Doggy play date

Brunch today with Hn, Mb and Mk. The excuse for brunch was the first play date between Hn's Groodle and Mb's Spoodle which is a cross between a Cocker Spaniel and a Poodle.

This is a Spoodle

Dogs have play dates. I'm learning something every day. Luckily dogs don't require fancy foods or liquids when they date. Adults do. The dogs were completely satisfied with bowls of water. I needed scrambled eggs, turkish toast and a hot chocolate for my part in the date.

Hn's Groodle jumped at me. Mb's Spoodle did not. Mb is obviously a more effective doggy mother than Hn.

Blind date

A favourite blogger of mine, Steven, has posted about a blind date he experienced this week.

This reminded me of blind dates I have had. One was with a school teacher I met on a chat line. We chatted online for several days and seemed to be getting along and so arranged to meet in the city for a coffee and....whatever might follow. There was, I thought, a clear understanding that if we also were getting along in person over coffee that our dessert would be a 'roll in the hay'.

I turned up for the date at the appointed place full of expectation and not a little bit horny too. I saw him before he saw me. I called out to him and was about to introduce myself when he said 'I have some shopping to do and can only spare 30 minutes for coffee'. Apparently in that instant of seeing me, he had summed me up and decided that he wasn't impressed with what he saw.

I should have said 'thanks, but no thanks' there and then but trying to remain polite I went ahead with a quick coffee and chat with him. He made his exit promptly on 30 minutes leaving me to pay the bill which he didn't offer to share.

Bye bye teacher.

My 100th post is.....

...a sad face. I had a date lined up for this afternoon and he just text me to postpone to a date to be determined.

Nothing else to say really.

Cyberdating again

I had another instant message chat with the man but I can't see anything good coming from a relationship with him.

It was a brief chat. He seems very keen on a relationship and flattered me with comments about how attractive I am but this type of compliment has always embarrassed me.

Anyway, my interest in him started to wane from the moment he told me his marital status. I don't want to be his bit of fluff on the side.

Play it again Sam

In the first episode the music was playing again as I embarked on my latest cyberdating.

I noticed 'the man' logged into Yahoo messenger so I messaged him to say hello and as it was within business hours I enquired if he was busy.

The music playing - lah de dah de dah.

The man: "Just a minute, I'm finishing chatting with a mate"
Me: "That's OK"

lah de dah de dah.

The man: "Sorry about that, how are you?"
Me: "Fine thanks, and you?"

lah de dah de dah - pleasantries exchanged.

The man: "Do you have webcam?"
Me: "Yes"
The man: "Would you like to go to that?"
Me: (thinks - are we moving to cybersex already? says "ok")

lah de dah de dah - webcams connected and viewing.

The man is in a bare room evidently fully dressed, I'm at home in my underwear....well that's what I had on at the time. I wasn't expecting webcam company!

More pleasantries exchanged. The man, it turns out, is in his office.

The man's webcam freezes.
Me: (thinks has he switched his cam off, does he not like what he sees?)
Me: "your cam has frozen" (echoes of Puccini, "your tiny hand is frozen")
The man: "Sorry, let me reconnect"
Me: (thinks - OK so my image hasn't scared him off yet)

lah de dah de dah - cams reconnected.

More pleasantries exchanged before his cam fails again.
Me: "your cam has frozen again"
The man: "do you have MSN?"
Me: "yes"
The man: "Can we move there?"
Me: "OK"

lah de dah de dah - we connect to MSN and cam through it.

Pleasantries turn to exploration of each other.
The man: "Have you always been gay?"
Me: "Yes....and you?"
The man: "Yes.....but I sublimated my feelings and married the first woman who came along....and we have three children aged 17, 15 and 13....and when I turned 45 my sexuality came to the fore....but my wife and kids don't know"

THUD - the music stops.

Me: (thinks WHOA! - says nothing)
The man: "Is that a problem for you?"
Me: (still thinks WHOA and then thinks that little detail wasn't in your profile.) Says lamely "well that's not my preference"
The man: "I'm not looking for a long term relationship and if we're not into each other sexually well at least we can be good friends"

THUD, THUD, THUD - music starts again lah de dah de dah only this time I recognise the tune as 'Play it again Sam'.

Yes, the same old same old - a married man and my dreams of growing old with my gay partner in a loving and sexual heaven have drained away.

We chat on very pleasantly for another 15 minutes. Then being the softy that I am when it is time to end our chat I agree to chat with him again.

He may become a new friend in time but in reality he is the latest cyber and real dating non-goer.

Cyberdating update.....

I'll provide an update on cyberdating in a later post. Suffice to preview that posting by saying the dance music turned out to be 'Play It Again Sam' and that the story hasn't ended.

Cyberdating

I've had a home computer for about five years. In that time I have joined numerous gay sites, deposited my profile and then sat back waiting for the invitations to pour in. Of course they didn't pour in. To say that I received a trickle would also be overstating it. But some invitations came and a few of these led to the occasional real date. Each time an invitation arrived my imagination ran wild seeing myself settling down with the love of my life, the two of us living the rest of our days together in bliss and sexual heaven. Each time the reality was stark and I landed with a thud. I have gained some new friends from the Internet but not yet the close really loving relationship I still hope to enjoy.

I have danced the dance numerous times.

Well, I can hear the music again. I no longer routinely visit those sites hoping for a message but once in a while my email account tells me one has been received. And so it was yesterday. I cautiously checked the intray half expecting some generic promotional material of no interest. Instead I found a real person expressing an interest in my profile. His message was short but to my liking. Next step was to check out his profile. Mmmmm, not bad - some similarities of interest (social and sexual). What about his photo? Mmmmm, not bad either. Must be something to worry about. Checked his height and weight, maybe we are completely out of kilter there. Amazingly very similar stats to mine, so can't complain there.

Ok, took a deep breath and sent him a reply. Maybe he won't respond to that.......I've had non responses before from guys who had initiated the approach in the first place. But he did reply, fairly promptly too and with a bit more detail that also pushed the right buttons for me.

So next step in the modern courting ritual, we added each other as contacts on Yahoo messenger. Now we are in the "lets chat and see what develops" phase. The music is louder and the dance is about to begin.

Naturally there is one teeny weeny hurdle. I live in Sydney and he lives in Townsville. For those who are unfamiliar with Australian geography that's a distance of, let's say, about 2100kms. A 26 hours' drive! He says he visits Sydney 6 times a year.

Maybe I have nothing to gain but I have nothing to lose either. Let's dance.

I'll keep you informed.