Tuesday, January 31, 2012

I Blame All This On Grindr

I don't actually have any groundbreaking new material to talk about but I'm trying to post more often and this is my last chance to squeeze one more January post in. So. 

The dating game is at a complete and utter stalemate. Even still, I can't pry myself away from playing, though I have much more pressing and productive things I could be doing like developing my biceps and studying for my federal tax exam.

Why do I even get into it if every last guy ends up a disappointment? 

Because the beginning is so sweet, when you exchange names and mutual interests. Because he tells you that you are adorable and that you should meet for coffee or drinks. Because it's so exciting to go to his apartment and watch TV in his bed with your socks still on. Because the first kiss is always electrifying to some extent, even if there's no chemistry there. Because if he doesn't call you the next day (or week), maybe he's just busy. Because when he tells you you're "adorable, but..." you can seek some solace in your cuteness. Because even though he's hurt you, you'll get over it soon enough. Ah, because the next one, surely he will be different. 

See, there are a lot of reasons.

My friend and I were on the phone today theorizing reasons why guys never seem to want to keep seeing me after the first or second date. The top three potential reasons were: I look better in pictures that I've meticulously doctored in Photoshop; I smell really, really bad; white guys will only ever respect Asians enough to treat them as casual things on the side that they can dump on a whim and not feel badly about at all.

This habit has become obsessive and it's clearly destructive to my psyche. But I feel like in some ways I've been too overstimulated (by my iPhone, obviously) so that my baseline level of excitement is impossibly high. I just want to feel something so I grasp desperately at anything that presents itself, whether I know inwardly that it's going to damage me or not. There's also a chance that I do this because I'm tired of being alone and feeling unwanted - and that last pesky bit of optimism hasn't been extinguished yet.

See, all old themes.

4 comments:

D. said...

I think you captured the feelings of so many gay men our age, especially our fellow Asians (myself included). So at least while you may feel alone and unwanted, know that a lot of us are in the same boat.

Hetero-Challenged said...

I always think about the dating game in relation to Sex and the City (gay I know). Those four (3) successful women didn't get happily partnered until their 30s and 40s...so there's roughly 20 more years of this "maybe this time, he'll be different" and "I'll never fall like that again."

It sounds as dreadful as it sounds but maybe there's a financially viable television series years down the line.

@D --- I don't know what to feel about being a boat no one wants to be in.

D. said...

Hereo-Challenged,

At least we're all in it together, for better or worse!

D. said...

oh wow, don't mind my typo...