staying online

here's the thing about online dating.....it's online. i know, that sounds obvious - and it is, until you are doing it and you meet someone that you are kind of sort of somewhat interested in. you go out with them - then you go out with them again - and then pretty soon you realize that it has been a couple months and you two are still going out.

i see two problems that arise.

first - they are still online. and they are checking their online dating profile. and you're sitting at home watching your phone hoping that they will call wondering to yourself "WHY are you still checking your online profile? cause i kind of thought that things were going well between the two of us. are you keeping a backup plan? or dating several women at the same time? AM I THE BACKUP PLAN?" and you kind of drive yourself crazy trying to figure out if they like you or if they're still testing the waters or if they are, in fact, a jerk that just totes people along. and how soon is too soon to ask how much longer they intend to be online?

okay, i know what your next argument is going to be - how do i know that he is online when i, in fact, am online checking to see that he is online. i see the fault here. but let's just assume that i am perfect that any guy that still logs on MUST be in the wrong....okay?

the second problem that arises - knowledge.  when you start getting to know someone online they answer questions about themselves and fill out profiles and quizzes that let you know WAY TOO MUCH information about themselves. stuff that you probably would not find out until at least 6 months in if you were dating them normally. at times this is a bit intimidating and difficult to figure out how to handle some of these self-revelations when in a more typical context you would have a stronger connection with someone built before you needed to talk about or deal with some of these issues.

does that make sense? and the adventure continues....