@TheLadyE Out of curiosity, why on earth would you spend three hours with someone you’re just not feelin’? If things aren’t going well, I politely excuse myself and bolt after a drink, which usually takes about an hour.

Still nailing down the plan for tomorrow evening. I told the guy I’d prefer to meet up after work vs. later in the evening because it’s a busy week for me, and now he’s trying to be all accommodating and push it back to another day. But I don’t want to postpone it anymore. Like, even just grabbing a cup of coffee would be great so we can meet and see if it’s worthwhile to meet again.

I’m excited for my Tuesday date. We have the time and place nailed down, and it’s at a place I really like. My hopes are high, which isn’t great, but oh well!

At least one more date generally.

@hfantods, eHarmony makes you answer a ton of questions about yourself. I can’t remember the details about matching because I was on it maybe 5 years ago, but if you’re in a mid-sized city it might be worth it, although it wasn’t my favorite of the dating sites. I live in a suburban area and I didn’t have many matches unless I increased my radius to include NYC, which is about 90 minutes away. I wasn’t really looking to date anyone that far away. I did go out on 2 or 3 dates through it, but nothing went further. My dad met his long term gf on eHarmony, though!

When I was online dating, for about a year, I found that the guys I was more “ugh” about meeting were generally not a match in person, BUT, guys I was meh about before meeting might be the guy I ended up marrying. I emailed back and forth a bit on Match with my husband and was almost ready to give it up because it took us a few weeks to meet. I wasn’t *excited* about going on the date, and then while he was nice and fun to talk to and not bad looking, I wasn’t sure about a second date. I guess I’m saying, don’t spend too much time up front online/Skype/texting trying to develop a spark, because it will either be there when you meet, or not. And if, on the first date, you didn’t necessarily fall in love, if you feel like you wouldn’t mind a second date, just go on another one. Only decline if you just can’t see sitting through another couple drinks with him.

I’ve had dinner dates as first online dates before, and luckily those have never been my worse dates. I haven’t done that in a long time, though. since I’m now pretty adamant about making sure the first meeting can be quick — drinks, coffee, whatever. Tonight, we’re doing coffee and crepes. Aw. (PUMPED for Nutella.) And if I need an “out,” I am genuinely busy prepping for a work trip. So even if he’s great, I don’t plan to stay out with him longer than like two hours. When I’m out with someone and we have zero chemistry and little in common, even an hour feels painful. So I can’t imagine three.