girl across the room.  Another guy, in a bid to be most interesting, made up a very involved story about his job creating new toothpaste flavors (none of it true, but I was amused).

We each got a score card to keep track of the different guys, but it was more fun to gossip with my friends as the guys moved on, so by the end I was having a little trouble keeping track of everyone. I didn’t end up with any matches, but I did have a lot of fun and would definitely give it another try. Maybe next time - speed dating in the South?!