just a voice

There's this lady DJ on a local station here in Pittsburgh, and her voice is just the sexiest, sultriest thing you've ever heard. Though, the main problem with being 'just a voice' is just that...it's only a voice. Needless to say, a mental image begins to form around this voice, such as with this DJ, who I imagined to be a very sexy lady to fit around her sexy voice. Sexy green eyes. Flaxen hair. Slim, svelte, curvy in all the right places. Just an all around yummy image.

Then I saw a picture of her in the newspaper and the image was long gone. Granted, there was no color, but those beautiful eyes? Small and beady. And the gorgeous hair? It resembled grandma's perm. And instead of slim, svelte and curvy she was droopy, dumpy, and bloated. And I realize that if you're on the radio, you're probably on it for a reason, and that reason isn't due to looks. Still, you can't help getting an image in your mind to match the voice...especially when that voice is oh, so enticing.

And this is my main problem with internet dating and being set up on blind dates, I'm introduced to the voice long before the person. Despite my inward groans and thoughts of 'why did I agree to this', that little sliver of expectation always pries its way into my mind. The thought that maybe she'll be the one...which is a first date expectation that nobody can live up to it.

It's a system that is set up for failure right from the outset. This first meeting, you're hoping for (even if you keep telling yourself that you're not really hoping for) instant chemistry...complete with butterflies in the stomach, tingling shivers, and sparks. Lots of sparks. Not many people can live up to this.

And those few people that can produce weak knees in people of the opposite sex? I'd bet that they're not looking to be set up with a friend of a friend, or looking for love on the internet. Me? I'm not a spark-inducing kind of guy. I'm much more of a very slow-burn kind of guy. It's takes awhile for me to get under someone's skin. Of course, it takes most girls awhile to get under my skin too, so I can live with my non-sparkiness.

With the pressure so high on this first 'date', everyone fails. I've been reduced to a dating pan-handler...asking people I know if they can spare a friend. And internet dating has rejection built into the system. Because if people were succeeding, would they keep paying $40 a month to browse singles on-line? Internet dating? It's really nothing more than high tech rejection paid for in monthly installments.