Frisbee Dating
So, if you’re wondering what my plan to find someone looked like, here it is: Go out into the world and meet people. Hopefully find one really amazing person, fall in love with them, and then hope even more that they love you back. It turns out, this is a stupid plan, so RULE #1: Don’t follow this plan.
The problem with regular (i.e. unassisted) dating is that you just don’t meet people the “old-fashioned way” anymore. I was laser-focused on finding someone, taking every opportunity to be involved in social events, expecting my new honey to come walking around the corner at any moment. I went to bars, parties, concerts, networking events for work, baseball games, community picnics, farmer’s markets, anywhere I would be around large numbers of strangers. What I found was that, even when I was surrounded by a sea of young and attractive people, I often wouldn’t meet a single one of them. I could blame this on myself for not being more outgoing, but I think it has a lot to do with how weird humans are about sticking with their groups.
I was at an outdoor concert not long ago where people spread blankets on the lawn and brought food to share with their friends. Although this may seem like an idyllic place to meet someone, I noticed that nobody was interacting with people outside of their own group unless there was some outside reason, such as a toddler who steals a cracker from someone else’s picnic. So, if you want to meet someone at an event like this that doesn't involve creating your own toddler, follow these steps:
1. Bring a Frisbee and at least one friend
2. Find a spot to toss Frisbee with friend(s), not too close to other people, but not too far away
3. Take account of any cute guys in the vicinity, and then take aim to “accidentally-on-purpose” hit one of them (gently, of course) with the Frisbee.
4. Walk over, apologize profusely, and introduce yourself. This is your is your made-for-tv “meet cute” moment, so make it count! You want him to join you in your game so it's not just a run-in but a hang-out.
Except in my experience, I just had my Frisbee handed back to me and that was that. This strategy may work for other people, but I must be the kind of cute that would need to “accidentally” break someone’s jaw and offer to take them to the hospital for them to notice me.
Not meet cute. Meet angry.
