Day 1 ... and counting

After 110 views, a handful of winks and about a dozen emails, it's safe to say I've embarked on my Match journey.

After one day, I've:

1. Been emailed by a guy who went to my school and said he recognized me from a column on interracial dating I wrote as a junior
2. Gotten a couple of oldies' phone numbers (good for prank calls, perhaps?)
3. Exchanged emails with a guy who resembles a reporter I have a major crush on
4. Found - and grimaced upon finding - one of my previous Match conquests who left me in near tears after reading an email berating my lifestyle
5. Gotten emails/winks from a few guys who have previously emailed/winked at me
6. Felt saddened that the majority of men viewing my profile are the same race as I am

The fact that I'm running into people I've previously encountered on this thing (a year ago!) must mean that Match isn't the most optimal dating website around. It's really geared for the superficial - and for men and women of a few words, as seen in their lackluster, 201-word profiles.

I know there are guys out there clicking on my profile because I have a nice default photo (which bears little to no resemblance of what I truly look like on a day-to-day basis). And I've dated a few guys before that only wanted a pretty girl on there arm and nothing more. Neither do I.

Yet.

I always wondered how that transition from "I'm dating a girl I met on Match" to "I love my girlfriend" happens when you meet someone off sites like this one. Everyone - myself included - goes into this believing they have no expectations, but really, everyone does. Some have an expectation to get laid, others an expectation to fall in love, and a rare sampling just want to date the hottest guy they find and milk him for what he's worth.

If I'm still finding guys I've previously dated on Match a year later, that must mean online dating is no better than dating organically (as in, meeting someone through a friend or at a bar). Maybe all Match is is a forum for a good time - and that's all.

In that case, let the good times roll.

For now.