First dates are awkward. And 20 or more of them in a single night? On the discomfort scale, I imagined it would rank somewhere next to getting a bikini wax and having a cavity filled. Simultaneously.
So when I first received an invitation to try out HurryDate — a New York City-based speed dating service that matches up women and men for several four-minute dates in a single night — I sent the email straight to my recycle bin. No, thank you.
But two days later I dragged the email back out of the trash and hit Reply. "I would love to take you up on your offer," I wrote. "When could I come?" I'm not sure why I changed my mind. But as I penciled in "7:30pm Tuesday" on my calendar, I figured, What have I got to lose? After all, I'd recently stopped seeing someone, and my dating blog was lacking in any actual dating material. Speed dating seemed like a good idea. Until Tuesday night…
A Metaphor for Life
When Tuesday night rolled around, I felt anxious; I admit it. It was as if I were going on a "real" date. I had only a vague idea of what to expect based on speed-dating scenes in movies like
