I Tried Speed Dating And Got 1 Match Out Of 23

In my latest installment of "please find someone before you die an old crotchety man," I go speed dating.

Yes, speed dating… what has long been a sitcom trope has become my reality. I would summarize what brought me to this, but if you read my articles, you would already know.

If you haven't read my articles, go and catch up… seriously.

For my speed dating needs I turned to one of the largest and most trusted sites, onspeeddating.com. As I walked into the watering hole where the event was held, I must admit, I was nervous. I mean, really nervous.

So nervous in fact, that I, a 30-year-old man was about to leave the minute I got there. Let me set the stage for you: There are many tables set up in the back of a dimly lit bar with numbers on them. The tables are adorned with pencils and note sheets.

It looks just like it does in the movies. I couldn't believe that I was about to do this. I tried to think of an excuse to get out of it before it started, but I wore my big boy pants that night for a reason. Off I would go into the wild blue yonder.

The very next thing I did was look at my competition, and what I mean by that is, I took a look at all of the other males in the room. You know... see how I stack up. The verdict: I wasn't the cutest guy in the room, but I was definitely the biggest guy in the room

That has to count for something, right? I then turned my attention to the ladies. I liked what I saw. There was a good cross-section of women of various ages, races and body types.

My nerves began to peak again, but there was no going back now.

The rules of speed dating:

There are only a few rules when it comes to speed dating. One rule is that one gender stay seated while the other gender rotates to them. Our host preferred that the women stay seated and the men rotate to them.

The second rule is that you get three minutes for your “mini date.” After that, the bell rings and you're on to your next mini date. I know what you thinking because I thought it myself -- three minutes, that could be an eternity if things are going bad.

It could also be a split second if things are growing well. That was exactly the case. Right off the bat when we started, I was in a great conversation with a beautiful and wonderful girl.

Honestly, I didn't want to speak to anyone else, but lo and behold that damn bell rung and messed up a good time. The next mini date didn't go so well. The woman was nice and all, but we didn't have much in common and it was awkward.

Basically, that's how the rest of the night went. You go from one date to the next. If it's good you're saying to yourself, “I think they like me. I hope they like me.”

If it's going bad you say, “I hope they don't like me, I hope they don't like me.” But I had to say, there were a fair amount of women that I connected with.

It was also interesting to see the eclectic mix of different professions that were around the room. I met a few doctors a couple of police officers and my fair share of lawyers. There were beautiful women with great professions, and it made me think, how are you single? But unfortunately, too many men are intimidated by professional women. As the night went on, I got more comfortable.

A couple of women complimented me on how I looked, which was a welcome surprise. As the night went on and the bell kept ringing, I got better at making small talk. I cracked a few jokes, I was interested in what the women were saying and made sure I came off as interesting myself. Believe it or not, I really seemed to have a good connection with many of the women. By night's end, I felt great about my chances.

The Verdict:

After a very fun and interesting night, speed dating was finally over. Onspeeddating does things a little different. Instead of exchanging numbers with people you match with right there, the company makes all participants create online profiles. Within 24 hours, speed daters should go on their profile and click who they matched with.

This is great and cuts down on unwanted harassment, from people who may feel slighted in the moment. Later that evening, it was finally the hour of truth. I got on the site, and out of about 23 women, I got one match. That's right, one match.

Honestly, I was disappointed, but in a way, I was actually happy because the most cynical side of my brain thought I would get zero matches. Unfortunately, the match was a woman that I myself did not match with.

Now I going back and forth with myself. Should I contact her?

We'll have to wait till my next installment to see if I did and where my stalled love live progressed to. For those of you are interested in speed dating, it's really fun and you should try it.