What do/did you hate or like the most about dating?

Taking too long to tell a friend that I had feelings for her. By then It was too late and she married someone else. : (

I suggest that you join a dating club if they still exist.

When I was in my 30’s (back in the 1980’s) I joined two dating clubs (Great Expectations and The Right One). That took most of the fear of rejection away which let me be more relaxed and had a lot of fun. No problem if a woman rejected me after a date or two. There were plenty more women available. I was living in San Francisco where there were so many gay men and so many available women. The only thing that I didn’t like was that sometimesI had to reject a women.

I married a woman that I met through Great Expectations. That was 32 years ago. We’re still like newlyweds. HA!

Good luck!

@gondwanalon I’m not sure I understand what a dating club is. The only thing that comes to mind is online dating, and I don’t think that’s what you mean. Can you tell us more?

I like that I’ve been with the same person since 1990 so don’t have to worry about dating anymore. If I ever lose them and start dating again I’d probably get a thrill trying “online dating,” which wasn’t an option 33 years ago.

@smudges The 2 dating clubs (Great Expectations and The Right One) that I belong to back in the 80’s were similar to a library where profiles of single people were in files (written and on videos). Members were allowed to view the profiles and videos to look for compatible men or women and ask for a date. Also the club managers occasionally arranged for parties that all members can go to to mingle. I like those. Fun to just show up to the party without a date and mingle with the single women. Cool to have a woman ask me to dance or go on a date.

Nowadays I guess all that is done on the internet.

Similar to what @gondwanalon describes as a dating club are activity meet-ups that cater to singles (but not exclusively). It is a relatively painless way to meet people with similar interests. Check out meetup.com.

I enjoyed dating because I met some very interesting women and it got me out to do things. What I didn’t like was that too often people are not anywhere near honest in their online dating profiles, or that they have unrealistic expectations of potential partners.

To quote Dan Savage, “we all want meet the 1, but the 1 is rare, and we may only meet people that are ..80 or .85. So perhaps consider “rounding up” the person who is .85 to a one. ”

IN other words, we have to accept that other people are human and have flaws. Some have flaws we are willing to accept, just as they are will ing to accept our flaws.

I always enjoyed the aspect of getting better acquainted with women I was attracted to. If we continued to see each other that was always cool. But some of them wanted to get too serious to fast. Or they’d sometimes get shitty with me if they saw another guy and I didn’t get all bent of shape about it. Never understood why women always preach a big show about not liking jealous controlling idiots but then get pissed off at you if you’re NOT a jealous controlling idiot. Just never had time for that bull shit. Interfered too much with my drinking habit. Lol. I was always, ok go see Johnny. Barkeep, make that Schlitz. Milwaukee and the world!

To @RayaHope I’m not Dr. Phil but I’d give you a word of caution about dating sites, based on an experience my own daughter had. A few years back, she and her hubby were having some issues and she divorced him. Long story but anyway she joined a dating site and got acquainted with some out of state dude. Flew to his home city and after all that expense it didn’t work out. All he did was stay on his PC all day talking to other women and asking her what she thought about this woman or that woman. Said he was too stuck on himself and he wasn’t even good looking. Ended up getting remarried to son in law. So careful on dating sites those guys aren’t always as they advertise. Could’ve have been worse I suppose but I’m happy she wised up. I had tried to caution her about that clown before she left to go see him, got the usual Dad’s an old fogie and doesn’t know crap. On her return it was all love you daddy you were right daddy never again.

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Guess you can always try ESharmany and the 48 assets of incompatibility. ; )

@gondwanalon Ok, I like that better than the idea of online dating sites. Sounds a little safer, plus, I’m guessing that usually you’re only talking to people in your town or one nearby, not someone in Europe or far away. I also like that the manager had get togethers where you could meet people in person.

@NoMore I knew you were a good dad! I don’t want to try any dating sites and especially not yet, but I will be going to college and I just thought I’d get some pointers as to what to do or look out for when I’m there if I would start to date someone right there in college maybe. My mom would freakout if I would go to another state to find someone, heck I think I would too. lol

I sure freaked out when she told me she was flying out of state to meet some idiot she didn’t really know. Her mom told me to butt out she’s an adult but she will always be my baby girl to me. Thankfully nothing bad happened, lesson learned I hope.

My dating days would have been in the 90s. I had too much responsibility with 4 kids to waste my time on that nonsense.