I might as well post this..
Getting to know you…in 3 minutes
One reporter tries out the speed dating experience
The guy across the table seemed respectable enough in his black coat, but a bit awkward with his over-grown skinhead hairstyle.
He looked very Pinoy but I found out that he grew up in Canada, which pretty much justified the call center accent.
He was nice, tall, smart. We were the same age.
Taking all this into consideration during a limited amount of getting-to-know-you time, he earned a mark on the "Yes" box right next to his name on my checklist.
He was my 11th date for the night.
I met more guys in this one-and-a-half hour stint than I had over the last four years since I was legally allowed to go out. It was quite a feat for someone who rarely goes out on a date.
I must have seemed really happy with my so-called achievement for the night — my Cheshire Cat grin prompted a questioning look followed by a totally unexpected query by Mr. Black Coat.
"Are you high?"
"What?!" I asked, partly because I wasn’t sure I heard him right, and partly in disbelief, in case my ears were working just fine. Although our "date" was technically over, I didn’t think it was a question fit to ask someone you just met.
I ended up laughing at this exchange but "What ifs?" were racing at the back of my mind. What if I go out with this guy for real? What if he gives me something to actually get me high? And what if it makes me forget everything that happens?
It took quite an effort for me to stay in my seat. I had wanted to scuttle to the organizer, grab my checklist, erase the "Yes" mark and put a solid block of ink on the space for "No." But the rules say both parties have to check "Yes" before our phone numbers were given out. There is no way of knowing if someone likes you, so there is still half a chance that he won’t get my number.
Besides, I was just being paranoid. And I did not go through all that awkwardness and embarrassment with the 10 other guys just to leave without a decent memory to include in an article.
Since I don’t want to sound slutty on a national daily, and in case you still have not figured out what I have been up to, I’ll let you in on something which is not exactly a secret: speed dating does exist in the Philippines.
Six Degrees Events Management, Inc. has been conducting speed dating events since early 2005.
Just like me, four or five other guys in the group said they read about speed dating in a business magazine. And most of those who said they read about it in that magazine said they are businessmen. It might make sense — but then again, I read the same magazine and I have no business sense whatsoever.
Besides, remember when Miranda went speed dating on Sex and the City? Guys were turned off when she admitted that she was a lawyer, and were more interest when she claimed to be a flight attendant. She then started going out with a guy who passed himself off as a doctor — an obvious fake who freaked out when he saw blood oozing out of Miranda’s cut finger.
As for me, I stuck with safe replies like "freelance" or "basta." Those who were not satisfied with that answer got partial truths without too many revelations about my job.
While the ladies may have based their decision to go speed dating on Sex and the City, a rocker dude in the pool of possibles said he got interested after watching The 40-Year-Old Virgin. The six-degrees-of-separation principle apparently worked with this one since I met one of his former bandmate in a recent gig.
Speed dating seems to be gaining popularity since the evening had drawn participants from outside Metro Manila. A young Tacloban-based businessman who plans to put up a small scale call center said he was just visiting Manila when he learned about the weekend dates. He dragged a male cousin to go with him for the experience.
Another man came all the way from Bataan to attend the event. The widower wants to meet new people again after being in mourning for the last four years.
He looked relatively more mature and I could not help but insert "Po" and "Opo" whenever I answered his questions. And I just had to lie when he asked, "Mukha na ba akong matanda? (Do I look old?)"
Young or old, I learned that not all of us were speed dating virgins. At the registration table, I overheard one girl mention that she has already joined 10 speed dating sessions. A male friend of the organizers, who gets to fill in amid a scarcity of men, was on his second serving, while another participant was on his fourth.
Understandably, the awkwardness and tension seemed to be concentra-ted on the ladies’ side of the equation.
I knew that I was not going to take any of the result seriously, but I still had butterflies in my stomach (bad ones, maybe moths). I had qualms over the first impression I might leave.
Heavy traffic along South Super Highway left me with no time to shower before my "dates." I just finished required practice runs at the Carmona Racing Circuit and prior to that, I spent two hours on a Pasig River cruise.
I had one hour before the 7 p.m. call time at Somerset and I spent half of it having my hair shampooed and dried at a salon. I spent the rest of the time in a rush to apply face powder and cucumber patches to partially hide the fatigue showing on my face. I also relied only on wads of wet tissue and spritzes from a perfume bottle to beat the stench I acquired during the day. My harried state justifies why I hardly go out — preparing for it is too much of a hassle, and it is almost always too awkward, especially if you are meeting someone new.
Apparently I was not the only one feeling that way. A lady I met in the elevator was just as queasy. One minute we were walking together towards the entrance of the speed dating venue, and the next thing I knew she has disappeared from my side. In her rush to find a few minutes of refuge in the loo, she ended up in the mens’ room, with one of the male participants catching her talking to herself in the mirror.
Another anxious girl in the group seemed on the verge of tears as we waited for the session to start. It was the eve of her 27th birthday and her best friends signed her up for the event as a surprise. She felt totally unprepared. Her friends led her to believe that they were only having dinner in Makati, only to be dropped off and left in a room full of strangers.
I found it very efficient but a little awkward that the speed dating results were handed out to us minutes after the sessions, when everyone was still in the room and everyone could see who chose them and who did not.
At the lobby, my new girl friends and I exchanged observations on our speed dating experience. Pessimistic Ms. Men’s Room was not convinced that the guys on her list would really be interested in her, while the Birthday Girl was pretty happy to find out that Rocker Dude liked her back.
My results showed that six of my "Yes" guys also marked me as a "Yes" girl. Not bad. But at the end of the day, I was just really glad the ordeal was all over, with a bonus of having made a new friends along the way.
Maybe Mr. Black Coat did have a point in asking. But it was really more of a natural high.
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