Wine & Love…Online
It has been quite a while since I dated. I’ve been off the market for a long time. Yet, it hasn’t escaped my notice that the "market" has changed. Or at least the way people interact in the marketplace of coupling has changed.
My first date, independent of my parents driving me to the movies to meet Robyn Williams, happened after I got the independence of my drivers license. To get that date scheduled I had to maneuver through my own fears, self doubt, a not-to-hip appreciation of fashion, and identifying the girl who I thought might be attracted to me just enough to say yes.
And I remember why I thought this particular girl might be attracted to me: we had something in common, something we could easily talk about without risk of me going silent or contemplating the sky while she stood in front of me. Both of us had been sent to detention for talking during a class. We were talking to different people, but nonetheless we both knew the sting of persecution at the hands of a bad social science teacher.
She agreed to go on a date with me and indeed we both both "bonded" after discussing our views on detention, our parents reaction to detention and what makes for a good teacher (eyes in the back of their head, we both determined, did not make for a good teacher).
I started thinking about this long past episode upon looking over WineLoversMeet.com .
This dating website describes itself this way:
"WineLoversMeet.com is a new concept in online dating designed specifically for
people who enjoy wine…As you know, people enjoy
associating with others who share the same common interests…It’s hard enough to connect with singles that you’re compatible
with. We’ve just narrowed the playing field a bit."
I think this web site is just Awesome!
Imagine if I could have screened a few hundred 16 year olds for those who had an appreciation of what it meant to earn detention after 6th period. WineLoversMeet.com, like all the other dating sites on the web, is the ultimate ice-breaking tool. And that’s often the hardest part in dating a new person or even thinking about dating a new person: how to break the ice without looking like a dork.
While you can’t screen potential dates for their favorite wines, you can screen for location, age and sex…among other things. However, the cool thing is that you can at least have the expectation that wine will be among the topics that allow you to break the ice.
I just entered my Zip Code to the Wine Lover meet up – and then I specified my search to ‘within 200 miles’ and I stated that the person had to be between 21 and 100… and I got a message saying ‘please broaden your search.’
I live in New York City…
Anyhow – with so many great wine restaurants and Wine Bars emerging all over the country, fom The Grape in Atlanta, to Iron Bridge in Maryland to so many thousands of others from Cincinatti to Delouth… wouldn’t it be easier to just go to the bar, order a glass of somethin’ somethin’ and wait for the right person to walk in?
If you look at the ‘ads’ from females, you might notice many seem to be models holding glasses of wine. The verbiage with some of these is likely to be someone’s ‘creative writing’ project more than it is an actual ‘ad’. Is it likely that ladies in Rwanda and Russia are going to be posting ads on such an obscure personals’ web site? The postings from males seem far more ‘real’, though a number of them are, likely, also bogus.
While this sort of site may be a wonderful idea, it needs far more real participation from singles.
This isn’t a new concept, nor very original. There was a site before, based out of SF doing the same thing 4-5 years ago. Just like this one, there are very few people involved, especially in the SF area.
Wow, what a mistake signing up for this site!! Everyday I get about 2 Russian women emailing my account telling me they liked my profile and want to get to know me better for a new life!! One said she lived in Africa with her mother, talk about a commute!! “Hi, want to grab a glass of wine? Take the Rwanda 101 Bus to the Marrakesh Express, short flight to Paris, transAtlan to DC, I’ll see you for a quick date in ooohhhh, 3 days?? My favorite reply was from a “God-fearing” woman who doesn’t drink alcohol – she was kind of cute, I was thinking maybe I should give up wine drinking for this Wineloversmeet thing???
This is a GREAT blog…thanks for sharing!